In the lead up to this year's DC Tech Madness competition, we received over 160 nominations from across the D.C. tech and startup world. Now, we're set to reveal the bracket with 64 innovative companies that will battle it out to reach the Last Sixteen, Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and, finally, a head-to-head matchup to see which company D.C.'s tech community thinks will have the most success in coming years.
Sure, it's mostly for fun. But it's also for bragging rights and a lot of extra exposure, networking and, of course, plenty of partying.
Our internal selection committee had no easy task in narrowing the field down to 64. But we're stoked to pull back the curtain Wednesday night and let the voting begin. Are you ready to fill out your bracket? Trust us, it's even more challenging than picking which NCAA basketball teams will score big upsets. So to give you some expert insights, we've tapped an all-star team of local industry leaders, who will be revealing their bracket picks Wednesday at Penn Social.
Let's meet our Inno Experts.
Tony Cappaert - Contactually
Representing the defending Tech Madness champions, 26-year-old MIT alum Tony Cappaert is the co-founder and chief operating officer for Contactually. Formerly an advertising technology specialist with Microsoft, Cappaert has overseen Contactually’s revenue stream since the company was founded in 2011. Last year, Contactually—which develops relationship-centric marketing software—raised $8 million to expand their development, sales and marketing teams. Along with co-founders Zvi Band and Jeff Carbonella, Cappaert looks to take last year’s DC Tech Madness winner to the next level.
Jonathon Perrelli - LifeFuels
LifeFuels CEO Jonathon Perrelli has been a D.C. Tech all-star for a long time, with roots in the early days of UUNET and Qwest. Before he was building smart water bottles at LifeFuels, Perrelli founded and ran the Fortify Ventures fund, helping get early stage startups off the ground via investment and accelerator programs. He helped capture the complex journey of a startup as the creator and producer on Startupland, a documentary series about early entrepreneurs and the trials they face. He still acts as a mentor for many young entrepreneurs and definitely still has his finger on the pulse of the local startup scene.
Jen O'Daniel - CIT GAP Funds
Jen O'Daniel is a respected area venture capitalists with vast insight into Virginia’ technology economy. As an investment director with the Center for Innovative Technology’s investment arm, CIT GAP Funds, O’Daniel is plugged into the D.C. tech scene as both an advocate and dynamic investor. Aside from CIT, O’Daniel is a member of Next Gen Angels and managing director for the VT (Virginia Tech) Investor Network. She led various investments into several prominent D.C.-area companies, including ThreatQuotient and urgent.ly. She has been recognized multiple times as an exceptional venture capitalist by Entrepreneur Magazine via the magazine’s annual VC100 list.
Mike Lincoln - Cooley
There are few people that have a better comprehensive view of D.C.'s startup world than Mike Lincoln, chair of Cooley's business department, a partner in the Venture Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions practice groups. Since 1999, when he co-founded Cooley's Reston office, Mike has been recognized as a leader in the area as a deal maker and business leader. His practice at Cooley focuses on venture capital, public and private offerings, mergers and acquisitions and the representation of technology and emerging growth companies. Mike also serves as an adjunct professor at UVA Law, where he teaches a course on emerging growth companies and venture capital, so do your homework and study his picks closely.
Brandon Luong - DC Tech Meetup
Brandon Luong is well known by much of the D.C. startup scene as one of the leaders of the DC Tech Meetup. A marketing and digital user experience designer, Luong can be found, often in charge, of quite a lot of the startup organizations in DC. While running Guanxi Innovations, his own digital agency, he's also created the DMV Startup group and there's very little going on when it comes to area startups that he doesn't know.
Ezra Weinblatt - The Ezra Company
Being in commercial real estate with a focus on growing startups, Ezra Weinblatt has an insider's pulse on who is making moves in the local tech community. As a Vice President in the Washington office of The Ezra Company (a coincidental name, not named for him), he focuses on tenant representation and advocacy. Ezra has assisted organizations from numerous industry sectors including nonprofits, associations, tech startups and creative agencies. Some his notable clients include iStrategyLabs and Social Tables.
