Scale your startup in DC? Some founders are all in — but one is looking elsewhere  

Entrepreneurs are increasingly realizing DC’s uniquely powerful position in the national and global economy make it a great place to start and scale businesses, several startup founders said at a recent innovation summit.

Juan Manuel Contreras, cofounder of generative AI risk assessment startup Aymara, said he wanted to live and work in the area to be in the mix with fellow problem solvers. 

“I knew that being surrounded by people who thought about this kind of stuff would be really special,” Contreras told Technical.ly earlier this month at the Halcyon Innovation Summit. Hosted by the social enterprise incubator Halcyon, the event brought together previous and current fellows of over the last decade in Georgetown. Contreras took part during the fall of 2023. 

“Being close to policy stakeholders, being close to people in government, doing this work at a very high level,” he added, “is really helpful for us.”

This sentiment is popular in the area. A new entrepreneurial organization, DC Tech Studio, launched over the summer with the mission to loop in founders with global and national leaders. Also, a new tech hub dubbed Station DC launched in recent months with a similar vision. 

There’s proximity to policymakers, and also access to a healthcare ecosystem that stretches from DC to Baltimore. Biodesign Innovation Labs’ CEO and founder Gautham Pasupuleti, said accessing that network has been essential, citing Johns Hopkins and the Georgetown University Medical Center. 

Pasupuleti started his company in 2017 in Koramangala, Bangalore India, and was “beyond excited” to make the move to DC when he was selected as a fellow in the spring of 2023. He’s stayed in DC since then.

When Biodesign Innovation Labs firm is more established, he wants to give back to other founders. 

“Once we actually become a big company, we’d be happy to contribute to the ecosystem,” Pasupuleti said. One of those ways could be as a mentor to future Halcyon fellows, he said. 

Started in 2014 as an incubator, Halcyon now focuses on climate, health and equity solutions, because these sectors will be the most influential in the coming years, Halcyon president and CEO Dan Barker. 

“Ventures in these sectors are poised to have the most impact in solving some of the world’s most intractable problems,” Barker told Technical.ly.

But not every founder is content with the state of the startup ecosystem in the DMV. 

Nicole Whalen, the CEO and founder of the sustainability solutions company Green Compass, was born and raised in the DMV and has lived in the area most of her adult life. Now, she’s having an “existential crisis” about whether to stay in the area or leave. 

Whalen cited the treatment of clean energy and environmental initiatives in the budget approval process for DC’s fiscal year 2025. After the mayor pushed to slash funding for these things, she told Technical.ly after the event, DC Council members got some funding back — but “the damage was done.”

She sees a lack of prioritization of the city in trying to achieve its climate goals. 

“When you lose that faith in the public sector to protect your markets, to protect the goals that they created,” Whalen said, “I have to question if maybe a different state would be a better option for the future of the business.”