Special Innovators and Disruptors Issue
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The 2015 Tech 25
INNOVATORS | COVER STORY T H E WA S H I N G TO N L I F E
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The entrepreneurs who are making waves, affecting communities and simplifying our lives. BY VIRGINIA COYNE | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL S P E C I A L T H A N KS TO T H E J E F F E R S O N H OT E L , 1 7 76 A N D H A LCYO N H O U S E
Clockwise from top left: John Gossart, Juan Pablo Segura, Gary Hensley, Michelle Brown and Manu Smadja at 1776.
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he individuals on the following pages have inspired us with their innovative thinking. They are among the thousands of area entrepreneurs creating products for the next generation. Some are consumer oriented, while others are changing the face of philanthropy, medicine and education on a global scale. While deciding whom to highlight, we went straight to the source – other entrepreneuers. As a result, those listed here are all respected members of the local tech community who have been recommended
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by their peers. They lead bustling lives and we spent a month tracking them down and taking their photographs all over town – at incubators like 1776, aptly named to reflect a revolutionary time when our country was starting anew; Halcyon House, where young, altruistic thinkers are provided the tools to make an impact; on Capitol Hill (as was the case with Rep. Jared Polis); and in the Jefferson Suite of the Jefferson Hotel, which seemed the most appropriate space of all since the third president was, along
with Benjamin Franklin, one of the original American innovators. Monticello historians describe Jefferson not only as an inventor but also someone who “delighted in the innovations of others and incorporated good ideas into his daily life whenever possible.” Some of the websites, apps and technologies you’ll read about here are ones we’re already using – while wondering how we ever lived without them. We dare you to read on and not be awed by these ideas. Perhaps you’ll even be inspired to start something of your own. >>
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1776.vc 1776 is a global incubator and seed fund that finds promising startups focused on solving the world’s most fundamental challenges and helps engineer their success. 1776 focuses on startups in the most broken, entrenched industries and sectors that impact millions of lives every day – specifically education, energy, health and cities. From its hub in Washington, it is sparking a global movement of “problem-solving’ startups through its Challenge Cup and Startup Federation, the premier network of incubators throughout the world. The companies on this page are all based at 1776 and are disrupting the philanthropic, medical and education worlds.
JOHN GOSSART
JUAN PABLO SEGURA
COO and Co-Founder, GoodWorld goodworld.me
President and Co-Founder, Babyscripts getbabyscripts.com
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his Army veteran, Georgetown University adjunct professor and former deputy director of special operations and couterterrorism policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense helped create GoodWorld, a platform that allows charitable donations to be made using a hashtag on social media. Simply tweet #donate to a charity or post #donate on their Facebook page to make a contribution. (There is a brief, one-time sign-up process after your first #donate missive.) Only out of beta since April, GoodWorld already boasts partnerships with over 700 charities, including UNICEF, Save the Children, United Way and Oxfam, and has amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from over 15,000 users. GoodWorld was founded by Dale Nirvani Pfeiffer.
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e jokes about sharing the same first name as a certain ABC “The Bachelor” star - the one dubbed by some the “most hated bachelor in history,” - but rather than starring in reality television, Segura, a former Deloitte consultant, is working on improving the health care experience, an interest he developed after watching a friend tackle a debilitating disease. Enter BabyScripts, which is reimagining how pregnancies are managed using Internet-connected medical devices. They deliver “mommy kits” to expectant mothers that include an Internet-enabled blood pressure cuff and weight scale. Through the devices and the BabyScripts mobile app, they “monitor a mother’s vital signs between appointments and work with her doctor to deliver more precise and convenient care.”
MANU SMADJA
MICHELLE BROWN
GARY HENSLEY
CEO and Co-Founder, MPOWER mpowerfinancing.com
CEO and Founder, CommonLit commonlit.org
CEO and Founder, EdBacker edbacker.com
ormer English teacher and Teach for Amer ica cor ps member Michelle Brown founded the non-profit CommonLit while pursuing her master’s degree in education policy at Harvard. Today, the free website allows teachers and parents to access a curated digital collection of high-interest instructional materials designed to address the diverse needs of both high and low-skilled readers. It now serves roughly 70,000 students per day. Brown says she is dedicated to closing the achievement gap in literacy for 5thto-12th graders and helping ensure that all students are prepared with the reading and writing skills necessary to be successful in college and beyond. In 2015, she was recognized as the winner of the Teach for America Social Innovation Award.
ensley made national headlines in 2014 when he was suddenly left the widower of a former Playboy Playmate, going from a stepfather to a single father of two school-age children, now 7 and 14. It was his role as a dad that helped inspire Edbacker, which simplifies how PTAs and other parent organizations raise funds, sign up volunteers and host events by centralizing the process online. “I wanted a better way to raise money than running around a track collecting quarters or eating out,” he says, referring to standard school fund-raisers. Edbacker now works with over 750 organizations in 27 states. Previously, Hensley built and sold a dropout prevention tool to Pearson Education. His roots in education started as a teacher and assistant principal in California.
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s an international student from France, Smadja found it hard to get the financial assistance he needed during his college years, relying on odd jobs and financial sacrifices from his family in order to graduate from the University of Virginia. He and co-founder Mike Davis began MPOWER to help the one million international students and more than two million domestic students across the United States whom they say don’t have access to traditional student loan options. MPOWER offers three- or 10-year, fixedrate loans ranging between $2,000 and $25,000 and disburses payments directly to the university to cover tuition, housing, meal plans and health insurance. In the last year, they began lending at Harvard University and are now in talks with more than 30 additional schools.
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INNOVATORS | COVER STORY
IAN COSTELLO & ALAN CLIFFORD Co-Founders, Galley galleyfoods.com
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ust over a year ago, Costello and Clifford were co-workers at LivingSocial in a similar quandary: what to eat for dinner after working long hours at the office? They decided there had to be something better than traditional takeout – pizza, Thai and Chinese food – but not as complicated as having to shop for ingredients to prepare a meal themselves. Their solution: Galley, an app and website that allows the exhausted and ravenuous to order healthy, fully-cooked meals and have them delivered in less than 20 minutes. They left LivingSocial and recruited friends to test their recipes, which Clifford whipped up in his own kitchen and Costello delivered in the family car “with a baby seat in the back.” Galley formally launched in January and its customer base has been growing steadily since. Costello and Clifford now work out of a commercial kitchen facility in Ivy City in Northeast and their meals, prepared by trained chefs, are so much in demand that they’ve expanded delivery service outside the District to Bethesda, Chevy Chase and parts of Baltimore. Meal options, ranging from seared ahi tuna to a chicken and squash wrap, sell out on a regular basis and have become tech community favorites. Local incubator 1776 frequently orders enough Galley lunches to feed the entire coworking space. Costello’s advice to budding entrepreneurs: “Just get started, even if you don’t have all the answers. Pushing the ball the first revolution is the hardest part.”
Ian Costello and Alan Clifford, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
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LISA THROCKMORTON COO, SpeakerBox Communications speakerboxpr.com
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finalist for this month’s Washington Women in PR’s “PR Woman of the Year Award,” Throckmorton has helped give voice to area innovators and organizations by entrenching herself in the local tech scene, working pro bono at times and significantly raising the profiles of local companies and the region. Throckmorton put her personal touch on the launches and on-going visibility of 1776, Fortify Ventures, Foster.ly, ID.me, HiRise, Eastern Foundry and LifeFuels, and has been recognized with numerous awards for her contributions to the communications and technology industry, including the 2015 Smart CEO’s Brava Award for leadership.
SHANA GLENZER CMO, Aquicore aquicore.com
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q u i c o re, the energy management software firm that helps commercial real estate owners compile data from utility meters in real-time to ultimately reduce energy usage, snagged Glenzer away from another area tech company, SocialRadar, over the summer. She now leads Aquicore’s efforts to accelerate customer acquisition and build the brand.The blonde dynamo previously worked at Blackboard, where she helped close the largest Blackboard Mobile sale in history to a system of over 23 colleges. She is a frequent on-air contributor to Fox Business News and an organizer of DCFemTech, a brain trust of women tech leaders trying to increase diversity at local companies. Shana Glenzer and Lisa Throckmorton, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
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INNOVATORS | COVER STORY
Clockwise from left: Sage Salvo, Daniel Kuenzi, Kate Glantz, Mariama Kabia and Daniel Yu at Halcyon House.
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HALCYON INCUBATOR
SAGE SALVO
DANIEL KUENZI
President and Founder, Words Liive wordliive.org
Co-Founder, Local Roots localrootsfarms.com
halcyonicubator.org The S&R Foundation’s Halcyon Incubator has supported 24 ventures directly impacting more than 17,400 people. According to the group, once scaled, approximately 71 percent of ventures have the potential to directly impact people in the D.C. area. About half of accepted fellows are local residents. The incubator has seen a 113 percent increase in applications by female entrepreneurs after a targeted campaign to recruit more women. Females make up nearly 40 percent of current fellows, up from 18-25 percent for previous groups. The incubator was recently recognized by the U.S. Small Business Association as an elite growth accelerator program and was awarded a $50,000 grant. The individuals on this page are all Halcyon fellows.
ords Liive is a 21st century education technology fir m dedicated to literacy augmentation. It creatively engages students though Contemporary Language Integration, a process of incorporating urban music lyrics, social media lingo and computer programming languages into classroom lessons. Schools and organizations that have partnered with Words Liive include Teach For America, College Success Foundation, the D.C. Public Library (DCPL) and Cardozo Senior High School in the District. Salvo also recently debuted the Words Liive app at SXSW, which creates a marketplace for lesson plans and gives teachers the opportunity to earn ancillary income. On top of it all, Salvo is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Howard University.
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ocal Roots is a next-generation agriculture company dedicated to providing access to fresh, healthy and affordable locally-grown produce for everyone. Its co-founder, Daniel Kuenzi, specializes in developing vertical farm technologies (think indoor farms) where produce can go grow year-round. The climate-controlled, farming environments are uniquely housed in shipping containers that can be placed anywhere. “We know that with the right technology and partnerships, Local Roots will eliminate food deserts, combat obesity and usher in a new era of sustainable food production,” says Kuenzi, who, along with his partners, is set on creating the most innovative farming community in the world.
MARIAMA KABIA
KATE GLANTZ
DANIEL YU
Founder, Memunatu Magazine memunatumagazine.com
CEO and Founder, Heartful.ly heartful.ly
CEO and Founder, Reliefwatch reliefwatch.com
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s the daughter of immigrants from Sierra Leone, Kabia grew up in the United States but was made aware of the decade-long civil strife that affected her parents’ homeland. “What stood out to me,” she says, “was the way that war, poverty and cultural barriers prevented girls in Sierra Leone from advancing in school and their communities.” While an undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania Kabia and her twin sister, Fatmata, founded Memunatu Magazine, a classroom publication for girls aged 10 to 17 in West Africa that promotes literacy, leadership and empowerment. Kabia, who grew up in Fairfax, is a 2014 Master in Public Policy graduate from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. At Harvard, she was co-chairman of the Social Enterise Conference.
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eartful.ly is a wedding registry for charitable giving. By partnering with nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and around the world, it connects engaged couples and their communities to life- changing development projects in need of funding. Glantz was inspired to create the registry after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, where the community was poor but gathered together to celebrate weddings and other special events, welcoming strangers and feeding everyone. “That’s why I created Heartful.ly,” she says. “I believe that life’s most important moments are the best times to give back ... When our communities unite around these moments, we have the power and opportunity to do great things.”
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eliefwatch is a platform to assist organizations in the developing world track essential supplies needed in rural health clinics through basic mobile phones. Yu started Reliefwatch after witnessing pervasive product stockouts and expirations while living in Egypt. He has already launched the service in five countries and over 18 million units of supplies have been tracked to date. Reliefwatch is in the process of expannding to four new countries across Europe and the Americas. Yu has been awarded with numerous international honors for his work, including the Prince of Wales Young Entrepreneurs Award and was recently recognized at the White House as an Emerging Global Entrepreneur.
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INNOVATORS | COVER STORY
SUSAN TYNAN CEO and Founder, Framebridge framebridge.com
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ince launching in August of 2014, Tynan’s Framebridge has framed tens of thousands of artworks and photographs for customers who enjoy the ease of uploading and previewing their masterpieces through a computer or iPhone. Old photos and concert tickets can also be mailed in for framing. Part of the draw is a simple pricing plan and the ability to preview the art in a variety of frames. Framebridge has raised $11 million to date from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Revolution Ventures and former Living Social CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy, for whom she used to work. Why did she start the company? “I couldn’t believe how hard it was to get something framed,” says Tynan.
Susan Tynan in Framebridge’s Georgetown office.
SEAN GLASS CEO and Founder, Advantia Health advantiahealth.com
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ocal tech leader, entrepreneur and investor Sean Glass’s latest venture is an attempt to redefine and streamline the health care delivery process, particularly for women. His Advantia Health business is buying OB/GYN practices and transforming them into “highly efficient, consumer-centric facilities” where doctors can perform in-office lab tests, minor surgeries, imaging procedures and telemedicine — thus saving patients and medical professionals costly trips to hospitals. The Yale grad and founder of Yale’s entrepreneurial society has personally invested in 50 early stage companies and has given to 46 start-ups through his seed fund Acceleprise.
Sean Glass, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
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PAUL GUTHRIE Co-Founder and CSO, QxBranch qxbranch.com
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xBranch, is leading the software development for quantum computing technology. A quantum computer harnesses the properties of quantum mechanics to process information simultaneously, rather than in series or parallel.What exactly does that mean? “Imagine walking into a concert with 50,000 people and trying to find a friend whose phone died. With a quantum computing functionality, you could ‘see’ everyone there simultaneously, and instantly locate your friend,” says Guthrie, whose clients are in the fields of finance, energy and national security. The former Olympic rower holds master’s degrees in economics and international science and technology policy. Paul Guthrie, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel
REP JARED POLIS Member of Congress polis.house.gov
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olis started the electronic g reeting card company BlueMountain.com and flower delivery service ProFlowers.com in the late ’90s, long before Uber and Snapchat, during a period he calls Internet 1.0, when companies like Amazon and Yahoo were also making their debut. A congressman since 2009, the Colorado Democrat founded the bipartisan Innovation and Entrepreneurship caucus, worked on open source copyright reform and launched “Startup Day,” where over 30 colleagues visited startups in their districts last August. He’s passionate about fixing education policy and says he’s working towards ensuring young people have the skills to compete in the modern world. Rep. Jared Polis, photographed in his office on Capitol Hill.
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INNOVATORS | COVER STORY
ALEX SKATELL President and Founder, IJReview IJ.com
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orty-five million people a month visit IJ.com, a video-heavy millennial news site founded by Alex Skatell who previously helped senators communicate better online as a Republican Senatorial Committee staffer. After realizing that traditional news sites weren’t speaking to millennials outside of urban areas, he set out to create something to engage them. Today, many of IJ’s stories have gone viral, including the video of Sen. Lindsey Graham destroying his mobile phone after Donald Trump publicly shared his number. Skatell’s advice to entrepreneurs:“You can’t have an ego. You have to be willing to constantly get told no a lot and not let it deter you from reaching your goals.” Alex Skatell, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
ROB MCGOVERN CEO and Founder, Cobrain cobrain.com
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hink of it as having a personal shopper at your fingertips. Bethesda-based Cobrain, founded by serial entrepreneur Rob McGovern, learns what you like and dislike as you search for clothes online and gets smarter as you use it. It provides personalized recommendations from 400 major merchant partners – including Nordstrom, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor – and allows you to shop for items all in one place, saving time and essentially taking the thinking out of shopping. A mobile version is in the works, meaning shoppers will soon be able to find the perfect pair of boots by simply reaching into their pocket. McGovern previously built Careerbuilder.com and Jobfox.com. Cobrain’s Rob McGovern. Susanna Quinn, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
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GEOFF ORAZEM CEO and Co-Founder, Eastern Foundry eastern-foundry.com
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n less than 12 months, Orazem has built his government contracting incubator, Eastern Foundry, into a 21,000-square-foot co-working space hosting 53 businesses in Crystal City and is planning to expand into the District by the end of the year. His team of experts is helping companies that are developing emerging technologies for the federal government understand the procurement process, develop business plans and even come up with logos. “In a lot of ways I want to think of ourselves as being the New York Stock Exchange of government contracting. Buyers come in one door, sellers come in another door,” says Orazem, a former Marine infantry officer. Geoff Orazem, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
CHRIS SPANOS CEO and Co-Founder, Urgent.ly urgent.ly
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nown as the “Uber for roadside assistance,” Urgent.ly, which has been used over 200,000 times, allows stranded motorists nationwide to instantly see, connect and track the nearest tow truck from their smartphones in real time. Frustrated by his own bad experiences getting roadside assistance from auto clubs, Spanos helped form Urgent.ly in 2013 when it seemed like all other startups were centered around delivering food or transportation ondemand. “No one was focused on reinventing roadside assistance,” he says, “so we set out to create a better experience.” Spanos is a former general manager of AOL Local and vice president of Going.com.
Urgent.ly CEO Chris Spanos.
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INNOVATORS | COVER STORY
BILL O’HARA CEO and Co-Founder, KlowdTV klowdtv.com
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ver a million dissatisfied subscribers canceled their cable and satellite service last year. The so-called “cord-cutter” demographic is growing rapidly, partly due to the increasing cost of cable and lack of ability to choose content. Enter O’Hara’s KlowdTV, which allows customers to pick the channels they want and delivers that content directly to their chosen devices. KlowdTV live-streams sports, news and entertainment beginning at $6.98 per month. You won’t get all the channels offered by traditional cable line-ups, but the price is right, especially for “people who hate cable, but who love TV,” says O’Hara, a Naval Academy grad and former officer.
KlowdTV CEO Bill O’Hara.
SUSANNA QUINN President and Founder, Veluxe veluxe.com
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uinn launched Veluxe, an ondemand beauty and fitness app earlier this year and the service has already become a favorite of certain members of Congress, diplomats,TV news anchors and professional sports figures. With four clicks on their mobile devices, local clients can order in-home makeup applications, blow-drys, massages and yoga sessions at prices (with tip included) that are competitive and in some instances less than what one would pay at a salon - the result of eliminating the middle man of a brick and mortar store. Quinn recently expanded her business model to sell Veluxe’s platform to providers who want to grow their own client base by offering on-demand services.
Susanna Quinn, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel.
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ZACH LEONSIS Director, Monumental Network moumentalsports.com
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hen Zach Leonsis isn’t attending Wizards, Capitals or Mystics games, he’s hard at work turning Monumental Network into a full-blown over-the-top (OTT) network. Set to launch in January 2016, Leonsis is helping to turn Monumental’s existing digital infrastructure, comprised of approximately 30 blogs, into a regional OTT platform targeting millennials and Generation Z, who are no longer getting the majority of their news from traditional sources. The content will be available on all devices and platforms from IOS to Roku, Apple TV, Android, Fire TV and Chromecast. Also in the works: monthly product bundles for sports fans ala Birchbox. Zach Leonsis, photographed at the Verizon Center.
ALLEN GANNETT CEO and Founder, TrackMaven trackmaven.com
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sk anyone in-the-know to list the local tech community’s biggest stars and the name Allen Gannett is sure to cross their lips. In 2012, Gannett, a protégé of Sean Glass, and former chief marketing officer of Glass’s EmployInsight, founded TrackMaven, a competitive intelligence platform for marketers, for which he’s already raised $20 million. Today, TrackMaven helps hundreds of brand-name clients – including Marriott, the NBA and Martha Stewart – track everything their competitors are doing across digital marketing channels. Gannett’s plan for the next 10 years: make TrackMaven one of the area’s biggest and best tech employers … and take the company public. Allen Gannett, photographed at The Jefferson Hotel
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INNOVATORS | COVER STORY
THE STARTUPS REDEFINING HOW WASHINGTON WORKS From graffiti walls and giant boomboxes to meditation zones and four-legged coworkers, these inventive firms are energizing work spaces as we know it. BY DA R A K L AT T
A work shed conference room at Contactually.
Dog are welcome at iStrategyLabs.
Modus Create’s workspace features a giant boombox made of cardboard.
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his is the anti-office,” fashion blogger Meg Biram states matter-of-factly about her Georgetown-based Creative Collective. Looking out at the Key Bridge from this stylish, sunlit space with modern armchairs and standing desks (while a photo shoot with rubber French jewelry gets underway in the back), she beams, “I’m still kind of like ‘pinch me,’ is this really my office?” Here, and at a number of forward-thinking startups, the traditional office space is being rethought … or maybe regurgitated. In its place is something bright and playful, open and hip, and perhaps even happy. Channeling a Silicon Valley-type sensibility, the offices are built on the concept of being anything but typical. This is reflected in imaginative conference rooms, quirky homemade art, game stations and svelte lounge
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This 1973 VW Transporter bus at iStrategyLabs will soon be a meeting room.
areas. It’s also evident in the multitude of hot drinks and Trader Joe’s snack options, bathroom amenities and indoor bike racks. Call it the millennial dream office come true. At iStrategyLabs, a digital agency in Shaw, the average staffer age is 28 and a youthful creative tech vibe runs rampant across their brand new, eye-popping 18,000-square-foot space. You’ll see a blue 1973 Volkswagon Transporter bus (soon-to-be converted into a meeting room), a colorful library with a secret door, an elevated nap pod, a serene mediation area and a trifecta of yellow, turquoise and red conference rooms. Similarly, Contactually’s Mt.Vernon Square office embodies fun and startup-scrappy. Inside this 4-year-old firm are work shed conference rooms that still smell like fresh timber and are decorated with birthday streamers and polka
dot art. The kitchen has a beer tap, bottles of Sriracha hot sauce and a panini press. And even before 11 a.m., CEO Zvi Band says, “it’s like Thunderdome,” with dogs running around and knocking into each other. What truly stands out with these trendsetting spaces is the brand touch in the details. Social Tables in Chinatown created its own “wallpaper” with the group’s core values emblazoned across the design and made an impromptu wall out of employees’ job application cover letters. Modus Create CEO Patrick Sheridan and his coworkers built a giant boombox out of cardboard boxes in their Reston office (after Googling how to do it) and painted a graffiti wall with their logo and software code. It all makes you smile and want to stay for awhile. That’s what they’re going for.
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