Great article. I think you actually missed another reason that is even more important in today’s environment: our local entrepreneurs do not collaborate like they do in Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston.

“next 100 years”? Unfortunately I don’t have that much patience?

A few months ago I starting thinking about many of the issues you discuss. I concluded that I can continue to whine about my fate as a DC entrepreneur or I can do something about it. I chose the latter.

We can’t quickly make the structural changes you talk about, but can start making a difference by getting people to help each other.

We can start organizing at the grassroots level. We can start sharing what really does and doesn’t work with upcoming entrepreneurs. We can introduce them to the great funding resources like the NSF. We can help people figure out how to bootstrap on nights and weekends when they are away from their contracting 9-5 job.

Heck, we can even ask Silicon Valley for help! We can take the best practices advocated by Eric Ries, Sean Ellis, Steve Blank, etc. and ask them to help us get innovation going here. The entire country has a vested interest in making DC an innovation hub in the backyard of our policy makers. Look at the start-up Visa movement as an example.

In short, we can start building tomorrow’s army.

That is the contribution I and a few others are trying to make,
http://www.meetup.com/DC-Lean-Startup-Circle/

I’ve got a lot more thoughts on this topic including one big advantage we have over other incubation hubs. Just drop me a note at kevindewwalt –AT– kevindewalt —DOT— com if you want to grab a drink or a meal sometime.

Thanks again, great post. And thanks also for the contributions you a making to our region.

Silicon Valley’s technology heritage is in technology manufacturing and to this day harbors a very large pool of skilled scientists, engineers, technicians, universities, news media, VCs and angel investors with a start-up manufacturing culture. Having lived in the DC area now for the past 4 years and been active here in the growing start-up business community, I believe there is fundamental difference that restrains the DC area from reaching its true potential: a culture of technology consulting and reliance on risk adverse “government business.”

DC’s heritage is in “government business” and lacks the vibrant energy of the risk-taking start-up culture prevalent in Silicon Valley. For the past 4 years, I have seen this difference first hand and close-up and while DC does have growing pockets of technology entrepreneurship, it is hindered by its ties to the risk-adverse “government business” mentality so prevalent here in all of the area’s institutions.

You cannot have a vibrant technology commercialization community with a general “risk-adverse” mentality.

As for the media, the WP is first and foremost a political newspaper. But nowadays they are going to cover whatever turns them a profit. They are just catering to their audience. I don’t see them taking a chance on anything else because they have neither the mentality for it, nor the money to spare to try new things.

I do feel like the startup community is more active than it has been in the past thanks to events like Tech Cocktail and Social Matchbox, I believe both of which were covered by TechCrunch. Now the VC’s just need to pay attention.