As with many newsworthy things these days, it all began with a blog post.
The post in question was a Washington Post blog article titled “Washington’s Twin Tech Towns“. It described that while the Northern Virginia Tech Council (NVTC) was having their “Hot Ticket Awards” event at a beautiful house in McLean with 300 people from the “Old Guard” of technology integrators and government contracting firms, in DC at a hip club in Dupont Circle there were a different group of 300 “New Guard” people from the Social Media and Web 2.0 scene there to meet well-known Web guys Gary Vaynerchuk and Robert Scoble.
Personal Perspective – Walking Between the Two Worlds
To give you some perspective on these two worlds, I was one who actually works with both and navigates quite well between these two worlds. There is good and bad from both type of groups. I was involved with the NVTC for years as a startup and was able to connect with many large integrators or contract firms that would have been great if I was a software development shop or recruiter. I found it challenging to find new clients through the “old guard” of the Washington DC tech community. Sure you get a few successful startups that are recognized as “hot” after they have been around for 3-4 years and are making tons of money. That is where the previously mentioned “Hot Ticket Awards” comes from and why they have the party every year at Bobby Kilberg’s house.
In the other world I have met many people who kept moving with the trends after the heady days of the dot-com boom. These “New Guard” people live a world of Social Media (e.g., blogs,podcasts,wikis,social networks) and develop hot new companies utilizing Web 2.0 technology (e.g., Ruby on Rails, AJAX). It is an ecosystem full of innovation but, in most cases, with very little funding. I can clearly see that within 24-36 months it will be established as the go to group of thought leaders that all other companies will be looking to for advice and leadership to help them break the chains of the government contracting cycle and diversify beyond the beltway.
Successful Party and the Beginning of a Regular Event
This stirred up alot of conversation and of course, another blog post. This one discussed whether we might all get along together in one room. Peter Corbett, who runs a local Web consulting company called iStrategy Labs, has been the catalyst to create an event that brought everyone together in one place. On Thursday, at District club Local 16, more than 600 people from both the local Web 2.0 scene and the more established technology companies that dot the Beltway came together to drink, be merry and exchange business cards/facebook profiles.Also in attendance was Sarah Lacy, who famously interviewed Mark Zuckerberg, at SXSW, was in attendance to launch her User Generated Book Tour.
It was well attended by those in t-shirts and shorts and by those in suits and ties. It was very hot outside but the free beer courtesy of the long list of sponsors made it all better. I would have to say that the only bad thing about the event is that it went too quick. There 600 people there and I think I talked to about 30. Peter didn’t just put together and event, he literally put together a conference.
I believe this is the beginning of a regular event that you could probably do once a quarter. My suggestion is that you find a better location that make it easier to network. In fact, Peter, if you are listening, this could become an annual conference with lots of networking and tracks that teach the respective “Tech Town” about the things they are doing and how they can help each other. Because if there was one thing I definitely got out of this event is that we all need each other and if we actually begin to work together this will be “The Town” to work in the technology industry.
Here are some pictures from the event:
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