after years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

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N O R T H E R N V I R G I N I A T E C H N O L O G Y C O U N C I L THE VOICE O F T E C H N O L O G Y Summer 2013 Q&A with Updata Partners’ John Burton BlueDelta Capital Partners’ Mark Frantz on the Region’s Investing Ecosystem Transformation Systems Inc.’s Marta Wilson Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained John Backus, founder and managing partner of New Atlantic Ventures Funding for the region’s early- stage startups and entrepreneurs is coming back.

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Page 1: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

N O R T H E R N V I R G I N I A T E C H N O L O G Y C O U N C I L

THE VOICEO F T E C H N O L O G Y

Summer 2013 Q&A with Updata Partners’ John Burton

BlueDelta Capital Partners’ Mark Frantz on the Region’s Investing Ecosystem

Transformation Systems Inc.’s Marta Wilson

Nothing Ventured,Nothing Gained

John Backus, founder and managing partner of

New Atlantic Ventures

Funding for the region’s early-stage startups and entrepreneurs is coming back.

Page 2: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

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Page 4: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

F E A T U R E S

12 2013 General Assembly Wrap-Up

21 Where’s the Rest of Your Team?John Starling of the Business Exit Forum shares insights on what business owners should be doing now to prepare for the future sale of the business.

24 Nothing Ventured, Nothing GainedAfter years of decline, funding for the region’s early-stage startups and entrepreneurs is coming back — from both new and traditional sources. By Mark Toner

32 Q&A with Updata Partners’ John Burton

Updata Partners Co-Founder and General Partner John Burton provides advice to entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding and discusses the state of mergers and acquisitions and venture capital in the region. By Allison Gilmore

D E P A R T M E N T S

3 A Message from Bobbie A message from nvtC President & CEO Bobbie Kilberg.

5 Perspectives A forum for leaders of nvtC member companies to address colleagues and the business community at large.

6 Member and Council News news, developments and events from nvtC and its members.

14 Progress Updates from the Entrepreneur Center @nvtC.

16 From the Trenches Updates and achievements of nvtC small businesses and entrepreneurs.

18 Meet the Committees Learn about nvtC’s committees and the networking and professional development opportunities they offer members.

19 Expert Insights nvtC Associate members share their wisdom and expertise on issues of interest to the technology business community.

22 Gartner nvtC’s research provider offers current research on emerging trends and technologies.

The Voice of Technology is published four times per year by the Northern Virginia Technol-ogy Council. It is the official magazine of NVTC. ©Copyright 2013 by NVTC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in part or whole without the express written consent of NVTC. For reprint information, con-tact The Voice of Technology, 2214 Rock Hill Road, Suite 300, Herndon, VA 20170 fax: 703-904-8008. The Voice of Technology publishes articles authored by industry professionals. The opinions and/or positions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of NVTC.

E X E C U T I V E S T A F F

Bobbie Kilberg P r e s i d e n t & C E O [email protected]

Christine Kallivokas C h i e f O p e r a t i n g O f f i c e r [email protected]

Josh Levi v i c e P r e s i d e n t o f P o l i c y [email protected]

Randy Cisler C o n t r o l l e r H u m a n R e s o u r c e s A d m i n i s t r a t o r [email protected]

To view a complete list of Northern Virginia Technology Council staff members and their contact information, please visit: www.nvtc.org/about/contact.php

T H E V O I C E O F T E C H N O L O G Y S T A F F

Allison Gilmore E d i t o r [email protected]

David Kidd A r t D i r e c t o r [email protected]

Nick Schweich G r a p h i c D e s i g n e r / P r o d u c t i o n M a n a g e r [email protected]

Sarah Jones C o n t r i b u t o r / C o p y E d i t o r [email protected]

Michele Weatherly A d v e r t i s i n g D i r e c t o r [email protected]

For information about advertising opportunities in The voice of technology, contact Michele Weatherly at 703-904-7878 or [email protected].

T H E V O I C E O F T E C H N O L O G Y Summer 2013

nvtc encourages its members to submit story ideas and comments to: [email protected]

The Voice of Technology 2214 Rock Hill Road, Suite 300 Herndon, VA 20170

4 2012 – 2013 Business and Media Partners36 Up Close & Personal38 NVTC Snapshot

40 Board of Directors42 New Members44 Renewing Members

I N E V E R Y I S S U E

Page 5: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 3

NVTC has been fortunate to have Brad Antle, president and CEO of Salient Federal Solutions, as our chair for the last three years.

Brad has led with vision, precision, de-cisiveness, good humor and grace. He has kept NVTC moving forward with creativity and foresight, ensuring we re-main relevant and vibrant.

Brad has dedicated a nearly limitless amount of time and effort to NVTC, all while successfully running, and growing, his company. Under Brad’s leadership, NVTC has had many notable accom-plishments, including new programs and events like the CTO Innovator Awards, Destination Innovation, and the Hot Ticket Insight Series. He also added his personal touch to many of our existing events, including his fireside chats at our Titans breakfast series, and has spear-headed the NVTC Innovator Awards, NVTC’s newest awards program which is accepting nominations this summer and will honor finalists and winners at our TechCelebration banquet this fall.

Brad has been a vocal advocate in Rich-mond, helping to educate policymakers on the challenges and priorities of our member community. During his tenure as Chair, NVTC has undertaken sev-eral efforts to promote and advance the strengths of Northern Virginia’s technol-ogy sector. NVTC’s new cybersecurity and privacy committee, data center task

force and committee and big data task force are just a few examples. Brad also was an early proponent for the creation of CIT’s MACH37™ cyber accelerator. And our March 2012 special section in Forbes Magazine, which reached more than 5.1 million readers worldwide, highlighted Northern Virginia’s IT growth sectors and promoted the benefits of doing busi-ness and locating in our region.

In addition to these programs designed to educate and promote our industry, Brad has played an influential role in several NVTC initiatives aimed at harnessing the experi-ence and expertise of our technology com-munity for the good of the Commonwealth and the nation. He helped lead NVTC’s ini-tiative to remedy the major record-keeping deficiencies at Arlington National Cemetery by recommending specific improvements to the cemetery’s processes and technology. He

has been actively involved in the develop-ment of NVTC’s new Veterans Employment Initiative, and has guided NVTC’s partici-pation in Northern Virginia Community College’s SySTEMic Solutions initiative and other efforts to grow the technology work-force through STEM education.

Brad has kept our focus on delivering member value and growing our organiza-tion into the future. During Brad’s three-year term, the NVTC Board undertook a strategic planning process and a member needs assessment to ensure that we con-tinue to provide resources and benefits to help our members succeed.

Over the last three years, NVTC has had many achievements that were made possi-ble through Brad’s leadership. He has been an influential champion for our industry and an extraordinary chair for NVTC. We all owe Brad our gratitude. nvtc

By Bobbie Kilberg

A True Tech Champion

a m e s s a G e F r O m B O B B I e

Page 6: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

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Page 7: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 5

“ In addition to the well-established institutional investors, what most impresses me about this region — and excites me about this region’s future — are the prolific number of individual angels and other investors who are helping to grow the next generation of great companies in the area, but below the radar.”

As a venture capitalist, I am an optimist by nature. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to the reader that I am en-couraged by the robust amount of angel

and venture capital investing in Northern Vir-ginia and throughout the greater Mid-Atlantic region, across the many technology sectors and sub-sectors that we have in this community.

We are fortunate to have in this region a large cadre of established venture capital firms, which range in size and reach from the biggest and best like NEA, to long-established veter-ans like Grotech and New Atlantic Ventures, to new and successful firms like Revolution, CNF and Greenspring. In addition, we have growth capital firms like Carlyle, ABS Capital, JMI Eq-uity, Updata, as well as countless other talented firms at all stages throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Furthermore, the region has well-known and successful angel groups like John May’s New Vantage Group and strategic venture capital and seed-stage firms like In-Q-Tel and the CIT GAP Funds. We also have the world’s largest buyer of technology, the U.S. federal govern-ment, right in our backyard and, oftentimes, the government SBIR programs can help fund the development of a great startup or ground-breaking technology.

In addition to the well-established insti-tutional investors, what most impresses me about this region — and excites me about this region’s future — are the prolific number of individual angels and other investors who are helping to grow the next generation of great companies in the area, but below the radar. For instance, there are dozens of companies in this region who have been fortunate enough to receive an angel investment from legends such as Ed Mathias and Frank Bonsal. There is also a growing community of wealthy indi-viduals who make six or seven figure invest-ments in companies, but seek to keep their

names out of the press, given their modesty and / or desire for privacy. When you combine all of the various investment sources, it means that there is very rarely a lack of funding for a good idea or a good management team in this region, regardless of the stage or sector.

Finally, we should all remember that it is not how much money that is invested in a given year which really matters. Rather, what truly matters is how much capital is eventu-ally returned to the investors and the teams they back. We all remember the Internet bubble of 1999 – 2000, the real estate bubble of the mid-2000s, and the excessive amounts of money that was invested in both, often in ill-conceived or poorly run businesses. Large amounts of angel and venture capital money being raised during a rising tide is nice, but the total amount is irrelevant unless entrepreneurs and their investors build a good company that stands the test of time and then eventually is acquired, goes public, or pays dividends which produce a good return for the investors, the entrepreneurs and the employees. When that happens — as it often does in this area — over the long-term, you build a sustainable ecosys-tem like we have now in this region.

As a native of the area who has seen an enormous amount of change over the past 30 years, I am very proud of the technology center that we have become, and I am thrilled to be actively investing in the growth of this amazing region. nvtc

Mark Frantz is the co-founder of BlueDelta Capital Partners, a growth capital firm focused on the federal government technology market. As a VC and angel investor, he has had the privilege of backing NetWitness, Sourcefire, Blackboard and dozens of other companies in the region. Mark previously worked for The Carlyle Group, In-Q-Tel, Alex. Brown, Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge, and President George H. W. Bush and is a current Executive Committee member of the NVTC Board.

Our Capital EcosystemBy mark Frantz

p e r s p e C T I V e s

Page 8: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

6 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

Board Member Bob Kahn Among First Winners of Queen Elizabeth Prize for EngineeringBob Kahn, chairman, CEO and president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, and an NVTC Board Member, is among five pioneering engi-neers honored with the inaugu-ral $1.5 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

Kahn shares the award with Vinton Cerf, Louis Pouzin, Tim Berners-Lee and Marc Andrees-sen, who have all been credited for helping to create the Internet and the World Wide Web.

The award was announced on Monday, March 18 at the Royal Academy of Engineering, which administers the prize. The winners, who share the £1 million (approximately $1.5 mil-lion) award, were honored at an awards ceremony in London on June 25, where they received the prize from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Gen. Keith B. Alexander Discusses Cyber Threats at Titans BreakfastOn May 10, a sold-out crowd of 750 attend-ees gathered at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Cor-ner for the final NVTC Titans breakfast of the 2012 – 2013 series featuring Gen. Keith B. Alex-ander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service. During the event, Gen. Alexander shared his insights on the nation’s cybersecurity priorities and the impor-tance of information sharing between the gov-ernment and private sector.

Gen. Alexander began his remarks by out-lining current cyber threats and asking for the industry’s assistance in explaining these risks to the public. He explained that future net-works will be based in a defensible architecture using secure cloud technology and that smart mobile platforms will be used increasingly to connect to networks.

On the policy front, Gen. Alexander expressed the need for legislation to allow increased infor-mation sharing between industry and the gov-ernment without the threat of lawsuits. In par-ticular, he believes the public and private sectors should be able to communicate about attacks in real-time in order to protect the nation’s cyber assets. Rather than waiting until after a major at-tack to rush legislation through Congress, Gen. Alexander urged policymakers to be proactive, stating “we have time now to get this right. It is absolutely vital to our future.”

Gen. Alexander also answered audience ques-tions about securing the nation’s power grid, protecting aging infrastructure, and how to address privacy concerns surrounding identity management, particularly with biometrics. He also explained that funding for government cy-bersecurity priorities will likely grow, despite cuts in other areas of federal spending. He closed by discussing the nation’s response to cyber war-fare, stating that the U.S. would consider the full spectrum of options when responding to cyber-attacks, because “your defense needs to be at the same speed as your adversary.”

Region’s Top Business and Technology Journalists Share Tips at Meet the PressOn April 16, NVTC hosted a free members-only Meet the Press event to connect NVTC companies with editors and reporters from the area’s top business and technology-focused media outlets. Moderated by NVTC Board Member Evan Weisel of Welz & Weisel Com-munications, the panel included Jill Aitoro of the Washington Business Journal, Tania An-derson of Bisnow Media, Dan Beyers of The Washington Post’s Capital Business Jason Miller of Federal News Radio, and Nick Wake-man of Washington Technology.

During the event, panelists shared insights on topics including the best and worst ways to pitch a story, where they like to access com-pany information, and the best way to reach them. They unanimously agreed that a per-sonal email is the best form of contact — it is crucial to build a personal relationship with reporters and know their focus before pitching to them. In addition, they urged attendees to send them good stories that don’t only produce news, but also go beyond their companies and fit into larger trends.

Panelists also answered questions about how social media affects their jobs, how to appro-priately follow up on a pitch, and how small businesses may shine among heavy competi-tion for coverage.

t Gen. Keith B. Alexander speaks at the NVTC Titans Breakfast on May 10, 2013.

m E m B E r A N D C O u N C I L N E W s

p Evan Weisel and panelists Jill Aitoro, Tania Anderson, Dan Beyers¸ Jason Miller and Nick Wakeman offer tips at Meet the Press.

Page 9: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 7

Northern Virginia Community College Expands SySTEMic Solutions at Regional Launch EventAt an event on May 22, leaders from Northern Virginia’s technology, business, nonprofit and academic communities gathered at Micron in Manassas to celebrate the regional expan-sion of Northern Virginia Community Col-lege’s (NOVA) SySTEMic Solutions program, a public-private partnership to build a long term sustainable pipeline of STEM-skilled students to meet our region’s workforce needs. NVTC signed a resolution of support and cooperation with SySTEMic Solutions in December 2012 in order to further advance our region’s knowl-edge-based economy.

During the event, NVTC Board member Raj Narasimhan of Micron described his compa-ny’s involvement in SySTEMic Solutions since its inception and highlighted the program’s role as a bridge between schools and businesses. He also announced the Micron Foundation’s lat-est donation of $120,000 to the program. Rep-resenting NVTC at the launch, NVTC Board member John Mendonca described how NVTC member companies are concerned with filling open positions with trained technology work-ers. He also expressed NVTC’s goal of support-ing SySTEMic Solutions’ efforts by developing a regional pipeline of work-based learning op-portunities at our member companies and by encouraging members to volunteer in targeted STEM-related activities.

NOVA President and NVTC Board member Dr. Robert Templin, along with other leaders from NOVA and SySTEMic Solutions, high-lighted the program, its partnership model and its future impact in the community. Templin also described how the business community can get involved through volunteer opportunities, providing internships to students and making financial contributions. The SySTEMic Solu-tions program is seeking $5 million in corporate and foundation donations to sustain and grow the program. NVTC was instrumental in secur-ing state-level funding of $1 million over two years for this program during the 2012 General Assembly session.

The event also included remarks from Vir-ginia Secretary of Education Laura Fornash, Troy Cromwell of member company Veri-zon, and Jim Corcoran of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.

Central Intelligence Agency CIO Jeanne Tisinger Addresses NVTC BoardCentral Intelligence Agency CIO Jeanne Tis-inger joined the NVTC Board of Directors on Tuesday, March 12 at LMI in McLean to discuss how the CIA utilizes information technology to enable its mission, extend its reach, and connect its staff with the proper data and tools.

In an unclassified presentation, Tisinger out-lined the CIA’s top technology priorities and explained how the agency and the entire intel-ligence community (IC) need to have the ability to use massive amounts of data to make predic-tions and take action quickly on a global scale. She also explained how they are applying inno-vation to help cut costs.

During her remarks, Tisinger discussed the CIA’s IT priorities and highlighted several areas that are currently enabling the intelligence mis-sion. She shared the need for a shift in how the agency uses big data analytics, from searching for particular data to discovering new correla-tions in the data coming into the system. Tising-er also talked about how the CIA is leveraging the commercial sector’s innovation cycle and cost efficiencies for commodity IT and how the entire IC is utilizing software-as-a-service for common solutions.

According to Tisinger, the CIA must begin running its IT more like a business, scaling ser-vice models based on mission needs. As an ex-ample, the CIA is partnering with the National Security Agency to develop a private copy of the rapidly maturing commercial cloud. In addi-tion, the CIA and the IC are now working with shared platforms and services, centralizing and consolidating common applications that pro-vide solutions across IC agencies.

Tisinger closed by discussing how the CIA fosters innovation through leveraging In-Q-Tel, Government Labs, and Industry Research Centers, and by answering questions about the CIA’s use of shared services, bring your own device policies, talent management, software-as-a-service and working with partners in the intelligence community.

NVTC Members Honored at the 2013 Federal 100 AwardsOn March 20, nine executives from NVTC member companies were honored at the 24th Annual Federal Computer Week Federal 100 Awards Gala. The Federal 100 Awards recognize 100 profes-sionals from government and industry who have impacted and transformed the federal govern-ment IT community.

Congratulations to NVTC Board Member Teresa Carlson of Amazon Web Services, who was named a 2013 Eagle Award recipient at the event. The Eagle award is presented to one government and one industry professional of the Federal 100 who are the best-in-class in the federal IT community.

Also recognized were NVTC Board Members Patrick Finn of Cisco Systems, George Schindler of CGI, and three representatives of NVTC Board member compa-nies: Angie Heise of Lockheed Martin, Luanne Pavco of IBM Corp. and Tim Young of Deloitte.

Mark Cohn from Unisys Federal Systems, Stan Soloway of the Professional Services Council and Chris Wilson of TechAmerica, all representatives of NVTC member companies, were honored as well.

Federal 100 winners are nominated by Federal Computer Week readers and selected by an independent panel of judges.

NVTC Board member John Mendonca speaks to the audience at the regional launch of SySTEMic Solutions. u

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8 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

NVTC Congratulates the 2013 Greater Washington Technology CFO Award WinnersAbout 800 people gathered at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner, for the 17th An-nual NVTC Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards on May 29. The CFO Awards recognize local chief financial officers and financiers for outstanding achievement and excellence in promoting the area’s technol-ogy community. NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg and NVTC Chair Brad Antle, president and CEO of Salient Federal Solu-tions, set the stage by welcoming attendees to the evening’s festivities. PricewaterhouseC-oopers (PwC) was the platinum sponsor of the CFO Awards and PwC Partner Gina Gin acted as master of ceremonies.

During the awards gala, John Burton, gen-eral partner of Updata Partners, was honored with the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame Award for his lifetime contributions to our region’s technology business community. Dis-cussing his role as one of NVTC’s founders in the early 90s, Burton highlighted NVTC’s role in the growth of the region’s technology com-munity, stating “over 20 years and thousands of events later, NVTC is the leading group of its kind nationwide” and that it “shines our success at a national level.” In addition, he con-gratulated the other nominees and winners, saying “those recognized tonight… are superb examples of what we should all strive to be.”

Congratulations also go to Private Company CFO of the Year Michael Corkery of Deltek, Public Company CFO of the Year Don Clarke of Eloqua, Emerging Growth CFO of the Year Tony Abate of Echo360 and Financier of the Year Tige Savage of Revolution Ventures.

Thirty-Eight NVTC Members Named to Washingtonian 100 Tech TitansWashingtonian magazine honored the Po-tomac Region’s top 100 Tech Titans in its May 2013 issue, showcasing leaders of Washington’s tech world who are working to grow the region.

A total of 14 NVTC Board members were recognized on the list: NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg, Magid Abraham of com-Score, Anne Altman of IBM Public Sector, Matt Calkins of Appian, Teresa Carlson of Amazon, Ed Casey of Serco North America, Steve Cook-er of Monster.com, Pete Jobse of CIT, Robert E. Kahn of Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Sudhakar Kesavan of ICF Interna-tional, Bradley Schwartz of Blue Canopy, Gary Shapiro of Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, Charles Steger of Virginia Tech, and John Wood of Telos Corporation. Former NVTC Board members Raul Fernandez of Ob-jectVideo and Michael J. Saylor of MicroStrat-egy were also named to the list.

Executives from the following NVTC board member and member companies constitute another 24 names on the Tech Titans list: Booz Allen Hamilton, Capital One Labs, CIT, Cooley, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, DuPont Fabros Technology, Facebook, Google, Grotech Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Korn/Ferry International, Microsoft, National Science Foundation’s Inno-vation Corps, Noblis, Orbital, Parature, Quality Technology Services, SAIC, Speek, TechAmeri-ca, The Washington Post Company.

m E m B E r A N D C O u N C I L N E W s

t The 2013 NVTC CFO Award winners (L-R): Tige Savage of Revolution Ventures, Michael Corkery of Deltek, Tony Abate of Echo360, Gina Gin of platinum sponsor PwC, Don Clarke of Eloqua and John Burton of Updata Partners.

p John Burton accepting the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame Award.

2013 CFO AWARDS FinAliStS AnD WinneRS* Denotes winner

Private Company CFO of the Year:* michael Corkery Deltek Wayne Grubbs GlobalLogic rosalind Kadasi Artel, LLC Jennifer moyer Alarm.com stephen Waechter ARINC Incorporated

Public Company CFO of the Year:* Don Clarke Eloqua John Krobath KEYW David Walker MAXIMUS

emerging Growth CFO of the Year:* Tony Abate Echo360 michael Dunn Siteworx Jorge Forgues Vivisimo and Decision Lens Julia Pulzone CodeRyte Kristyn reed-salow Fishbowl

Financier of the Year: Tony Florence New Enterprise Associates michael Lustbader Arlington Capital Partners* Tige savage Revolution Ventures Tom Weithman CIT GAP Funds

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 9

Bobbie Kilberg Receives Honorary Degree from Northern Virginia Community CollegeDuring Northern Virginia Community Col-lege’s (NOVA) 47th Commencement on May 19, NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg was awarded an honorary associate degree in hu-mane letters in recognition of her lifelong pub-lic service and support for higher education. In addition, Angel Cabrera, the new president of George Mason University and an NVTC Board member, was the commencement speaker.

In presenting her degree, Dr. Bob Templin, NOVA president and NVTC Board mem-ber, lauded Kilberg for her “leadership of the technology industry of Northern Virginia,” as well as her support of higher education across the Commonwealth, particularly in engineer-ing and technology fields, Northern Virginia Community College and veterans returning to civilian life. Templin also recognized Kil-berg for her efforts in “opening the doors of opportunity for those from moderate and low income communities.” Kilberg was awarded NOVA’s highest honorary degree.

In her acceptance, Kilberg thanked Dr. Tem-plin and NOVA in accepting the award on be-half of NVTC and the entire technology com-munity. She congratulated the graduates for skillfully balancing jobs, academics and family, and recognized their families for the support they provided. Kilberg also highlighted both NOVA and George Mason University for being innovative, diverse, entrepreneurial and acces-sible, stating “those are the characteristics that will define the future.” She ended her accep-tance remarks by emphasizing the importance of investing in education to create a dynamic 21st century workforce that will help the region stay competitive in a global economy.

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe Addresses NVTC BoardTerry McAuliffe, democratic candidate for Vir-ginia governor, joined the NVTC Board of Di-rectors on May 14, at LMI in McLean for a dis-cussion of his campaign. During the meeting, he outlined his priorities and shared his perspective on the most pressing issues facing the Com-monwealth. In particular, McAuliffe expressed the need to prepare the state for continued fed-eral budget cuts by diversifying our economy and bringing new businesses to the state.

McAuliffe credited Gov. Bob McDonnell for championing comprehensive transportation legislation this year, stating that congestion in Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area lead to major amounts of lost time and money. If elected governor, he stated that he would base his decisions on which transporta-tion projects to fund on their ability to ease con-gestion and promote economic development. Workforce development and education are two other priorities for McAuliffe. He highlighted the need to focus on early childhood education and match the pay of teachers across the state to the national average. McAuliffe also empha-sized the importance of the Commonwealth’s community colleges, calling them the “real en-gines of workforce development” in Virginia, and suggested that they should be given more autonomy from restrictive regulations in order to promote efficiency.

The meeting ended with a question and an-swer session, in which McAuliffe discussed ways to cover the gap in state funding for uni-versities and community colleges, evaluating and eliminating taxes and regulations that are burdensome for Virginia businesses or tax incentives that are not working, and utilizing Virginia’s assets to promote growing industries like cybersecurity and big data.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli will address the NVTC Board at its July meeting.

t (L–R) NVTC Vice Chair Sudhakar Kesavan of ICF, NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg, Terry McAuliffe and NVTC Chair Brad Antle of Salient Federal Solutions at the May 14 meeting.

p Dr. Bob Templin presents NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg with her honorary degree.

upcoming

nvtceventsOctober 3, 2013 NVTC Golf Tournament

October 16, 2013 Committee Connection

October 30, 2013 TechCelebration: NVTC’s Annual Banquet

November 19, 2013 Titans series Featuring Dr. Arati Prabhakar Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

January 30, 2014 Titans series Featuring Linda Hudson President and CEO, BAE

march 25, 2014 Titans series Featuring Phebe Novakovic Chairman and CEO General Dynamics

upcoming

nvtcevents

Page 12: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

10 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

NVTC Board Member Marilyn Crouther Shares Advice and Experience with Members at Lunch & Learn EventOn May 21, NVTC hosted a Lunch & Learn event with NVTC Board member Marilyn Crouther, senior vice president and general manager, HP Enterprise Services U.S. Public Sector. At this event, a targeted group of 12 C-level executives from NVTC small busi-ness members had the unique opportunity to network with their colleagues and learn from Crouther’s experience in fostering re-lationships with U.S. federal, state and local government clients.

During the intimate roundtable discussion, Crouther shared advice she learned from her 23 years of experience working in both the private and public sector. She emphasized the importance of small businesses knowing their “elevator speech,” especially when looking to work with companies such as HP. Crouther also stressed that companies need to “think outside the box” when developing a core set of capabilities and offerings. Successful compa-nies, she said, provide their clients with a “vi-sion of the enterprise” — where they are going in the future, and a map of how they will get them there.

Crouther also touched on trends in the gov-ernment IT sphere, streamlining and standard-ization to increase productivity, keeping up with the rapid rate of technological change, and how HP fosters entrepreneurial efforts.

NVTC Members Recognized at the Women in Technology Annual Leadership AwardsOn April 18, Women in Technology (WIT) announced the winners of the 14th An-nual Leadership Awards, which honor lead-ing female professionals who have excelled as mentors, exemplified unique vision and helped advance women in technology. The honorees included four representatives of NVTC member companies.

Congratulations to Elaine Anderson of CSC who was recognized in the Corporate: Private Sector Large Business category, Julie Taylor and Marlene Roush of SAIC who were recognized in the Corporate: Public Sector Large Business category and the Rising Star category, respec-tively, and Kelly Moore of AT&T, who was rec-ognized in the WIT Champion category.

Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure Committee Hosts Inaugural EventNVTC’s newest committee, the Data Cen-ter and Cloud Infrastructure Committee (DCCI), formed to promote Virginia’s grow-ing data center sector, held its inaugural event, Mission Critical IT: From Data Cen-ters to the Cloud — How Healthcare, Govern-ment, and Cybersecurity are Leading the IT Evolution, at the Ritz Carlton in McLean on June 5. The event attracted more than 160 executives spanning IT manufacturers, pow-er and network suppliers, service providers, and vendors.

The event was moderated by Andrew Blum, noted author of the book Tubes - A Physical Journey to Our Virtual World, which was given for free to each attendee. In addition, a panel of industry experts — Vishal Agrawal, president of Healthcare Solutions at Har-ris Corporation; Shawn Henry, president of CrowdStrike Services (former FBI Cybercop); and Scott Renda, leader of Federal Cloud Computing and Data Center Consolidation Initiative at the Office of Management and Budget — discussed key issues and challeng-es faced by organizations as they accelerate the transition to hybrid IT and cloud com-puting. Panelists also provided insight into how — and why — Northern Virginia and the capital region are leading the nation in IT in-frastructure and cloud computing. nvtc

U.S. Chamber Recognizes Virginia as a Top State for InnovationA report released by the United States Chamber of Commerce recognized Virginia among the top three states in the country for innovation and entrepreneurship. Virginia ranked sixth in the Cham-ber’s report last year. The report recognized Governor Bob McDon-nell’s “Year of the Entrepreneur” campaign and the role of Virginia’s Business One Stop in providing resources to help entrepreneurs register and grow their businesses.

The report also found that Vir-ginia is one of the best states in the nation for STEM jobs, takes 1st place in the general standard of liv-ing, has the highest share of busi-ness establishments in high-tech industries, and is a national leader in professional, scientific and tech-nical services.

NVTC Member Companies Named Among Washington’s Best Places to WorkWashington Business Journal honored the region’s Best Places to Work on May 9. NVTC Board member companies Appian, LMI and Transformation Systems Inc., and member companies Acuity, AOL, Aronson LLC, Avison Young, Baker Tilly, Broad Street Realty, Capital Search Group LLC, Cooley LLP, Dataprise, ViON Corp., and Vital Edge Solutions were among the 2013 top workplaces.

The list is based on indepen-dent research that asks employ-ees to look at characteristics including team effectiveness, trust in senior leaders and co-workers, manager effectiveness and employees’ alignment with the company’s goals.

m E m B E r A N D C O u N C I L N E W s

p (L-R): Committee Co-Chair Buddy Rizer of Loudoun Economic Development and panelists Andrew Blum, Scott Renda, Dr. Vishal Agrawal and Shawn Henry at the June 5 event.

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 11

On May 6, nearly 200 members of the technology community gathered at The Washington Post head-quarters as 20 of the region’s innovators showcased their company’s technologies at Destination In-novation. Presented by the NVTC Technology In-novations Committee, in partnership with Capital Business, this fresh and fast-paced event highlighted technology advancements emerging from our region and connected innovators from both large and small companies with parties interested in collaborating on technology development and job creation.

The event featured remarks from Magid Abraham, president, CEO and co-founder of ComScore Inc.; Cory Haik, executive producer of digital news at The Washington Post; Mark Muehl, senior vice president of product engineering at Comcast; and Gary Shap-iro, president and CEO of Consumer Electronics As-sociation (CEA)®. All four speakers offered insights on how to foster innovation, including: finding great partners, developing a working product that cus-tomers want, embracing a willingness to fail, and thinking beyond the typical solution.

Along with the industry speakers, 20 companies gave five-minute presentations about their innova-tions and showcased their technologies to potential partners and investors on the exhibit floor. The pre-senting companies were: Berico Technologies, Bet-terPress, CFN Services, Compuware, Critical Power Group, DataRPM, GeoPay Inc., INF Robotics Inc., Light Point Security, Lookingglass Cyber Solutions, Microsoft, Oculis Labs, Rofori Corporation, ROI² Inc., Salient Federal Solutions, Sphere of Influence

Inc., Sprint, SpydrSafe Mobile Security Inc., Triea Systems LLC and Verizon Wireless.

A panel of judges evaluated all presentations based on delivery and innovation. At the conclusion of the program, four companies were named winners in categories based on company size. Congratulations to the following winners: startup company winner Light Point Security, small company winner Oculis Labs, midsize company winner Berico Technologies, and large company winner Verizon Wireless.

In addition, NVTC introduced a new element to the competition this year – an audience choice award. Au-dience votes were collected via text message and each attendee was allowed one vote. Congratulations to Audience Choice Award winner BetterPress.

Video of the industry speakers and 20 presenting companies, as well as the company presentations, are available at http://www.nvtc.org/events/Destination_Innovation_2013.php#. nvtc

t Magid Abraham of comScore addresses Destination Innovation attendees.

t Representatives of award winner companies at Destination Innovation.

Destination Innovation attendees mingle during the exhibition portion of the event on May 6, 2013. u

Destination Innovation Recognizes Outstanding Efforts in Technology Advancement

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On Feb. 23, the Virginia General Assembly adjourned sine die concluding its 2013 legislative session. During the 46-day legislative session, the General Assembly

tackled more than 2,500 bills and resolutions related to a broad array of important issues, including Gov. Bob McDonnell’s legislative initiatives addressing transportation funding, K–12 education reform, and job creation and economic development. The General Assembly approved a number of NVTC priorities including comprehensive transportation funding legislation, new data center incentives, funding to launch the nation’s first cybersecurity accelerator at the Center for Innovative Technology, and increased funding for the oversubscribed Angel Investment Tax Credit. These legislative initiatives will ensure that Virginia remains a top state for business and a global technology center.

NVTC maintained a full-time presence in Richmond throughout the legislative session to actively advocate on behalf of Northern Virginia’s technology community. NVTC’s Public Policy Advocacy Team included NVTC Vice President of Policy Josh Levi, NVTC Public Policy Manager Joe Vidulich, and Myles Louria, director of government affairs of Hunton & Williams LLP.

NVTC’s public policy advocacy was supplemented by strong participation from NVTC Board members and other leaders, with many NVTC members providing ongoing advice and feedback through NVTC’s weekly legislative conference calls, the NVTC TechPolitic Twitter feed and NVTC’s online LinkedIn Public Policy Forum.

While NVTC’s Four Year Vision drives the organization’s overall advocacy efforts, NVTC’s specific legislative priorities for the 2013 Legislative Session were outlined in a letter to policymakers before the session began.

New Funding and Policy InitiativesNVTC is pleased to report that the following NVTC priorities were approved by the General Assembly and signed by the governor.

Comprehensive Transportation Funding PackageAddressing Virginia’s transportation funding shortfalls has long been an NVTC priority. Through the strong leadership of Gov. Bob McDonnell and the tireless bipartisan efforts of legislative leaders in the Virginia General Assembly, a bipartisan majority of legislators approved comprehensive transportation funding legislation sponsored by Speaker Bill Howell. The legislation provides $3.5 billion for statewide construction and maintenance over the next five years, including an additional $300 million to support Phase II of Dulles Rail. The legislation also provides an additional regional funding component for Northern Virginia that, when fully phased-in, will raise $350 million each year to fund regional transportation priorities.(HB2313, Speaker Howell)

Cybersecurity AcceleratorThe General Assembly approved $2.5 million in funding to support the launch of MACH37™, a new market-centric cybersecurity accelerator at the Center for Innovative Technology. CIT’s cybersecurity accelerator will focus exclusively on cybersecurity company formation and initially will produce more than 10 new companies per year to add to Virginia’s cyber assets and capabilities. (Budget Item 423#1c, Governor McDonnell, Sen. McDougle, Del. Greason)

Data Center IncentivesLegislation was passed to further enhance Virginia’s competitiveness in attracting data center jobs and investment by providing local governments the authority to adopt a separate personal property tax rate for computers and peripherals used in data centers. (SB1133, Sen. McDougle; HB1699, Del. Comstock)

NVTC’s 2013 General Assembly Session Wrap-Up:General Assembly Approves NVTC Priorities Including Transportation Funding, Data Center Incentives, Cybersecurity Accelerator, and Increased Funding for Angel Investment Tax Credit

NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg speaking about NVTC’s endorsement of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Transportation

funding legislation at a press conference in January. u

t NVTC leaders and staff meet with Gov. Bob McDonnell and Sec. of Technology Jim Duffey on a trip to Richmond during the 2013 General Assembly session.

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Computer TrespassA bill that would have removed the malicious intent requirement from Virginia’s computer trespass statutes was sent for additional study this year. NVTC shared concerns that this legislation would criminalize legitimate technology business activity. (Sen. Obenshain, SB1173)

In-State Procurement PreferencesBill sponsors struck their own bills that would have authorized state agencies to award procurement contracts to the lowest in-state bidder, if the bid of a Virginia business is within a certain percentage or dollar amount of the lowest bid of an out-of-state bidder. NVTC had shared concerns with the sponsors that this legislation would trigger reciprocal treatment from other states/localities, escalate preference “wars” with other states and raise the cost of procurement. (HB1951, Del. Yancey; SB990, Sen. Miller)

New Intermediary Liability Standards for Virginia Internet CompaniesLegislation introduced at the request of the attorney general to make the misleading, deceptive or fraudulent use of a trademark, service mark or other mark, as defined in Virginia’s code, a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act and to impose liability on third party technology businesses for violations by their advertisers.

While NVTC strongly supports protecting consumers from deceptive or fraudulent advertising, whether it occurs online or offline, NVTC shared concerns that this legislation would harm Virginia Internet-related businesses by going far beyond well-understood standards and remedies imposed under federal intellectual property laws, impose a new vague standard and also subject Virginia businesses to frivolous lawsuits by plaintiffs’ lawyers for hefty statutory damages. (HB2135, Del. Hugo)

Trade SecretsLegislation was sent for additional study that would have removed Virginia from the Uniform Trade Secrets Act provisions shared by more than 45 states and altered the balanced approach most states employ in protecting trade secrets. (HB2064, Del. May)

Increased Funding for Angel Investment Tax CreditFunding for Virginia’s oversubscribed angel investment tax credit was increased from $4 million to $4.5 million in 2013 and to $5 million in 2014. The growth in investor applications for this credit is a positive indicator that the credit is succeeding in growing and diversifying Virginia’s technology economy by encouraging entrepreneurs to locate in Virginia and by encouraging investors to invest in Virginia startups. (Budget Item 3-6.04#1c, Sen. McDougle and Del. Landes)

CrowdfundingThe General Assembly passed legislation which clarifies that crowdfunding investments will qualify for Virginia’s angel investment tax credit and other investment oriented tax incentives. (HB1872, Del. McClellan)

One Stop Business RegistrationLegislation was passed requiring the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to enhance Virginia’s one stop business permitting portal by fully integrating processes and forms into the Business Permitting Center administered by the Department of Business Assistance by 2018. (HB1760, Del. Ramadan; SB1137, Sen. McWaters)

Digital Accounts of Deceased MinorsThe governor signed legislation allowing the personal representatives of deceased minors to request and receive the minor’s digital account information and assets from online technology and telecommunications businesses. The bill sponsors substantially narrowed this legislation from its introduced version in response to concerns from technology businesses about conflicting criminal and civil federal laws that prohibit disclosure of subscriber information in most circumstances. (HB1752, Dels. Bulova and Wright; SB914, Sen. Ruff)

Several bills did not pass the General Assembly this session after NVTC expressed concerns. These include:

Computer Search and SeizureLegislation failed that would have provided that any search warrant issued for the search and seizure of a computer, computer network or other device containing electronic or digital information would be deemed to include the search and seizure of the physical components and the electronic or digital information contained in any such device or network. The bills also provided that the search of the contents of any such device or network could be done in any location and was not limited to the location where such device or network was seized. NVTC raised concerns about the legislation and it was sent to a legislative commission for further study. (HB2050, Del. Webert; SB1030, Sen. Reeves)

For more information about NVTC’s advocacy efforts, including NVTC’s Four Year Vision, letters to policymakers and additional details on legislative policies and initiatives during the 2013 General Assembly session, please visit www.nvtc.org/advocacy.

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Early-Stage Funding Event Provides Advice and Insight for EntrepreneursOn April 18, the CEO / founders of two hot local tech companies and their local venture capital (VC) investors shared their insights at an event hosted by NVTC Small Business and Entrepre-neur Committee. During the event, John Brack-en, CEO and co-founder of Speek, and Phil Bronner, CEO and co-founder of Quad Learn-ing / American Honors Learning, described how they went from the business idea to successful early-stage VC funding, including their business challenges, how they pursued funding and what they have learned from the process. Their inves-tors, Jennifer K. Hsin, CFO of CNF Investments, and Thanasis Delistathis, managing partner & co-founder of New Atlantic Ventures, shared their side of the story and what attracted them to these investments.

The Entrepreneur Center’s FastTrac® TechVenture™ Program Honors its Spring 2013 GraduatesOn June 18, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC graduated 10 individuals from its FastTrac® TechVenture™ entrepreneur training program during a celebration at Il Fornaio in Reston, Va. These graduates join the 106 individuals that previously have graduated from the En-trepreneur Center’s program since fall 2009. The program, created by Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, com-bines instruction from experienced business professionals, one-on-one business mentoring and peer learning to help participants evaluate feasibility, identify target markets and create a business plan to communicate the opportunity to investors and customers.

Congratulations to the graduates from the following companies: Athena’s Workshop, Inc., BusyConf, Kinergy Health, PersonSpot,

Inc., Tag This Car LLC, TechESP, Technology On Time, The Tremendousness Collective, tvTag, and VeriAgile Consulting Inc.

A special thanks to sponsors CohnReznick, EcomNets and Pillsbury and to coaches Ron Kaiser, Joel Kallett, Matt Koll, Duffy Mazan, Steve Meltzer and Brad Schwartz who spent 10 weeks working with the entrepreneurs.

Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2013 session, which will run Tuesday evenings from Sept. 17 to Nov. 19. The dead-line for applications is 5:00 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2013. For more information or to apply, visit www.nvtc.org/tec/fasttrac.php.

July 11 Power of Angel Investing Program to Educate Region’s Entrepreneur / Investor CommunityJoin The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC on July 11 for an interactive program highlight-ing best practices in angel investing. This full-day seminar, facilitated by John May of New Vantage Group, will provide an overview of the angel investing process, including finding, evaluating, and structuring deals, and will ex-plain how to develop angel-entrepreneur rela-tionships that lead to success.

The Power of Angel Investing will feature a faculty of local experts including seasoned angel investors with diverse investment ex-perience, as well as tax and legal experts. Topics such as portfolio strategy, due dili-gence, deal structure and valuation will be explored through a balance of expert presen-tations, panel discussions and small group case studies.

To register, visit www.nvtc.org/events.

P r O G r E s sFive Regional Technology Startups Presented Business Concepts at Entrepreneur SpotlightOn May 2, five startup technol-ogy companies presented their business concepts and answered panelists’ questions in front of an audience of accredited investors at The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC’s Entrepreneur Spotlight program.

Asius Technologies, eTrizzle, Light Point Security, Radical Combustion Technologies LLC and Re-Nuble were each given five minutes to present their compa-nies. They demonstrated business concepts and products, described sales opportunities, outlined plans for future growth and provided other product-related statistics. The startups were then given 10 minutes to answer questions from a panel comprised of Tony Flor-ence of NEA, Matthew Koll of 410 Labs and Bud Rosenthal of AOL.

Special thanks to Entrepreneur Spotlight Presentation Sponsor The Chief Storyteller, Platinum Sponsor The Business Exit Fo-rum and Gold Sponsor Knobbe Martens. For more information about the Entrepreneur Spotlight program, contact Kristin D’Amore at [email protected]. Stay tuned for a future Entrepreneur Spotlight event in fall 2013!

t Panelists share tips on early-stage financing at the April 18 event.

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Event Teaches Emerging Companies How to Do Business with the GovernmentOn June 6, the NVTC Small Business and Entrepreneur Commit-tee hosted it fourth annual How Emerging Companies Can Begin Doing Business with the Government program.

During the event, fourteen federal, state and local government agencies and their small business offices shared tips for how small businesses can do business with them. The participating agencies were: Arlington County Government; Center for Innovative Tech-nology; DARPA; Defense Intelligence Agency; Defense Logistics Agency; Department of Commerce - Business USA; Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; Department of the Treasury; Fairfax County Government; Federal Laboratory Con-sortium; National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; National Secu-rity Agency; and Naval Research Laboratory.

The event also boasted a panel discussion, moderated by Mar-jorie Censer of Capital Business. The panelists — Kris Collo, presi-dent and CEO of MicroPact Inc., Jose W. Fernandez, assistant sec-retary for economic and business affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and John Harllee, vice president, contracts and general coun-sel of Agilex — shared best practices for working with government agencies and provided government sector and small company per-spectives on the contracting relationship.

The panelists discussed what small businesses need to do to prepare for government contracting, including who to meet and how, the programs and services available to small businesses, what not to do when seeking to partner with a government agen-cy, top frustrations and tips to handle them, and opportunities abroad for technology companies. Following the discussion, au-dience members engaged in a question and answer session with the panelists. nvtc

p Networking and agency displays during the June 6 Small Business and Entrepreneur program.

Don’t miss your chance to be a part of NVTC’s 2014 Techtopia Map, our 15th edition!

Not only will having your logo on the Techtopia Map help increase your company’s exposure in Northern Virginia and the Washington Metro area, but you’ll also be helping a good cause. A portion of the Map proceeds will benefit the Equal Footing Foundation (www.efooting.org).

Individual logo spots are available for technology companies or technology nonprofits for just $1,000. There are also a limited number of industry-exclusive major sponsorships open to associate and tech member companies for $4,000. Sign up and return your paperwork before July 31 and receive a 10% discount on your logo or sponsorship!

The map will be published in December 2013 and distributed at an upcoming NVTC signature event. It will also appear in The Voice of Technology, in brochure format, and in an interactive version on the NVTC website, among other venues.

Check out the online version of the 2013 Techtopia Map at: http://map13.nvtc.org/.

Put Your Company on the Map!

Put Your Company on the Map!

To reserve your spot or learn more, e-mail Michelle Senglaub at [email protected].

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From the Trenches: Updates and achievements of nvtc small businesses and entrepreneurs

Spear

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What technology issue or business problem is your company trying to solve?Based on current market and economic conditions, our federal customers are no longer encouraged, but rather mandated to “do more with less.” Spear is able to provide disruptive technology solutions for our customers and business partners, allowing their organizations to architect the ideal technological roadmap, cut costs, increase efficiency, measure to ensure effectiveness and start all over again in a secure fashion. While Spear itself is a great testament to bootstrapping, we extend that strength and vision to our clients and partners to breed success.

Who are your primary customers?Spear Inc. is proud to provide solutions directly to the U.S. government and strategically subcontract to businesses that deliver and cater to the U.S. government.

How do you find your clients?Spear finds its clients the old-fashioned way — by leveraging years of industry relationships via networking. A strong focus on our customers breeds long-term relationships and high levels of satisfaction with our deliverables. Therefore, quite a few of our clients are return customers from prior relationships. We also have established within Spear an invaluable team of industry executives who have an extensive network in the federal marketplace. By leveraging our existing contacts, networking in the industry, or even the occasional cold calling, Spear leaders prove they are ready to reach out to new markets and further entrench Spear in this marketplace.

What is your latest achievement?Spear has invested in building a supreme team of industry experts and a solid infrastructure that can scale for the next few years. We have recruited industry

What technology issue or business prob-lem is your company trying to solve? Large organizations are heavily encumbered with regulatory compliance responsibilities. The IT professionals working for them are continually on the front lines, assessing the risks and implementing the comprehensive framework of controls and countermeasures needed to safeguard their mission-critical data, applications and email. We take away their worry because we have oriented our entire business model around delivering SSAE 16 Type II-certified services, infrastructure, policies and procedures that meet and exceed all of these commercially and federally mandated compliance requirements. We have been con-tinuously audited by independent third party auditors since 2009, so our customers are saved the trouble of auditing our critical internal controls for compliance.

What is your elevator speech? Now celebrating our 20th anniversary, AIS Network takes businesses and governments to the cloud. AISN is the premier provider of eGov hosting services to the Com-monwealth of Virginia. We also serve major corporations and other large enterprises throughout North America.

Who are your primary customers? We serve multiple executive branch agencies in the Com-monwealth of Virginia. Outside of that, we serve large en-terprises primarily in the compliance-intensive government, health care, pharma and financial services industries.

How do you find your clients? Our partners are our No. 1 referral source. The eGov hosting contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia has also helped.

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What is your latest achievement? AISN has a hard-working team and we’ve brought on some phe-nomenal hires. On the technical side, we are continuously upgrad-ing capabilities and adding capacity. Recently, we added Microsoft System Center 2012 and Windows Server 2012. That will allow us to better serve our enterprise customers, especially the Commonwealth of Virginia agencies that we’re currently onboarding. On the market-ing side, the AISN “Are You Ready?” marketing campaign is success-fully promoting our disaster readiness solutions, and the press has continually recognized our leadership in SharePoint hosting. The Web Host Industry Review spring issue featured AISN as one of two major players in SharePoint hosting today.

Put your most sensitive data in one of the most secure and compliant data centers in the industry.Introducing the IBX Vault, a 64,000 sq. ft., 7.3-megawatt data center offering Carpathia’s superior compliant hosting services, 24x7x365 security and unmatched carrier/network connectivity through direct access to 200+ networks, carriers and ISPs.

IBX Vault security includes:

• Perimeter fencing

• 24x7 armed security guards

• Background checks for all visitors

• Multi-level biometric scanners

• CCTV & recorders

• O/S hardening

• Firewall, intrusion protection and web application firewall

• Secure VPN and multi-factor access and authentication

• DDOS protection

Located just miles from Washington, D.C., the IBX Vault was built to meet complex federal compliance requirements including FISMA, DIACAP, FedRAMP, HIPAA/HITECH, PCI DSS and SOX.

IBXVault.com/NVTC

How has NVTC helped you succeed? Participation in NVTC’s educational and networking events has proved invaluable. Our foray into state government contracting ac-tually began at the 2011 Hot Ticket Awards two years ago. When we had a government affairs question, the NVTC staff was responsive and on the case. We cannot say enough good things about Bobbie Kilberg and her terrific team.

veterans with a commitment to professionalism in the workplace and an unwavering desire to deliver top-of-the-line service to our customers.

Additionally, we were able to build a solutions roadmap to provide innovative deliverables to help customers decrease cost and increase efficiencies.

How has NVTC helped you succeed?NVTC provides unrivaled access to both industry experts and end-users in the federal space. Spear has utilized opportunities to attend sessions highlighting industry trends, events promoting networking among industry leaders and panels fostering education within certain segments of our business. We look forward to driving more Spear involvement in NVTC through committees and continued attendance at events. We appreciate the opportunity to build our brand, meet new potential business partners and stay abreast of upcoming trends through NVTC’s unmatched channels in the industry.

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Lawrence r. BardPartner Morrison & Foerster LLP

Bob DinkelManaging Director Pierce Capital Partners

Charles Larock IICorporate Real Estate Advisor

Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage Inc.

Committee LeadershipCo-Chairs

Board Liaison

The NVTC Small Business and En-trepreneur Committee supports and promotes emerging technology com-panies focused on growth as well as

entrepreneurs launching startups by providing content-driven programs that address the chal-lenges of establishing, growing and scaling busi-nesses. The committee educates, promotes stra-tegic alliances between/among, and addresses the concerns of these businesses and provides excellent networking opportunities.

Led by co-chairs Larry Bard of Morrison & Foerster and Chuck LaRock of Jones Lang LaSal-le, with support from NVTC Board liaison Bob Dinkel of Pierce Capital Partners, the committee is one of NVTC’s longest running and has had several iterations and names over the years. In 2009, the Emerging Business and Entrepreneur Committee was placed under the umbrella of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC. A couple of years later, the name was changed to the Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee and, in 2012, NVTC’s Capital Formation Committee merged with the group to form today’s Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee.

The merger “allowed us to bring together two groups within NVTC who had the same goals of educating and supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses, taking the programs and networking to the next level,” said Bard. In ad-dition, merging the two committees “turned out to be a great move,” said Dinkel, because the committee now has a “nice combination of those that are in the financial sector working hand in hand with the small and rising firms.”

Currently, members of the committee are “a mix of small businesses and the companies and individuals who service those companies,” according to Bard. This includes local repre-sentatives from economic development orga-nizations, established business owners, new entrepreneurs, and service providers. Those interested in promoting a strong small busi-ness and entrepreneur ecosystem in the region should join the Small Business and Entrepre-neur Committee. According to LaRock, this includes “seasoned entrepreneurs that can pro-

vide guidance, new entrepreneurs looking for direction, or other business professionals that have natural synergies with entrepreneurs.”

Committee events provide opportunities for networking and interaction with industry ex-perts. The committee hosts three networking happy hour events each year, events with a more formal atmosphere designed to connect busi-ness owners, and educational events that ad-dress different topics of interest to local entre-preneurs. These events typically have a panel on specific topics as well as a question and answer period for the attendees, according to LaRock.

A popular fall event is Meet the Primes, which usually includes a panel with prime con-tractors discussing how they work with small businesses in addition to about 20 exhibiting companies, according to Dinkel. “It’s always a well-attended and much-appreciated event by everyone, both the prime contractors and the small businesses,” he said.

The committee also hosts an ongoing se-ries of events centered on early-stage funding, which has received great feedback, according to LaRock. Each event in the series included an ex-pert panel speaking on topics such as: what ven-ture capitalists are looking for, when to look for VC money, crowdfunding, series A&B funding, and other related topics. The committee hopes to continue its success in 2013–14 by hosting 10 events in the next year.

Committee meetings are held the first Friday of every month from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. at Jones Lang LaSalle in Tysons and generally focus around event planning. “We try to get a consen-sus from the group as far as… topics and events,” said Dinkel, but members who would like to in-teract with others in the industry should also attend. “Many meetings will have more than 30 people attending with a lot of interaction and a lot of networking,” he explained. nvtc

For updates on the Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee’s future meetings and activities, contact Kristin D’Amore at [email protected] to be added to the mailing list.

The Small Business Entrepreneur c o m m i T T E E

m E E T T H E C O m m I T T E E s

&

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NVTC Associate members share their wisdom and expertise on issues of interest to the technology business community.

Q: What is the number one piece of advice you would give a smaller company trying to manage its cash flow?

Small business owners struggle with financial planning and knowing what

money is coming in and going out. One out of every three small businesses fails within the first two years, often due to poor fiscal management. Entrepreneurs need to be able to analyze cash flow performance so they can quickly adjust to day-to-day changes and recognize trends. They need to be more strategic than reactive. Leading edge online tools, like PNC Bank’s Cash Flow Insight, are available for small businesses that bring everything together under one umbrella to provide an enhanced, consolidated money management experience. Owners can save hours of time that can be devoted to their business.

Ed PuzioSenior Vice President, Business BankingPNC Bank - Greater Washington Area

A: Receipt of contract revenues take longer than you anticipate

and expenses are always higher than you expect. Do not grow too fast, you can only grow your revenues as fast as the amount of cash you have to sup-port your operational expenses and receivables. Work with your banker to develop a sustainable growth rate and a cash flow budget to support growth. Keep your banker in the loop.

Don StrehlePresident - Northern VirginiaBranch Banking and Trust Co.

A: While companies always need to find the right balance of growth, internal

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Page 22: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

Virginia Chamber of CommerCe

Without funding, technology would never get off the ground.

Take funding out of the picture, and even the most promising technology will remain just another great idea that didn’t fly. We understand that at First Virginia Community Bank. Our loan products and banking services are geared toward helping businesses succeed. In fact, we’re among Northern Virginia’s most creative financial entrepreneurs. The results? The Virginia Chamber of Commerce has recognized us as one of the top 50 fastest growing businesses in the state. Now, we’d like to show you what our success means for you.

Contact Christopher Turley, Vice President of Commercial LendingCall 703-436-3847 or email [email protected]

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 21

Over the coming 10 years, roughly 29 percent of all companies in the U.S. will be sold, transferred to the next generation, wound

down or otherwise transitioned because of the baby boom generation leaving the busi-ness scene — and the vast majority of them will be closely held middle market compa-nies. Most of them will spend the last few years before the sale working with their at-torney and accountant to maximize value at the table, facing off at the closing against a buy-side team of twenty or more of the best players in the market, all aiming to devalue the company. But where’s the rest of the sell-side’s team — and where have they been along the growth continuum?

The hard fact of the matter is that, when the ownership of a closely held middle market company shows up to sell their company, they are usually outgunned by the professional services team of a larger acquirer or better-funded private equity company. This means that money is left on the table. Sometimes afterwards seller’s remorse sets in and the former owners kick themselves thinking “I could have done better.” So what does it take to level the playing field? Sell-side education.

What if, over the course of growing your company, you had access to the education and services of a certified exit planner? How much stronger would you be if you were op-erating from a plan to coordinate your team and maximize your company’s value? What if that exit planner was working with you to co-ordinate the efforts of your growth strategist, your bankers and insurance providers, your CPA, and your corporate, estates and trusts attorneys? What if you had an exit planner overseeing the work of your valuation team and your compensation specialist, helping you evaluate the efficacy of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), directing you to a life or mental readiness coach in order to assess your appetite for sale and your ability to deal with its consequences, and connecting you with a wealth manager specifically trained in transitioning business liquidity to personal wealth? What if?

What if the resources we really needed were at our fingertips? A number of asso-ciations and trade groups (Vistage, YPO, EO, etc.) have grown up over the years to provide growth education, and a number of books have been published on the subject of growing and transitioning companies. One recent effort that is finding a solid base among owners of closely-held firms is Built to Sell by John Warillow. He’s been accused of simplifying the often complex process of growing a saleable company, but the point of the book — that what’s saleable is a revenue stream that can operate autonomous of the owner — is articulated well.

Our efforts at The Business Exit Forum are more comprehensive than growth education or peer-to-peer counseling. We believe that our job is simply to find the best growth and exit advisors available and educate the mar-ket. The rest will take care of itself.

There’s an adage in business (and personal) growth that says “what got you to the level that you’re at won’t get you to the next level.” There’s some truth to that, especially when it comes to the sale or transfer of a company. Your attorney and CPA are important parts of the team, and when you were under $10 million in revenues they might have been the whole team — but you’ve grown through that stage.

Where’s the rest of your team? The other side will certainly bring theirs.

So Where’s the Rest of Your Team?So Where’s the Rest of Your Team?

John Starling is the founder and president of The Business Exit Forum, a nonprofit educational association dedicated to helping companies grow, retain their key employees, transfer to new own-ership and transition to what’s next. Starling is also the manag-ing partner of Smith Growth Partners, a management-consult-ing firm focused exclusively on top-line growth strategy.

B u s I N e s s e x I T F O r u m

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22 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

Cool Vendors 2013: Exploiting the Forces That Empower the Individual and Erode IT Control Excerpt from the annual Cool Vendor special report published on May 17, 2013

Analysts: Daryl C. Plummer and Michele Cantara

The converging and mutually reinforcing social, cultural and technological factors that Gartner has identified as the Nexus of Forces (cloud, mobility, social and

information) are driving a radical power shift away from the culture of the enterprise and toward that of the consumer. This year, we’ve published 86 reports profiling more than 400 Cool Vendors. Many of these providers are exploiting the Nexus of Forces and are signposts of the creation of a new world order in the IT and technology markets.

The phrase, “new world order” carries with it promise, threat, risk and opportunity. However, more than anything else, it includes a call to change the assumptions that underlie the ways we make our technology choices. It also calls for a change in the expectations we have for how technology will be used. To that end, we are highlighting Cool Vendors whose products or services incite changes in our assumptions.

Gartner’s definition of a Cool Vendor is a small company offering a technology or service that is:

• Innovative — enables users to do things they couldn’t do before.

• Impactful — has or will have a business impact; it’s not just a matter of “technology for its own sake.”

• Intriguing — has caught our interest or curiosity during the past six months or so.

For example, our “Cool Vendors in Retail, 2013” research describes the company Almax, which embeds cameras inside in-store mannequins. They’re used to scan the faces of customers and potential customers to get information about their demographics, moods and tendencies related to the products the store is selling. Retail represents a good place to cultivate change, because customers’ expectations of how they will engage with retailers has changed from in-store to online, and businesses are now returning to techniques designed to bring customers back to the store. However, retail isn’t the only industry exhibiting changes.

In our “Cool Vendors in Healthcare Providers, 2013” research, HealthSpot offers an innovative approach to using telehealth technology that facilitates access to healthcare and reduces barriers to patient engagement. Again, the word “engagement”

becomes a key competitive differentiator for businesses in 2013, as they look to improve their engagement models and the ways they engage customers, employees and partners.

The customer/consumer engagement theme continues in “Cool Vendors in Client Computing, 2013.” Memoto makes a small wearable camera that’s about the size of an iPod shuffle, and includes a GPS. It automatically takes photos and stores them to create a “lifelog.” What could be more consumer-oriented than a personal recording of an entire life?

This is just a small sampling of the vendors and products Gartner is addressing. Overall, our 2013 Cool Vendors research profiles pioneering providers that have the potential to alter competitive dynamics in the automotive, consumer goods, energy and utilities, healthcare, life sciences, media and retail industries. These Cool Vendors offer innovative products and services relating to data, cloud services brokerage, people-centered computing, software infrastructures, security, risk management, applications, consulting, outsourcing, green IT and telecom operations management, as well as other markets.

This collection of Cool Vendors is by no means exhaustive; there’s no way we can introduce every company that’s making waves. Therefore, we’ve selected some to highlight based on our sense of how impactful they are today and can be in the near future, Also, we selected only independent companies, those not acquired by larger companies.

This collection of Cool Vendors research will help:

• Users/clients stay ahead of the IT technology curve and make better strategic decisions about technology and services.

• Vendors examine alternative technologies and service delivery models that can enhance their current products and create road maps for future offerings.

• Investors discover the next great business and investment opportunities.

Interested in learning more about our Cool Vendors 2013 series? Visit us at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/cool-vendors/.

Page 25: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

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24 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

After years of decline, funding for the region’s early-stage startups and entrepreneurs is coming back — from both new and traditional sources.By mark TonerPhotographs by David Kidd

nothing ventured,nothing gained

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 25

John Bracken: “The good news is that the market opportunities for financing are opening up a great deal. That’s really reassuring.”

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26 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

To hear John Bracken tell it, he wasn’t quite ready to seek funding for his teleconferencing startup — or his goal to “rid the world of the PINs and elevator music” associated with conference calls — when op-portunity knocked.

In the early stages of bringing Speek to market last year, Bracken and co-founder Danny Boice both still had jobs elsewhere. Even though they had previous track records in start-ups, the Speek co-founders were new to seeking funding in the D.C. region. Their immediate goals were to find initial customers to prove their concept and then seek seed funding. But at a meet-ing over coffee with Dan Mindus, investment director at the Cen-

ter for Innovative Technology, Bracken shared his mini-pitch for Speek. Two presentations later, CIT’s GAP Funds made a $100,000 investment in the Ashburn startup.

“That got us kickstarted,” Bracken said. More importantly, the seed money led to more meetings — and more early-stage fund-ing — with Speek ultimately picking up an additional $1.4 million after meeting with angels and venture capital investors, one of the largest seed rounds in the region in recent memory.

“The good news,” Bracken says, “is that the market oppor-tunities for financing are opening up a great deal. That’s really reassuring.”

While Speek’s experience is likely not typical — both Bracken and Boice are veteran entrepreneurs — it’s still a sign of growth for the region’s startup community following some lean years. Both nationally and closer to home, early-stage investors, including angels and venture capital firms, had never fully recovered from the dot-com bust a decade ago. Throw in the financial meltdown of 2008 and the upmarket migration of many VC firms, and the result has been a challenging landscape for entrepreneurs. The region has also faced longstanding questions about whether lo-

cal early-stage investors, many of whom made their money in more traditional sectors, are willing to put a stake into startup ventures too far afield from what they know.

But much has happened locally in recent years to change that. More specifically, LivingSocial happened in D.C. instead of New York or Silicon Valley, bringing new juice to early-stage invest-ments in consumer-facing ventures in our region. Much as the region’s technology sector has diversified, so too have investors’ areas of fo-cus. Angels have joined forces in new ways, new incubators are ze-roing in on specific sectors, and startups have leveraged the very technology they champion to look beyond the region for new, even crowdsourced, sources of funding. “The early-stage/seed stage invest-ment landscape has really intensi-fied over the last couple of years,” says Joel Kallett, co-founder and managing director of McLean-based Clearsight Advisors. “[Other markets] are active and vibrant, but I see D.C. being number one in terms of resurgence.”

Still, challenges remain for in-vestors and entrepreneurs alike. “It’s kind of like A Tale of Two Cities — the best of times, the worst of times,” says John Backus, founder and managing partner of New Atlantic Ventures, which has offices in Reston and Cambridge, Mass.

John May, managing partner of McLean-based New Vantage Group, agrees. “The good news is that there are more players than there were 10 or 12 years ago,” he says. “The bad news is that you’ve got to relearn the landscape.”

John Backus: “Now we’ve got online forums facilitating investments by angels in companies, many of which they’ve never seen face to face…The world’s your oyster.”

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That landscape has changed dramatically since 2001. More than a decade later, the dot-com bust still impacts long-horizon VC fund returns; the 2008 financial meltdown rattled investors of all stripes to seek liquidity above re-turns; and locally, as well as nationally, the number of VC

firms has dwindled. “In the D.C. area, there are fewer VC firms now actively writing checks than there have been in a long time,” Backus says. “You could probably count on one hand — or at most, two — the ones writing checks today.”

What’s more, many VC companies have moved upstream, opt-ing to focus their investments on more mature companies. As an example, out of the $286 million in VC funding in the Washington region during the first quarter of 2013, $110 million went to Living-Social — hardly an unknown startup — according to a MoneyTree report released by the National Venture Capital Association.

Yet there is reason for optimism, at least for some: Revolution LLC Chairman & CEO Steve Case has predicted that the region will raise more than $1 billion in venture cash this year for the first time since 2008. And not all VC firms have moved upstream. “We really felt that there was an opportunity in early stage venture capital,” says Don Rainey, general partner of Vienna-based Gro-tech Ventures. “We’ve stayed here, even as a lot of our compatriots have moved upstream.” And as many VCs have moved upstream, other private equity and hedge funds have moved slightly down-stream, according to Kallett. But the reality is that angels have be-come all the more important to securing significant early-stage funding, both nationally and closer to home.

Despite growth in the region’s angel community, none of the 10 most active angel groups ranked by the Angel Resource Insti-tute’s Halo Report are based in our region. The angel community in the D.C. region remains small and focused on smaller invest-ments, agrees Backus. “There are not hundreds or thousands of people here who are going to write $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000 checks to startups,” he says. Backus says the region’s angels are more prone to write checks in the neighborhood of $10,000 to early-stage companies — nothing to sneeze at, but definitely levels that require more legwork on the part of companies trying to pull together larger amounts of money.

While CIT’s Mindus terms the region’s angel community as “robust and improving,” he acknowledges that “many entrepre-neurs are understandably frustrated by the difficulties of raising angel capital.” As VC firms have moved upstream, many angels have followed suit, Mindus adds. “A lot of angels have a feeling that getting to a viable product should be done prior to getting angel money,” he says. “There are a few exceptions to that, but they tend to be entrepreneurs with records of success. For those who do not have a track record, they most likely will need to have some sort of customer validation.”

Then there’s the old knock about the region’s angels — that most of the region’s self-made money has come from the real estate and government contracting sectors. But observers now point to a diversifying angel community.

“The good news is that the angel community of 2013 is broader than the one it replaced,” says Rainey. “We’ve had a broadening of our entrepreneurial base in the last 10 years. One generation was government, the next was dot-com, and the last generation has been both.” One strength is that this more diverse group of angels can provide specialized support for different kinds of entrepre-neurs, he says.

With that diffuse ecosystem in mind, May argues that the one-size-fits-all definition of an “angel” is becoming increasingly outdat-ed. He prefers the term “non-institutional entrepreneurial finance.”

“There’s not just angels any more—there are angels, super an-gels, structured angel groups, family offices, state seed funds, cor-porate strategic funds… a whole accelerator movement,” he says.

Along with supporting the government services that have long been the region’s technology lifeblood, this continuum of early-stage investors has broadened its focus into areas including education, healthcare and cybersecurity. Software-as-a-service and cloud-based applications are also drawing increased attention. Even start-ups in the region’s more traditional sectors have focused on different business models, Kallett says, pointing to the growth of enterprise software and SaaS “delivered in different ways to different verticals than the federal government or large corporate enterprises.”

Dan mindus: “many entrepreneurs are understandably frustrated by the difficulties of raising angel capital.”

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Speek’s Bracken points to more specialized support for startups in different sectors by an increasingly diverse network of inves-tors, individual angels and accelerators as “a strategic advantage for startups in the region.” And specialized support continues to come online. For example, with the support of NVTC, CIT is pre-paring to launch what it calls the mACh37 CyberAccelerator to support fledgling cybersecurity companies. Starting this fall, the accelerator will guide startups through a 90-day company devel-opment process, supported by cybersecurity experts and investors specializing in the sector. mACh37 will help “accelerate the pro-cess by which companies get exposure, feedback and validation from customers,” says Tom Weithman, vice president and manag-ing director of CIT GAP Funds.

Some harsh realities remain for startups, though. The life-cycle of early-stage companies still resembles a funnel with an extraordinarily narrow neck. Nationwide, some 67,000 companies received about $23 billion in angel funding in 2012. At the same time, only 1,800 companies

moved upmarket and received early-stage venture capital funding totaling $1.8 billion. And they’re the lucky ones — only about 2.5 percent of all startups get beyond the “friends, family and fools” phase and get any institutional funding. “That’s a challenging place to be in figuring out how to take the next step forward,” Kallett says. “You can almost think of your first-level connections on LinkedIn as an appropriate family and friends network.”

helping bridge the gap between personal financing and sub-sequent rounds of investments has been the role of the CIT GAP

Funds, a seed-based venture capital fund that invests in rough-ly 25 early-stage companies a year. “We typically run ahead of the angel groups,” says CIT’s Weithman. “The model is for us to be the first money in and be catalytic.” Because of that cata-lytic impact, a $100,000 GAP Fund investment often translates into a $750,000 round of private sector funding, he says. Since inception, the GAP Funds have made 82 investments, averag-ing between $1.5 and $1.8 million a year in funding. It evaluates roughly 400 to 500 companies a year.

Like investors further downstream, the GAP Funds infuses funding around milestones, but focuses on ones earlier in a start-up’s lifecycle, such as moving a product from alpha to beta or porting a mobile application from iOS to Android. “The biggest

challenge that comes from early-stage inves-tors is the hard and fast requirement that they be in the marketplace and have substantial market traction,” Weithman says. “We are participating a little in advance of that. We want to see evidence of company traction, of entrepreneurial commitment, the validation of technology, and proof of market.”

Other new players are joining the fray. Along with his day job at the GAP Funds, mindus recently formed a new angel network targeted specifically at the 40-and-under crowd. “From the vantage point of working in the early-stage financing world, I saw there was a significant number of people who were investing as angels alone or in groups of one to three, or people who wanted to do angel investing but didn’t have a vehicle,” he says.

With 60 members, including a significant number of VC employees and former entre-preneurs, the newly formed NextGen Angels has already made one investment as part of a larger seed-round investment in Ashburn-based Dashboard.io. The group has a simple goal: “To be the most entrepreneur-friendly

angel investors in the world,” mindus says. To that end, NextGen focuses on moving as quickly as possible from introductions to investments, and pledges the help of all members if more than 10 percent decide to make an investment in a company. “You have 60 well-connected people who are helping make introductions and thinking through strategy,” mindus says. “It’s those two things we’ve tried to optimize.”

The 40-year-old age limit, while arbitrary, is a recognition of the fact that even with the advent of consumer-focused Internet com-panies like LivingSocial, younger entrepreneurs may “struggle to find capital from more traditional investors in the region,” min-dus says. Younger angels, he adds, have longer time horizons for their investments and an anticipation of remaining active in the region’s technology community for decades to come.

N O T H I N G V E N T u r E d , N O T H I N G G a I N E d

John may: “There’s not just angels any more—there are angels, super angels, structured angel groups, family offices, state seed funds, corporate strategic funds… a whole accelerator movement.”

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 29

NextGen is only one of a number of angel groups in the region, and individual angels often find strength in numbers. “The rea-son we group is the camaraderie, the psychic reward, the sharing of risks,” May says. “What we want in our community is to have more people to learn best practices, because [investment] keeps high-tech companies here rather than have them leave.”

But ultimately, investments at this stage are often personal—the

result of careful networking and introductions. But a potential shift in the landscape has the potential to change that model.

A s he started mapping out his investment strategy, Speek’s Bracken thought his first round of funding would be entirely homegrown. “I focused initially in D.C. thinking I was going to be able to get it done with local investors,” he says. “That was not the case. You

really need to cast a wider net.”Speek ultimately won additional funding from investors in

New York and Boston, and Bracken acknowledges that his com-pany’s unique service contributed to the need to go outside the region. “The narrower the niche, the more targeted and focused you have to be,” he says.

Emerging tools are making that process easier for entrepre-neurs. Consider AngelList, which can be thought of as a Kick-starter for accredited investors. Much as its namesake Craigslist disrupted the traditional classified advertising business, observers believe that AngelList has the potential to change the way early-stage investments are made. “The old way is that you went and you gave a presentation to 20 to 30 angels at a conference, a dinner or a lunch,” Backus says. “It’s a high-touch, slow, laborious process with a lot of groupthink involved. Now we’ve got online forums

Joel Kallett: “The early stage/seed stage investment land-scape has really intensified over the last couple of years.”

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30 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

facilitating investments by angels in companies, many of which they’ve never seen face to face. … The world’s your oyster.”

Backus points to Spotflux, a former D.C. startup which raised more than $1 million through AngelList. However, he stresses that, as is true in the face-to-face world of investing, investment often begets additional investment, and Spotflux had already won support from New Atlantic Ventures before making its pitch on-line. “The worst thing you could do is put a profile online and say we just started a company and want to raise money with no sponsorship,” Backus says.

The real paradigm shift, however, remains waiting in the wings, and could involve a great many more would-be investors. Although Kickstarter has succeeded in winning funding for a wide range of products, current regulations prohibit companies from using it or similar sites to sell equity stakes to small inves-tors online—hence the autographed CDs or iPhone cases that presently serve as the only return on investment for Kickstarter funders. Those regulations are currently under review, however. If and when the doors to direct investment are opened, “it’s going to change to another order of magnitude,” Backus says. In fact,

Case’s billion-dollar prediction for VC funding in the region this year is predicated, in part, on the growth of the boundary-busting equity crowdfunding represented by AngelList and similar sites.

Though Speek has been among the region’s success stories, Bracken acknowledges the two co-founders’ previous en-trepreneurial track records helped make the initial con-nections that got the ball rolling. So did a strong showing in regional competitions, including winning the Distilled

Intelligence 2.0 event. “Investors closed because we won that event,” he says. “You get everyone’s attention.”

Grotech’s Rainey agrees that investors still seek the same things they always have. “We’re looking for the same signals and responding to the same cues that we have for many years,” he says. He urges startups to quickly identify multiple ways to bring in revenue and increase their profile, to attract the attention of potential customers as much as investors. “They have to be really open to the unexpected,” he says. “The focus of an entrepreneur is a blessing and a curse. It allows them to achieve maximum results in minimum time and resources, but they get a little myopic. It’s a balancing act to be open to opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Speek has continued to grow, with users and word-of-mouth contributing to the conversation. But, even with early-stage wins, engaging with investors was an all-consuming process, Bracken says. Ultimately, the company reached out to independent investment banker Konrad Waliszewski, who was brought on as the company’s vice president of business development and finance. Together, they created presentations, built out financial models, created a target list of investors and began pursing them one by one, ul-timately gaining the support of 18 investors.

“One of the challenges for a startup like ours is that fundraising is a full-time job—in our case, two people’s jobs,” Bracken says. “It’s a lot of ef-fort while you’re trying to hire people and run a company. It was through sheer persistence and diligence that we were able to get it done.”

Having grown to more than a dozen employees, Speek launched its first paid product in May, and Bracken is looking ahead. “We have an exciting roadmap of new features, and we will be raising new capital as part of that evolution,” he says. “It’s sometimes hair-raising, but it’s exciting. You feel like you’re really accomplishing something when you’re building an important product that peo-ple love.” nvtc

Mark Toner is a Reston-based technology writer.

Don rainey: “The good news is that the angel community of 2013 is broader than the one it replaced.”

N O T H I N G V E N T u r E D , N O T H I N G G a I N E D

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32 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

“ While we all want to invest in technologies that can change the world, many highly successful companies have developed a series of ongoing capabilities that make what we already have work better, easier and less expensively. ”

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 33

nvtc You have three decades of experience in high-growth private and public technology companies. How is today’s environment different than it was 20 or 30 years ago?Fundamentally, technology itself has changed the business of technology. Over-all, the pace of business has accelerated in line with the power of computing.

In the past, the development cycle for sustainable technology products was measured in years and millions of dollars; now, great technologies can be built in months and, using the cloud and open systems stacks, almost for free. Com-panies can grow at rates never before contemplated and virally expand to mil-lions of users in seemingly no time at all.

All these things have been enabled by technical advances and lower costs in silicon, Internet and broadband ubiquity, and software-driven engineering tools. As a result, utilization of leading-edge development tools and techniques and constant product innovation are imperative to maintain relevancy.

Years ago, technology was extraordinarily difficult to use and prohibitively expensive. “User Interfaces” were laboratory concepts only. Selling to IT groups in large enterprises was the only market. Now the market is limitless, global and immediate, described by some as “the consumerization of IT.” This creates tremendous opportunity by expanding addressable markets, but has made it far more challenging to differentiate in a cluttered technology landscape

Social marketing and big data analytics provide immense opportunity to reach broad but precisely targeted markets quickly and overcome the clutter problem. On the other hand, a company has less margin for error or poor ser-vice; bad market feedback on a broad scale is instant; control of your marketing message is far more elusive. So, use all these techniques but never overlook plan-ning and preparation in go-to-market activities.

updata Partners Co-Founder and General Partner John Burton provides advice to entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding and discusses the state of mergers and acquisitions and venture capital in the region.

By Allison Gilmore

&Q A

DaviD KiDD

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34 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

nvtc What advice would you give an entrepreneur seeking early-stage funding in today’s marketplace?It’s no secret that it’s harder to raise early or seed-stage capital, but there are good reasons why. It’s much harder to make money as a venture firm from early-stage investment because the path to li-quidity is much longer and higher risk than in the heyday of the 1990s. As a result, there are almost 50 percent fewer active venture funds than ten years ago. Moreover, remember that since it’s easier to build products, it’s more difficult to differentiate your company as a potentially great investment when in the early stages.

So, constantly innovate, bootstrap and get to the stage of a demonstrable prototype before searching for institutional or formal capital. Get early clients, even for no charge, solicit and use their feedback. Then use that real evidence when seriously raising money. Remember that fundraising is an ongoing activi-ty — keep updating your fundraising targets about your progress and achievements. Network, meet with angels, explore crowd-funding and economic development group opportunities like CIT here in Virginia, and get multiple small investments. Then

research and begin to talk with venture firms and other more institutional sources of capital. Market your company like you’ll market your product. Investment capital is definitely available, just from far more diverse sources than in the past.

nvtc What do you look for in making investment decisions?Management teams that listen, are impressive and thoughtful — if they’ve listened to the market and their prospective customers then I want to listen to them. While the idea and technology should be differentiated, most often the starting point is far different than the end point; teams must be flexible, innovative, introspective and persevering. I want to know that a management team knows their market, understands what their product is intended to do and why the buyer should care.

While we all want to invest in technologies that can change the world, many highly successful companies have developed a series of ongoing capabilities that make what we already have work better, easier and less expensively. By truly understanding the markets into which you sell, strong, sustainable and valuable companies can be built.

nvtc Over the years, you’ve been involved in many mergers and acquisitions. What’s your take on the current M&A landscape?It’s quite good but to some extent it’s a buyer’s market. Acquir-ers are cautious and are buying companies to generate growth in existing or new markets or to supplement their own innova-tion and talent. But while the absolute number of acquisitions is relatively stable, the numbers of firms looking to be acquired is up exponentially — so being acquired isn’t a strategy; it’s a pos-sible outcome of building a quality, well-managed and success-ful company. And, being acquired isn’t something that just hap-pens — most great deals emanate from existing relationships with

partner companies that know your company, and see the future potential based on proven cooperative results.

nvtc How would you describe the ven-ture capital market in our region? What makes it unique?The great news is that VCs and private equity firms from all over the country are looking here for investments due to the breadth and depth of technology companies, markets and people. That’s an excellent indicator for a bright future. No other locale has the fed-eral government spawning so many ideas and companies. It’s a great place to live and work that VCs know stimulates success and recruit-ing. I always hear that we have too few early-stage VCs. As we discussed a minute ago, we definitely have fewer, which is also the case

nationally. On the other hand, to fill the gaps we have vibrant and diversified sources of capital and successful people who want to be involved and invest in great new opportunities.

In this region, we have state-level administrations that under-stand the positive impact a healthy startup environment has on the economy and the value that new companies provide to the community. We also have angel groups that are well established to fill in the gaps — an offshoot of a successful tech history and vibrant community.

I travel extensively looking at opportunities and I would stack this region against any in the country for opportunity. nvtc

Allison Gilmore is NVTC’s director of communications and public relations.

Q & A w i t h J o h n B u r t o n

“I would stack this region against any in the country for opportunity.”

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36 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

marta WilsonFounder and CEO Transformation Systems Inc.

NVTC member since: My company, Transformation Systems, has been a member of NVTC since 2006.

Value of NVTC membership is: I love NVTC for many reasons. First, the networking opportunities are outstanding with excellent events throughout the year where I continuously meet the people I want to know. Second, NVTC provides important political advocacy for the region’s technology community. Third, my team and I learn a lot from NVTC’s educational forums, which are great sources of valuable information that we leverage to move our business forward. And, finally, because we are so committed to corporate social responsibility, my team and I enjoy giving back to the community through NVTC’s charitable arm, the Equal Footing Foundation.

Where were you born? I was born and raised in Tennessee near the beautiful Smoky Mountains.

First Job? My first job was working in the fields at a young age with my family on my grandparents’ farm, and my first paying job was working at a steakhouse in my hometown when I was in high school.

When I was a kid I dreamed of being: A secret agent. When I was little, Agent 99 on the TV show “Get Smart” was my hero.

If you could thank one person from your past for the role they played in your life, who would it be and why? I would thank my dear, departed mother who always encouraged me to be my best, do great things and have meaningful success.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received? Years ago, as I was deciding where to go and what to do in my life, a wonderful mentor shared with me the Oscar Wilde quote, “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Great advice!

&UP CLOSE PERSONAL

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summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 37

When I retire I want to: Have as much fun as I’m having right now. That may possibly include writing a spy novel with a bold, beautiful and brilliant secret agent as the protagonist.

Three adjectives that best describe you: Curious, conscientious and committed.

Last book you read: I read a lot. Some good books I’ve read recently include: Ninja Innovation by Gary Shapiro, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain, The Dip by Seth Godin, Life by Keith Richards and James Fox, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer, The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling and The Snowman by Jo Nesbø.

Favorite movie of all time: Forrest Gump. I’ve seen it so many times I’ve lost count.

Favorite mobile app. UP by Jawbone is my favorite app. It supports my UP bracelet, which monitors my sleep patterns, movement, nutrition, mood and more. Plus, it allows me to share my personal stats with others (I’m on a team with my brothers), so we can support each other in staying fit, active and healthy.

Favorite TV show? Currently, my favorite TV show is Game of Thrones, and my favorite characters are Calisi and Tyrion.

Top vacation destination? I enjoy sailing bareboat and exploring the Caribbean during the winter months. Some of my favorite island anchorages are Bequia, Mustique, Mayreau, the Tobago Cays, St. Vincent, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and Tortola.

Words of advice for any emerging entrepreneur: Do what you love, and success will follow. Always stay in motion toward achieving your goals. Surround yourself with trusted experts. Build a strong network. Continuously seek feedback, and don’t rest on your laurels. Give back to your community.

The NVTC Innovator Awards is a new program honoring groundbreaking companies and

technologies in our region. Focusing on a select group of industry sectors, the NVTC Innovator

Awards will recognize industry pioneers with unique or influential products or services that have had a significant impact with customers in the marketplace. Finalists and winners will be celebrated at

TechCelebration: NVTC’s Annual Banquet on October 30, 2013.

Agile Systems DevelopmentCybersecurityCloudMobility (including web 2.0)

Nominate today! www.nvtc.org

The 2013 award categories are:

NVTC members have a unique marketing advantage over non-member companies through NVTC’s member-to-member discount program. Through a variety of advertising and promotional vehicles, the Member Advantage program can facilitate business relationships between your company and other NVTC companies, potentially boosting sales and industry exposure.

And, it’s affordable.

For details visit: www.nvtc.org

Davi

D K

iDD

Page 40: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

Michael Frankel and Shanti Salas of PricewaterhouseCoopers

nvtc is widely recognized as the place to be for networking among the region’s technology community. The following photos are a snapshot of some of the great networking among attendees at nvtc’s recent events.

Frank Blackstone of Blackstone Counsel, with Marybeth Wootton, Charlie Greenbacker and Steven Cubarney of Berico Technologies

NVTC Board member Bob Dinkel of Pierce Capital Partners and

Arthur Lazerow of Triea Systems LLC

Kelly Standen, Bonnie Rishell and Laura Owens of ROI² Inc.

Kirk Taylor of Serious Games Interactive Inc., Andy Koepke of CLRA Group LLC and Chris O’Donnell of NXC North America

Jay Howren of Peak10, Tarren Massey of Verticore Systems Inc.

and Ray Reyna of i4DM

Snapshot

38 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org SuMMER 2013

Destination Innovation May 6, 2013

Social TECHworking May 1, 2013

Page 41: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 39

Jamey Jeff of remarkableHire and ray rice of

Capital search Group

Natalie Buford Young of Deloitte LLP and

mark Zeid of Capital search Group LLP

susan Brooke and shana Wolfson of KPmG LLP

Alex Castelli of Cohnreznick LLP and Jay merriweather of Booz Allen Hamilton

Patty moon of Level 3 Communications and shannon Jameson of Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP

Gretchen Guandolo and John rakowski of Clearsight Advisors

matthew Beardall of JP morgan Chase & Co., Chris O’Donnell of

NXC and Jose Hernandez of JP morgan Chase & Co.

NVTC Board member Jim LeBlanc of unity resources Group with elizabeth Wadle

summer 2013 www.nvtc.org THe VOICe OF TeCHNOLOGY 39

NVTC Titans series featuring General Keith B. Alexander

may 10, 2013The Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards

may 29, 2013

Page 42: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

40 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

OfficersChair sudhakar Kesavan, ICF International [email protected]

President & CEO Bobbie Kilberg Northern Virginia Technology Council [email protected]

Vice Chair Todd stottlemyer, Acentia [email protected]

Vice Chair Anne Altman, IBM Corporation [email protected]

secretary Enrico Della Corna, PNC Bank [email protected]

Treasurer George Quinn, Ernst & Young [email protected]

General Counsel Craig Chason Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP [email protected]

Public relations Advisor Evan Weisel, Welz & Weisel Communications [email protected]

Voting Membersmagid Abraham, comScore [email protected]

John Allen, Bluestone Capital Partners [email protected]

mike Bradshaw, Google [email protected]

John Burton, Updata Partners [email protected]

matt Calkins, Appian [email protected]

Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Services [email protected]

Ed Casey, Serco [email protected]

steve Cooker, Monster.com [email protected]

michael Corkery, Deltek [email protected]

marilyn Crouther, hP Enterprise Services [email protected]

Karen Dahut, Booz Allen hamilton [email protected]

Ted Davies, Unisys [email protected]

Patrick Finn, Cisco [email protected]

Nelson Ford, LMI [email protected]

mike Golden, Wells Fargo [email protected]

Al Grasso, MITRE Corporation [email protected]

Dave Groobert Environics Communications [email protected]

John Hagan BB&T Capital Markets | Windsor Group [email protected]

Linnie Haynesworth Northrop Grumman Information Systems [email protected]

steve Hills, The Washington Post [email protected]

scott Hommer, Venable LLP [email protected]

Bob Johnson, Sprint Nextel Corporation [email protected]

Dan Johnson, General Dynamics IT [email protected]

ray Johnson, Lockheed Martin [email protected]

Joel Kallett, Clearsight Advisors [email protected]

Curt Kolcun, Microsoft [email protected]

robin Lineberger, Deloitte LLP [email protected]

Jack London, CACI International [email protected]

Wayne Lucernoni, harris IT [email protected]

michael maiorana, Verizon Wireless [email protected]

stacy mendler Alion Science and Technology [email protected]

richard montoni, MAXIMUS [email protected]

Tony moraco, SAIC [email protected]

Jennifer morgan, SAP Americas [email protected]

J.D. myers II, Cox Communications [email protected]

raj Narasimhan, Micron Technology [email protected]

Phil Norton, ePlus [email protected]

Oscar Osorio, Grant Thornton [email protected]

rob Quartel, NTELX [email protected]

David schaefer, Ah&T Insurance [email protected]

George schindler, CGI [email protected]

Brad schwartz, Blue Canopy [email protected]

matthew schwartz, kPMG [email protected]

Jean stack, houlihan Lokey [email protected]

Charles steger, Virginia Tech [email protected]

Pete stevenson, Latisys [email protected]

sean stone, Silicon Valley Bank [email protected]

Bob Templin Northern Virginia Community College [email protected]

marta Wilson, Transformation Systems Inc. [email protected]

John Wood, Telos [email protected]

Dave Zolet, CSC [email protected]

Chairmen EmeritiBrad Antle, Salient Federal Solutions [email protected]

John Backus, New Atlantic Ventures [email protected]

Ed Bersoff, Greenwich Associates [email protected]

Kathy Clark [email protected]

mike Daniels, GlobalLogic [email protected]

John C. Lee IV Schneider Electric IT Mission Critical Services Inc. [email protected]

David Lucien, DCL Associates [email protected]

Donna morea, Adesso Group [email protected]

sudhakar shenoy, IMC [email protected]

Honorary MembersJack Dale, Fairfax County Public Schools [email protected]

Gerald Gordon Fairfax County Economic Development Authority [email protected]

Ellen Harrison, Equal Footing Foundation [email protected]

Peter Jobse Center for Innovative Technology [email protected]

Gary Pan, Lucid Technologies, Inc. [email protected]

Gary shapiro, Consumer Electronics Association [email protected]

Senior AdvisoryGreg Baroni, Attain [email protected]

Ángel Cabrera, George Mason University [email protected]

Bob Dinkel, Pierce Capital Partners [email protected]

mark Frantz, BlueDelta Capital Partners [email protected]

Deepak Hathiramani, Vistronix [email protected]

Ted Hengst, Artel [email protected]

Bob Kahn Corporation for National Research Initiatives [email protected]

steven Knapp The George Washington University [email protected]

Jim LeBlanc, Unity Resources Group [email protected]

Paul Leslie, Dovel Technologies [email protected]

Jim Leto, RG Group [email protected]

Paul Lombardi, INpower [email protected]

Lisa martin, LeapFrog Solutions [email protected]

Duffy mazan, Second Venue LLC [email protected]

John mendonca [email protected]

Alan merten, George Mason University [email protected]

Linda mills Northrop Grumman Information Systems [email protected]

George Newstrom Dell Services Federal Government [email protected]

sterling Phillips, USIS [email protected]

Len Pomata, GITIS [email protected]

michael rao Virginia Commonwealth University [email protected]

Gerald rubin Janelia Farm Research Campus of the howard hughes Medical Institute [email protected]

Kim shanahan, korn/Ferry International [email protected]

matthew shank, Marymount University [email protected]

Jim sheaffer [email protected]

mark stauder, Inova health System [email protected]

Teresa sullivan, University of Virginia [email protected]

Lydia W. Thomas, Noblis [email protected]

Earle Williams [email protected]

Dendy Young, McLean Capital [email protected]

missionThe Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia. As the largest technology council in the nation, NVTC serves about 1,000 companies from all sectors of the technology industry, as well as service providers, universities, foreign embassies, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. Through its member companies, NVTC represents about 200,000 employees in the region. NVTC is recognized as the nation’s leader in providing its technology community with networking and educational events; specialized services and benefits; public policy advocacy; branding of its region as a major global technology center; initiatives in targeted business sectors and in the international, entrepreneurship, workforce and education arenas; the Equal Footing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that serves local area youth; and The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, which mentors new technology entrepreneurs.

B O A r D O F D I r E C T O r s as of 07/09/13

Page 43: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

DECISIONS ARE MADE BY THOSE WHOSHOW UP.

THIS OCTOBER, BE A PART

OF SETTING THE “GLOBAL ICT AGENDA”

REGISTER NOW

tia2013.org If you have

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Page 44: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

42 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

N E w m E m b E r s as of 05/31/13

ImT Holdings Corp. www.imtholdings.com

Ingenicomm Inc. www.ingenicomm.net

mobilegov www.mobilegovt.com

PaperCardshop.com LLC www.papercardshop.com

Paycom Human Capital LLC www.paycomonline.com

Peak10 Inc. www.peak10.com

reliance Globalcom www.relianceglobalcom.com

repEquity www.repequity.com

serious Games Interactive Inc. www.seriousgamesus.com

sICPA Product security LLC www.sicpa.com

software strategy Inc.

Technology Companies

4D Inc.

AppDynamics www.appdynamics.com

ATI solutions Inc. www.atisolutions.com

Automated based systems Inc. www.absihq.com

Avoca Learning www.avocalearning.com

blastroots Inc. www.blastroots.com

brite Group Inc. www.thebritegroup.com

bYTEGrID www.bytegrid.com

GCr Incorporated www.gcrincorporated.com

GeoToll Inc. www.geotoll.com

iCoreTech usA www.icoretechusa.com

sYNEXXus Inc. www.synexxus.com

windstream Hosted solutions www.windstream.com

withme Live Inc. www.withmelive.com

Associate Companies

Dow Lohnes PLLC www.dowlohnes.com

Implementation management Group LLC www.implementationmg.com

Insurance Associates www.insuranceassociates.com

KLNb www.klnb.com

Lethbridge & Associates LLC www.lethbridgeassociates.com

Office Depot www.officedepot.com

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, smoak & stewart PC www.ogletreedeakins.com

reckenen Inc www.reckenen.com

sC&H Group www.scandh.com

uPs www.ups.com

waveLength market Analytics LLC www.wlanalytics.com

Affiliate Companies

Association of Public Television stations www.apts.org

George washington’s mount Vernon www.mountvernon.org

Greater reston Chamber of Commerce www.restonchamber.org

Page 45: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

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Page 46: After years of decline, funding for the region's early-stage startups

44 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org summEr 2013

AgencyQAmazon Web ServicesAmerican University, Kogod School of BusinessBaker TillyBlue Door NetworksBoost Labs LLCBooz Allen HamiltonBroadSoftCatapult Consultants LLCCC PaceCenter for Innovative TechnologyCenturia CorporationCenturum Inc.CGICisco Systems Inc.CohnReznick LLPCompetitive Innovations LLCComputer Systems Center Incorporated (CSCI)Compuware CorporationComstock StrategiesCrowdCheck IncCSCCyberData Technologies Inc.Data Systems Analysts Inc.DatapriseDBT-DATA Holdings LLCDebbie Shapiro & Stephanie White of TTR Sotheby’s International RealtyDeltek Inc.

DHK Enterprises Inc.DigitalGlobeDrive Square Inc.DuPont Fabros Technology Inc.Essential Search PartnersFairfax County Chamber of CommerceFoley & LardnerFoundersCorpsG2SF Inc.The George Washington UniversityGermane Systems LCGetWellNetwork Inc.Global Client Consulting LLCGlobalLogicHarris IT Services CorporationHavenSec Inc.Heidrick & Struggles Inc.Hornbaker GroupIndustrial MediumInova Health SystemInScope InternationalIntuit Inc.Invertix CorporationInvest Northern IrelandIPS LearningIrisGuard CorpKen Leiner Associates Inc.Knobbe, Martens, Olson & BearKnowledgeBankLatisysLDiscovery LLC

LeapFrog Solutions Inc.Level 3 CommunicationsLightSquaredM3COM of VirginiaMerritt Group Inc.Micron Technology Inc.Mindbank Consulting GroupMissouri University of Science and TechnologyMultivision Inc.New Century Partners Inc.Nineline Technologies LLCNuage Consulting Group Inc.OhMyGovPaneraTech Inc.ParaturePhase One Consulting Group Inc.Pierce Capital Partners LLCPrincipal Financial GroupQinetiQ North AmericaRapidan StrategiesRaytheon Trusted Computer SolutionsReal NetworksRecovery Point SystemsReed Smith LLPRobert Half InternationalRolls-Royce North AmericaRyanSharkey LLPSagent Advisors Inc.Salesforce.comSchneider Electric IT Mission Critical Services IncSercoSignature thinkersSonatypeSourcefire Inc.Spear Inc.Symantec CorporationTech 2000 Inc.Technology On TimeThe Capitol Bay Group at Morgan Stanley Smith BarneyThe Center for Organizational ExcellenceThe Edens Group LLCThe Shipping EmporiumThe Washington Post CompanyThink Forward ConsultingTransformation Systems Inc.United BankUnited Way of the National Capital AreaUpdata PartnersVedder Price PCVerizon WirelessVizual Inc.VocusWashington Resource AssociatesWestfields MarriottWolf Trap Foundation

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