As home to a diverse range of innovators working to solve problems across multiple industries, the D.C., Maryland and Virginia region has cultivated a growing tech ecosystem. However, for many entrepreneurs, like Jay Tailor and Santiago Sanchez, founders of BlueHealer, access to capital and opportunities can be challenging.
“We’ve been around for over two years now, and I think we’re only right now starting to see an increase in people understanding what we’re doing, people caring for what we’re doing,” Sanchez told The Informer during the D.C. Startup & Tech Week “Battle of the Regions” Championship pitch competition on Oct. 23.
Sanchez and Tailor, third-place winners of the competition, are developing implant technology that uses bone to help heal wounds and prevent amputations among patients with diabetes and vascular conditions. However, it’s been a rough road in getting the funding necessary to advance their technology and bring it closer to patients who could benefit from it.
“The biggest challenge is probably communicating that this an emerging biology but can give a new option for [patients],” Tailor said.” Getting non-medical folks to believe [in it] is not always easy, but we’ve gotten better at it through these kinds of pitches.”
Through workshops, pitch competitions, panel discussions, keynote speakers and networking opportunities, the D.C. Startup & Tech Week (Oct. 19-23) connected startup founders with the resources and relationships needed to develop and scale their businesses.
“[With] D.C. Startup & Tech Week, how we’re supporting founders and touching founders [involve] three core components: access to community, access to capital, access to the educational resources that you need in order to start, scale, and grow your company,” Rachel Koretsky, founder and CEO of D.C. Startup & Tech Week, told The Informer. “That’s the beauty of the week that we’re bringing together, where it’s a community that’s willing to help one another, learn from one another, celebrate with one another, but also be there for one another. ”
Featuring products developed to address issues ranging from health care to space exploration, the Battle of the Regions final pitch competition offered a glimpse into what it takes to turn an innovative idea into a successful business.
The panel of judges, representing various business sectors, listened as companies vied for the grand prize. In the end, two Maryland businesses TechNovaTime and BlueHealer Inc. took first and third place, while Virginia’s Torev Motors secured second place and a $2,500 cash prize. TechNovaTime received $10,000 and an opportunity to compete for a $1 million investment at the November Startup World Cup pitch competition in San Francisco.
“It’s really important that we are putting together events as today,” Koretsky said. “By doing that, it’s where the whole region is able to rise.”
Winning third place, the BlueHealer founders said, is a step in the right direction as they work to grow their business. Nonetheless, there’s still more work to be done.
“Next steps are further developing [from this conference] towards funding opportunities and partnerships, bringing people into our newsletter, setting up further calls so that they can get their questions answered and get up to speed on all the recent traction we’ve had,” Tailor said.
Working to Overcome Hurdles, Access to Opportunities
From restrictions on grant eligibility due to their immigration status to securing proper funders and supporters, Tailor and Sanchez have had to navigate various obstacles in working to bring their technology to the market.
“You know, it’s just the cards that we were dealt with, that we have to play, and we’re finding ways around it,” Sanchez told The Informer. “[We’re going] for some other kinds of funding, some other kinds of competitions and grants and raising diluted funding. I would say that’s one of the biggest hurdles.”
Adam Hugh Phillips, managing partner of Athletes Innovate Ventures and emcee for the pitch competition championship, said that people like the BlueHealer founders are not alone.
“When they need capital, it is a critical juncture,” Phillips told The Informer.
For Phillips, opportunities like the D.C. Startup & Tech Week pitch competition is a valuable way for founders to build relationships with potential investors, partners and other supporters.
There were notable industry figures in the room, from the audience to the panel of judges, who included: William Bowser, principal at High Street Equity Partners; Khalil Bilal, investor and principal at 100KM Ventures; Andrey Mikhalcuk, co-founder and managing partner at Station Alpha; Emily McMahan, co-founder and general partner of AIN Ventures; and Vincent Perez, founder and CEO of Long View Partners.
With about 250 gathered in the space, Phillips encouraged entrepreneurs to view the entire audience as a potential source of future opportunities, rather than focusing solely on the judges evaluating their pitches.
“You’re pitching the whole room,” Phillips said to The Informer.
Aspiring entrepreneur Unda March, who has a background in data science and physics, attended the competition to learn more about the resources available to founders across the region.
“I haven’t really met anybody who’s like, I had this idea, and this person gave me $50,000 to approach it the right way,” said Unda March during the convening’s pitch competition, hosted the final day of the conference.
While she appreciated the pitch competition, March still maintains her concern for up-and-coming founders’ abilities to gain access to early-stage funding for the development of their ideas.
“In order to meaningfully test something and especially compete, you should still be able to come with resources,” March told The Informer.
In the meantime, Koretsky hopes D.C. Startup & Tech Week and the pitch competition can be a strong start in helping startups realize their full potential.
“We want to make sure each [individual got] something out of getting out there on the stage, or that meant something to them, and that made that connection… to the community that allows them to get to that next level,” she said.
