DC event startup looks to highlight area’s growth

The former president of Bisnow Media has launched a new media and events startup called DCA Live to capture the growth in the D.C. region’s business diversity.

“Our mission is to cover the people, the companies, and the industries that are driving growth in the Washington region,” said Doug Anderson.

Anderson says he founded the company because he “wanted to create a new venture to really cover some of the business communities I felt weren’t getting their due.”

Anderson said that while D.C. has a number of strong business communities with national and global significance, “right here in our own backyard, we often times don’t realize it.”

He cites as an example the education technology industry which is booming in the Washington region: companies such as Full Measure Education, Blackboard, and EverFi, which recently received over $190 million in investment funding.

“They’re doing great things over there, and I think it’s something we can all be proud of. We all should be more aware of that community,” Anderson told What’s Working in Washington.

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DCA Live’s events are designed to boost awareness of strong communities. One upcoming event is part of the company’s Trending 40 series, a monthly event recognizing 40 leaders in different fields of Washington business. The June 22 event focuses on entrepreneurs in the federal space.

“The federal contracting, federal technology space is not a new industry for Washington. But I think it’s also important to realize that it’s not just the big players, the names you know, that are in that. There’s lots of entrepreneurs, there’s lots of energy,” said Anderson.

Anderson also said that Washington deserved events and spotlighting like this because its entrepreneurial culture is “incredibly diverse, in the challenges it’s taking on.”

In the work to show off this diversity, “the opportunity to meet all kinds of interesting people, to be at the center of this community, to help build the community, that’s what gets me going,” he said.

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