Down the road from Ben‘s Chili Bowl on 12th and U, tall cranes dot the skyline along the 14th St corridor. The young, vibrant masses are moving in, and shopping and dining out have become more fashionable. After months of construction, the massive Louis at 14th was finally taking shape. As 270 apartments were getting …
Category Archives: Startup
Alba Osteria
I was going for a run around Chinatown and Mount Vernon Square when I sensed the unmistakable gamey smell of roast pig. I followed the scent and arrived at an outdoor patio with a bocce parklet on I Street. A small crowd was enjoying happy hour while a suckling pig turned a crisp brown on …
Best of DC
We applied for the GWU Business Plan competition three times, hoping that indeed the third and last time was the charm. Unfortunately, all the leprechauns in the world could not help us. Each time, we advanced to the semifinals, but the finals turned out to be our tough mudder. The second time, was the most …
Iron Chef
One sunny weekend during the fall of 2013. The restaurant scene in G-Town was abuzz with tourist activity. I passed Georgetown Piano Bar and then Jinx Tattoo parlor, soothing sounds of reggae music emanated from the brown brick establishment. Bandolero was next and this is where I hoped I would cut my first big deal. …
A Site is Born
During the spring of 2010, I enrolled in Professor Richard Donnelly’s New Ventures Class at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Business. Students had to create ideas for a new venture, form groups of four and present the idea to the entire class at the end of the semester. My teammates were Daniel Lonnerdal, …
TAPS
Suzannah was a godsend who turned out to be a perfect sales rep and event organizer for our fledgling startup. Originally from Charleston, she carried the charm of a genteel Southern hostess and a transcending smile of a graceful beauty queen. She arranged a meetup with Biergarten Haus, a German beer garden on the newly …
Il Radicchio
Arlington is chock full of superior Sunday Brunch specials, so enticing that Washingtonians cross the river weekly to get their fill of boozy brunches. Just drive down Wilson Blvd. from Ballston to Rosslyn and there are brunch specials aplenty. Nestled between the intersection of Rosslyn and Courthouse, Il Radicchio has been serving oven-baked pizza and endless pasta specials …
Startup Weekend
That next big tech event was Baltimore’s first-ever Startup Weekend held on April 17-19, 2011. On Friday afternoon, I arrived at the Emerging Technology Center, Baltimore’s Technology Incubator, at 8 pm, just in time for the pitches and a quick drink of something. I chugged down an Amstel Light as I glanced around the burgeoning crowd …