Completely agree those lists are pay to play, but they also include some cool companies that underscore my point.
Rocket Money (nee True Bill; Silver Spring) is fintech. Optoro (Bethesda) is retail supply chain. Alarm.com (Tysons) is home security. FrameBridge (also Tysons) is home goods. (Beyond that, you've got companies like Mapbox, ID.me, Opower, Motley Fool, and Capitol One.)
Cvent - agreed on causation, but don't agree that it's government focused. The US Government spending is something like 1/3 of GDP. It has massive ability to influence policy and national investment. It makes sense that non-profits, associations, and others would congregate in the DC region. It's why we have at least 2 nuclear fusion companies based here (one of which has a freaking rail gun in Chantilly).
I should really do the math, but it feels like a significant portion of the Fortune 500 have "more than just lobbying" footprints within ~25 miles of DC.
On hiring I agree that it can be hard, but I do still see cool small companies in the "#DCTech" scene. I think there's talent out there that could be moved to companies doing interesting impactful work.
As for data centers, I'll concede that point. I almost omitted it originally because I couldn't connect the dots either.... I should have.
Sure, with the money involved, there is some private companies. I worked for one you named. However, startup scene will always have government focused entities and therefore non-government specialized VCs (like YC) probably don't see juice worth the squeeze to try and find a few diamonds in the rough.
As for talent moving to companies doing interesting impactful work, I'm not sure I see it. Tech people moving into area seemed to be drawn by government work so they are gone. Home grown tech workers are mixed bag of which I'm one. Some followed their parents and join the ranks of government employees/contractors. Others did find private employment. Really good ones seemed to depart the area. I wasn't really good one, I just moved for my partner.
Rocket Money (nee True Bill; Silver Spring) is fintech. Optoro (Bethesda) is retail supply chain. Alarm.com (Tysons) is home security. FrameBridge (also Tysons) is home goods. (Beyond that, you've got companies like Mapbox, ID.me, Opower, Motley Fool, and Capitol One.)
Cvent - agreed on causation, but don't agree that it's government focused. The US Government spending is something like 1/3 of GDP. It has massive ability to influence policy and national investment. It makes sense that non-profits, associations, and others would congregate in the DC region. It's why we have at least 2 nuclear fusion companies based here (one of which has a freaking rail gun in Chantilly).
I should really do the math, but it feels like a significant portion of the Fortune 500 have "more than just lobbying" footprints within ~25 miles of DC.
On hiring I agree that it can be hard, but I do still see cool small companies in the "#DCTech" scene. I think there's talent out there that could be moved to companies doing interesting impactful work.
As for data centers, I'll concede that point. I almost omitted it originally because I couldn't connect the dots either.... I should have.