DC Startup Week
DC Startup & Tech Week is a nonprofit community organization operating the DMV region's largest annual startup and technology conference, serving early-stage founders, growth-stage founders, and investors with year-round programming and 10+ specialized content tracks.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What DC Startup Week does
DC Startup & Tech Week (DCSTW) is a nonprofit community organization and event operator founded in 2015 in Washington, D.C. to serve the startup and technology ecosystem of the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia) region. Its flagship offering is an annual multi-day conference featuring keynotes, workshops, pitch competitions, and expo showcases across 10+ specialized content tracks, including Early Stage Founders, Growth Stage Founders, Emerging Tech & AI, Government & Innovation, Life Sciences, Climate & Sustainability, and Female Founders & Funders. In June 2026, the organization announced an expansion from a one-week annual event to a 365-day year-round programming model.
The organization's revenue model is sponsorship-led and event-based: paid ticketing tiers for the annual conference (with a complimentary Community Access Pass to remove financial barriers), corporate sponsorship packages, and booth/expo fees from the Startup Showcase, Resource Showcase, and CPG Showcase. Notable sponsors include Amazon, J&J Innovation JLABS, Comcast, HubSpot, Penn-West, and over 25 other corporate and institutional partners. Operating infrastructure runs on commodity SaaS platforms (Eventbrite for ticketing, Sched for agenda management, Square for payment processing, and Slack for community engagement), and there is no proprietary technology product.
DCSTW targets three primary customer segments: early-stage founders seeking network and mentorship, growth-stage founders seeking investor access, and investors/capital allocators seeking deal flow. Secondary segments include ecosystem partners, service providers, and startup teams. Leadership consists of Director and Co-Chair Rachel Koretsky, Co-Chair Seema Alexander (both tenured 9+ years), and Founder Chida Sadayappan as volunteer lead organizer. The organization documents a $3.2M direct economic impact on the DMV region and projects $10-20M in long-term impact, with 17 countries represented and 27% international engagement among attendees.
DC Startup Week firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- DC Startup Week
- Legal name
- DC Startup & Tech Week
- Website
- https://dcstartupweek.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- DC Startup & Tech Week is a nonprofit community organization operating the DMV region's largest annual startup and technology conference, serving early-stage founders, growth-stage founders, and investors with year-round programming and 10+ specialized content tracks.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
DC Startup Week industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Startup Ecosystem Events
- NAICS
- Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Technology & Innovation Expos Organizers (THAHABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Engineering & Technology Congresses (THAHAJAE)
Keywords
Where DC Startup Week is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
DC Startup Week business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
DC Startup Week product offering
Product offeringCore offering
DC Startup Week (DCSTW) organizes an annual multi-day startup and technology conference in Washington, D.C., featuring keynotes, workshops, pitch competitions, and expo showcases across 10+ specialized tracks. The organization also runs year-round programming including the Startup Showcase, Resource Showcase, CPG Showcase, DC Startup Women initiative, and a Community Slack channel supporting founders, investors, and ecosystem partners in the DMV region.
Product overview
DC Startup & Tech Week (DCSTW) operates a platform-plus-events model centered on its flagship annual conference plus year-round programming. The core offering is the DC Startup & Tech Week annual conference—a multi-day event featuring keynotes, workshops, pitch competitions, and expo showcases. Supporting products include the Startup Showcase, Resource Showcase, and CPG Showcase for exhibitors, plus the DC Startup Women initiative for female founders. Year-round engagement is maintained through the Community Slack Channel, providing 365-day networking and support. Content is organized across 10+ specialized tracks addressing topics from early-stage funding to emerging tech and AI.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- DC Startup Women: A program/initiated focused on supporting female founders and entrepreneurs within the DC startup ecosystem.
Products and services
- DC Startup & Tech Week Annual Conference Multi-day annual conference featuring keynotes, workshops, networking events, pitch competitions, and expos across multiple content tracks, bringing together founders, investors, and ecosystem partners in the DMV region.
- Year-Round Programming 365-day innovation support system providing ongoing events, resources, and exclusive promotions for founders beyond the annual conference week.
- Startup Showcase
Companies that use DC Startup Week
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
DC Startup Week technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
DC Startup Week partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators13 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights4 records
DC Startup Week competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- TechCrunch Disrupt: The flagship U.S. startup conference featuring founder pitches, investor networking, and ecosystem programming. Directly comparable to DCSTW's annual conference in audience (founders, VCs, operators) and format (multi-day, multi-track), though national/global in scale versus DCSTW's DMV focus.
- SXSW Conference & Festivals: Massive Austin-based multi-track conference spanning tech, film, and music with significant startup/tech programming. Comparable in scale of multi-track programming and sponsor depth, though SXSW is a much broader cultural festival serving many more verticals than DCSTW's startup-only focus.
- Web Summit: One of the world's largest tech conferences (Lisbon, plus global editions). Comparable in mission (convening founders, investors, and policymakers) and conference model, though global and much larger in scale than DCSTW.
- CES (Consumer Electronics Show): The large-scale technology/innovation expo organized by the Consumer Technology Association. Comparable as a tech/innovation expo destination for startups, investors, and partners, though CES is dramatically larger and product-launch focused rather than founder-networking focused.
Regional players
- NY Tech Week: A multi-day, multi-event citywide startup gathering organized by Tech:NYC. The closest structural analog to DCSTW's annual flagship: community-organized, regional focus, with year-round programming and distributed events across a metro area. Comparable as a competing regional flagship startup week.
- Boston Tech Week: Multi-event startup gathering serving the Boston/New England ecosystem. Same fundamental playbook as DCSTW: community-led, regional focus, multi-day/multi-event format aggregating programming from local ecosystem partners. A direct competitive analog in another major innovation hub.
- LA Tech Week: Los Angeles startup ecosystem gathering following the Tech Week distributed-event model. Operationally and structurally identical to DCSTW's annual format and equally focused on founders, capital allocators, and ecosystem partners in a specific metro.
Others
- DC Inno (American Inno): Digital media outlet focused on the DMV startup/innovation economy, frequently running events and ecosystem coverage. Comparable as an adjacent DMV startup ecosystem participant driving visibility for founders, investors, and partners that DCSTW serves.
Emerging players
- 1776 (Startup Community): Startup incubator and community organization historically focused on the DC ecosystem. Operates in the same DMV founder/investor support space as DCSTW with programming, mentorship, and events, complementing rather than directly competing with the annual conference format.
Direct peers
- Startup Grind: Global startup community organization running recurring founder-focused events, content, and conferences across many cities. Most direct structural analog: grassroots, community-organized, sponsor-supported programming for early-stage founders and investors - the same model DCSTW operates in the DMV.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
DC Startup Week social profiles
Digital presenceDC Startup Week financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
DC Startup Week leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
DC Startup Week funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
DC Startup Week M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments5 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about DC Startup Week
What does DC Startup Week do?
DC Startup Week (DCSTW) organizes an annual multi-day startup and technology conference in Washington, D.C., featuring keynotes, workshops, pitch competitions, and expo showcases across 10+ specialized tracks. The organization also runs year-round programming including the Startup Showcase, Resource Showcase, CPG Showcase, DC Startup Women initiative, and a Community Slack channel supporting founders, investors, and ecosystem partners in the DMV region.
Is DC Startup Week a public or private company?
DC Startup Week is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was DC Startup Week founded?
DC Startup Week was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is DC Startup Week based?
DC Startup Week is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
Who are DC Startup Week's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are TechCrunch Disrupt, SXSW Conference & Festivals, Web Summit and CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Regional players are NY Tech Week, Boston Tech Week and LA Tech Week. DC Inno (American Inno) is listed as an others. 1776 (Startup Community) is listed as an emerging player. Startup Grind is listed as a direct peer.
Does DC Startup Week have an API?
No public API is recorded for DC Startup Week.
What industry is DC Startup Week in?
DC Startup Week's product category is Startup Ecosystem Events. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHABAE, Technology & Innovation Expos Organizers, with a secondary code of THAHAJAE, Engineering & Technology Congresses. Its NAICS code is 561920.