Center for American Entrepreneurship

What Center for American Entrepreneurship does

The Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) policy research and advocacy organization founded in 2017 and headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area. It focuses on policies affecting U.S. startups and entrepreneurs, with particular attention to access to capital, regulatory conditions for new firms, and the broader operating environment for entrepreneurship. CAE does not operate a technology product or sell a commercial service; its core activities are convening entrepreneurs, commissioning and publishing research, and producing policy recommendations aimed at U.S. federal and state policymakers. Its website, startupsusa.org, serves as the primary channel for distributing its research output.

CAE's recent programmatic focus has centered on AI policy and its impact on American startups. Between May and October 2025, the organization conducted four roundtables with more than 50 entrepreneurs across Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and Milwaukee to assess AI adoption challenges, including fragmented state-level AI regulation, hiring impacts, and barriers to accessing frontier AI models. In June 2026, CAE extended this work into a national media setting via participation in the Axios AI+NY Summit, advocating for "little tech" representation in AI rulemaking. The organization has argued that fragmented 50-state AI regulation could disproportionately harm small companies before they reach scale, a position it carries into both its convenings and its published commentary.

CAE operates under a non-profit 501(c)(3) framework with revenues that would come from grants, donations, or comparable sources typical of Washington-area policy organizations; no revenue, donor, or grant figures are disclosed in the available data. The organization employs between 1 and 10 staff and is led by Founder and President John Dearie, Chairman Blake Patton, Associate Vice President Katie Roddey, and Research Director Ian Hathaway. Distribution of its research is conducted through direct engagement with policymakers, the roundtables described above, and earned media partnerships including Axios.

Name

Center for American Entrepreneurship

Website

https://startupsusa.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Center for American Entrepreneurship is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) policy research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2017. It convenes startup entrepreneurs, conducts research, and advocates for federal and state policies supporting U.S. startups, with a recent focus on AI regulation and "little tech."

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Policy Research and Advocacy

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Entrepreneurship & Small Business Workforce Programs (EDAAAOAM)

Keywords

• Entrepreneurship policy advocacy
• Startup policy research
• Non-profit policy organization
• AI policy advocacy
• Small business advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The Center for American Entrepreneurship is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) policy research and advocacy organization that conducts roundtables, research studies, and policy discussions with startup entrepreneurs. The organization focuses on assessing AI adoption patterns among American startups through convenings and published reports, and advocates for policies that support startup growth, access to capital, and fair competition against big tech.

Product overview

The Center for American Entrepreneurship is a policy research and advocacy organization that conducts roundtables, research studies, and policy discussions with startup entrepreneurs. It does not offer a technology product or software platform. The organization focuses on assessing AI adoption patterns among American startups through convenings and published reports, rather than delivering a product-based offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI Adoption Roundtables
• Little Tech Policy Advocacy

Quantifiable outcome

• Conducted four roundtables with over 50 entrepreneurs across four major U.S. cities between May and October 2025

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AxiosminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 June 2026The Center participated in an Axios AI+NY Summit roundtable where startup founders and industry experts discussed concerns about fragmented AI regulations, big tech preferential access to frontier AI models, and the need for 'little tech' representation in policy discussions.
• Entrepreneurs in Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and MilwaukeecoreOthers · 1 May 2025The Center for American Entrepreneurship partnered with over 50 entrepreneurs across four major U.S. cities to conduct roundtables assessing AI adoption in American startups. These sessions gathered insights on AI implementation challenges, hiring impacts, and preferences for open-source AI models. The partnership enables the Center to inform its policy advocacy with direct input from the startup community.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF): ITIF is a DC-based think tank producing research and policy recommendations on technology, innovation, and AI regulation — a direct peer to CAE in both subject matter (AI policy) and operating model (nonpartisan research and advocacy).
• Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: The Kauffman Foundation is a major U.S. philanthropy focused on entrepreneurship research, education, and policy advocacy — a closely aligned peer with substantially greater resources pursuing a similar entrepreneur-focused policy mission.
• Small Business Majority: Small Business Majority is a national small business advocacy organization that conducts research, surveys entrepreneurs, and engages policymakers — overlapping with CAE's convening-and-advocacy model applied to a broader small-business constituency.
• Engine Advocacy: Engine is a nonprofit policy and advocacy organization that represents the interests of internet startups and the 'little tech' community in Washington — directly parallel to CAE's mission of giving startup founders a voice in tech and AI policy debates.
• Chamber of Progress: Chamber of Progress is a tech industry coalition advocating for progressive technology policy including AI regulation frameworks — a directly comparable advocacy organization that, unlike CAE, represents larger tech incumbents rather than startups.
• National Venture Capital Association (NVCA): NVCA is the trade association representing the U.S. venture capital industry, advocating for policies that support startups and innovation — closely comparable to CAE's advocacy role but with industry-wide VC representation rather than a 501(c)(3) research focus.
• National Small Business Association (NSBA): NSBA is a long-standing small business advocacy group that conducts surveys and produces policy research on behalf of small employers — a comparable peer to CAE in mission and primary-research-driven advocacy, though older and larger in scope.

Broad incumbents

• American Enterprise Institute (AEI): AEI is a major DC-based policy research organization that produces scholarship on economics, technology, and regulation — a broad incumbent peer operating with significantly greater resources in the same think tank space as CAE.
• Brookings Institution: Brookings is one of the largest and most established DC think tanks, producing influential research across economic policy including entrepreneurship and technology — a broad incumbent that operates at much greater scale than CAE in the same policy research space.
• R Street Institute: R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization based in DC covering technology, innovation, and regulatory policy — a broad incumbent peer to CAE in policy research methodology and AI/tech regulatory advocacy.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/startupsUSAorg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center for American Entrepreneurship