Thursday night at Lux Lounge, over 600 attendees witnessed a showcase of 9 startups as they gathered to mingle, connect & share stories over a few cocktails & light snacks.
Although TechCocktail itself was Chicago born, this midwesterner was new to the idea… so a chat with Mark Bebawy, Community Manager (for the past 2 years) for the group shed some light… “its more than just a cocktail hour” … startups demo, find missing components and find their niche… “As compared to other Tech Cocktail events, DC s are more focused on non-profits & government issues … obviously a reflection of the unique DC & technology scene,” – Bebawy. From their website: “Started as a community building event founded in May 2006 by Frank Gruber and Eric Olson, TECH cocktail has been hosting mixer events and covering technology start-ups across the country with the focus of helping to amplify the local technology signal.” 
SeeClickFix – encourages opens government and civic participation through simple tasks such as reporting a pothole.
Structo – cloud user input for web applications. Build your application faster.
Better Human Race – Social Good+Social Media =Stream of Social Consciousness. 1 Million People Changing the World By Surfing the Web… Chris Lawson, Vice President of Marketing shared that their org had just launched beta 2 weeks prior to the event! Of the Cocktail event, he said “It doesn’t suprise me that at an event like this, we are getting so many smart and hard questions.” “We thought we were on an island with the idea of social media for social good; but through DC Digital Captial Week and this event (Tech Cocktail) we are seeing so many people being responsive to this concept.” Given the org launched 2 weeks ago, the next 2 weeks are a big chance for the crowd of socially aware event attendees to help give much feedback and critique to aid in the potential future growth of BHR.
TBD.com – For the news near you, right now: TBD. …. potentially the most buzz worthy question @lisatella received was “when are you launching!?”
Goodness500 – Ranks the most powerful companies in the world based on corporate social responsibility.
Workforce Growth – Workforcegrowth.com is here to make your existing year-end dreadful review process, exciting and engaging.
Giv.to – Giv.to is a online analytics and engagement platform for causes and political campaigns.
Critical Past – one of the world’s largest collections of royalty-free archival stock footage. Andy Erickson, partner; said the start-up launched 3 weeks ago, although the company has been acquiring content for the past 20 years. Erickson shared, “this event has netted a postive response and has been helpful in building connections.”
Health-E-Works – Optimizing and customizing emergency health education using video information prescriptions. Dave Mathison, MD,MBA the Chief Executive Officer, shared “by making videos of perscriptions and after care treatment, it can improve the outcomes for both patients and hospitals.” Health E-Works won an annual GW business plan competition, earning them 20k in seed funding… TechCocktail has given the org an oportunity to expose them to people they may otherwise have not met.
The event was sponsored by Bingham and Zenzi. Advice from Andy Erickson of Critical Past to other start-ups showcasing at TechCocktail, “get here early, and make sure you have a good compelling visual to draw in attendees.”
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