:no_upscale():quality(75))
Photo credit: Bisnow: Tania Anderson
It was exactly an hour before the President’s arrival that 1776 co-founders Donna Harris and Evan Burfield got the call last week. President Obama, an advocate of entrepreneurs and job creation, wanted to visit the office space at 1133 15th St., NW, where over 200 businesses are trying to become the Next Big Thing. Secret Service descended on the startup campus, and e-mails were zapped to 1776 members, partners, and fund LPs about the visit. Some of the companies got a chance to pitch their innovations to the President, and he asked them about business models and plans to scale. For 1776, the visit meant global exposure. The last time President Obama got a glimpse of the DC tech scene was in ’09 when he visited Arlington, Va.-based Opower.
