You Must RSVP

From $1M to $10M

June 12th from 9am-12pm

at Affinity Lab U Street, 920 U Street, NW

part of Digital Capital Week

Affinity Lab member, William James Foundation gets a great write up of their sustainable business plan competition in the New York Times. Affinity Lab sponsored the DC Prize, the local component of the business plan competition.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/start-ups-win-competition-with-...

Check out DC Tech Source's article on DC's Innovators, which includes an interview with Affinity Lab COO, Philippe Chetrit.

http://www.dctechsource.com/dc_innovators.aspx

From 5:30-8:30PM at Fado's Irish Pub (808 7th St. NW), Razoo will be hosting their annual March Goodness Tournament where a select group of nonprofits will compete for grants based on fundraising through the Razoo network. In last year's competition, more than $160,000 was raised for 30 participating nonprofits that competed for nearly $20,000 in grants and prizes. The big winner in 2009 was Big Cat Rescue of Tampa, FL. Who will win this year?

The success of the Affinity Lab members and the Lab model is discussed in an article in today's Washington Post. Design Symphony and MeMyself&Co were highlighted as examples of companies bucking the small business failure trend brought on by the recession. Affinity Lab's new U Street location was also mentioned as a place where people who are practively taking charge of their economic destiny can start their businesses and collaborate with others.

Award-winning business incubator Affinity Lab opens new space in the U Street corridor

Affinity Lab doubles its size in new location and reach to support member businesses and organizations

What’s Your Bright Idea?

Submit Your Plan to the DC PRIZE Business Plan Competition.

The William James Foundation and the Affinity Lab support DC entrepreneurs who are starting for-profit businesses with defined social and/or environmental goals.

DC PRIZE Business Plan Competition.

Coverage of Affinity Lab's model, benefits and members continued with a great article (and a front page photo) on "digital nomads" in the Sunday, July 26 Washington Post.

"Slightly more formal co-working centers have opened across the country, including Affinity Lab in office space above the Diner in Adams Morgan. Ads on the wall at Tryst offer space to the fully-evolved nomad who doesn't want a formal office but still wants a community of people to swap ideas with -- and a fax machine."

Affinity Lab has been selected as the winner of the 2009 PremeirPlan Business Plan Competition sponsored by the Washington DC Economic Partnership, with funding of the $100,000 prize provided by Enhanced Capital Partners, Advantage Capital Partners and the DC Coalition for Capital. The funds will be used towards the development and marketing of Affinity Lab's next location.

The Washington DC Economic Partnership and the DC Coalition for Capital have chosen Affinity Lab as one of five finalists in the 2009 PremierPlan business plan competition. A review committee comprised of twenty individuals, including individuals from the venture capital, financial services, and business services communities, found the Lab model to be one of the most competitive and feasible in the contest. The Lab will now go on to compete for a $100,000 CAPCO investment, on July 8th, 2009.

Affinity Lab member, Peter Krsko of Albus Cavus, is working on a massive sculpture, which is to be completed by the end of this month. Before the final unveiling, he would like to share with us his creative process through sketches, prints, models and a preview of the sculpture itself. We are very proud to be hosting an Art Opening for one of our members.

Affinity Lab was just awarded one of the Best Places to Work in Greater Washington! This year's competition was steep. Some companies who ranked in the 90% percentile did not even make the cut, which just goes to show how great the companies are in DC.

Affinity Lab turns 8 this week. Its has been 8 wonderful years and we look forward to many more birthdays.

Voice of America, a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government with a worldwide audience of 134 million people, spent a few days at the Lab shooting this video and writing this article on entrepreneurs creating opportunities by banding together at the Affinity Lab.

Washington Post featured a story on Linked Senior, celebrating Charles and Herve's innovativeness and resolve in helping the elderly. Linked Senior invented what the article calls an "iPod for older people", a digital kiosk designed for the elderly, allowing seniors easy access to news and media. The kiosk is already in use at the Vinson Hall Retirement Community in McLean and based on rave reviews from Vinson Hall Residents, will soon be used at retirement communities across the nation.

In an article promoting entrepreneurship, Washington Times featured Affinity Lab as an example of a successful local incubator helping DC entrepreneurs bloom and grow. The authors praised innovative business and pitched for a greater investment in entrepreneurial ventures, stating that entrepreneurs are the key to economic growth and incubators are the key to entrepreneurial growth.

Read the article.

Affinity Lab hosted a special brown bag lunch featuring a presentation from Metro Teen AIDS. Metro Teen AIDS is a community health organization providing prevention, care, and support to DC youth infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. 1 in 20 DC residents is infected with HIV/AIDS and Metro Teen AIDS helped Lab members take the first step in stopping the HIV/AIDS epidemic: awareness.

Affinity Lab and its members were featured on NBC4's Jobs 4 You segment this morning due to the continued success of Lab businesses and non-profits. Joey Coleman of Design Symphony and Sarah Massey of Massey Media rounded out the interview with their perspectives on why the Lab works and why starting your own business offers people an opportunity to take more control of their destiny through these challenging economic times.

Check out the video.

"Despite Economy, Some Businesses Succeed" is the title of the segment on Affinity Lab, which aired on February 13th.

Fox says "operating in shared workspace actually has helped (members) success by sparking ideas and referrals." Charles Plank, Affinity Lab's CEO is quoted saying "over the nine years Affinity Lab has been in existence, 82 percent of his clients have remained in business -- a far higher percentage than most start-up businesses."

Watch the segment.

More than twenty Lab members piled into the conference room for a special Affinity Lab Economic Stimulus Brown-Bag lunch this Thursday. Sponsored by Design Symphony and Joint Concepts, members got a chance to share experiences and perspectives on how the economy has effected their business, prospecting and ideas for what they’ve seen work to drive new business during the these challenging times.