Spotlight on the #DCSW17 Growth Track
Registration is now open for DC Startup Week, taking place September 11–15. With a huge schedule of events across six tracks of programming, putting together your own schedule can be daunting! To help break it all down, we’ll be taking a deep dive into a track with the chair who puts it together, exploring the themes and topics they’re focused on this year, and hear what events they’re most excited to see.
This week we’re delving into the Growth Track with co-organizer and Track Captain Troy Friedlander.
Troy Friedlander is a Product Manager at Capital One with a background in engineering, business, and finance. Simultaneously, Troy is helping to organize DC Startup Week 2017. As an innovator and Product Manager, Troy discovers solutions to people’s most difficult problems. Whether it is B2B, B2C, web, iOS, or Android, Troy uses is his strategic thinking and entrepreneurial approach to build products customers love. If you’re interested in taking on the world’s most difficult challenges, taking products from good to great, innovating through technology, and improving business processes — these are things that make Troy tick.
How did you both get involved in DSCW?
I had wanted to find a volunteer opportunity and also a way to get more involved in the DC Startup scene. A friend of mine recently started his own company and had been accepted into a Techstars program, and he recommended I attend a Startup Weekend. When researching Startup Weekend, I came across DC Startup Week and it seemed like the best of both worlds. So, I applied, met with the organizers and the rest is history.
Does the Growth Track have a theme or particular area of focus this year?
This year was more about breadth than depth. We wanted to provide startups and entrepreneurs with a broad set of tools to grow their businesses. As such, we wanted to promote content on a wide range of topics. The track includes sessions on culture, diversity, technology, legal, and employee management. We hop that this approach will arm startups with the tools they need to expedite their growth and avoid costly mistakes.
What are the “can’t-miss” sessions in your track?
“The Most Important GrowthHack: Why and How Mission-focused Businesses Rise to the Top” (September 9/14 at 12:00pm) — Leah Nurik, CEO of Gabriel Marketing Group, one of the tech industry’s fastest growing marketing/PR agencies, will speak on how some of the world’s most innovative and mission-focused tech companies are unleashing the power of digital marketing and PR to drive growth and rise to the top. Leah will also share noteworthy tricks for building out your team’s knowledge base to put your brand on the hyper growth track.
“The Transformations Wrought by Information Technology” (September 9/15 at 9:30am) — Topics include: Has IT Brought a Veritable Revolution? The Internet of Things Will it Dull our Wits? New Dimensions, New Horizons Government Data Hunger: Back Doors, Solving Encryption.
“The Old and the New in the Lore of Business: Education of the Entrepreneur” (September 9/15 at 10:15am) — Come join us for a conversation on: Technology: Re-Configuring Old Wisdom, Business Schools, Incubators, Business Centers, A Few Special Hurdles for Women Entrepreneurs? STEM (and STEAM) Studies for Women and Girls, Technology in the Entrepreneurial Life.
What advice would you give someone who is attending DCSW for the first time?
Be strategic about how you craft your schedule. Make sure you target sessions that are of most interest to you and plan your day around those. Keep in mind that sessions are held at varying locations around town, so plan travel between sessions accordingly.
Any parting wisdom for someone attending (select track) Track sessions?
Make connections! Meet as many people as possible that you don’t already know. One of the keys to successful growth is leveraging the expertise of your network, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to grow yours. One of the major goals of the event is to bring the community together, so take advantage of it.
Learn more and register for the DC Startup Week celebration at http://www.dcstartupweek.org
