Obama alums team up with DC startup hub

by Julian Hattem - 01/22/15 4:25 PM ET

Alumni from President Obama’s reelection campaign are getting together with a Washington hub for tech startups.

1776, which helps hundreds of startups focusing specifically on policy issues that can help Washington, announced a partnership on Thursday with Precision Strategies, the communications firm founded by a number of Obama aides.

{mosads}“In every case what we find is that startups really struggle with ‘How do I tell my messaging in a way that makes sense to people?’” Donna Harris, one of the co-founders of 1776, told The Hill.

“They’re engineers; they’re idea people,” she added. “Leaving it to the idea that ‘we hope they can figure it out,’ when many years tell us that most startup founders won’t figure it out — you’re banging your head against that same wall over and over again,” she added.

Precision Strategies was founded by Obama’s former digital director Teddy Goff along with deputy campaign managers Stephanie Cutter and Jen O’Malley Dillon.

“Those same tools that they have used to position a candidate, sell a candidate, run a campaign — that’s the same set of tools that startups need to scale their business and get buzz, get people to pay attention,” Harris said.

Plus, their background with politics makes them a perfect fit for working with tech companies trying to solve government problems.

The startup hub helps small companies get off the ground by giving them access to people, funding and research they need at an early stage.

“1776 is a global leader in identifying startups that are changing the world and solving our most challenging problems,” Cutter said in a statement.

2024 Election Coverage

Under the new partnership, 1776’s member companies will be able to get expertise from the strategy firm at various stages through their development, so that executives know how to market themselves once they hit the big time.

The organization is a favorite of President Obama’s, who visited it last summer to praise small companies that are trying to solve big problems.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also paid a visit to the organization when was in Washington last week.

Tags 1776