Business & Tech

REDI in Retrospect: Fostering Entrepreneurs

Rockville Economic Development, Inc.'s programs seeks to make the city a center for startups.

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of during the tenure of former executive director Sally Sternbach. Before her departure, Rockville Patch sat down for an interview with Sternbach and associate director Lynne Benzion, who took over as REDI’s acting executive director this month.

A longtime mission of is to promote Rockville as a place for startups, for entrepreneurs and for innovation.

“One of the places where we’ve consistently tried to operate is in the entrepreneurial space and to create Rockville as a hub center for entrepreneurship,” said Sally Sternbach, who stepped down as REDI’s executive director last week to become deputy director of the county’s Department of Economic Development.

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Toward that end, REDI led the push to create Rockville-based MIT Enterprise Forums, which formerly had been operating in Northern Virginia and the Baltimore metropolitan area, but not in Montgomery County.

“We now do four regular programs a year and they showcase local companies. We almost always have a Rockville company that presents at these startup labs, so it’s a great experience for them,” Sternbach said.

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Local business leaders often serve on expert panels during the programs, which draw 35 to 70 people.

“It’s very exciting—a whole little culture that’s built up around them,” Sternbach said.

Another resource for entrepreneurs earlier in the startup process is the Co-Founders Wanted of DC Metro Area. Shahab Kaviani was working on establishing a company when he started the group on meetup.com.

meetup in their Town Center offices. Six people showed up, Sternbach said. At the most recent meetup, in January, more than 90 people signed up, though not all showed.

“It’s cramped. It’s crowded. We thought about moving,” Sternbach said. “And [Kaviani] said, ‘You know what? I get support here.’ We advertise it for him. We provide staff support. The logistical piece is taken care of. Guess what? It’s still in Rockville.”

REDI also supports including the StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition and the Postdoc Conference and Career Fair.

The fair connects job-seeking postdoctoral fellows in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields to careers in the government and private sectors and to entrepreneurial opportunities.

It’s a chance to “find those with an entrepreneurial gleam in their eye,” Sternbach said.

The StartRight! Women’s Business Plan competition, now in its ninth year, broadened REDI’s reach in the region.

REDI awards three $5,000 cash prizes, including one each in the high tech, general business and Maryland biotech categories. The annual competition is open to businesses in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia that are at least 51 percent women-owned and have been in operation for two years or less.

“[The competition] ultimately led us to the decision to start the Rockville Women’s Business Center,” Sternbach said.

In November 2010, , providing advice and resources to women—and men—looking to launch or grow a business. Sternbach said she hopes the U.S. Small Business Administration will one day expand the number of such centers that it supports. In the meantime, the center is sustained by grants from Citibank and from the city and county.

Tomorrow: Growing roots.


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