Washington trip day 5

This day started with a breakfast discussion with Laurie Olaf and Gail Hunt. Both people talked about the aging community and how they are served from there two organizations. They gave us some insight in to research and how these publications are used for advocacy and to influence and frame discussions around specific groups and Capitol Hill. We also heard about how when services are being cut back that, that is a time for innovation and an opportunity for technology and business to come in and fill the gap. It is amazing to think that the boomer market will be ~$40 billion in 2020. If you could capture 1% of this you would be set for life - worth considering isn't!!!!

Our next guest also came to the hotel and it was Rob Atkinson the President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Rob reminded us that

Washington is not a dictatorship, but a democracy. That is in order to get things done you need to compromise. He described the attitude of Silicon Valley and companies there as the "Infant birth mentality" - which is similar to them wanting to do it all themselves. He indicated that there needs to be a closer link between Silicon Valley and Washington, because when the bills, laws and regulations are defined they will impact companies in Silicon Valley. If you are not part of the process then the end result may surprise you.

Two areas that the US needs to work on are 1. the reduced number of graduates and the higher R&D tax policy and 2. the lack of government support for US companies when going global.

It was surprising to many of us how Washington understands (or doesn't) technology and secondly how technology is used in Washington. One of the big fears about Washington is that there are large public interest groups that fight technology and are very active on Capital Hill. The same cannot be said for technology companies and this gap may mean that innovation gets stifled or deferred. Another issue we learned about was the large reduction of investment in innovation in the US. The US sees itself as #1, yet since 2001 it has been slipping down the charts and much of the funds for investment have come from offshore and ended up in other areas. This is also not just technology innovation but in business innovation, health care, etc...

The main source of interest from this discussion for me was how the US could be impacted by the results of the privacy and competes bill. These could be extremely detrimental to business and the internet in the US and could make businesses uncompetitive and build and Internet that does not benefit and build business. What is an innovation economy to see whether you understand it?

Our next meeting was with Jennifer Choi at the Emerging Markets and Private Equity Association (EMPEA). From Jennifer we got a view of Private Equity

and how the new finance reform bill (Dodd-Frank bill) could potentially impact their investment community (in terms of returns) and how it is likely to stifle Venture Capital (VC) in the US and abroad. We also learned that Washington puts many of the different types of investors and investment funds in the same bucket (Venture Fund, VC, Private Equity, etc...) and plans to treat it all the same. Since there is a difference in the asset classes invested in and the effort put in by the different types of investor EMPEA believes the different funds and asset classes should be treated and taxed differently. This was an interesting insight to the Private Equity market issues that EMPEA is battling on Capitol Hill. I would need a lot more information to give an opinion but Jennifer was advocating that we would see innovation further impacted by these changes.

After this we pilled out on to the street and in to a bus for our trip to Alexandria, Virginia. This was a fabulous journey through Georgetown and out to one of the

nicest little towns surrounding Washington. When we arrived we pulled up outside a tavern called Gadsby's. This is one of the most famous taverns in the US, this is where the first President of the US wined, dined, convened, danced and enjoyed life outside the White House. But not only Washington frequented this tavern so did Jefferson and many others. This was the place of all places to be back in the day.

This afternoon was planned to be our interaction with small and local business in the greater Washington

area and was most enjoyable. At Gadsby's Tavern we had lunch with two companies that have used innovation and technology to build their companies and their brands. The first was Forum One and the second The Motley Fool. This was a most 

enjoyable lunch with very interesting company. After lunch we took a short walk to a local gallery, Gallery Lafayette.

Todd Healy is the Artist and owner of the gallery and talked to us about the difficulties of running a small business and how he experienced the financial downturn.

He was able to predict the tightening of

credit and capital long before the official economic crisis hit by tracking the number of frames and pieces of art he was making/turning over.

He also showed us an example (from one of his suppliers) of how poor quality and poor customer service does not delight customers and yields poor product and unhappy customers.

Todd said he had more tenacity than talent and that is what allowed him to build a business and make it successful. He always goes above and beyond what his customers expect and aims to delight them with his work. He is a believer in delivering above expectations to keep customers and to generate new business. Todd is an Irish man and is looking to start drawing some Irish cottages, those from the famine era and the auld thatch type cottage. My plan is to connect him with my father-in-law who is a keen photographer and always looking for a project/theme. Hopefully this introduction will work out and soon Todd can produce Irish Cottage Drawings to the high standard of his present work. Check it out at www.ToddHealy.com

After this we were left to our own devices and to get ourselves back to the Hotel by 4:30 for our next briefing and our trip to the Cosmos Club. A small group of us decided to get the train/metro back to the Hotel. The station was right at the other end of the town and it being quite warm we were quite thirsty. Fortunately for us the walk to the train took us past the oldest tavern in town, Murphy's and we dropped in to refresh ourselves. We stay for about 30 minutes and then headed off to catch the metro. In this brief time period Scott met the Earl of Haig and discussed a business opportunity that would change the world. We are awaiting ghe business plan and hoping that this could be our route to retirement, stay posted for updates, but don't hold your breath!