Startup Advocacy Week and Congressional Startup Day underscore the importance of pro-innovation policy
Startups are key drivers of innovation, they spur job growth, and invigorate the U.S. economy. We at Engine are lucky to work with a vast network of startups across the country who know, first-hand, how essential pro-innovation policies are to their success—and those policies can only become a reality when policymakers invite startup founders to the table to listen to their experiences and hear about their needs. Those very conversations took place during this Startup Advocacy Week and Congressional Startup Day.
Each August, Engine organizes Congressional Startup Day to connect members of Congress directly with the startup communities in their districts and states. The event is led by a bicameral, bipartisan set of lawmakers who champion issues important to innovators and entrepreneurs. Engine is grateful for the commitment of this year’s Co-Chairs, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and the time and attention they and others devoted to conversation with startups.
This past week, policymakers met with over 75 different startups, incubators, and ecosystem support organizations, in 27 meetings devoted to sharing the entrepreneurial experience and discussing how government can support startups nationwide. For example, Minnesota-based startup Ostra Cybersecurity—an industry leader in cybersecurity that provides a new approach for small businesses—met with Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) to discuss key issues like data privacy, the entrepreneurial resources available to innovators, and investing in the STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics—workforce. Sen. Rosen visited Reno-based Lulius Innovation—a veteran-owned startup focusing on innovative software design supporting U.S. Army aviation and logistics. The leaders of Yoodlize and Chatfunnels, two Provo, UT startups, met with Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) to discuss how to support the growth of their local innovation ecosystem. And TechFW brought Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) together with startups and small businesses in Fort Worth for a roundtable discussion “exploring issues around [accessing] capital, talent, incentives for innovation, and ways to improve support for startups in Texas.”
This year, we also encouraged the broader federal government to join Startup Advocacy Week. The important conversations continued during, e.g., a meeting between the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, where startups and ecosystem support organizations Scroobious, Event Vesta, Productions.com, theClubhou.se, Job Share Connect, and FundBlackFounders, discussed capital formation challenges and the steps the agency can take to ensure entrepreneurial support is prioritized. The U.S. Copyright Office’s Office of Policy & International Affairs also met with several startups and smaller online platforms for an insightful discussion about the diverse and exciting work companies, Internet users, and online creators are doing, the role that copyright policy plays, and how to continue to support and enable it.
Finally, this week we also released our Growing The Innovation Economy: A Policy Roadmap for Supporting Startups Everywhere. The roadmap highlights issues faced by startups, particularly post-pandemic, and provides policy insights and concrete actions Congress and policymakers could take in support of a diverse and vibrant startup ecosystem. Startups in Engine’s network, including many profiled in our #StartupsEverywhere series, have spotlighted pressure points and informed many of the policy proposals found in the roadmap, and many of those startups were also able to discuss these topics with policymakers this week.
While we hold Congressional Startup Day and Startup Advocacy Week every year to put a spotlight on pro-innovation, pro-entrepreneur policies, policymakers don’t need to wait to connect with startups and to keep their priorities top of mind. Innovation is happening every single day, and changemaking entrepreneurs are constantly paving ways for opportunities in their communities. We hope this was another year full of conversation starters and look forward to policymakers bringing more pro-startup ideas to the table.
