An Open Letter from a cross-section of DC Area tech entrepreneurs on behalf of their businesses.

1. February 16, 2017
A Letter from the Job Creators in Your Backyard
Dear Mr. President,
In 2015, the Khalife sisters were featured on the television show Shark Tank for the ingenuity of
their now successful children’s learning toys startup. The two sisters now employ an office full of
people just blocks away from your new Pennsylvania Avenue residence. Their story didn't start
on ABC, however, but on a boat as refugee children fleeing war-torn Lebanon in the middle of
the night. The beacon of the American dream saved their lives, offered a welcoming
environment, and ultimately created American jobs.
Those founders are a part of a broader community of entrepreneurs in your backyard. You may
not know us, we are job creators that call the Washington DC Metropolitan Region home. We
are a diverse group of Founders, CEOs, and Senior Executives representing both sides of the
aisle. Our organizations have broad industry reach from consumer to enterprise and from retail
to logistics. As different as we are, one thing we all do is create great jobs not only here in your
new home, but all over the world.
Today, we are expressing our shared and deep concerns over your proposed immigration
policies, including the recent Executive Order and current bills on the H1-B visa, all of which we
fear will impact our ability to continue to hire freely and develop critical talent.
Many companies gravitate to the established comfort of Silicon Valley but we chose the Capitol
over capital. We made a bet that our local ecosystem would grow with us, and it has.
As entrepreneurs DC Metro Area, we draw inspiration from the Founding Fathers. They, too,
took the difficult yet rewarding path toward building something that had never existed before. A
place where your grit, not where you were born or who you were born to, determined your
destiny.
The startup ecosystem in the United States thrives with the inclusion of immigrants who have
come here to lead, innovate, design, build, create, and give us a unique advantage in building
great companies and opportunities. ​In fact, the National Foundation for American Policy has
shown that more than half of all U.S. companies that are worth more than $1 billion were
founded by immigrants.
Mr. President, your outlook, policies, and comments regarding immigrants as well as the recent
Executive Order have sowed chaos and uncertainty in our industries. We are the growth engine
of the American economy. Help us grow together with great jobs here in the ​DC area​ and
across the whole country by supporting talented individuals regardless of where they come
from. We would be open to meeting with anyone from your Administration to share our concerns
and hopes for job creation in the future.
(Signatures on the following page.)

2. February 16, 2017
A Letter from the Job Creators in Your Backyard
Sincerely,
The CEOs/Founders/Executives of the following DC Metro Area startups and tech businesses:
3Advance Galley Spend Consciously
Agora VR ICX Media Surprise Ride
Apollo Matrix Insomniac Design Technology Rivers
Aquicore Localist The Good Lemon
Brllnt NotionTheory TrackMaven
BroadSoft Optoro Trustify
Cava Power Supply UrbanStems
Contactually Restin WeddingWire
Distil Networks SoapBox Teague Hopkins​ (individual)
Framebridge Social Tables Rob Quartel​ (individual)
P.S. If you are a member of the community who has been impacted by the Executive Order or
any recent immigration policies and need help, we are here for you. Please complete this form
to help us better understand what you are facing and how we might assist:
http://bit.ly/2kmn5eD