After more than a decade and nearly 500 articles, one of our longest-running columns, Startup Monday, is ending — at least for now. Since 2013, ARLnow has profiled scrappy entrepreneurs with thoughtful ideas and new businesses at every stage of a startup’s life cycle, from raising a seed investment fundraising round to landing on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies to outgrowing the “startup” descriptor when they merge, get acquired or list their shares on a stock exchange. Through the column, written by ARLnow staff and supported by longtime sponsor Monday Properties, we have covered some companies before they made it big. Profiled when it was just five years old, today, Privia Health is publicly traded on the stock market. Once a small outfit out of Rosslyn, PerformYard — founded to disrupt how HR is managed — moved to Ballston, nabbed $95 million and celebrated its revenue growing by five times in the last four years. A few had brilliant strokes of luck: Zoobean, which nabbed a coveted investment from outgoing Shark Tank shark Mark Cuban, is still going strong and still headquartered in Arlington. Since Cuban’s investment, the company ended its subscription service, renamed itself Beanstack and now focuses on partnering with libraries and offering software solutions that motivate kids to read. ARLnow covered Ballston food tech startup HUNGRY when it launched in 2016 and long before its founders, brothers Shayan and Eman Pahlevani, scored major celebrity investors including actress Issa Rae and NFL player DeAndre Hopkins, along with scores of other performers, TV show hosts and major athletes. Other Startup Monday subjects never went national but cemented themselves in Arlington. Sol Schott’s Columbia Pike bakery, ACME Pie Company, is a household name for locals and the baker is still thinking of ways to expand his brand — most recently getting in on the ground floor of a membership-based arcade business located inside his shop. Amid these success stories, dozens of other companies never gained the same traction and were integrated into other platforms or sold to larger companies. There were amusing and serious Kickstarter campaigns — among them, for an urban planning-themed take on “Cards Against Humanity” and a phone-based breathalyzer. Attempts to disrupt the landscaping and tailoring industries, in the style of ride-sharing app Uber, struggled to take off. Such is the fate that every entrepreneur with an idea risks tempting when they get started, however. Startup Monday was able to have that breadth of coverage thanks to a sponsorship agreement that gave ARLnow free rein to select who to profile. We could give equal weight to bright ideas such as portable cup holders for airplane and to to businesses solving entrenched problems in health care, including the physician-patient experience in women’s health or gaps in comprehensive diabetes care. This column also became an unofficial history of the changes Arlington’s local economy has experienced. After thousands of Dept. of Defense workers left major office buildings in the 2010s, Arlington rebranded itself as a tech hub, especially in the wake of the arrival of Amazon, with a particularly strong presence of cybersecurity and defense-oriented startups, securing planes and trains and military installations and power plants. ARLnow thanks Monday Properties for the long-standing partnership and the hundreds of stories of startup successes and failures — including, in a fitting final installation, today’s story of a new beginning for veterans of a long-shuttered game company. There’s a chance that Startup Monday makes a return down the road, but for now the column is signing off. While we might not be able to chronicle it on a weekly basis, the march of innovation locally — at the smallest local startups to Arlington’s more established tech firms — continues unabated. Recent Stories Interested in graduate school? George Mason University invites you to attend an upcoming open house at Mason Square in Arlington to learn more about the 40+ graduate programs at three… The concentration of deer in Arlington’s parks is up to 16 times above recommended levels, based on a newly announced analysis of county data. Ballston-based Loric Games is bringing a band of Mythic Entertainment game developers back together. It nabbed $4 million in funding to work on a game that is set for release next year. The opening of a wine store and bar in Clarendon is approaching, after numerous delays and setbacks. The aptly named “Clarendon Wine Club” at 1114 N. Irving Street originally hoped… An electrifying evening of drag extravagance featuring sensational performances from Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 12 Winner Jaida Essence Hall, Vanessa Vanjie Matteo, Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Luxx Noir London at The Howard Theatre on March 2! Your beloved D.C. queens- Cake Pop, Crystal Edge, Dreux Sidora and Crimsyn- open the show. Afterwards, LET LOOSE and dance the night away to infectious disco house beats spun by NYC’s DJ Boyyyish until 2:00am. Purple looks are encouraged! 18+ Use code “DISCO” for $5 off General Admission tickets. Limited codes available. Sponsored by Purple Penthouse, Herb DC and Sad Brunch. MoCA Arlington is thrilled to announce our 2024 Summer Camp Season! Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington offers a wonderful and wide range of creative summer camps for your creative students! Camps are offered for kids starting at age 5 and up to teens ages 18. Campers will go on an artistic journey and explore the visual arts through exciting projects in 2D and 3D media while learning about new and different artistic techniques and contemporary artists working in the world today! SUMMER 2024: JUNE 17 – AUGUST 16 Programs are offered for ages 5-7, 8-10, 11-14, and 14-18. Full & half day camp options available for ages 5-10, teen and pre-teen camps run from 11-3pm. MoCA provides complimentary Before & After Care for camps onsite at MoCA. Before Care begins at 9am for students enrolled in morning camps. After Care ends at 5pm for students enrolled in afternoon camps. Supervised lunch break is available for students enrolled in both morning and afternoon camps. Students participating in MoCA’s supervised lunch must bring their own nut-free bagged lunch. We will have lunch outside when weather permits. 50 First Dates x The Renegade: Speed Dating – Feb… 💑 Get ready for an evening of excitement and connection at our Speed Dating Night at The Renegade in Arlington, VA! 🌆 🌟 Our event brings together the vibrant singles of the DMV area, creating the perfect atmosphere for sparks W-L Theatre presents The Play That Goes Wrong W-L Theatre Presents: The Play That Goes Wrong Thursday/Friday February 15 & 16 – 7:00 PM Saturday February 17 – 1:30 & 7:00 PM The Cornley Drama Society presents The Murder at Haversham Manor. It all goes hilariously awry in
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