Are you guys feeling the talent shortage reported in Silicon Valley and New York, or have you had little trouble hiring the right people?
One of the main advantages DC has is there is a huge supply of engineers and developers working for major defense and government contractors just waiting to be poached by a hot new startup.
Like it or not, many of the government contractors are in pretty stable multi-year contracts and are making north of 100-150k. Unless they have their finances in excellent condition, many of them can't afford to join a startup part time.
Though almost everyone is looking for side projects and something interesting to do in their spare time, so recruiting someone for 10-20 hrs/week is relatively easy.
3 morons can look more productive than 1 talented techie to someone that doesn't understand what any of them are doing
There is a whole bunch of technical talent there working for the government and military, but a lot are getting bored with the work. However, I didn't know the community was this organized, and it's good to see them trying to collectively make their names heard.