When Chris Seek decided to launch his own business back in 2002, he knew his studio apartment could double as his office for only so long.
“I had important people coming to town and I was looking for a place where I could make presentations as a real business,” said Seek, president and CEO of Solimar International, a District-based global travel agency and tourism consulting company that focuses on exotic locations and developing nations.
Seek found that place in Affinity Lab, a private business incubator located in the heart of Adams Morgan that provides basic resources for D.C. start-up companies.
Housed in an unassuming office above The Diner on 18th Street, Affinity Lab is filling a void in the District, where — unlike in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland — there are no government-funded business incubators.
Working out of Affinity between 2002 and 2004, Seek turned his company into a half-a-million-dollar enterprise with a list of clients from around the world.
“I was able to present myself as I needed to these important delegates from overseas,” Seek said. “Affinity helped me move from working out of my own home to a legit business.”
The five-year-old incubator was launched by the founders of the Web strategy and marketing firm Articulated Impact. With a few years of experience under their belt, the four founders decided to offer the facilityas a way for fledgling companies to bypass the usual start-up headaches.
“When you start a new business, you have a lot of questions,” said Charles Planck, co-founder of Affinity and Articulated Impact’s CEO. “All of those combined can act as a barrier. We like to think of [Affinity] as an on-ramp, instead of jumping off a cliff.”
Part business, part social experiment, Affinity offers shared office space in a collaborative setting. Tenants pay a relatively inexpensive month-to-month fee — based on how much room is needed — for desk space, conference room access, a mailing address and Internet and phone lines.
Some two dozen firms have worked out of the lab during the last five years, pulling in about $4 million in combined revenues over that time. Tenants are primarily consulting and creative services companies. Most were founded by Adams Morgan residents who were ready to upgrade from working in their pajamas, Planck said.
“We knew this neighborhood was packed with creative, entrepreneurial types who were working out of their homes,” he said.
“You can work in your underwear, but that’s only cool for two or three weeks and then you start to go insane.”
