The White House Blog

This morning, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith sent out the following message to the White House email list. The message highlights the first-ever White House Demo Day, where we're inviting a diverse group of entrepreneurs to the White House to share their ideas and stories of their individual innovation journeys.

If you didn't get the email, make sure to sign up for email updates here. And if you want to apply to be a part of the Demo Day, or nominate someone you know, you can do that here.

---

Right now, across America, people are working on big ideas. Game-changing ideas. Ideas that might sound unbelievable right now, but could become an indispensable product or service in a matter of years.

But they might not ever get a chance to make that idea into a reality. Here's why:

So many Americans have the grit and creativity of a world-class entrepreneur, but they lack the resources -- mentorship, networking, funding, training -- to bring their big ideas to fruition.

We've got to change that reality. As we work to keep our lead as the best place on the planet to start and scale big, innovative ideas, we've got to make sure more startup hotbeds emerge in every corner of America, and that those underrepresented in entrepreneurship are being tapped to fully contribute their entrepreneurial talents.

So we're looking to spur some big changes. Last week, for instance, we hosted the first-ever Tech Meetup at the White House to bring together community organizations and innovators who host weekly and monthly local innovation gatherings.

That's why we're so excited about the first-ever White House Demo Day, focused on inclusive entrepreneurship.

At a typical "Demo Day," entrepreneurs make pitches to prospective funders. Ours is a little different. We're inviting a diverse group of entrepreneurs from all across the country -- including those underrepresented in entrepreneurship like women and people of color -- to come here and talk about their big ideas and share the stories of their individual innovation journeys to date. These are the folks whose stories show exactly why we need to grow the pie to make sure there's opportunity for everyone in our innovation economy.

We hope you will be one of them.

Apply to be a part of our first-ever Demo Day here at the White House, or nominate someone you know to come participate. But do it soon, because the deadline for submissions is April 24.

Our teams are combing through the incredible submissions so far as we speak. We can't wait to hear your story, and we hope to see you here soon.

Thanks,

Megan Smith and Doug Rand
Office of Science and Technology Policy
The White House