startup

McAuliffe to Entrepreneurs: ‘I Want You to Stay Here’

By Ethan Rothstein
1/3

Gov. Terry McAuliffe likes to talk big, especially when it comes to economic development, so he wasn’t shy about his ambitions when he visited Rosslyn’s ÜberOffices today to chat with dozens of entrepreneurs.

“When people talk about Silicon Valley, I want them to talk about Northern Virginia,” McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe fielded questions from the entrepreneurs, including the founders of Zoobean, uKnow, Ostendio and Local News Now, asking them to tell him what he can do to grow the innovation economy, and how they want him to help.

“I want you to stay here and raise families here,” he said. “Do whatever you have to do to stay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I want you all to be fabulously successful and pay taxes here.”

Whenever McAuliffe speaks in public, he likes to throw around statistics about Virginia’s economy — the commonwealth has the second-most tech workers of any state in the country — and his accomplishments as governor — he’s brought more investment into the state already than the four previous governors combined he said.

He highlighted several key areas where he expects the tech sector in Virginia to thrive, among them cybersecurity and biotechnology. His 23-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son’s Social Security numbers were stolen in the Anthem Blue Cross breach, which he said just hit home how important cybersecurity is. Virginia has the most cybersecurity firms in the country, he pointed out.

At the same time, he said he wants more growth in the biotech world. Within his first few months as governer, McAuliffe was at a national biotech conference alongside Govs. Jerry Brown of California and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. As the three state executives sat on stage, the hosts put a graphic of the 25 best states for biotechnology companies.

Massachusetts and California were Nos. 1 and 2 on that list, he said. Virginia wasn’t on it.

“It started to get a little uncomfortable for me,” he said with a laugh and a shrug. “[The National Institutes of Health] is just 11 miles from here. Maryland has done a great job on biotech, but we have much lower taxes. There’s no reason we can’t do better. California and Massachusettes should be nervous.”

McAuliffe said the White House will soon announced where a several-hundred thousand square foot cybersecurity campus will be placed, and he’s fighting to win it for Virginia. With the data centers in Loudoun County and the dark fiber in Arlington, the region is positioned to attract more and more technology companies.

Arlington Chamber Holds ‘Shark Tank’ for Students

By Ethan Rothstein
1/4

(Updated at 4:00 p.m.) Some of Arlington’s most ambitious teenagers will go before a panel of judges, “Shark Tank”-style, to present business ideas they have cultivated for weeks.

The event is called the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Investor Panel, is May 7 at Marymount University’s Reinsch Library (2807 N. Glebe Road), from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. It’s hosted by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, which has taken a dozen students from ages 12 to 18 from Arlington schools and taught them the fundamentals of starting a business, every Wednesday evening since Jan. 7.

“It’s important for them to see how the process of starting a business works,” Chamber Communications Manager Meredith Smith said. Each business group will go through the process of applying for business licenses. “It’s been really good seeing these kids develop their businesses.”

The 12 students have split into seven different businesses, and each startup will have six minutes to present to a panel of eight members of the Arlington business community, including from Vornado, Graham Holdings Company and the Ballston BID. Those judges will ask questions, debate and “invest,” just like on the ABC reality show “Shark Tank.”

Among the businesses the kids have come up with are custom-denim shorts, mobile apps and an e-commerce marketplace for “local streetwear/lifestyle brands,” according to the Chamber. They have been instructed by Charlie Sibbald, an entrepreneur and adjunct business professory at MU.

“[The academy] helps the Chamber build the next generation of business leaders by introducing young people early to entrepreneurship and its rewards and challenges,” Chamber President and CEO Kate Roche said in an email. “The program also provides a significant number of meaningful ways for our members to engage with the students. Business leaders are instrumental to the curriculum and the program, serving as mentors, guest speakers, graphic designers, and business plan reviewers.”

Tickets for the event are $10, and it is open to the public. The winning team will be entered into a national scholarship competition and could present its idea to the Americas Small Business Summit in D.C. this June.

D.C.’s 1776 Incubator Expanding Into Crystal City

By Ethan Rothstein

1776 announces expansion into Crystal City (photo via @1776)The heralded 1776 tech incubator and seed fund is moving into Crystal City, bringing tech bonafides and millions of dollars with it.

Today, on the roof of 220 20th Street S., Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes, Vornado CEO Mitchell Shear, 1776 co-founders Evan Burfield and Donna Harris and former Disruption Corporation CEO, and now 1776 Managing Director, Paul Singh joined forces to make the announcement.

“We’re proud that this new partnership will be anchored in Crystal City, which is increasingly becoming a globally-recognized home for world-changing startups,” McAuliffe said. “This new, unprecedented level of regional collaboration removes the traditional regional boundaries, creating tremendous opportunity for broad-based economic growth that benefits the entire region, and offering a model for future, long-term economic growth throughout Virginia and the D.C. Metro area.”

As part of its deal to expand in Crystal City, 1776 acquired Singh’s Disruption Corporation, a combination of a venture fund and financial advisory firm. Disruption’s headquarters on the 10th floor of 2231 Crystal Drive will be 1776’s base of operations in Arlington, according to Crystal City Business Improvement District Angela Fox.

“One of the beauties of Crystal City is there is so much space to expand, and if they do well, that’s certainly the thinking in all of this,” Fox told ARLnow.com this afternoon.

Earlier this week, 1776 announced a partnership with Montgomery County, and the incubator’s announcement today makes it one of the, if not the premier, dominant forces in the D.C. area technology space. In 1776’s new headquarters, it will already have member companies like Bloompop, Power Supply and Onomono Media.

1776 also hosts the Challenge Festival, an international, weeklong festival aimed at bringing together entrepreneurs in the energy, education, health and transportation sectors. The company anticipates more than 10,000 industry members will attend, and the opening party will be in Crystal City, at 2121 Crystal Drive, on May 8 from 7:00-11:00 p.m.

The incubator hopes to leverage the still-significant hub of government agencies and contractors in Crystal City, as well as the close proximity to the Pentagon, in its latest expansion.

“This region’s growing innovation economy and its future economic growth are closely linked, which is why at 1776 we’ve focused our attention on creating new opportunities for regional innovation and unfettered access to the networks that exist across regional borders,” 1776 co-founder Donna Harris said in a press release. “Between our partnership with Vornado and the acquisition of Disruption, this exciting new venture will allow us to bring together ALL the tremendous assets this region has to offer, from the NIH and MedStar in Bethesda to the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin in Crystal City, and create one of the most vibrant technology communities in the country.”

Photo via @1776

Can a Tech Startup Save Artisphere?

By Ethan Rothstein

Artisphere during the Silver Clouds exhibit

While the Arlington County Board enters their final deliberations surrounding the potential closing of the Artisphere, one local entrepreneur is trying to save it.

Pete Erickson is the founder of MoDev, which organizes conferences for mobile software developers. Erickson has hosted a handful of conferences at Artisphere and is planning his latest — MVP (minimum viable product) Conference — for May 18 and 19.

When Erickson heard that County Manager Barbara Donnellan recommended defunding the arts and events venue in Rosslyn, and then realized that no one else seemed to share his vision for its business potential, he could no longer sit idly by.

“I thought I’d wait to see what was going to happen, who was going to come around and just kind of keep tabs on things,” he told ARLnow.com yesterday. “Nothing concrete has come from any other parties. The county is nearing a vote, and they’re under a lot of pressure to cut costs where they can. As that reality began to hit, I sprang into action and said ‘I’ve got a big enough network here to pull together the partners we would need to turn Artisphere into a destination technology, incubation and events hub.’ “

Erickson’s efforts — first reported by Technical.ly — stem from what he’s already been able to do at Artisphere: host events that attract as many as 1,000 attendees. In the D.C. area, there is no place like it.

“It’s hard to find space for a medium-sized conference, which is less than 1,000 people — and 95 percent of all conferences,” he said. “There’s a number of reasons why Artisphere is really well-suited for conferences. Artisphere is a unique space, and you can bring in outside catering, which is a big opportunity, it’s got an IMAX theater, it’s got a black-box theater, an open-air ballroom. It is a good confluence of several things. It’s also hard to find space that’s right on a Metro, close to D.C. and also accessible from the west.”

Erickson is thinking bigger than conferences, too. He has ideas for innovation labs that would bring companies and individuals in during the week, partnerships with incubators like 1776 in D.C. to collocate member businesses. It could turn into its own incubator, and there “could be events happening all the time.”

“One of the downsides with how Artisphere runs currently is everything is linear,” Erickson said. “When a play is happening, there’s not other things happening. When there’s a gallery opening, there’s nothing else that happens.”

The 62,000-square-foot arts center opened at a cost of $6.7 million in 2010 and has been losing money ever since. It was opened up to non-arts events in 2011 — paving the way for MoDev’s conferences — but still is a budget boondoggle for the county.

The County Board appears ready to support Donnellan’s decision — it voted 4-1 in favor of closing Artisphere at a work session earlier this week — but Arlington Economic Development is hoping Erickson can come up with something concrete before it’s too late.

“Right now, it’s just an idea. It’s not even a proposal,” AED Director Victor Hoskins told ARLnow.com yesterday. “The idea is attractive. How you execute it is the question. That’s a much bigger investment than the $250,000 [D.C. invested] in 1776 in 2011.”

“I think MoDev could pull it off, because that’s what they do,” Hoskins added. “But we haven’t even seen a proposal. That’s what we would be looking for.”

(more…)

Rosslyn ‘Shark Tank’ Startup Teams with Arlington Libraries

By Ethan Rothstein

Jordan Lloyd Bookey and Felix Brandon Lloyd of Zoobean(Updated at 3:20 p.m.) An Arlington-based startup has partnered with Arlington Public Library to bring curated children’s book recommendations to parents.

ZooBean, based in Rosslyn’s ÜberOffices, has launched Beanstack with the library. The program takes the preferences of each child — “like ninjas, princess or even math and science,” the app’s promotional video explains — and the child’s reading level, and an Arlington librarian recommends books in the catalog that apply.

Each book recommendation also comes with a brief learning tip, ZooBean co-founder Felix Lloyd told ARLnow.com. This could be culling a few vocabulary words from the book to review.

“In many ways, the end user is the parent,” Lloyd said. “A lot of it is about their having a good place to start when it comes to their kid. The way we view it is with a lot of things going on in today’s world, it’s hard to have the confidence that there’s good content and you know how to use it in a way to accelerate their reading, to give them a better place to start in school.”

The app is free and available to any Arlington resident. B0oks available electronically can be downloaded immediately, and those available by hard copy can be reserved and sent to the family’s local branch. Beanstack makes a recommendation for a different book every week, and always reading material that has been approved by a librarian.

“Modern public libraries are constantly looking at the evolving needs of their customers,” Arlington Public Library spokesman Peter Golkin said in an email. “A service like Beanstack takes the knowledge of our children’s librarians, mixes it with proven online ‘matchmaking’ based on the particular child’s interests and puts the results in convenient emails that arrive on a regular basis. If the suggested book is an available ebook in the collection, then you don’t even have to make a trip to the Library.”

Felix Brandon Lloyd and Jordan Lloyd Bookey of Zoobean on ABC's Shark TankThe service just launched this month, and Arlington is the second library system to offer it in the country, Lloyd said, following the Sacramento, Calif., library system. Fourteen other library systems have signed on for Beanstack already, including Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard counties in Maryland.

ZooBean got its big break appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank last April, and receiving a $250,000 investment from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Since then, Lloyd said, Cuban has invested even more into the company. The combination of Cuban’s endorsement and Arlington’s early partnership has helped spur the business’ growth.

“Arlington buying our product before it launched was a bet for them,” Lloyd said. “Them buying into the service helped our business, because we could go out and point to this model community that invested. It was a validation of a small business.”

Arlington Startup Founder Testifies Before Congress About Patent Trolls

By Ethan Rothstein

Todd Moore, inventor of the White Noise app and founder of app development company TMSoft, testified before Congress this week (his testimony begins at 1:06:40), advocating for a bill that would curb “patent trolling.”

Patent trolling, Moore says, is when a company that has bought patents threatens small businesses with frivolous patent infringement lawsuits, which, if a small business tried to fight, will often bankrupt it. As relief, the trolls tell the company to send them thousands of dollars to obtain a license.

“It feels like you’re being bullied,” Moore told ARLnow.com yesterday. “That’s what these guys are, they’re well-financed bullies, and they’re abusing the system.”

Moore was eventually saved from paying thousands — if not millions, he says — by the nonprofit Public Patent Foundation, which provided him with a pro bono lawyer. Once Lodsys, the shell corporation suing Moore, learned the entrepreneur had retained a no-cost lawyer, it dropped the suit.

Tood Moore testifies before CongressMost startups aren’t so lucky, Moore said. Many will simply pay the licensing fee to make the patent troll go away — which makes them susceptible to other trolls seeking to profit from more frivolous lawsuits. Others will fight, but the way patent law is set up leads to lawsuit defenses, even against lawsuits with minimal legal standing, prohibitively expensive.

Moore tells a story about college students developing a product in a startup incubator who were threatened with a lawsuit by a patent troll. They were developing promising technology, but instead folded their company because they couldn’t even pay the licensing fee — $3,500 in Moore’s case — that trolls ask for to avoid a lawsuit.

“It’s hard enough to build and run a successful startup,” Moore said. “I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent trying to fix this issue. That’s time I could have spent building my products.”

Moore went before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet to advocate Congress passing the Innovation Act, which would close several loopholes in patent law. It would require anyone suing for patent infringement to: specifically name which part of a patent is being infringed upon, the principal business of the suing party, and the actual company or person suing the business.

Lodsys is said to be a “patent monetization firm” with “no assets or employees other than a few patents.” The company asked Moore to mail the money overseas, presumably so the company doesn’t have to pay U.S. taxes. It’s an issue that’s stifling the innovation economy, Moore says, which is what Arlington is trying to grow.

“It’s harming startups and small businesses, and, big picture, it’s hurting the economy,” he said.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Planes at Reagan National Airport (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)

Pasha Cafe Changes Name — Pasha Cafe, at 3911 Lee Highway, has changed its name to Bistro 29. Owner Bill Hamrock tells ARLnow.com that “75% of the menu is the same,” but there have been some changes. “Some of our new items include: Fried Green Tomatoes, Shrimp ‘Tempura,’ Shrimp and Crab Potstickers, Bacon Wrapped Scallops, Balsamic Glazed Chicken and a Grilled Chicken Salad with Fried Brie and Mango Buttermilk Vinaigrette.” [Bistro 29]

Cigar Connection Closes — The Cigar Connection store across from the Ballston Metro station has closed after 12 years in business. [Facebook]

Garden Tool Lending Starts Wednesday — Arlington Public Library will restart its garden tool lending program for the season tomorrow, March 11. The program allows Arlington County residents with a library card to borrow gardening tools from Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street). The library says it’s the only such program in the D.C. region. [Arlington Public Library]

Celebrity Spotting in Ballston — Dancing With the Stars champion Julianne Hough and her boyfriend, Washington Capitals center Brooks Laich, were spotted grabbing a bite to eat at A-Town Bar and Grill in Ballston over the weekend. We’re told the couple arrived after the Caps beat the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night.

Arlington Startup Gets Acquired — Veenome, an Arlington-based tech startup, has been acquired by New York-based Integral Ad Science. Veenome’s software analyzes video content on web sites on behalf of advertisers. [Washington Business Journal]

Police Pose for Breakfast Club Scene — Five Arlington County school resource officers recreated an iconic scene from the movie The Breakfast Club, as part of a recruiting campaign for the police department. [Twitter]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf

Flower Delivery Startups Preparing for Valentine’s Day

By Ethan Rothstein

Wild roses bouquet from Palace Florist in Washington, D.C. (image via Bloompop)Valentine’s Day is among our most divisive holidays, but for a growing flower delivery business, there’s no more important day.

According to the National Retail Federation, 37.8 percent of Americans will buy flowers for Valentine’s Day this year, spending $2.1 billion.

Crystal City-based Bloompop launched in September 2013, and it’s currently gearing up for its second Valentine’s Day this Saturday. The company offers $10 delivery of flower bouquets from $50 to $150 from local florists. To become a Bloompop partner, a florist must have four- or five-star reviews on a combination of online review websites.

Bloompop Founder and CEO Shavanna Miller said Valentine’s Day, along with Mother’s Day, is the biggest day of the year for her company’s florist partners, and they’ve been undergoing weeks of preparations.

“Our Florist Partners are doing the heavy lifting this week,” Miller told ARLnow.com today in an email, “managing huge amounts of floral inventory, adding additional drivers and team members (sometimes two-three times their normal staff), and making sure all of their beautiful floral art work is delivered carefully and on time for Valentine’s.”

Bloompop is offering an “Easy Valentine’s” service this year, allowing customers to pick the price, color and whether their Valentine hates or loves roses — “the biggest Valentine’s Day fault line,” Miller said. In any ZIP code in the country, a bouquet will be arranged and delivered by a local florist, based on the customer’s specifications.

Valentine’s Day gifts are frequently more than just flowers, however. Bloompop is also offering pairings of flowers and jewelry from D.C.-based startup Stylecable.

Whereas Bloompop specializes in variety and creative partnerships, D.C.-based UrbanStems prides itself in simplicity. The company, which also delivers to Arlington, offers three types of bouquets for $35, $45 and $55, also selling chocolates and a floral-patterned bowtie. Bloompop partners with local florists, while UrbanStems sources its flowers directly from South America.

Urban Stems was launched just before Valentine’s Day last year, delivering its products through last year’s snowstorm. This year, the weather outlook doesn’t look great, but it’s not quite as bleak as last year. No matter the weather, the pair of D.C.-area flower startups knows this holiday is too important to take a snow day.

Image via Bloompop

Arlington Startups Continued to Grow in 2014

Startup Monday header

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

In the startup world, change is rarely slow and steady. For many of the businesses ARLnow.com has profiled this year, change has already come, and it came fast.

The SevaCall teamIn July, we looked at SevaCall, a Crystal Tech Fund company that allows users to call and immediately be connected with a pre-vetted service provider, like a plumber or HVAC repair service. When we spoke to co-founder Manpreet Singh in July, the company had already raised $1.3 million in funding and was in the midst of angling for more capital.

In September, Manpreet and his brother, Gurpreet, announced that they had raised $2.6 million more and rebranded. SevaCall is now talklocal, and the company has moved out of Crystal City. According to Disruption Corporation Founder Paul Singh — previously Seva Call’s landlord — they have relocated back to College Park, Md. Crystal Tech Fund was one of the lead investors in the new funding round.

Singh, himself a subject of a Startup Monday profile, has continued to show that Disruption Corporation will not be categorized. After launching as an investment fund, then adding investment advising to its portfolio of services, Disruption doubled the size of its headquarters and filled it almost immediately. Now, neighboring the dozen or so startups already on the 10th floor of 2231 Crystal Drive, is a coding “boot camp.”

DescribeIt CEO Ryan Yanchuleff works in his Courthouse officeDescribeIt is still in its Courthouse headquarters, but co-founder and CEO Ryan Yanchuleff tells ARLnow.com that the company recently closed a $255,000 round of investment — he had been searching for investment to help market his landscaping proposal software — and hired its first non-founder full-time employee.

Most importantly for the company, the full product is launching on Thursday with the new year. When landscaping projects start to boom in the spring, Yanchuleff and his co-founder, Ed Barrientos, wnated to make sure all the kinks were worked out.

“We’ve been busy for sure,” Yanchuleff said. “We’ll be making our big splash at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show up in Baltimore on Jan. 14-16.”

This August, Airside Mobile launched its major product at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. The Mobile Passport app allows users to fill out their customs forms on their smartphone and download the receipt. Essentially, it lets those with the app bypass the sometimes hours-long lines for customs, and breeze by.

The app was developed in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Airside Mobile is planning to launch in other airports around the country soon.

Startup Monday has covered companies that specialize in complex, big data analytics, healthcare technology and everything in between. One of the simplest ideas — an app that lets users submit pictures to win prizes — has taken hold.

Snaapiq, with Rosslyn-based Jacob Perler at the helm, took that simple idea and used it to raise $180,000 in seed funding last month. When ARLnow.com profile Snaapiq in August, 90 percent of the photo contests were sponsored by Perler and his co-founder, Ryo Hang. Today, Snaapiq partners with university athletic programs, Alex and Ani and SoccerPro.com to sponsor contests for its users.

Crystal City Hosting Tech Cocktail Startup Awards Tomorrow

By Ethan Rothstein

Teck Cocktail holiday party posterDisruption Corporation in Crystal City (2231 Crystal Drive, 10th floor) is hosting the annual Tech Cocktail holiday party and all-star award ceremony tomorrow night.

The party will start at 6:00 p.m., end at 8:30 and costs $25 to attend ($35.99 if the guest wants a copy of Startup Mixology by Tech Cocktail’s Frank Gruber). All guests are encouraged to bring canned goods to donate to the Arlington Food Assistance Center.

Hundreds from the D.C. startup scene are expected to be in attendance, and awaiting the announcement of the annual awards. Winners will be named in the following categories:

  • Best Design (Product)
  • Best Bootstrapped
  • Most Innovative Product
  • Most Disruptive
  • Biggest Pivot
  • Best Company Culture
  • Most Active in Local Community
  • Most Likely to Get Acquired
  • Best Social Good Startup
  • Best Big Company with Startup Culture
  • Most Charismatic or Best Founder(s)/Leader(s)
  • Best Community Leader

Several Arlington companies — including Disruption Corporation and its founder, Paul Singh — are nominated for the awards, which are still open for voting here.

There will also be a mixology demonstration and cocktails — naturally — for the occasion. After the event concludes, the remaining guests will migrate just one floor up for a happy hour at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Photo via Teck Cocktail

Local Startup Offers Artfully-Designed Gifts (Promoted)

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Two local, female entrepreneurs have transformed their love of gifting into a business. The Trendy Ribbon, an online gift company in Arlington, offers a fresh and stylish take on the traditional gift basket — turning it into something you can confidently give and happily receive.

The creative owners of the one-year old company focus on providing customers high-quality products (no fillers) and unique packaging and presentation. For example, instead of traditional wicker baskets, they use rustic and modern crates designed to be reused or displayed.

“Gift giving is personal and we want our arrangements to capture the personality of each recipient, artfully highlighting life’s special moments,” said the company’s co-founder Ashley. “We deliver a hand crafted, custom feel by getting to know our clients and incorporating thoughtful touches that make our gifts truly unique.”

You won’t find cookie cutter arrangements when it comes to this company. Unlike most gift basket companies, The Trendy Ribbon offers customization every step of the way – from brainstorming the initial look and feel via a gifting consultation, to personalizing specific elements to create memorable, one-of-a-kind arrangements.

“We pride ourselves on attention to detail and a keen ability to understand the client’s needs, style and taste,” said the company’s co-founder Kerry. “We have a true passion for designing inspired, relevant gifts and treat each project as though it was for our own friend, loved one or colleague.”

This commitment to artful gift design and customer service is the underpinning of The Trendy Ribbon brand and at the heart of every arrangement they do. If you ask the owners to describe their favorite creation, they can’t point to just one. Instead they talk about memorable crates that tell a story -the teacher appreciation gift with a gardening theme; a pig themed crate for a catering manager; a Bliss spa arrangement with a special “Have a Bliss-filled Holiday” notecard; an elegant wedding crate to pamper the bride-to-be; a baby crate for the owner of Clarendon-based salon Urban Halo featuring a custom hairdryer applique onesie and specialty infant hair care items. The list goes on, and the clients are impressed.

“The Trendy Ribbon’s custom gift baskets are perfect for every gift and occasion,” said Urban Halo stylist Hillary Kellet. “It is so easy, the crates are filled with awesome treats, and you can stay in your budget. I recommended The Trendy Ribbon to absolutely everyone! There isn’t one person who wouldn’t benefit from the service.”

The company has a lot to offer this holiday from home-based gifting parties for you and your friends to corporate, pre-arranged and custom gift crates featuring high-end, gourmet products. Corporate offerings include logo branded ribbon, chocolate, coffee and more.

It is evident a high-level of thought and care goes into every Trendy Ribbon creation. In their own words, “We take great pride in knowing our personalized gifting service creates gifts that capture special stories, events and milestones to be cherished for years to come.”

Check out their website www.thetrendyribbon.com or send them an email at [email protected] for information on how to arrange a custom, corporate or personal gifting consultation.

Reference the ARLnow piece to receive 10% off your first order.

Happy Gifting!

The preceding article was submitted by an ARLnow.com sponsor.

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