CEO Philippe Chetrit at Affinity Lab, 920 U Street NW. (Luis Gomez Photos)
From Cecile Oreste. Check out Cecile’s site, danceDC and follow her on Twitter @dance_DC.
President Barack Obama recently announced Startup America, the White House initiative that encourages entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Here in the neighborhood, Affinity Lab on U Street NW also inspires local entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams. The entrepreneurial launch platform not only provides a shared office space, but more importantly a collaborative community of business owners and resources.
Affinity Lab has not always been part of the U Street corridor. Before opening up a space just east of the U Street Metro in January 2010, Affinity Lab had been part of the Adams Morgan neighborhood for nearly a decade. The organization maintained two separate spaces in Adams Morgan and U Street for most of 2010 and consolidated the two spaces into the U Street office at the end of last year.
“First and foremost, this place is a community. The added value is the office space,” said Affinity Lab’s CEO and President Philippe Chetrit. The real power of the organization is having great access to other members, and working out of two separate spaces took away from that accessibility, he said.
