Startups Can't Ignore Washington

Avner Ronen, an Israeli entrepreneur who lives in New York City, doesn’t normally pay much attention to American politics. Then in January he realized his company, the Internet video provider Boxee, had a lot to lose by ignoring Washington. He set up a meeting with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and booked three train tickets to Washington. Two were for Ronen and the startup’s sole lawyer. The third was for an intern who, for the purposes of the Genachowski meeting, got the title Head of Government Relations.

Wearing a hoodie to maintain his startup vibe, Ronen showed how owners of the Boxee Box, a $180 device made by D-Link that aggregates videos from all over the Web and displays them on a TV set, can seamlessly flip between Major League Baseball games, Netflix, and a reality show. He pleaded for FCC officials to reject proposed rules that put Boxee at a disadvantage to big cable-TV providers. “Definitely startups, but tech in general, don’t focus on D.C. as much,” Ronen says. “We’re not speaking D.C.-speak or FCC-speak, for good or for worse.”