Entrepreneurial Couples

Jen Consalvo and Frank Gruber
Founders, Tech Cocktail. Their start-up, which began as a local networking group, has be-come a national gathering point for budding entrepreneurs, attracting thousands at the South by Southwest Interactive conference.

Phillip and Caren Merrick
The cofounders of webMethods, which was the most successful software IPO of its time, have their own projects now—with Phillip overseeing the online résumé site VisualCV and Caren running for the Virginia state Senate.

Bradley and Sheryl Schwartz
The husband-and-wife team that runs Blue Canopy—a government-tech contractor founded in 2001 that has twice made Inc. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest-growing private US companies—both came to the start-up with extensive corporate backgrounds.

Amy Senger and Steven Mandzik
Founders of the consulting firm 1X57, they’ve become influential in Gov 2.0 circles—and have helped usher the CIA into the age of social media.

Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova
Founders, Imangi Studios. Their small-game development company has churned out a number of popular iPad and iPhone apps, including the game Harbor Master.

Jesse Thomas and Leslie Bradshaw
Cofounders, Jess3. The creative geniuses behind one of the region’s hottest agencies, they helped an astronaut check into Foursquare from space and helped C-SPAN establish itself as a digital innovator.