With near ritualistic regularity, a new, big, household name tech company has started in D.C. just about every decade.

Today’s DMV tech sector was built around AOL, which launched in the mid-1980s, became a dominant force in the 1990s and remains a once-in-a-generation kind of digital media company. In 1997, what became learning platform category creator Blackboard first launched, and a decade later the origins of LivingSocial first spunoff as an app creator that would later evolve into a major player in the once frothy daily deals sector. (That was the same year when suburban WeddingWire launched.)

Years from now, what D.C. startup today might be the fourth wave in that tradition? (Technical.ly made some bets in January with our inaugural RealLIST, though there are more established options, like 125-person event management company SocialTables.

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