The greater Washington region’s economy depends on more than government action or contracting work, but a dense network of private entrepreneurs leading change for the area.

This area has become the go-to site for serial entrepreneurs such as Ric Fleisher, COO of real estate service Upside Door.

The service’s structure is analogous to Paypal working with eBay, said Fleisher. Upside Door “builds trust and rapport between a buyer and a seller, and everything happens on that platform.”

Specifically, it augments existing home marketplaces, like Zillow, by serving as the transactional layer.

“[It’s] a very simple way to sell a home that allows folks that are wanting to list their home to save a lot of money,” said Fleisher.

“The amount of money that people save is maybe equivalent to two years at a public university, or the expense of a large kitchen remodel,” he said.

Upside Door also helps market local architects and builders, according to Fleisher.

“We work with a bunch of builders who are not typically great at sales and marketing… so we do that for them, as opposed to them contracting with a traditional broker,” said Fleisher.

Upside Door chose D.C. as its home base because it has “lots of smart people, and the competition for talent is not that stiff,” Fleisher told What’s Working in Washington.

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While great talent gets snapped up quickly in other entrepreneurial hotbeds, D.C.’s talent pool isn’t tapped as much.

“[In Silicon Valley,] when things are either sideways or down, they’ll see another shiny object and leave… they’d get a bigger offer from Google or Facebook,” he said. The capital region, by comparison, has talent that is more devoted.

Fleisher also praised D.C.’s mentorship community.

“Just like with charity, when you give, you typically get more than you give,” he said. In his office work with startup incubator 1776, “I know I’m being helpful, in creating momentum and doing introductions for these people, but on the other side I get to hear about other business ideas, other business models.”

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