About Us

Netcito started informally in 2007 when I joined forces with 4 friends to create a discussion group for entrepreneurs called Incito. We quickly grew to 10 people.

We thought that we were starting something new, but we soon found that we were following in the footsteps of a tradition embraced by titans such as Andrew Carnegie, Benjamin Franklin, and even Socrates. Many high-performing entrepreneurs and CEOs attribute their success to similar groups.

Incito was a transformative experience for me and my peers. Through monthly meetings, we gave form to great ideas, overcame challenges, and developed surprisingly close bonds with one another.

In 2011, I decided to create Netcito and establish it as a self-sustaining business. I have found that my participation as a group member has been one of the most personally rewarding experiences of my life. I hope that you find similar value.

– Peter Mellen, Founder

What We Stand For

Empathy and respect go hand-in-hand

Starting and growing a business is tough. Everyone has to navigate their own course – but not necessarily by themselves. Our members provide feedback, resources, and insights so you can decide where to go next. We don’t presume to know better; we help you make your own decisions and grow in the process. When you do what’s best for you, the money will follow.

We believe in creating value by doing what you love

To be an entrepreneur, you have to believe that your work is the most important thing you can be doing. You need to have unerring faith that what you’re building will make the world a better place. By building products and services that we love, we bring something unique and long-lasting to the world.

We celebrate all success, big or small

If being an entrepreneur was easy, everyone would do it. It isn’t enough to note only the biggest milestones; sometimes, in moments of difficulty, small victories can go a long way to improving your outlook. We believe that every step in the process of building a successful business can be difficult, so we take time in each forum meeting to celebrate accomplishments, regardless of their size.

Diversity of background and business progress is important

Diversity of background and opinion makes us all successful, so we actively seek a variance of ethnicity, gender, and race in our membership. More importantly, we are unique in our desire to have members at many different stages of business development. Underlying everything we do is a belief that every single person has value to offer, no matter their background or progress.

We encourage members to be vulnerable with one another

We believe in celebrating successes as well as understanding failures. To do both well, we ask Netcito members to agree to a code of confidentiality so they have the opportunity to be vulnerable with each other. By doing sharing honestly in good times and in bad, we all become stronger and more effective.

Work and life don’t have to be at odds

In our opinion, the idea of work/life “balance” is not realistic or achievable. Sometimes, your life is your work; sometimes, your work is your life. We believe that designing your life around values like honesty, well-being, and healthy relationships can help bring harmony to the work of entrepreneurship.

About Peter

Peter Mellen is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience working in online businesses and commercial real estate. In addition to overseeing Netcito, Peter runs Mellen Investment Properties, a real estate investing firm that manages and develops residential and commercial properties. Highlights from his earlier career include:

Co‐Founder and CEO of Edison|Wright, where he launched one of the first PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) programs in the world.
Director, Premium Education Services at AOL, where he managed a portfolio of online education services provided to K‐12 students.
VP of Business Development for Safari Books Online, where he helped to generate a 5-fold increase in revenue over 3 years.
Co‐founder of Headlight, an online learning company that raised more than $15 million of venture capital from investors that included Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Peter currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tides Network and as Chairman of the Washington DC Local Advisory Board for BUILD, a program that provides entrepreneurship education for high school students in under‐resourced communities.

Peter was born in Toronto, grew up on a yoga ashram, and earned a BA and MBA from Georgetown. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and two children.

Early Incito members Christopher Gergen, Camille Preston, Peter Mellen, Jamey Stowell, Andrea Fuller, and Joey Coleman in 2008

Meet The Team

Adam Bortnick
Community Manager

Adam is currently the Community Manager at Netcito. Previously, Adam worked as a credit research analyst in Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management group. Before moving into an investment role, Adam was part of the Digital Marketing team in the same division. Adam graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Business, where he also studied entrepreneurship. Adam recently moved back to DC, where he grew up, to ultimately pursue starting his own company.

Alison Whitmire
Senior Advisor

Alison is Founder & CEO of Principal of C-Lever where she is deeply committed to helping CEOs achieve their goals – the big and the small, whatever they are, whatever it takes. In addition to serving over 85 CEOs and Executives, she has curated and organized multiple TEDx events including TEDxRockCreekPark and TEDx PugentSound, and she served as a Vistage Chair for over seven years.

Her purpose in life is to connect people to meaning, what’s meaningful for them, to the meaning they make, to become fully expressed. She lives this purpose fully through her work with the Netcito community.

Contact Us

Call

202-262-7784

Email

info@netcito.com