If you missed IgnitePhilly, it was an incredible event.  Over 300 people crammed into Johnny Brenda’s, and dozens more were turned away at the door.

See what you missed: IgnitePhilly videos.  And here is the video of my presentation.

Exciting news!  As part of our effort to bridge grassroots communities in Philadephia, we are merging our June 9 happy hour with IgnitePhilly.  IgnitePhilly is a very promising effort to showcase many different flavors of innovation in Philadlephia.  Several of our members will be speaking, including me. 

We’ll return to our normal happy hour location on July 9. 

Check out the IgnitePhilly website for me details. 

When and where:

IgnitePhilly
June 11, 2008

Apparently it’s no accident that we run PSL the way we do. Check out Alex Hillman’s blog post on civic entrepreneurship – it’s eerie at times on how relevant it is to PSL’s success so far!

Just wanted to thank everyone for a great happy hour last night.  I think I enjoyed this one more than any of the others so far.  We had a great turnout from every part of the ecosystem (except service providers, of course)—startup entrepreneurs, VCs and angels, university reps, economic development orgs, and more.  We also made good progress on our Startup School project.  Thank you to the 25 or so who attended our planning meeting before the happy hour.

In case you missed it, we had a surprise guest in City Councilman Bill Green.  He spent a good 90 minutes getting to know our members.  Little did we know that our own Rick Rasansky had been talking up PSL to him.  Well done Rick!

As Councilman Green showed us last night, he is serious about supporting startups and wants to create a much more robust community of seed-stage angels in Philadelphia.  His attendance sends a strong message about his priorities, and I think I speak for many of us in saying that we were very impressed with him. 

If you haven’t already, please add a recurrence to your calendar for the second Wednesday of every month, the date of our happy hours.  Our next happy hour is June 11.  We have something special in store!

It’s almost here – PSL’s May Happy Hour is this Wednesday! This Wednesday is also our Startup School Action Meeting, immediately before the happy hour. See the full details below.

If you would like to help organize a Startup School in Philadelphia, please attend this meeting. I also encourage you to familiarize yourself with past Startup Schools, organized by YCombinator. Here are some links to get you started:

Official Startup School Website: http://startupschool.org/
TechCrunch article on SS ’08: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/19/packed-house-at-y-combinator-startup-school/
My favorite video from SS ’08, by David Heinemeier Hansson: http://www.omnisio.com/startupschool08/david-heinemeier-hansson-at-startup-school-08

PSL Happy Hour & Startup School Action Meeting
Weds May 14
Startup School Action Meeting 6:00 - 7:30 PM
Happy Hour 7:30 - 9:30PM

Location: Sent via E-mail to Members

Workshop Topics

• Climate Innovations: Create a new branding strategy (Led by Brad Denenberg of Climate Innovations and Aaron McLean of Eight-Eleven Inc.)
• Anthillz Marketing: Reaching our freelancer and employer audiences (Led by Blake Jennelle of Anthillz)
• Social Network Valuation: With numbers ranging from a couple million dollars and a few pennies per user to $15 Billion and more than $200 per user and everything in between, where does your social network fit in? Please bring any relevant research or examples that may be beneficial to the discussion as we work together to make sense of social network valuation and try to do what Wall Street hasn’t figured out yet.

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PSL Fishbowl II
Wednesday, May 7th @ 7PM
University of the Arts
The Terra Building, Room 1107
211 South Broad Street
(east side of Broad, just south of Walnut, across from the Hyatt)

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RSVP required to fishbowl@phillystartupleaders.org. Please arrive promptly at 7PM.

Not a scandal, but even better — we have been asked to testify before Philadelphia City Council about what they can do to make Philadelphia an even better city for entrepreneurship.

Let’s show them how much we care by filling the room. I (Blake Jennelle) have been asked to represent the group, and we have the good fortune of going last, which means they will leave with our message in their heads.

City Council Hearings on the Creative Economy
May 7 (tomorrow) 1:00-2:30PM
City Hall, Room 400

Event Background

On Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, Chair of City Council’s Committee on Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs, and Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr., Chair of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, are coordinating a public hearing on Philadelphia’s creative economy, the non-profit and the for-profit creative industries. The goal of the hearing is to learn about the impact of the creative industries on the City of Philadelphia; how they impact entrepreneurism and business development; and how they are a magnet for attracting and retaining young professional educated workers. City Council will hear from creative industry experts and practitioners to generate ideas on how the City can provide resources to help grow the creative industries and job opportunities in Philadelphia.

Speakers:

• Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown
  Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr.
• Peggy Amsterdam, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
• Josh Sevin, City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce
• Kelly Lee, Innovation Philadelphia
• Patricia Smith, The Reinvestment Fund and Mark Stern, University of Pennsylvania Social Impact on the Arts
• Matthew Fisher, Night Kitchen Interactive
• David Brown, Brown Partners
• Sean Buffington, The University of the Arts
• Blake Jennelle, Philly Start Up Leaders

PSL’s own Patty Tawadros has organized a panel on tech startups featuring four PSLers–Patty, Julian Awad, Alex Hillman, and myself. PSL is co-sponsoring this event along with the Center City Proprietors Association.

Patty asks you to RSVP if you plan to attend–call the Center City Proprietors Association at 215-545-7766. It’s free for PSL members.

Technology Trailblazers
The Changing Face of Philadelphia Startups

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Helium Comedy Club
2031 Sansom Street

Philadelphia is no longer just a biotech hot spot. Work is underway to turn the city into the Silicon Valley of the east coast. Ambitious entrepreneurs are blazing a trail to build a technology hub in Philadelphia, create more high tech jobs, and foster the growth and success of new technology firms. Join us for a fresh perspective from technology leaders and the investors behind their creative endeavors.

Panelists:

Julian Awad, CEO, Co-Founder, Smart Genetics LLC
Thomas M. Balderston, President & CEO, Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance
Alex Hillman, Co-Founder/Evangelist, Indy Hall - Philadelphia Coworking
Blake Jennelle, CEO, Anthillz, and Founder, Philly Startup Leaders
Patricia Tawadros, CEO, Xercel, Inc.
Steve Welch, Co-Founder, DreamIt Ventures

Moderated by: Krista Bard, President, Bard Strategies and CCPA

Cosponsored by: Philly Startup Leaders

This event is free for CCPA and Philly Startup Leaders members, $20 for non-members, includes complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.