Join us for the August Happy Hour.

Philly Startup Leaders — Happy Hour
Weds August 13 @ 7:30 PM
Location: Sent via E-mail to Members

Mark your calendars for the July Happy Hour.

Philly Startup Leaders — Happy Hour
Weds July 9 @ 7:30 PM
Location: Sent via E-mail to Members

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

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.

Save the date for the April Happy Hour!

Philly Startup Leaders — Happy Hour
Weds April 9 @ 7:30 PM
Location: Sent via E-mail to Members

Our networking leadership group has announced a monthly workshop that focuses on the development of our members’ business plans.

The first of these workshops will take place April 2nd at 7PM at Indy Hall in Old City. The focus will be on Brent Matzelle, CEO of Vuzit.com, who will pitch his company followed by an in-depth discussion by the group for improving it

We welcome everyone to attend and contribute.

Please RSVP to info(at)phillystartupleaders.org if you plan to attend.

Startup Fishbowl — Vuzit
April 2 @ 7PM (Tomorrow)
32 Strawberry St

As part of our mission to connect startups with tech talent, PSL is co-hosting a kickoff party for the Emerging Tech for the Enterprise Conference. This conference will bring developers and technologists from around the country to Philadelphia–in addition to attracting many of Philadelphia’s finest developers.

I encourage all startups in the technology space to check it out. This a great opportunity to meet talent. Sly Fox Brewery will be providing beer samples–in case you needed an excuse!

This event is free and does not require that you register for the conference.

Great job to Tracey Welson-Rossman from Chariot Solutions for organizing the event.

Kickoff Party for Emerging Tech for the Enterprise Conference
March 25th, 5:00 - 7:00pm
Drexel’s Creese Student Center, 32nd and Chestnut Streets