April 26, 2012 from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, at Levitt Auditorium, Gershman Hall, 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia.

Over 40 entrepreneurs will display their dreams, ideas and hard work in a trade-show like setting.

Who Should Attend?

This is a showcase of work by tech entrepreneurs and the technology entrepreneurial community. If you’re an entrepreneur, you will be able to talk about your work and hear about the work of others. If you’re interested in new ideas, new business plans, the uses of new technology, or are simply curious about the creative energy in this region, you’ll have a chance to see and meet those beginning to make a difference.

Who Will Be There?

Entrepreneurs, students, educators, investors, leaders in the political, legal, and business communities, members of the media, and the public.  Register to attend 

What Should You Expect?

Get ready for a vibrant scene of entrepreneurs eager to talk about their work and interact with you. Expect to see and hear about innovative new ideas and connect with like-minded individuals.

Get excited about the future. Get excited about the entrepreneurial spirit of Philadelphia. Come to the Entrepreneur Expo. Come and see tomorrow, today

For Press Inquiries or General Questions: Contact Gloria Bell at (215) 645-2308 or redstaplerconsulting@gmail.com.

…one of the best things to happen in Philly over the last decade has been the growth of organizations that bring big thinkers together like Philly Startup Leaders. This active, entrepreneurial community inspires creativity, new ideas and new thinking in Philadelphia.

He goes on to say more awesome stuff, and you’re welcome to check it out for yourself (pdf).

As entrepreneurs, we feel that it’s very important to pay it forward, because starting a company is a daunting task. So here you go, Philadelphia, a little forwarded love; from the Mayor to us, and from us to you!

Happy Hour Jan 17, 2012
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Ladder 15 Bar & Restaurant
1528 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Bob was the #1 pick, among a broad range of candidates, by the Board of Directors and key advisers that were consulted throughout the selection process.  Bob is no stranger to the Philadelphia technology and startup community, and he has been literally everywhere this past year since leading Boomi into an acquisition by Dell.  Bob is an entrepreneur, seasoned executive, community-builder, and among the most accomplished entrepreneurs in Philadelphia.  He will help bridge the gaps between startup founders, growth-stage entrepreneurs, executives, and the broader ecosystem like nobody else can in Philadelphia.  More information about Bob can be found on his LinkedIn account, and you can follow him on Twitter.

In celebration of this landmark moment, we’re going to be throwing a party in early 2012 (stay tuned).  In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Bob as the new fearless leader of Philly Startup Leaders!  LaunchRock on -Chris

The following is a list of resolutions and future directions for PSL:

• Mailing List: The current PSL mailing list is now a completely public forum.  Anybody can subscribe and participate.
• Circles: We plan to make it easier for Circles to start, grow, and thrive within PSL and so we’re going to dabble in a combination of the right people and technology to make this possible.  We started beta testing our first Circle a couple weeks ago, and expect this will grow into something spectacular (this one is private for now).
• Membership: We’re redefining what it means to be a member, and wiping the current membership  list clean.  We’re still finalizing the details, but membership will likely pertain to Circles only, and not PSL at-large.  Stay tuned.
• Happy Hours: Our next happy hour will be after the Founder Factory on November 17th.  Then we plan to suspend the monthly happy hours until further notice.  We recommend that startup enthusiasts attend the Philly Tech Meetup if you’re looking for your monthly fix of mingling with startup people.
• Big Events: We will continue to hold our large-scale events that the public has come to know and love over the years.  This includes the Founder Factory (next month!), Entrepreneur Expo, and the Summer BBQ.

This is just the first step in the evolution of the new PSL.  These pave the way for a better organization that addresses the needs that exist today rather than those that existed 4 years ago.  Over the years we’ve been proud to call ourselves the largest and most active community of startup entrepreneurs, but we’re all questioning whether that is actually a good thing.  It’s clear that the Philly community already has plenty of breadth, and so we’re going to focus on supplying depth.

Please let us know your feedback.  More to come.

The event started with some opening remarks by myself where I tried to explain the history and present state of PSL, and then we broke-up into 6 different groups to brainstorm about individual problems.  Each of the groups then took 5 minutes to present their problem and proposed some solutions.

Yorn Feeds

We used Yorn to collect feedback throughout the event, and you can review all of the comment feeds at the links below.  We chose not to moderate these forums and so you’ll see of the standard banter you would expect from an online forum.  One of the features/drawbacks is that all posts are anonymous which made it interesting at times.

• Main Room
• Group A - Brad Oyler and Karl Okomoto
• Group B - Eamon Gallagher and Chris DiFonzo
• Group C - Greg Berry and X1
• Group D - Jameel Farruk and X2
• Group E - Chris Stanchak and David Manlove
• Group F - Fred Wilf

Photos

Photographs were uploaded to Flickr.

Video

It’s fun to watch the individual group presentations, and the impact the live Yorn feeds have during the talks.  We had an issue with the microphone at times, and so you might need to crank the volume.  I have two outstanding Mechanical Turk jobs, and so I’m hoping to have the presentations transcribed to text in the near future.

Presentations

Opening Remarks by Chris Cera

PSL Fishbowl Opening Remarks

Group C

Group C was so organized they created a presentation and an outline! They are both posted below.

Membership Presentation by Group C

PSL Fishbowl: Group C Membership Presentation

Membership Outline by Group C

PSL Fishbowl: Group C Membership Outline

Outside The Fishbowl

There was a number of articles written in the blogosphere the day of or immediately after the Fishbowl (not to mention our mailing list as well). Below is a mostly complete list of posts:

• “state of startups: a new philly underdog story” by Joe Petrucci
• “Starting up” by Alex Hillman
• “What is a Startup Leader” by Brian Glick
• “Philly Startup Leaders holds “fishbowl” to refresh, reinvent itself” by Sean Blanda
• “Philly Startup Leaders is dealing with an Identity Crisis” by Alex Hillman
• “The PSL – Fishbowl” by Phil Ives
• “A Path for PSL – One Man’s Take” by Brian Glick
• “My Addendum to PSL Fishbowl” by Brad Oyler

Next Steps

We’re going to be announcing some resolutions in the next week.  We sincerely want to thank everyone that contributed, and we look forward to your ongoing feedback.

Please read this entire message if you care about the future of the Philadelphia technology startup community.  This article explains our history, what we stand for, and where we’re going.  We will be kicking off the next generation of PSL on Tuesday 9/13/2011 at University of the Arts.  Join us!

State of the Union

PSL started in late 2007 as a small group of [mostly] first-time entrepreneurs who got together for drinks. Today we are the largest and most active community of startup entrepreneurs in the Philadelphia region.  We have grown tremendously over the years and continue to harvest a strong community, both online and offline.  As we give best wishes to our outbound President, Jameson Detweiler, I thought it was important to re-tell the story of PSL, and my thoughts on what happens next.

The Past

Blake Jennelle invited a small group of people together to meet for drinks at Ten Stone.  A shared goal was that everyone wanted a thriving startup ecosystem in Philadelphia, something that would rival Silicon Valley.  The meetings continued for months until about 50+ entrepreneurs had been to an event.  The group continued to slowly organize, giving itself a name and a discussion listserv.  To give some perspective on the time period, IndyHall was just getting started, DreamIt Ventures didn’t exist, and neither did Ignite Philly or even Technically Philly.

A turning point came when Blake held the first “working meeting”, which was a workshop at the Baiada Center.  It was attended by about 30+ entrepreneurs, investors, and community stakeholders.

The meeting began when Blake wrote a quote on the whiteboard from a recent Fortune article by Michael V. Copeland:

[Josh Kopelman] spends half his time in the technological backwater of suburban Philadelphia.

It was something about the term “backwater” that bothered everybody.  Most of us had our roots in Philadelphia, we lived here, and just didn’t appreciate being associated with the term.  Determined to understand this perspective, the group listed all of the issues with starting and operating a company in Philadelphia.  We categorized these issues, and then formed teams around the major categories.  Each team elected a leader, created an action plan, and were tasked with executing that plan over the next few months.

The leaders from each of these groups started to update each other regularly on their progress.  PSL, itself a startup, was bringing different pieces of the entrepreneurial ecosystem together for the first time and had a ton of momentum.  The PSL community had created a shared vision for PSL.  They created an online presence, a slogan, a manifesto, and a set of core values.  The principles outlined in this formative period are still a solid vision for PSL and startup entrepreneur communities worldwide.

Manifesto v1.0

Because startup entrepreneurs need each other.

Starting a company can be a long and lonely journey.

Each milestone is a small miracle—from idea to prototype, from first employee to first customer, from first revenues to first profits and eventually to a thriving, successful business.  Most startups fail along the way.

To survive this journey, startup entrepreneurs need many things. They need access to funding and talent.  They need support from their government and their community.  They need opportunities to educate themselves and their team.

But more than anything else, startup entrepreneurs need each other.

No one can truly understand the life of an entrepreneur but another entrepreneur—no matter how much time they might spend investing, teaching, consulting, servicing, or legislating in the world of startups.

Philly Startup Leaders is a community of startup entrepreneurs dedicated to helping each other on their entrepreneurial journeys.

We provide the kind of emotional and practical support that can only come from a fellow entrepreneur. Emotionally, we share wisdom, inspiration, and friendship. Practically, we share advice, connections, and resources.  We mentor each other and coach new entrepreneurs who are making the transition.

We often collaborate and connect with the larger ecosystem—with people and organizations who are not themselves entrepreneurial.

But what makes us so different and so effective is our focus on connecting entrepreneurs with each other.

We thrive because we understand that, above all else, startup entrepreneurs need each other.

Core Values v1.1

1.    We know our niche: technology startup entrepreneurs.
Our focus is our advantage.

2.    We are a community.
Starting a company alone is painful.  Along the way, our greatest need is the company and support of entrepreneurs like ourselves.

3.    Our community depends on deep, open and frequent communication.
This kind of communication is essential for our members to get to know and trust each other.  As an organization, we earn the trust and loyalty of our members by communicating with them in the same way.

4.    We believe in lean and flexible leadership.
Bureaucracy and hierarchy tend to stifle entrepreneurs.

5.    We don’t replicate other organizations and events in our ecosystem.
Instead, we support other organizations by partnering.  We produce only unique and complementary content.

6.    We encourage entrepreneurship within our organization.
Any member can champion a cause they believe in.  When they do, they have access to the same resources the leaders do.

7.    We believe that entrepreneurs of all experience levels should mentor one another.
We have all had great teachers, and it’s our responsibility to give back to our community.  This includes our fellow entrepreneurs and those who ought to be.

8.    We love our city and our region.
We walk the same streets as Benjamin Franklin, an entrepreneur whose inventions and institutions have survived for generations.  We are inspired by our history and proud to be writing its next chapter.

The Present

The PSL community provides open access to information, people, and opportunities.  The PSL online community is particularly strong with many rockstar entrepreneurs actively participating.  We also throw one big event each quarter, and they’re always filled with awesome entrepreneurs, investors, and startup people.  This type of network never existed in Philadelphia, and unless you came from business school you had a much harder time learning how to start a startup.

The Philly scene itself has made tremendous progress in the past year.  There is an Open Angel Forum, Philly Startup Weekend, Philly Tech Meetup, DreamIt Ventures, Comcast launched a minority seed fund with DreamIt, Science Center is launching a startup clubhouse, local startups competing with local startups, and even the Kieretsu Forum launched a chapter here.  I’m thoroughly convinced that the startup scene is 10x better now than it’s ever been.

The Future

PSL is an organizational platform where any member can champion a cause they believe in, and when they do, they have access to all of PSL’s resources.  PSLs biggest asset is our community and loyalty to one another.  This is the city of brotherly love, and as such, we need our senior community members to continue nurturing junior members.  We expect all members to give back and mentor one another.  The Philadelphia startup scene has come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do.

A popular PSL event is the “Fishbowl” where a company presents a problem, and an audience of entrepreneurs provides advice and feedback.  It’s time to put PSL in the “Fishbowl” and brainstorm about how our organization can continue to provide value to the Philadelphia startup ecosystem.  What is our role?  Who will provide the leadership necessary to keep PSL thriving? What fresh content will PSL deliver to the community?  We need your input and insights.

Please join us on Tuesday 9/13/2011 at University of the Arts and help us create the next generation startup community in Philadelphia.

Best Regards — Christopher D. Cera, PSL Chair of the Board

About Philly Startup Leaders

Philly Startup Leaders (PSL) is the largest and most active group of technology startup entrepreneurs in the Philadelphia region, hosting strong online and offline communities. PSL serves early stage technology entrepreneurs by providing information, peer networking opportunities, and insights from experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and the larger startup community in Philadelphia. The results help early stage companies grow and create an environment where more people start companies in Philly.

Get your tickets NOW: http://psl.ticketleap.com/psl-summer-bbq-2011/

So come out and share your knowledge, your experience and your support!

RSVP:  http://psl.ticketleap.com/may-2011-happy-hour/

Date:  Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Time:  6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Location:
The American Pub

1500 Market Street

Centre Square Building

Concourse Level

Philadelphia, PA 19102
Let’s keep the energy of Philly Tech Week moving forward! Come meet and mingle with other tech entrepreneurs.

Second Tuesday is almost here, which means time for PSL Happy Hour!

Whether your answer is “Absolutely! I wouldn’t miss it” or “I’m not sure of my schedule, but I’m going to try my best to be there”, please RSVP via the link below.

Happy Hour April 12th

http://psl.ticketleap.com/psl-april-happy-hour/

6:30 – 9:00 pm

Ladder 15

1528 Sansom Street

Philadelphia, PA 19102

Tech Talent Expo April 26th

TECHNICAL TALENT IS IN DEMAND IN PHILLY

Philadelphia has some some pretty amazing companies that are in need of talented technical experts to join their team, but sometimes it can be hard to stand out in a pile of resumes. To meet that need, Philly Startup Leaders is turning the job fair upside down and offering companies a chance to meet engineers, developers and designers with specific skills in an intimate networking event offered exclusively during Philly Tech Week.

Are you a technical expert between jobs or seeking a new opportunity? If so, then come to Philly Startup Leaders’ Tech Week Event where you could find the opportunity of your dreams.

40 EMPLOYERS ARE ATTENDING! But less than 40 tickets are left for Technical Talent.
So if you‘re ready to get the attention you deserve from adoring employers…

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW: http://psl.ticketleap.com/tech-talent-expo/
Download a PDF of the event flyer to share: Download PDF

April 26, 2011 // 4pm – 6pm
4 – 4:30pm: Registration & Networking
4:30 – 5:15pm: Tech Talent Spotlight
5:15 – 6pm: Open Networking

University City Science Center
Fuller Conference Rooms, 8th Floor
3711 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

*Many thanks to our sponsor: University City Science Center