Peter Key from the Philadelphia Business Journal wrote an insightful article about PSL’s leadership role in the grassroots movement that is shaking up Philadelphia’s business community.

As this article points out, we are at the front of a larger innovative movement, side-by-side with Alex Hillman’s Indy Hall and Vanja Buvac’s The Hacktory and MakePhilly. These groups are doing some amazing things. Stay tuned for news about the collaboration we have brewing.

See the complete print version of the article here, thanks to the versatile Vuzit viewer (say that three times fast!).

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

Perfect your pitch with the help of fellow Philly Startup Leaders members. Munish Suri is hosting a pitching workshop on Monday March 17 at 7PM, at Temple’s downtown campus. RSVP to Munish directly.

Perfect Your Pitch — Peer Pitching Workshop
March 17 @ 7PM
Temple’s downtown campus
1515 Market Street, 6th Floor, Room 206

Congratulations to everyone who made the March happy hour such a success. With 70-80 startup leaders, investors and stakeholders in attendance, I think we may have outgrown Loie.

Stay tuned for a possible new venue for April, and mark your calendars for the next happy hour, April 9 at 7:30PM.

For those of you who missed it, here’s a recap of our special guests.

First-time guests:

• President of University of the Arts, Sean Buffington, and Neil Kleinman, Dean of the College of Media and Communications
• Ben Franklin Technology Partners – Alan Kraus
• Osage Ventures – David Drahms
• Safeguard Scientifics – Mark Mitchell
• Select Greater Philadelphia – Jeanne O’Connor and Phil Hopkins

Returning special guests:

• ETF Venture Fund – Scott Bohrer
• BVB Capital Group – Rob Van Naarden
• Emerald Stage2 Ventures – Saul Richter
• MentorTech Ventures – Brett Topche
  

Save the date for the March Happy Hour!

Philly Startup Leaders — Happy Hour
Weds Mar 12 @ 7:30 PM
Location: Sent via E-mail to Members

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

If your startup needs an intern, check out CampusPhilly’s Online Internship Fair. Philly Startup Leaders is a proud partner in this event.

Don’t wait to post your opportunity, do it now. The fair only lasts from Feb 23-29 and interns are already browsing the site.

Anthillz has an internship opportunity posted there, and if you don’t act quickly, I will be sure to snatch up all the best candidates.

Congratulations to Jon Herrman at CampusPhilly for putting this together!

Continue Reading »

I couldn’t be prouder to be an entrepreneur in Philadelphia.

At last night’s event, we saw the first hints of something truly remarkable–a thriving startup community, built from the collaboration of entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, and city leaders.

For the 50+ of us in that room, I think we discovered a powerful bond that holds us all together:
We each chose to pursue unlikely dreams in an unlikely city.
And we will be damned if we don’t make those dreams come true.

Our latest batch of new members brings all of us one step closer. Welcome especially to our new investors, policy makers, and city leaders:

• ETF Venture Funds– Wayne Kimmel and Scott Bohrer
• DreamIt Ventures– David Bookspan and Steve Welch
• Golden Seeds – Gloria Rabinowitz and Cristiane Andrade
• Emerald Stage2 Ventures – Saul Richter and Shelby Zitelman
• MentorTech Ventures – Brett Topche
• Delaware Crossing Angel Investor Group – Vanaja Ragavan
• Innovation Philadelphia – Kelly Lee
• City of Philadelphia – Josh Sevin

Great to have you all on board!