What is “Starter Stories”? This is where you will find an ongoing, online series of inspiring video interviews with Philly’s startup entrepreneurs. You’ll learn about the people who are starting businesses in Philadelphia, their experiences, lessons learned, why they decided to start their own business, and how they did it. Check back often as we’ll be publishing new Starter Stories all the time! (click for: mission – purpose – participation)

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Episode #16 – w/ Farid Naib of DDC

Farid Naib is CEO and Founder of DDC. Interview Themes: 1 – Good Traction 2 – The Pain Point 3 – Importance of Team 4 – First Startup 5 – Organizational Behavior 6 – Breaking Through Plateaus 7 – Entrepreneurs and Term Papers 8 – Funding Issues 9 – Picking a VC

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Episode #15 – w/ Chris Cera of Vuzit

Chris Cera is CTO and Co-founder of Vuzit. Interview Themes: 1 – Evolution 2 – Suits Required 3 – A Vision of Success 4 – Piggy Banks and Surviving Difficult Times 5 – Focus vs Following Trends 6 – Getting Good at Saying No 7 – Being Up at Night Isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing

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Episode #14 – w/ Paul Wright of Mediavix, LLC

Paul Wright is President and Co-founder of Mediavix, LLC. Interview Themes: 1 – Paul Wright and Mediavix 2 – Genesis of an Idea 3 – On Wall Street with No Startup Expectations 4 – What’s the Problem? 5 – Operating in Philadelphia

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Episode #13 – w/ Jake Stein of RJMetrics

Jake Stein is COO and Co-founder of RJMetrics. Interview Themes: 1 – Introductions 2 – Leveraging Job Experience 3 – Go Nuts! 4 – Prioritizing Inputs and Optimizing Output 5 – Satisfaction and Success 6 – The Warren Buffett Way 7 – Free-Thinking Philadelphia

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Episode #12 – w/ Robert J. Moore of RJMetrics

Robert J. Moore is CEO and Co-founder of RJMetrics. Interview Themes: 1 – Roots in Venture Capital 2 – Shaping Your Own Trajectory through Entrepreneurship 3 – Lessons from Flameouts 4 – Funding Growth Internally 5 – Reason, Decisions & Partner Priorities 6 – Inspired by Startups

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Episode #11 – w/ Bradley Ericson of 3SecondReceipts LLC

Bradley Ericson is CEO and Co-founder of 3SecondReceipts LLC. Interview Themes: 1 – Entrepreneur magazine’s College Entrepreneur of 2009 2 – The Inspiration and Business Plan 3 – Passion, Dedication, Grandma & Thoreau 4 – Starting with Candy in 6th Grade 5 – Eight is Not Enough 6 – Summer of Love in Philadelphia 7 – Break the Shell 8 – Balancing Business and Personal Relationships 9 – Accessibility through Social Media

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Episode #10 – w/ Vanja Buvac of The Cadence Watch Company

Vanja Buvac is Founder and CEO of The Cadence Watch Company. Interview Themes: 1 – Patented and Singular 2 – The Startup Scratch to an Itch 3 – Increasing Revenue: The Fundamental Issue 4 – Crowdsourced Design Ideas 5 – Cross-Industry Innovation 6 – Utilizing Open Source Technology 7 – Systems and Standards

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Episode #9 – w/ Pete Borowsky of Zatista.com

Pete Borowsky is Founder and CEO of Zatista.com. Interview Themes: 1 – Destination Philadelphia 2 – Expectations and the Unknown 3 – Data vs Gut 4 – Learn from a Shtoonk 5 – Getting Out of the Weeds 6 – Making Tough Decisions 7 – Fun, Rewarding Work for a Good Cause

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Episode #8 – w/ Anthony Bucci of RevZilla

Anthony Bucci is Co-founder of RevZilla. Interview Themes: 1 – You Know You’re an Entrepreneur When… 2 – Enjoying Every Day 3 – Close to Everything 4 – Equal Skin in the Game 5 – The Will to Make It Happen 6 – Starting Up in a Down Economy

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Episode #7 – w/ Dain Saint of Cipher Prime

Dain Saint is Co-founder of Cipher Prime. Interview Themes: 1 – The Basics 2 – Eye Opening Experience 3 – Leveraging Multiple Abilities 4 – Jumping Without a Parachute 5 – Agility 6 – Philadelphia Community 7 – Being True

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Episode #6 – w/ William Stallwood of Cipher Prime

William Stallwood is Co-founder of Cipher Prime. Interview Themes: 1 – Who I Am, What We Do 2 – Passion, Focus and Timing 3 – Taking the Leap 4 – Making Cool Stuff 5 – Community & Resources in Philadelphia 6 – Re-creating Success 7 – Finding Your Battles

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Episode #5 – w/ Dr. Ranjan Dash of Y-Carbon

Dr. Ranjan Dash is CTO & Co-founder of Y-Carbon. Interview Themes: 1 – Deciding to Start Up 2 – Solving Problems 3 – Passion

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Episode #4 – w/ Yis Tigay of Image Revolver

Yis Tigay is Co-founder of Image Revolver. Interview Themes: 1 – Starting Out 2 – Inspired by Crowdsourcing 3 – Ideas and Independent Thinking 4 – Listening to Customers 5 – Being Better 6 – Knowing What You’re Not 7 – International Users as Partners

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Episode #3 – w/ Ben Greenberg of Image Revolver

Ben Greenberg is Co-Founder of Image Revolver. Interview Themes: 1 – A Neat Startup Experience 2 – The Value of Relationships 3 – Low Cost of Technology and the Burn Rate 4 – Appetite for Risk 5 – Self-Sufficiency 6 – Why Philly?

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Episode #2 – w/ Kendall Schoenrock of LTLPrints

Kendall Schoenrock is Co-founder of LTLPrints. Interview Themes: 1 – Beginnings 2 – Right Place, Right Time 3 – Starting Up in Philly 4 – The Value of Transparency 5 – Go Do Something 6 – Love What You’re Doing 7 – Embrace Your Mistakes

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Episode #1 – w/ Carsten Petzold of LTLPrints

Carsten Petzold is Co-founder of LTLPrints. Interview Themes: 1 – First Inspiration 2 – First Startup 3 – Successful Partnering 4 – Joy of Being on Your Own 5 – Entrepreneurial Spirit 6 – Just Start, and Learn Along the Way 7 – Critical Skills 8 – Ideas and Execution

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If you would like to learn more, or have a suggestion, please let us know !

Mission – Use online video to crack open and disseminate the treasure of unique stories and insights encapsulated within the entrepreneurs who constitute and characterize Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial community.

Purpose

• Provide means for tapping into and distributing collective wisdom of PSL’s membership and Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial community.
• Further engage, promote and expand PSL’s membership and Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial community.
• Encourage greater involvement with and collaboration among PSL’s membership and Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial community.

Interested in Participating?

If you have been contacted by us, or would like us to contact you, for the purpose of being interviewed for Starter Stories, here are a few questions for you to consider:

• Have you already started your own business in the Philadelphia area and launched at least one product/service available for purchase by your customers?
• Have you learned anything from this experience that you think would be interesting and valuable to anyone else?
• Do you have 30-45 spare minutes to sit with us and have a conversation in front of a video camera?

If yes, fill out our Starter Stories Application Form.

And in the meantime, here are a few details for you to consider:

• You will only be asked to set aside 30-45 minutes for us to talk with you in front of a video recorder.
• We have a preferred location in Center City (21st/Market St.) to conduct the video interview.  Suburban Station is 3 blocks away, and 30th Street Station is also a very short walk.  But, if this is impossible, we’ll be happy to consider a more convenient location.
• The actual finished product will be a brief video, four to eight ( 4 – 8 ) minutes in length, that will be published here on the PSL website, and potentially one other online video hosting website like Viddler.com and/or YouTube.com
• Friday, anytime, is the day we prefer for conducting interviews.
• NOTE:  Starter Stories is filmed, edited, produced, published, distributed, organized, maintained, etc., by ONE AMATEUR VOLUNTEER, so your patience, empathy and understanding will be greatly appreciated.

Contact us if there is anything else you’d like to know!