entrepreneurship : Innovation + Job News

StartUp PHL has announced it's first batch of winners. $6 million will be doled out to promising Philly startups over the next three years. First Round Capital -- recently named StartUp PHL’s seed fund manager; they matched the city's original $3 million output -- will direct the distribution.

Since October when StartUp PHL was first announced, 118 groups applied for a piece of the $500,000 Challenge Fund. The winners were selected based on their potential to increase business operations, create jobs and strengthen existing entrepreneurial networks. According to Luke Butler, chief of staff to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, the Nutter administration chose winners that reflect the growing diversity of our economic landscape, with a focus on life sciences, technology, creative economy, education and clean energy.
 
Three of the six winning projects affect students: Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP-SEP) in partnership with Campus Philly received $25,000 to help local undergrads find internships in BFTP-SEP invested tech firms; PhillyCore Leaders was granted $15,000 to support education entrepreneurs; and Startup Corps earned $20,000 to put towards their high school entrepreneurship program.
 
"Anything that's about the next generation of entrepreneurs is particularly exciting," says Butler. "One of the overall goals we have for this administration is: How do we create the kind of environment where young people see opportunity in Philadelphia?"
 
Other winners included the Enterprise Center's Center for Culinary Enterprises, VentureF0rth and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, which is creating a comprehensive online directory for regional startup resources.  

While the decision isn't final, the Nutter administration plans to repeat the challenge fund.
 
"Not everyone is out there trying to raise money from VCs," says Butler. "Equally important are the organizations that we have in this city that are providing services and support to companies as they grow. We wouldn't be able to do this if the community weren't so strong already."
 
Source: Luke Butler, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development
Writer: Dana Henry

The Navy Yard is fast becoming a national nexus for energy advancements. In addition to the Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB) Hub, the formerly derelict warehouse district has gained Viridity Energy, Oxicool, Pace Controls and the Mark Group in recent years.
 
Now the University City Science Center is bringing Quorum programming (Flying Kite, February 19, 2013) to the Navy Yard from March 14 through January 31, 2014. Per EEB Hub’s request, "Satellite" Quorum will focus on Philly's growing clean energy and energy retrofit sectors.
 
"Flagship Quorum really is a broad program open to entrepreneurs in any part of tech-based innovation," explains Jeanne Mell, the Science Center's Vice President of Marketing Communications. "We're taking the principals we learned with flagship and applying them to a much more targeted sector."
 
At Satellite Quorum, "Coffee and Capital," a gateway to the tech investment community, becomes "Coffee and Counsel," in which a selected leader in energy enterprise fields questions from a small audience of entrepreneurs. The Science Center is also developing programming that addresses sector specific issues such as strategies for approaching building managers. Additionally, the series provides ongoing networking, a key component to startup acceleration.
 
As the first member of  Satellite Quorum's Strategic Partner Alliance,  Clean Tech Open, a national incubator, will help promote programming.  According to Laurie Actman of EEB Hub, the recent passage of Philadelphia's Commercial Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Act, will give the retrofit sector even more of a boost, increasing the need for industry-specific programming.
 
The University City Science Center has partnered with Flying Kite to showcase innovation in Greater Philadelphia through the "Inventing the Future" series.

Source: Jeanne Mell, Kristen Fitch, The University City Science Center; Laurie Actman, EEB Hub
Writer: Dana Henry

Last summer, while launching the city's Office of New Urban Mechanics [ONUM], Story Bellows and Jeff Friedman met with Philadelphia’s top social impact organizations. This process led to the idea of private-public collaboration with Good Company Group [GCG], a local incubator for environmental and social entrepreneurship.

The resulting concept, the Philadelphia Social Enterprise Partnership [PSEP], provides opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to tackle traditional public sector problems such as storm water management, gun violence and education. This past Wednesday, the group's proposal was one of five (out of 300) awarded $1 million in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge.
 
Two-to-three times per year, a PSEP advisory board will help the mayor’s office identify a key issue -- and the associated costs -- and provide a framework for startup proposals. During each session, ten applicants will access incubation services, data and information from related city departments, and coaching from public sector industry experts.  
 
"It's looking at problems that [city] government has, that drain a lot of resources, and reframing them as market opportunities," says Zoe Selzer, executive director at GCG. "It's not targeting one specific challenge -- it's creating a system that can target a lot of different challenges." 
 
PSEP partners include GCV, ONUM, the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and the Mayor’s Office of Information Technology. The application to the Mayor's Challenge was overseen by Maari Porter, Chief Grants Officer for Philadelphia. According to Selzer, PSEP’s inclusion of non-government leadership was unique among Bloomberg finalists.
 
To refine the concept, the partners worked on government procurement strategies and established the need for pilot contracts (in lieu of grants) to support social startups. They encourage applications from Greater Philadelphia and across the country.
 
"It's a huge validation of the work we’ve been doing," says Selzer. "We really believe this is our opportunity to position Philadelphia as a national hub for social enterprise and as a place where [social] entrepreneurs grow and test their ideas and then spread those ideas around the country and around the world."

Source: Zoe Selzer, Good Company Group; Story Bellows, Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics
Writer: Dana Henry

With a rapidly growing senior population, increasingly varied insurance offerings and new regulations, the health insurance business has gotten pretty complicated. To address this, Eddystone-based Inspro Technologies offers administrative enterprise software that helps navigate those muddy waters.

"Some of these carriers could be paying 30,000 claims in a day, or more," explains Bob Oakes, CEO of Inspro. "They need to be able to handle those efficiently and quickly so that they’re not using human resources."

A new policy option for nursing care, for example, has to have a built-in structure for paying additional potential claims. The Inspro platform reduces the timeline for integrating these variations from months to weeks. Additionally, they manage applications, coordinate billing and agent commissions, and pay over 99 percent of claims. 

Inspro is currently launching a feature for managing annuities -- a situation where the insured leverages one policy, like life insurance, to pay into another, like long-term care. 

The company recently earned $2.5 million from private investors, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and was included in Deloitte’s "Fast 500" list for 2012. They’ve grown from 75 employees to 115 in the past year and expect to hire 40 more workers in 2013, including project managers, business analysts and Java development experts.

The company's rapid growth has attracted the attention of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, who recently visited their offices to study the organizational and management structure that enables the company to grow so quickly.

Source: Bob Oakes, Inspro Technologies
Writer: Dana Henry

One of the hidden advantages of going to college in Philadelphia is accessibility to the local startup community. Practically every other week there’s a startup weekend, hackathon or Philly Startup Leaders (PSL) event.  
 
When Dias Gotama, an International Information Systems major at Drexel, started attending these events he was surprised to find there weren’t many other students. 

"An entrepreneurship ecosystem is growing really fast in Philadelphia," says Gotma. "A lot of events that happen aren’t well targeted to students -- they’re either really expensive or organizations don’t know how to reach students on a granular level."

Nvigor -- a student organization he cofounded with fellow Drexel student Abhiroop Das and Pulak Mittal, a Penn student -- hopes to change that.

Students who sign up with Nvigor receive a list of events culled from the PSL listserv and Philly Startup Digest. Nvigor also helps organize student scholarships for pricey events such as Lean Startup Machine and Startup Weekend Health.
 
The group is working with the City's Office of New Urban Mechanics on a curriculum for students interested in civic-minded startups. In addition, they’re planning a Student Startup Conference for the upcoming Philly Tech Week.
 
Nvigor recently received sponsorship from Smart IMS -- they will pay for the group's membership at Culture Works, an organization that provides management resources and operational support. Eventually, Nvigor hopes to help students get part-time jobs or apprenticeships at emerging companies. They also plan to expand their services to suburban schools.
 
"If students come to these events, and they like them, word will spread about Philadelphia’s startup community," says Gotama. 

Source: Dias Gotama, Abhiroop Das and Pulak Mittal, Nvigor
Writer: Dana Henry

With the recent success of companies like Flyclops, Final Form and Cipher Prime, mobile game-making is carving a niche in the city's creative economy. Now the community needs a home-base -- enter Nathan Solomon, founder of Philadelphia Game Lab, a combination co-working space and incubator.
 
"Over the past ten years, with alternative distribution channels, the industry as a whole is much more interested in actual creative stuff," says Solomon. "Philadelphia's not in a really great position to pull together teams of over a hundred people, but we are in a really good position to pull together people who have technical expertise and creative drive, and want to make their own games."

The Lab will open its doors at 22nd and Walnut Streets in late March. It will admit small "teams" (usually two to six people) and skilled individuals seeking teams. In addition to benefiting from the networking and support that comes with a game-centric community, teams can better access capital via partnering funders. Opportunities for mentoring and a Quality Assurance (QA) Lab for beta testing are also in the works.
 
While shrinking startup costs have made the game app industry more accessible, the market is highly competitive. "You don’t need to find that special backer or special publisher anymore," says Solomon. "At the same time, it's really, really hard to make a good game."
 
The Lab will open with four teams and hopes to serve 12 teams total. Solomon says he’s also planning programs with local universities designed to expose students to game making as a vocation.
 
Source: Nathan Solmon, Philadelphia Game Lab
Writer: Dana Henry

Dating as far back as instant messenger, social tools -- email, Facebook, Twitter -- have a common trajectory: first college campuses, then the public, and then finally the business world. In keeping with this trend, Fort Washington-based Chariot Solutions is launching Haydle, a private Q&A board intended for corporate departments. It’s Yahoo Answers for the office.

"There’s a movement that takes the best of the social web and brings it internally," says Joel Confino, senior consultant at Chariot Solutions. "Just like there’s a whole slew of social products, there’s a whole slew of enterprise products."

Chariot Solutions, a service provider of custom software since 2002, is forming a not-yet-named product subsidiary; Haydle will be its flagship product. Although Confino says it’s too early say how many new jobs will be created, the company is seeking software architects.

Currently, most large companies use discussion boards or wiki pages, in addition to email, for internal communication. Someone seeking a quick solution will invariably sift through pages of tangents, commentary and bad jokes. What’s unearthed, moreover, might not be credible.

Haydle employs a "question and answer pair" model which assumes that every question has only one answer. The product invites co-workers to rate submissions. Finally, the asker selects the best match.  

"This product is actually not discussion focused," says Confino. "[Askers have] tried those answers and they’re telling you which ones worked, so it’s almost like a personal recommendation."

The company will first approach current clientele -- mostly large IT departments -- who can use Haydle to catalogue programming solutions. They’ve also received interest from customer service and human resources departments, deluged with repeat questions. According to Confino, the most unexpected inquiry came from a pharmaceutical scientist seeking safeguards for drug manufacturing.

Haydle is currently launching with an eight-week beta pilot at a Fortune 500 client.
 
Source: Joel Confino and Tracy Welson-Rossman, Chariot Solutions
Writer: Dana Henry

WordPress launched in 1998, creating a world in which even your grandma’s cookie business could maintain a web presence. On February 21, Apprenaissance -- mobile app creators located in Old City -- relaunched as Artisan. Their flagship product is Artisan Optimize, an app builder at the forefront of a WordPress-style revolution in the mobile sphere. 
 
"In the '90s, everyone had to have a website, but they weren't exactly sure why," says Bob Moul, CEO of Artisan. "To some extent we’re seeing that on apps. People are starting to go to the next level and say, 'Hey, this is actually a really cool way I can engage my customers in ways that I couldn’t do with a website.'"
 
Accessibility, however, is still an issue for app writers. Once an app goes to App Store, Apple controls it. A simple change in wording, color or image goes through the builder's IT department, and is then resubmitted to Apple. At least a week goes by before Apple releases the update. The process can often take a month or longer.
 
Artisan Optimize shifts the power dynamic with Mobile Experience Management, a platform that enables point-click style revisions for mobile apps. Artisan’s patent-pending technology allows their cloud to update Apple's system, creating an uninterrupted pathway from app author to the App Store.
 
By eliminating the need for code, Artisan allows non-developers to make changes. A marketing department using Artisan can also observe resulting traffic -- down to the specific actions of individual users -- with Optimize’s Experimental Analytics.
 
The relaunch closed its seed round of fundraising with $3 million from First Mark Capital and angel investors. They are hiring developer, sales and technical writing postions.

Moul said Artisan expected their product to be a hit with mid-level retail corporations but was surprised to find that conglomerates the size of Disney (which owns 600 mobile apps) are expressing interest. Artisan is demonstrating the new product this week at Etail West 2013, a national e-retailers trade show in Palm Springs, California.

Source: Bob Moul, Artisan
Writer: Dana Henry

In his old job, Frank Coates worked with corporate sales, marketing and accounts teams. He was struck by the outdated use of pencil and paper for recording employee and client meetings.

West Chester-based Wheelhouse Analytics, cofounded by Coates and Todd Buck, looks to solve that problem, capturing the critical data that happens off-line. Admiral, the company’s flagship product, is a tablet app that allows firms to translate meetings and events into stored data points. 

"There’s tons of information out there about how we communicate digitally, whether it’s on LinkedIn, use of websites or even cell phones," says Coates. "Companies have tremendous detail about who’s doing what and what people are interested in. But if you ask the sales force, 'How many minutes did you talk in that meeting about a particular product?,' they can’t do it."

Wheelhouse was formed in 2010, three years after Coates and Buck sold their former company, Coates Analytics, to PNC Bank. They have a full-time staff of nine and are looking to hire PHP and web service developers. 
 
Admiral enables users to upload presentation materials, including slides and videos. During a meeting, the app tracks time spent on each presented subject and allows users to record the audience’s immediate response. The platform also creates a record of the meeting’s outcomes. All data links directly to the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and is backed up in "The Bridge," Wheelhouse's cloud-based hub.
 
Although Admiral has only been on the market since November, the product is already gaining Fortune 100 financial service clients with sales teams as large as 500 associates. The company plans to launch a customizable phone-based app for task management in the next few months. 
 
"Ultimately it’s about what works and what doesn't," says Coates. "Our hope is to get rid of paper." 

Source: Frank Coates, Wheelhouse Analytics
Writer: Dana Henry

After receiving a final contribution from the University of Pennsylvania, the University City Science Center closed its Open the Doors Campaign. The first fundraiser in the local institution's fifty year history raised over $1 million for Quorum. This "clubhouse for entrepreneurs" has a two-pronged mission: to provide a place where entrepreneurs can meet and present a programming series designed to help those entrepreneurs move forward.
 
Quorum -- equipped with meeting rooms, a lounge and a small auditorium -- is distinguished from traditional coworking spaces through open accessibility. Local entrepreneurs are encouraged to use the space to host meetings or to just drop by to work among their peers. No membership required.
 
"We really want to give people the chance to make informal connections," says Jeanne Mell, VP of marketing and  communications for the Science Center.
 
The roster of investment and advising opportunities includes Coffee and Capital, an educational meeting between an investor and 20 entrepreneurs; Office Hours, where local business experts -- including Jeff Libson from Pepper Hamilton, Jeff Bodle from Morgan Lewis and Allison Deflorio from Exude -- meet individual entrepreneurs to answer pre-submitted questions; Angel Education, which hosts a panel of entrepreneurs to educate angel investors about opportunities in emerging industries;  and How to Talk to Money, a new series by BizClarity's Steve Bowman on approaching investors.  
 
The concept emerged from recommendations made by Select Greater Philadelphia's CEO Council for Growth. Since opening in 2011, the facility has serviced 12,000 individuals and hosted 250 events. The Science Center has also partnered with the Navy Yard's EEB Hub on Satellite Quorum, to offer programing on energy-related ventures.
 
Open the Doors received support from 34 private companies and institutions, including Morgan Lewis, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Energy Plus. Moving forward, the Science Center expects to provide opportunities for ongoing sponsorship.
 
"As the money has rolled in, it's been used to support Quorum's programing," says Mell. "This is really the first step in our fundraising journey."
 
Source: Jeanne Mell, University City Science Center
Writer: Dana Henry

Our partner for the "Inventing the Future" series is the University City Science Center.

In a 911 emergency, paramedics make life-or-death decisions in seconds. They do this without even knowing the patient's name.

This issue inspired Team My In Case of Emergency (mICE), winners of this year’s Startup Weekend Health (SWH). Their app accesses a patient's medical history, including vital information like medications and allergies, and is intended for first responders.

The grueling 54-hour hackathon, held last weekend at VentureF0rth, was largely attended by doctors, nurses and other practitioners. Sponsors included DreamIt Ventures, Safeguard and Drexel’s iSchool.

"[Clinicians] are coming up with ideas based on some of the problems they encounter every day," says Arif Virani, a SWH organizer. "It's great to get a bunch of smart people to think about these big, audacious problems and take on a tiny sliver."

mICE team leader David Bendell, a Penn nursing student and U.K. native, worked with six others, including several Penn students with backgrounds in IT or healthcare. Their winning project provides the patient's photo, identity and self-description by scanning a QR-code stored on the patient's phone. Medical records mined from insurance transactions would appear once the responder was verified by the insurance company's call center.

A total of 90 people participated in SWH, providing 36 pitches. There were 20 front-runners and 13 made it to the final demo round. In second place was Jose Morey, a radiologist at Penn, and his team USmedics, who created a platform that enables remote patients -- particularly those outside the United States -- to have test results read by doctors at top hospitals. Finishing third was KnowMe, an app conceptualized by Penn nursing student, Kerry McLaughlin, that helps nursing home staff maintain daily records of residents' moods, symptoms and habits.

Lon Hect, the winner of last year’s SWH, went on to win the Independence Blue Cross Game Changers Challenge and was awarded $50,000 in seed money. He is currently working on his startup full-time.

Source: Arif Virani, David Bendell, Startup Weekend Health
Writer: Dana Henry

Drexel University has been making headlines as a leading innovator in higher education. In addition to launching the Center for Visual and Decision Informatics, the school spearheaded the ExCITe Center (featured in the December 4 issue of Flying Kite). Now they’re taking it a step further, announcing the foundation of the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, slated to open in fall 2013. 

The curriculum has not been officially announced, but founding dean Dr. Donna DeCarolis says Close will put less emphasis on traditional business programing. Instead, the new school will stress actionable skills such as teamwork and inter-disciplinary collaboration. Students will develop expertise in a particular discipline -- whether it's engineering, science or the arts -- while building business know-how.

"It’s important in a very broad way that we teach our students how to be entrepreneurial in their personal and professional lives," says DeCarolis.

The Close School was founded with a $12.5 million endowment from the Charles and Barbara Close Foundation. It is one of the first freestanding schools devoted to entrepreneurship in the country. Close will offer incoming freshman a "living and learning community" where students dorm together and engage in venture-related activities. Sophomores and juniors can opt for an "entrepreneurship co-op," and receive funding and mentorship to work exclusively on their new enterprise.

Entrepreneurship, explains DeCarolis, is not just about starting a business. The ability to develop an idea and follow it through is increasingly valuable. Even within the corporate structure, today’s executives look to their employees for new ideas and a demonstrated ability to innovate.

It's also about flexibility. "Students that graduate today, by the time they're in their forties, will have had ten or so jobs," says DeCarolis. "Many of those jobs will be self-employment."

Source: Donna DeCarolis, Drexel's Close School of Entrepreneurship
Writer: Dana Henry

Most everyday objects, particularly mobile devices, could benefit from an added solar panel. That was the original hypothesis of "Team Spore," winners of this weekend’s Lean Startup Machine Philly 3.0, held at Drexel University's Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship.

The team of Drexel undergrads -- Mark Brandon, Dylan Kenny and Jason Browne -- walked away with an AWeber account, a month-long membership at Seed Philly and web development through the Venturepact X incubator .

Lean Startup Machine (often incorrectly lumped in with Startup Weekend) focuses on building the concept rather than a working product. Participants spent three days testing their assumptions and interviewing potential customers.
 
Half of the 55 participants were students. To lure those students, organizer Kert Heinecke moved the event from VentureF0rth to University City. The Baiada Institute, the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at University of the Arts and AWebber provided several student scholarships. Dan Shipper, a Penn junior who cofounded Airtime for Email and Firefly, was a guest speaker.
  
Browne -- who met Brandon and Kenny at the event -- admits his concept was simple, but says the team benefited from rigorous testing. "Usually, if I have an idea, I jump right in," he says. "Taking a step back and thinking about [our concept] from a market -- not a marketing -- perspective was helpful."

Session mentors included Chris Cera from Arcweb, Ted Mann from SnipSnap, Brad Denenberg from Seed Philly, Jake Stein from RJ Metrics and Yasmine Mustafa, cofounder of 123Links and Girl Develop IT Philly.
 
Twelve teams made it to the finals. Second place was awarded to Paper Wool, a home goods design company and graduate of the Corzo Incubator and Good Company Ventures. Washington, D.C. team Busted, which helps customers find shop for bras online, finished third.
 
Source: Kert Heinecke, Lean Startup Machine Philly; Jason Browne, Team Spore
Writer: Dana Henry

Buying a new suit can be an ordeal: After hours of debating material, style and brand, you settle on something that still needs custom alterations. South Jersey-based 7 Regent Lane cuts down on the complexity -- and the cost -- by acting as virtual liaison between a customer and their tailor. Just one year after the site went live, the company has fostered an international client base and is launching their first signature collection.
 
Back in 2010, cofounder Karen Chung, a Wharton MBA, was on a trip to Shanghai when her husband decided to have a suit custom made. The experience made an impression.
 
"My husband actually pitched me the idea," says Chung. "He said, 'I really enjoyed that custom experience. Do you think there’s an opportunity there?'"
 
7 Regent Lane -- cofounded with Ramesh Subramanian and Dave Reynolds -- helps remote clients determine the style, fit and fabrics for a suit that matches their body type. Because they work directly with tailors, the company purchases high-end fabrics at wholesale prices and doesn't need inventory or a storefront. That innovation reduces their price point from thousands to hundreds. They’ve developed a "measurement verification calculator" tool, a database of body dimensions that catches inaccuracies in a client's self-reported dimensions.
 
"Trying to fix [a suit] after the fact can be difficult and takes a lot of time," explains Chung. "We do a lot of work upfront."
 
With their newly launched winter collection, 7 Regent Lane has branched out from suits into fully customizable formal wear and men's accessories.
 
Source: Karen Chung, 7 Regent Lane
Writer: Dana Henry

Students can make great entrepreneurs, but VenturePact—founded by Penn students Randy Rayess and Pratham Mittal—is proving they can also be wise investors. The emerging firm is releasing its first class of startups.
 
A few months ago, First Round Capital launched student investors with The Dorm Room Fund (featured in a December issue of Flying Kite), entrusting $500,000 worth of capital to undergrads. VenturePact, on the other hand, didn’t begin with major cash. The group invests technical handiwork -- building out the startup’s product -- in exchange for a fee and partial equity.
 
Development can be outsourced, but it’s tough for non-techies to evaluate quality: A product riddled with bugs can still look great on a screen. VenturePact’s "partnership" model changes the incentives.
 
"Now that we have equity stakes, we want to build the best possible businesses," explains Rayess. "We want to keep them and nurture them."
 
VenturePact received over fifty applications at inception, but accepted only three: Accompliss, an app that helps hotels connect with guests; AirCare, a video-based professional coordination app tailored to the healthcare industry; and Boupp, an app that helps the fashion industry consult with customers on emerging trends.
 
The new platforms will be maintained by Penn students, who will receive school credit through VenturePact’s fellowship program. Rayess expects to eventually offer incubation services to startups, connecting them to mentors, publicists and venture capitalists.
 
VenturePact received a significant publicity boost in September 2012, when First Round Capital CEO Josh Kopelman tweeted about them. They’ve since connected with the venture arms of IBM and General Electric, who expressed interest in sending incubated companies their way.

Source: Randy Rayess, VenturePact
Writer: Dana Henry