University City : In The News

Founder of the startup accelerator DreamIt Ventures, Michael Levinson talked to Inc. magazine about best practices for pitching angel investors.

An angel investor or early stage venture capitalist will look at 1) is the business idea simple enough for me to understand and buy into, 2) does it solve a problem or meet a need, 3) is it a big enough market and customer base for the idea, and 4) does the entrepreneur have the right people on the team to pull it off, Levinson explains.

A PowerPoint presentation using about 12 slides is standard, particularly with a tech product. If you have a working prototype, show it to investors so they can see how it could actually work. If you can demonstrate your product or hand out product samples that's a plus. Discuss actual sales or anticipated orders. Also, this is where your research on testing or proving your business concept comes into play, says Levinson.

Include results from surveys, focus groups, and product tests to show any customer insight you have gained.

Original source: Inc.
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The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has found new hope for babies and toddlers suffering from neuroblastoma, a rare but deadly cancer, in a pair of studies, reports USA Today.

Both therapies offer better, safer treatments for the disease, and belong to the emerging field of "personalized" cancer therapy, with medications tailored to the specific genetic profiles of a patient's tumor, says co-author John Maris of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

A study of 226 children focused on an experimental, man-made antibody, called ch14.18, given as a cocktail with other immune stimulants. Doctors randomly assigned half of children to get standard care and half to receive the new antibody, according to the study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Original source: USA Today
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch travel section mentions booing Santa Claus but quickly moves on, digging deeper than most national media last week to reveal the insider's view of Philadelphia.

Once you get beyond the fighting fa�ade, Philadelphia is a city of tiny secret gardens, a diverse art and theater scene, a crazy diverse food/pub scene and a thousand walkable historical monuments and museums. Also, it's cheap as can be. You've got to work to spend $15 on a martini.

I moved here six years ago from St. Louis. The things I loved about St. Louis are the same things I love about Philadelphia--people are friendly, the streets have the same names (you copycats!) and there's no need to go to any chain restaurant ever.

Original source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Wildly successful entrepreneur Jassi Chadha has brought his expertise to TiE-NJ/Philadelphia, a newer chapter of the global entrepreneurship organization, reports SiliconIndia.

TiE NJ-Philly is an offshoot of TiE Tristate. New Jersey and Philadephia had quite a lot of entrepreneurs who would often find it difficult to make it to New York for various events of the Tristate. Hence the need for a chapter in this geographic area became a necessity. Today under the leadership of Chadha, the TiE-NJ-Philly Chapter is helping the budding entrepreneurs in this geography to realize their goals and dreams by conducting various events, providing mentoring, and networking opportunities.

"There are aspects of entrepreneurship like optimism, excitement, energy, and a sense of adventure that is inspiring to read and get excited. It also drives people to do more and pursue big dreams. However, the path of entrepreneurship is often lonely, hard, and the journey hectic with challenges of different sorts. That's why entrepreneurs need to be supported and find the right support in programs that TiE offers," says Chadha.

Original source: SiliconIndia.
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Members of the Norfolk Arts Commission visited Philadelphia last week to get a close-up look at some of the thousands of works of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Programs, reports The Hour.

"I was blown away by how these community murals in Philadelphia brightened the neighborhoods. It's inspiring to hear the stories of how these murals got made, and how it brought the community together," Becker said. "This is how to revitalize neighborhoods and instill a sense of pride, something I see Norwalk needs help with."

Launched in 1984 to combat graffiti, the city of Philadelphia Mural Arts Programs now bills itself as the largest public art program in the United States.

Original source: The Hour
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The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on two online news publications that have launched recently, including yours truly.

As the market for news fragments, new models for journalism are emerging. Two of those experiments, Flying Kite and Patch, launched in Philadelphia last month.

"This is a fresh way to get fresh content about all the innovative things happening in our city," said Danielle Cohn, (Philadelphia Convention and Visitors) bureau spokeswoman.

Original source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Noah Snyder-Mackler, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania, is blogging for the New York Times' Scientist at Work feature while he studies the socio-genetic structure of gelada monkeys.

My research focuses on the evolution of social behavior in a gregarious primate, the gelada. Geladas, endemic to Ethiopia, are not only the only grazing primate, but they are also found in some of the largest social groups of any nonhuman primate (on occasion we have seen more than 1,000 individuals at the same site). Our field site is situated in the extremely remote, stunningly beautiful Simien Mountains National Park (a series of cliffs, plateaus and mountains situated in the highlands of northern Ethiopia). The park is a 15-hour drive north of Addis Ababa and nowhere near electricity, cellphone or the Internet.

Original source: New York Times
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Led by Drexel University students and faculty advisors, the Drexel Smart House is pushing the envelope when it comes to sustainably improving the quality of life in urban residences, reports Forbes.

The group has received several EPA grants in support of its work (an impressive feat for a student organization) as well as other funding from the university and community groups. Seven of the students have already received LEED AP certification through their work in the student group.

Other similar projects exist in a handful of schools across the country; however, this project is unique in that it is a rebuild of a house in an urban environment.

Source: Forbes
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Philadelphia-based CityRyde are introducing a platform to facilitate the exchange of carbon credits between bike-sharing agencies and carbon producers, reports Greater Greater Washington.

What the guys at CityRyde (a competitor of MetroBike, the consultants implementing Capital Bikeshare) are proposing to do is to enable bike-sharing agencies to sell--on existing carbon markets--offset credits based on the CO2 saved by their clients who cycle rather than drive.

According to CityRyde founders Timothy Ericson and Jason Meinzer, a bike-sharing operator could net a million dollars a year (or more) from selling on the voluntary market the carbon credits earned by its customers using their Inspire system.

Original source: Greater Greater Washington
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