high technology : Innovation + Job News

Are Energy Commercialization Institute's investments approaching critical mass?

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sometimes it's the small things that make a big difference in energy efficiency. The Energy Commercialization Institute awards grants to cleantech startups with a proven track record. Bird droppings on solar panels are a literal barrier to efficiency. Not something you think about, but it makes sense. Shu Yang, PhD., a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and one of five recent ECI grant recipients, earned to develop a nonstick coating for photovoltaic cells.

ECI also funded Drexel profs Emin Caglan Kumbur, Ph.D and Yury Gogotsi, Ph.D for energy storage technology; Alexander Fridman, Ph.D, leading a Drexel University/Temple University team to create clean energy from biomass, coal and organic wastes; a new electrospinning/electrospraying process for energy fuel cells from Drexel's Yossef Elabd, Ph.D; and a Drexel/Penn initiative to create thin-film solar cells from Andrew Rappe, PhD. Total for the recent round was $500,000.

The ECI is funded by the State of Pennsylvania and created by a consortium that includes Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Drexel, Penn and Penn State.

It's a new focus on commercialization, says Tony Green, PhD., Director of the ECI as well as its forbear, the Nanotechnology Institute. "The NTI model led to the ECI model which led to EEB Hub," explains Green. "The difference is that NTI is based on a platform, while the ECI is an application." Rather than focus on nanotech, the ECI mission is not about any specific technology. "The buzz phrase is alternative and clean energy."

For the first time, says Green, the ECI is now getting metrics on commercialization, licenses and jobs created through ECI grants. While the state-funded NTI has a 10-year track record, Green and company are about to release a semiannual report that credits ECI with the creation of over 50 jobs in the last two years.

"We have already accrued almost 150 intellectual property assets, applications and issued patents," says Green. "We've executed 18 licenses and options. With only 700K project funding, we've created three startups in the last year, and that number is going to grow. Universities are doing a lot better at commercializing technology. ECI projects are not technologies that are basic research. The intellectual property already exists."

Green looks to MIT and UCSD as big names in higher ed tech commercialization. "We can do the same thing, but not through a single institution. It's a consortium." The cumulative capabilities are much greater, says Green. The ECI also works with small institutions like Fox Chase Cancer Research Center and Philadelphia University, where there might be one researcher doing groundbreaking work. "We want all boats to rise," adds Green.

Source: Anthony Green, ECI
Writer: Sue Spolan

Social entrepreneurship agency Here's My Chance doubling staff, expanding to Chinatown

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, July 10, 2012

How about another new approach to fundraising? One that's exciting and fresh, with cool graphics and appealing content? That's the secret to the success of Here's My Chance, co-founded by David Gloss and Kevin Colahan. It's social entrepreneurship done right, without the guilt.

"Its a strange psychological trick," says Gloss, the CEO. "People pour their hearts and souls into the work they are doing and then feel awkward or unworthy when going out to seek financial support."

With a quickly growing team, now headquartered in Old City and expanding to offices in Chinatown, Here's My Chance removes all the negativity and creates a shining path to doing good. "We design custom campaigns for corporate brands and nonprofits that rally people around their cause." says Gloss, who brings a dual purpose background to the endeavor.

Prior to HMC, Gloss worked in venture capital and received his MBA from Temple University, but was raised by old school social entrepreneurs. Carelift International, the Philadelphia based medical relief charity, was founded by his parents in the 1970s.

While at a meditation retreat, Gloss says he was struck by the idea that he could do next generation fundraising, rallying massive digital communities using game mechanics, driving people to do good things. That was back in May 2011. Today, HMC has employees in DC, Boston and New York, with the core creative team here in Philly.

HMC is hiring, expecting to expand staff from 8 to 15 in the next year. "We're going on a hunt for graphic designers, developers, creative directors, and project managers," says Gloss. "We are building an agency with a unique philosophy."

Source: David Gloss, Here's My Chance
Writer: Sue Spolan

Uber riding steady in Philly, eyes growth here and beyond

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Being a baller is not gender specific. Uber, the new black car service in Philadelphia, is a heck of a guy magnet (it works wonders on chicks, too). Launched here last month, Uber takes taxicabs to task, providing concierge level service for just a few dollars more. Most rides within Center City cost the $15 minimum. And it's hella sexy to pick up your date in a chauffeur driven limo.

Uber just announced tiered service here, following the lead of New York and San Francisco, two other Uber-serviced cities. If you want a standard town car, it's $15, and a swanky SUV goes for $25. In the first weeks of the service, it was the luck of the draw. Sometimes a celebrity style whip showed up, and other times it was the sedan. Now it's possible to choose.

Uber relies on a smartphone app, available for Android and iOS. Launch Uber to get a map of currently available drivers, click to order, and you'll be set for pickup. Along the way, you receive SMS updates about the location of your driver. You can set pickup for another location. One customer, according to Adria Hou, Philadelphia General Manager for Uber, sets his Uber pickup from 30th Street Station while on the Amtrak coming down from New York. Credit card information is already stored, so no cash changes hands.

Hou says Uber marketing relies solely on word of mouth, and that week over week growth here is in line with total company growth. Based in San Francisco, with a total of 60 employees and $44.5 million in venture funding, Uber provides on demand car service in 13 cities internationally, with plans to expand next to Atlanta, Denver and Dallas. Expansion in Washington, D.C., however, has proved dicey.

The main challenge is growing the customer base, says Hou. "Our core users are the tech community." From there, word spreads. Once you experience an Uber ride, it's a challenge to go back to the standard taxi experience. While the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which is in charge of the city's taxicab medallion service, may grumble, Hou says Uber is in compliance with the rules. "It's about places where it's hard to get a cab," says Hou. Locations like Fishtown and South Philly are pain points where Uber works most efficiently.

The lean three person Philadelphia team is headquartered at SeedPhilly at 1650 Arch, and will grow over time, says Hou. Uber currently operates between 50 to 100 cars, working in partnership with a variety of already existing limo services here in the city.

Source: Adria Hou, Uber
Writer: Sue Spolan

TechCrunch blows through Philly for one-day stand; Monetate still hiring

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

TechCrunch held its first Philly Mini-Meetup on June 19 at The Field House, across from Reading Terminal Market. Billed as an "evening of networking, fun, and bacchanalian pleasure," the usual Philly tech folks came out to drink enough beer to live up to the party hearty reputation of the city.

About a dozen local companies set up tables, including Interact's Anthony Coombs, who was responsible for getting the national tech media blog to the city; Audrea Parrack handed out black Monetate T-shirts. She reports that the Conshohocken company is still hiring at breakneck speed, and is looking to fill 52 more positions by year's end. The company now employs 103.

"We wanted to meet people in Philadelphia under an umbrella of neutrality," explained John Biggs, East Coast Editor of the AOL-owned tech news site that has about 1.6 million RSS subscribers worldwide. Philadelphia, unlike New York and Silicon Valley, does not need a DMZ for tech gatherings, as the community lacks a cutthroat nature, but tourists from TechCrunch can be forgiven.

There was no set program, as Biggs was more interested in gathering local intel. When asked if he had met any standouts, he mentioned a startup that's working on RFID technology for supermarket checkout. "It's like EZ Pass for grocery stores." He could not, however, recall the name of the company. Camera in hand, Biggs can also be forgiven for snapping shots of the most attractive females in the crowd.

The event drew about 350 people, and did not offer much to the local community other than a chance to strut its stuff in front of the highly regarded news site. And some snacks. And one free beer per person. Philadelphia is the third stop in the TechCrunch national tour; New York and Washington DC were stops one and two. The event moves on to more states across the US including Georgia, Missouri and North Carolina.

Source: John Biggs, TechCrunch, Anthony Coombs, Interact, Audrea Parrack, Monetate
Writer: Sue Spolan

Chasing elusive healthcare innovation: IBX Game Changers Challenge applications due soon

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Independence Blue Cross Game Changers Challenge is now accepting applications, and the window to enter closes on July 10. The idea is to link the muscle and financial power of big health care with the energy of startups in an effort to drive change.

"This is a huge opportunity," says Tom Olenzak, who, as a full-time consultant, is helping to run the Game Changers Challenge, which draws on the partnership of IBX, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the Department of Public Health of the City of Philadelphia, Venturef0rth, and ?What If! Innovation Partners.

Applicants have until July to submit proposals aimed at improving the overall health and wellness of the Greater Philadelphia region. New companies, applications, technology, products, programs, and services that promote health and wellness are all welcome to enter. The prize is $50,000 for up to three winners, who will be notified by the end of July.

"Health care legislation has forced people to think about change," says Olenzak. "We've been stuck in an employer based sales model."

While most individuals consider themselves insured by a particular company, insurers are actually built on a B2B model, selling to employers, not employees. That's why customer service at an insurer can be quite frustrating. It's not a detail most people consider while on hold trying to get information about a claim.

Making change in healthcare is daunting, even to a seasoned professional like Olenzak, who's been in healthcare IT for 20 years, and reports that innovation in healthcare has always been the next big market.

Olenzak sees the regulatory process as a barrier to innovation. "There's been a ton of innovation on the care side," but not on the business side, adds Olenzak. "The challenge in health care is that open and transparent transactions are almost unheard of."

With an economy that continues to struggle, and cuts in reimbursement, Olenzak says healthcare focused acclerators are on the rise around the country, and points to Blueprint Health in New York, Rock Health in San Francisco, and Chicago Health Tech.

Here in Philadelphia, Venturef0rth hosted the first ever Startup Weekend Health at the beginning of this month, and there are plans in the works for a Philadelphia based health care accelerator, details of which cannot yet be disclosed.

"Once you start pulling on one thread, you find it's attached to 16 more," says Olenzak of the complicated field of health care innovation. "We're at a stage where we need a larger platform like an insurer or a health system to get involved to make a difference."

Source: Tom Olenzak, IBX Game Changers Challenge
Writer: Sue Spolan

Overheard at Venturef0rth: Million/Million for SnipSnap; CloudMine releases version 1.0

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

It wasn't up there for long, but the upstart startup CloudMine celebrated the release of version 1.0 by attaching one of its massive company logo banners to the water tower atop the large white building at 8th and Callowhill where it calls home at Venturef0rth. Talk about eyeballs. The water tower got the attention of tens of thousands of Friday commuters.

While none of the CloudMine founders was willing to take credit (or in this case, blame) for the guerilla marketing stunt, CloudMine's presence is hard to miss. With a newly redesigned website, the year old Backend-as-a-Service company has put its beta to bed, according to CEO Brendan McCorkle. But developers were not so fortunate, with Marc Weil reporting that the team worked well into the wee hours to make the launch happen. Developers are now running more than 1,500 apps on the CloudMine platform.

Meanwhile, just yards away at Venturef0rth, Ted Mann of SnipSnap announced that he's raised a million dollars in funding for his coupon snapping app, and a million coupons have been entered into the system. Adding to recent Ben Franklin Technology Partners of SE Pennsylvania funding, Mann says Philly's Mentortech Ventures and Michael Rubin contributed to the round.SnipSnap is hiring two in leadership positions, and according to Mann, is engaged in a national search to hire a VP of Marketing and a VP of business Development and Sales.

Keya Dannenbaum, founder of ElectNext, and late of Project Liberty Digital Incubator stopped by to check out the space, and reports that the candidate choice engine is now closing in on a round of funding. She also mentioned that co-founder Paul Jungwirth has moved on and is no longer with the startup.

Source: Brendan McCorkle, CloudMine, Ted Mann, SnipSnap, Keya Dannenbaum, ElectNext
Writer: Sue Spolan

Old City interactive shop I-SITE hiring four for new international projects

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I-SITE, the super groovy interactive agency with an international clientele, is hiring. "One project manager, one developer, one contract Drupal programmer, and also we need a contract designer for the summer. So there will be four new faces working with the team in the next few weeks," reports Ian Cross, President and CEO.

Cross, who also operates burlesque-a-go-go hot spot The Trestle Inn, says Project Manager Jessica Chappell is moving to the UK, and one of the company's programmers is going freelance. "That said, we are growing and taking on more projects. I-SITE is a seven person core team – all about open collaboration, problem solving, and coming up with innovative digital," explains Cross, who hails from the UK.

Offering graphic design, animation, app development and website management, I-SITE has several international projects in the works, including one in Iceland that deals with beverage development, and one in Africa aimed at animal conservation, according to Cross.

"We're doing more app development for smartphone and tablet," says Cross, who lists projects with Deloitte, Sprout, and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. "It' a nice mix of corporate and social causes. We also just launched an iPad app highlighting the housing crisis in Northern Armenia."

The company, located in an expansive space on 3rd Street in Old City, even operates an online audio program and just released MUSIC MIX VOL.14 - I've Got a Bike (You can ride it if you like). Look for Volume 15: Whiskey and Go Go mix, to be released this Thursday.

"We’ve always been boutique," says Cross, who says he's created a great team of people who are cross trained and can communicate well directly with clients. While I-SITE has has a few more or less employees over time, it has never employed over 15. "These days we're lean and mean – the way I like it," says Cross, who reports that out of the four open positions, he's already got strong candidates in mind for two.

Source: Ian Cross, I-SITE
Writer: Sue Spolan

Ridaroo partners with PECO/Exelon to offer secure carpooling

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Boom: Ridaroo is running with the big boys now. The two-year old company has partnered with PECO/Exelon to launch a secure enterprise-wide ride-sharing program. The bootstrapped startup, which comes out of Drexel's Baiada Institute, has been working on a program to match drivers with riders within a specific organization.

Ridaroo will even tell carpoolers if there are discounts and deals along the route.

Andy Guy and Aksel Gungor, both former Drexel students, built the firewalled program to stand out from traditional ride boards by building in a new level of trust. Each organization has its own online ride board, separate from all the others, so that employees don't have to take a risk in order to go green on the road.

Gungor recalls that as an undergrad at Drexel, there was a bulletin board in the hall where, like at most colleges, people posted notes about rides offered and needed. The Career Services department would manually copy down each post and email it to students.

"I had an internship to which I had to take a bus. I ended up carpooling by default,"says Gungor. "There had to be a better, more efficient way of doing it. Fast forward to Andy and me sitting down and working on it. We set up a private website for different organizations."

The beta version, which was open to all college students in Philadelphia, led to the new corporate version. Integrating social media tools, Ridaroo allows PECO employees to log in and create trips limited to PECO staff. Andy Guy created an automatically generated matching system which screens for preferences like distance, time, number of available seats, pick up location, and even smoking or non-smoking.

Gungor says companies like PECO can offer the Ridaroo service as an employee benefit, and the bill goes to the employer. "It's a pure sustainability play. We calculate all the emissions and the analytics behind that." Not only do employees save hundreds of dollars per year, but companies can earn LEED points via collected Ridaroo data.

Gungor says Ridaroo isn't seeking outside funding at this time; rather, he and Guy are focused on growing with the revenue generated by enterprise solutions. Current partnerships (including another with the law firm Morgan Lewis) will help Ridaroo scale quickly, which will lead to hiring. At that point, the team will look at raising a small round.

And that whole boom thing? "Andy and I always joke around. When something good happens, we say, 'boom,' that just got done."

Source: Aksel Gungor, Ridaroo
Writer: Sue Spolan

Venturef0rth welcomes new companies, hiring office manager

Flying Kite Media Thursday, June 14, 2012

Three-month old Venturef0rth is growing fast, and announced this week that DreamIt Ventures grads Cloudmine, MetaLayer, Grassroots Unwired and SnipSnap have all taken up residency at the incubator, located in an in-between neighborhood the team has dubbed Southern Liberties. Elliot Menschik, Jesse Kramer and Jay Shah even registered the domain solib.org to help classify their spot at 8th and Callowhill, which is neither Center City nor Northern Liberties.

Opening its doors just three months ago in March 2012, Kramer notes that the endeavor is picking up momentum with the goal to enable the next big thing. Certainly, Cloudmine qualifies. From its original founding three partners, the back end mobile solutions provider has grown to nine employees, and occupies the entire eastern section of Venturef0rth.

"They had us when we came in and saw the space," says Cloudmine co-founder Brendan McCorkle. "I have to keep the engineers happy."

McCorkle says his team looked all over the city, seriously considering a standalone office in Old City that was the former home of Indy Hall. But looking forward, McCorkle knew that Cloudmine would soon outgrow that space. Also, adds McCorkle, "We offer our customers pay as you go pricing, and that's what they're doing here."

With eight companies in residence, and one already graduated, Menschik says, "We built Venturef0rth to be an inspiring place to work. It attracts certain types, and repels certain types. You can see when they walk in whom it resonates with. They either love the 14-foot ceilings or think, 'How am I going to have a conversation here?'"

Russ Oster, whose Grassroots Unwired adds mobile connectivity to door to door campaigns nationally, was the first paying tenant in March.

"We looked at all the coworking options, and realized that with Venturef0rth, you also get the wisdom of the three co-founders."

Within a week of moving in, Grassroots Unwired received a term sheet from a West Coast VC, and got great advice on handling the process. "We did close our seed round based on that term sheet," says Oster.

The company that's moved on is Lessonsmith, which has merged with Defined Clarity. Founder Dan Lopez is Venturef0rth's first alum.

Venturef0rth also announced that it's hiring. The team is in search of a killer office manager, which includes the task of keeping the refrigerator stocked with local craft beer.

Says Kramer, who comes from a marketing background, "Think about every brand that you love. There's not one thing that makes you love it. You want to identify with it because of a variety of attributes."

Source: Elliot Menschik, Jesse Kramer, Brendan McCorkle, Russ Oster, Venturef0rth
Writer: Sue Spolan

Educational strength in numbers: The School Collective connects teachers with good ideas, hiring

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 12, 2012

There's a lot of talk about technology and education, but most of the time, the conversation is about individual schools implementing technology. In the case of The School Collective, a social entrepreneurship startup based in Philadelphia, technology becomes a way to link and improve all schools at once.

Sebastian Stoddart, one of the co-founders, says "We originally came up with the idea at Oxford University. Alyson Goodner and I were both studying for our MBA. The education problem is bigger than just one issue. We identified an element of the education world where we can actually make a difference."

The School Collective joins teachers across schools through a website where educators can share best practices through lesson plans, materials, and instant communication. Currently there are over 1,700 members sharing nearly 21,000 documents and over 36 thousand lesson plans.

Stoddart, who remains in the UK but visits town 3 to 4 times a year, says it was Goodner's enthusiasm and energy that drew him into the project. "She's incredibly passionate. It's her one focus and one mission. From my standpoint, it's a real chance to use innovation to improve education. It's an opportunity to reshape an existing model that isn't working."

Coming from one of the most venerated learning institutions in the world doesn't hurt. "One thing you get from Oxford is a hands on teaching style," says Stoddard. "You work directly with a tutor, and there are 2 to 3 other people in the room. The difference of that model to Philadelphia education is huge. Oxford is an incredible education, and it gives you a massive desire to give that education as well."

Goodner adds, "I am not British. I was born here in Philly, and ended up at Oxford, a place where people gather to talk about global change. Here in Philadelphia we get a fairly bad rap. People say, education reform here in Philly? Good luck with that. But there has been movement. There are amazing people doing reform work in Philly."

The School Collective, says Goodner, gathers revenue via a freemium model. Teachers sign up for free or pay $5 per month to access the full functionality of the site. Organizations can also subscribe to the site using a tiered model.

"The School Collective is built to give benefit to every user on the site," says Stoddard, who compares traditional teaching tools that are brought in by the principal, but offer no benefit to the teacher, "From the beginning we wanted this to be something teachers would want to be on."

An essential key to The School Collective's success is Goodner and Stoddart's professional development package, their hands on approach to teaching teachers. During a 10-hour workshop, The School Collective shows educators take the time to visit schools in person and explain exactly how to use the tools, resulting in a 98% acceptance rate.

With this level of success, expansion is on the agenda, although it would be difficult to replicate an Oxford-educated team. "We are looking to bring on a person full time similar to what I am doing, and a full time developer on Sebastian's side to build a team in Philadelphia," says Goodner, who plans on tapping into former Teach For America participants to find the right fit.

Currently, The School Collective serves a diverse roster of Philadelphia schools, including The William Penn Charter School, Stepping Stones, and The School District of Philadelphia. The plan is to expand to include parents and students, and to extend The School Collective's reach to neighboring states.

Source: Alyson Goodner, Sebastian Stoddart, The School Collective
Writer: Sue Spolan

Philly as a model for social entrepreneurship examined as part of The New Capitalist Junto

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Getting paid for paying it forward is the future of social change. Last Wednesday (June 6), Good Company Ventures hosted The New Capitalist Junto.

In the high-rise offices at 1650 Arch, formerly known as The Green Village, around 220 attendees gathered to consider the task of making Philadelphia a center for new capitalism. Based on the book The New Capitalist Manifesto written by Umair Haque, the business philosophy embraces sustainability, non-violence, equity and improving quality of life.

"Philadelphia has all of the infrastructure, in institutions, talent and beyond, to be a global leader in social entrepreneurship," says Technically Philly's Christopher Wink, one of the night's top rated speakers. "The intractable legacy problems we have in our big, old, industrial city, mean that this is among the most meaningful places in the world to confront the challenges that we need to solve most -- education inequality, crime, violence, drugs, poverty, joblessness and the like."

Joined by Mayor Michael Nutter and 25 local organizations from all corners of business and civic life including Robin Hood Ventures, EEB Hub and NextFab Studio, the goal, says Wink, "is to get a broad coalition and conversation happening around the region being a relevant, sensible and powerful hub for mission-minded ventures."

Good Company's Zoe Seltzer says, "It was a nice mix of engaged, yet wanting more. Venture types curious about the social stuff and social types wanting us to reach further. As long as we have this diverse group talking, we've made a good start."

The idea of the Junto originated in Philadelphia in 1727, and was defined as a club for mutual improvement. P'unk Avenue, one of the evening's participants, has hosted a monthly junto for about 2 years.

Source: Christopher Wink, Zoe Seltzer, The New Capitalist Junto
Writer: Sue Spolan

'Twive and Receive' fundraiser for TechGirlz on June 14

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A one day only fundraiser for TechGirlz will take place June 14. The local nonprofit, dedicated to training middle and high school students for jobs in technology, is Philadelphia's entry in Give Across America through the Twive and Receive campaign.

Gloria Bell, who chose the organization for the competition, says, "TechGirlz gets all of the money we raise and if they are in the top three fundraising cities, they get an additional amount, $5,000 for third place, $10,000 for second place or $15,000 for first place, on top of what we raise."

Here's the setup: donate $10 and then encourage 10 friends to donate as well through social media. Bell has written suggested tweets, so it's a no-brainer to participate.

TechGirlz, with the mission of empowering girls to be future technology leaders, has a year round calendar, and is running a one week Entrepreneur Summer Camp for middle school girls the week of July 9, where each student has a chance to create a startup in a hackathon setting. The program is in conjunction with DreamIt Ventures and Startup Corps.

Tracey Welson-Rossman, a female tech star in her own right, founded TechGirlz, and has since welcomed Kerry Rupp, Yasmine Mustafa, Jane Frankel, Neelan Choski, Anita Garimella Andrews, Christian Kunkel, Karen Stellabotte, Skip Shuda and Joyce Akiko to the leadership team.

"Curiosity and research led me down the path to find where I hypothesize it begins - at high school, specifically 9th grade. Studies show that girls at that age self-select out of technology learning because they do not understand what a career in tech can be. They see the stereotypes in the media of nerdy white males who work in cubicles and are not creative or collaborative," says Welson-Rossman. "We know that is not the case. TechGirlz wants to show the depth and breadth of what technology can offer. We also want to represent what the folks in tech actually look like - men and women."

TechGirlz hosts regular workshops to teach girls a wide range of skills including programming, web design, podcasting,3D printing and animation. Welson-Rossman also reports that TechGirlz is at a point where it will soon be hiring staff to help the organization grow and to track participants' progress.

Source: Gloria Bell, Tracey Welson-Rossman, TechGirlz
Writer: Sue Spolan

QuickSee MD wins Health Startup Weekend with on-demand care platform

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 05, 2012

The first-ever Startup Weekend Health yielded solid business ideas, most of which addressed the gap in communication between patients and care providers. The weekend's winner, QuickSee MD, was no exception.

Helping users choose appropriate on-demand medical care, the QuickSee team was an early pick by judge Kimberly Eberbach, VP of Wellness and Community Health at Independence Blue Cross. IBX, incidentally, was one of the sponsors of the weekend, held at Venturef0rth at 8th and Callowhill.

Also on the judging panel was Philly Startup Leaders President Bob Moul, a veteran of Startup Weekend judging, who reported that more so than normal, fledgling companies were very tightly clustered and the final debate to choose the winner got intense.

QuickSee MD is an obvious choice for IBX as a potential white label solution, and the startup will take part in the upcoming IBX Game Changers Challenge. QuickSee MD has many parallels to iTriage, a Denver-based startup formed in 2008, and purchased by Aetna. QuickSee also won the honor of audience favorite, as determined by the decibel level of cheers on an iPhone app. QuickSee has set up a twitter account but has not yet tweeted, and has no active website as of this writing.

"There is almost a religious feeling here," said Jarrett Bauer, CEO of Basic Health, a soon to be launched startup. This was Bauer's first Startup Weekend. While he ultimately decided to remain a spectator, he was impressed with the fervor of the teams.

Second place went to HealthHereNow, a smartphone app that sends health oriented location based alerts, and Food Mood, an easy way to log mood before and after eating, took third. A total of 85 attendees teamed up to present ideas for 12 health care-related startups.

Other standouts included Stump The MD, a social website to crowdsource medical education with parallels to the legal education platform ApprenNet (out of Drexel Law); Beverage Buddy, aimed at curbing sugary drink intake and obesity, and CareProsper, which incentivizes patient data sharing.

On a related note, Venturef0rth continues to increase its ranks, and will soon announce the arrival of several recently funded, high-profile startups.

Source: Bob Moul, Elliot Menschik, Jarrett Bauer, Startup Weekend Health Philadelphia
Writer: Sue Spolan

Beer pong your way to an employer's heart at UNCUBED at World Cafe Live on June 21

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Looking for work is about to get way cooler, thanks to UNCUBED. "Everyone likes to have a good time, and everyone hates job fairs," says Tarek Pertew, UNCUBED organizer and co-founder of Wakefield, a media company that's producing the event which takes place June 21 from 11 am to 4 pm at World Cafe Live in University City.

"UNCUBED is something everyone can enjoy, with music and drinks. No one wears suits, and companies are not going to have a barrier to interaction with candidates. It's a different mindset, where people can interact on a more realistic level. It's what startups want. Their approach to culture is significantly different from large companies."

Targeting the fast growing world of tech entrepreneurs, Philly UNCUBED is an expansion from the first UNCUBED which took place in Manhattan in April 2012 and drew tech luminaries like Tumblr and Spotify, not to mention 1100 attendees vying for jobs at 85 companies.

Here in Philly, AppRenaissance, Zonoff, Monetate, RJ Metrics and Leadnomics will join dozens of companies for music, an open bar, food and games. And of course, to find employees.

UNCUBED is a production of Wakefield, which sends out a daily email on startups: think Daily Candy for business, says Pertew, who comes from a background in fashion retailing.

Wakefield plans on taking UNCUBED to more cities in the future, but chose the vibrant tech scene in Philadelphia for its initial expansion.

Source: Tarek Pertew, UNCUBED
Writer: Sue Spolan

King of Prussia's LiftDNA doubling staff following recent acquisition

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Here's something you may not know: When you click on a website, ads you see are often the result of a real time auction. It's an outrageously fast paced auction, where bidding takes place within 300 milliseconds.

LiftDNA, based in King of Prussia, is in the business of managing online publications that derive revenue from these advertisements, and the company is growing very fast. "We manage 80 to 90 percent of their revenue," says Dan Lawton, Senior Vice President of Operations. "The goal is that we allow them to focus on publishing, and we take care of field management and the technical concerns of an advertising operations department."

A typical LiftDNA client gets over a hundred million impressions per month, says Lawton, and in total, the company serves well over 20 billion monthly impressions internationally. "Every millisecond counts when talking about scale and volume. If the ad doesn't load fast enough, that creates revenue loss."

Try this: go to Philly.com on two different browsers. First use Internet Explorer, and then go to the same site on another browser, like Google Chrome or Firefox. You will likely see entirely different ads. Your eyeballs were purchased in nanoseconds, based on cookies and other stored information. It's not something the consumer realizes or considers. "It's definitely the wizard behind the curtain kind of stuff," quips Lawton.

LiftDNA was recently acquired by Los Angeles based OpenX for an undisclosed sum comprised of stock and cash. On the heels of that acquisition, LiftDNA is planning on doubling staff in the next few months, going from over 20 to nearly 40 employees. The majority of hires will be in operations, says Lawton, plus a handful of developers and administrative support staff.

LiftDNA is going up against the giant of ad servers. "Google has taken over the entire ad ecosystem. They own Double Click Ad Exchange and AdSense, but they are advertiser focused.

We write code against Google to benefit the publisher," says Lawton. "There's nothing for free in this world. The only way the cost of free content is justified is to have effective ads on a site. Without ads, the content goes away."

The next big opportunity in online advertising will be mobile, says Lawton, who predicts we will see major changes in the coming months as real time placement jumps from desktop to handheld. "Mobile devices are outpacing PCs for the first time. There's a huge global impact. The reach is huge, and the dollars are going to follow that audience."

Source: Dan Lawton, LiftDNA
Writer: Sue Spolan