High Technology : Innovation + Job News

Romancing the data: Plehn Analytics seeks investment for its government-sourced financial reports

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Talk about harmony in data. Plehn Analytics is the first company of its kind to produce financial reports with information sourced directly from a range of government agencies including IRS tax returns. The data remains confidential.

Jose Plehn-Dujowich, co-founder of Plehn Analytics, comes from an academic background, and is still a professor at Temple's Fox School of Business.

"I have a long history of doing academic research and consulting," says Plehn-Dujowich. "There's great value in a lot of the data collected by the federal government, but there is very little in digestible format." With every agency collecting data in its own way, it was a challenge to be able to make sense out of all the data.

Plehn-Dujowich won first place at the 2011 Be Your Own Boss competition at Fox; the fledgling company was the recipient of a cash prize, software and services from which Plehn Analytics continues to benefit. It was out of that competition that Plehn-Dujowich met co-founders Dr. Ivan Ruzic, who now serves as President & CEO; and Kevin Sheetz, Plehn's Managing Director of Banking.

This is Plehn-Dujowich's last semester at Temple. He is leaving his tenure-track position to focus full time on the company, which recently received a $150,000 grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA and also received $220,000 from a combination of angel investors and company management.

Sheetz says that the proprietary software is in beta test mode with three accounting and auditing companies, and in the next month or two will enter full force into the marketplace. "One of the main areas of focus for Plehn is benchmarking, understanding client performance in relation to its peer group," says Sheetz. "Our data allows you to get very granular, comparing your company to those of comparable size in the marketplace."

Plehn, with a total of 30 full and part time employees, has just begun its next investment found, seeking to raise $500,000.

Source: Jose Plehn-Dujowich, Kevin Sheetz, Plehn Analytics
Writer: Sue Spolan

Crosstown tracking: The Philly Tech Week 2012 preview

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sure Old City is ground zero for the Philly tech scene, but Philly Tech Week 2012 organizer Christopher Wink has his eye on advancing technology citywide. Kicking off April 20 with Philly Startup Weekend, PTW 2012 is designed to reach a bigger audience with curated events organized by track. With over 60 items now on the calendar, and more to come, Wink says he wants PTW to reflect a broad, inclusive and impactful tech community.

"I have always been interested in digital access issues," says Wink, who is working with State Representative Rosita Youngblood on an event aimed at increasing computer literacy for seniors, as well as widening the circle to include neighborhood groups outside the city ring. Wink, who is also the co-founder of Technically Philly, is looking forward to the robotics expo, which aims to show middle and high school kids that technology can be both cool and practical.

The avalanche of events of last year's inaugural PTW, says Wink, was meant to rapidly raise awareness of the tech community. Feedback from 2011 led to curation of 2012 participants and creation of tracks for Entrepreneurship/Investment, Media/Transparency, Arts/Creative, Access/Policy and Design/Development. "Sixty to 70 events are too much to comprehend," says Wink. "The grouping of events makes it easier for Joe Entrepreneur." A close relative, by the way, to Joe Sixpack, organizer of Philly Beer Week and the inspiration for PTW.

That first weekend, beginning April 20, already packs a punch. In addition to Startup Weekend, which will take place at University of the Arts, the Women in Tech Summit meets all day Saturday, April 21, and on Sunday, April 22, Indy Hall sponsors a block party on North 3rd Street from 1 to 8 pm. You can also get a peek into how the Philadelphia Eagles choose draft picks, find out if your IP is leaking, and mingle with Switch Philly judges Josh Kopelman, Ellen Weber and Mayor Michael Nutter, who will choose one entrepreneur in the competition for a major prize package. The complete schedule can be found here.

Source: Christopher Wink, Philly Tech Week
Writer: Sue Spolan

University City-based PalmLing concierge translation service lauches Kickstarter campaign

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 20, 2012

You are in a foreign country. You don't speak the language. Something awful happens. "I was in China," says Ryan Frankel, co-founder of PalmLing, a startup out of University City aimed at providing real time concierge level translation assistance to travelers at a modest daily cost. "I thought I could eat anything on the menu, but the next morning I was in a world of pain. It was a serious situation. I don't speak Mandarin. I staggered to the pharmacy. At that point, I would have given anything to have someone there capable of communicating on my behalf."

That was the lightbulb moment for Frankel, who connected with business partner Kunal Sarda back at Wharton, where both were pursuing MBA degrees. "We are helping international travelers navigate the complexities of a language barrier," says Frankel. A PalmLing subscriber calls an access number 24 hours a day and gets connected real time with a live translator who can do the talking on the traveler's behalf to a pharmacist or taxi driver, for example.

PalmLing has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000, which will be used to create a PalmLing mobile app. Right now, all it takes to get connected to a translator is a standard mobile phone and an access code.

The human capital intensive business requires live translators to sign up. Travelers can book PalmLing for periods of 10, 20 or 60 days, at a variable cost of $1.50 to 4.00 per day, depending on the length of the package.

"We went from zero to 1,300 translators in the last month without any advertising," remarks Frankel, who counts stay at home moms, retirees and ex-military among the legion of live assistants who get paid anywhere from $15 to 25 an hour. "We offer PalmLing for Hindi, Mandarin, and all Spanish speaking countries," says Frankel, who estimates coverage of about 200 million trips annually with those three languages alone. Frankel adds that those 1,300 employees were acquired at nearly zero cost.

Frankel and Sarda are also seeking partnerships with businesses to acquire customers in three core stages of travel: before the trip on sites like Orbitz and TripAdvisor, en route at the airport or in the airline magazine, and at the destination, working with hotels, transportation providers and local mobile phone companies.

Source: Ryan Frankel, PalmLing
Writer: Sue Spolan

Learning the language of growth: Stroll in Center City hiring up to five every week

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Who would think that a 33-minute online promotional video could be so effective? Stroll, the sole licensee for consumer sales of the audio language learning Pimsleur Approach and producer of the animated pitch, is growing at a phenomenal clip. "We grow in one month the way most companies grow in a year," says Dan Roitman, founder and CEO of Stroll. "We have over 150 employees and so far this year are hiring four to five a week. It's like mushrooms sprouting everywhere."

Roitman says he started the company while in college at the University of Maryland, going $70,000 in credit card debt. "I discovered the Pimsleur Approach in 2001 and thought it was such a great product, but so undermarketed," says Roitman. "I saw the opportunity with the product line to take it to another level."

Since 2002, Stroll has expanded at a compounded annual growth rate of 73%. Last year alone Stroll grew 135%.
Competing with Rosetta Stone, which holds the number one slot in the language learning vertical with the benefit of an $80 million dollar investment, Roitman saw that the path to success was all in the metrics. "At this point, we represent the majority of sales in the marketplace," says Roitman, whose sophisticated marketing analytics verge on fanatical. "When we spend $5,000 to place an ad, it's critical that we measure the return on every single ad dollar." Now in its 12th year of business, that 33 minute long landing page video is the result of a decade of rigorous testing.

Roitman had to fight for placement of his first online ad, which broke even. He improved and tweaked until one Pimsleur ad resulted in a 1,500% lift in the conversion rate. "We focused on one channel at a time, and then diversified within that channel."

Roitman says the company's marketing efforts have turned language learning into an impulse purchase. Most people who buy the Pimsleur Approach do not have a pressing need to know Spanish or Chinese, but rather have a latent desire to improve themselves, says Roitman. "We help them take steps to achieve a lifelong dream of learning that language. They open themselves up to a whole new world."

Source: Dan Roitman, Stroll
Writer: Sue Spolan

Transforming the law school experience with ApprenNet out of Drexel

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Students graduating from law school may be well versed in the doctrine, but have no idea how to put together an angel funding package or negotiate a divorce. Drexel University law professor Karl Okamoto is changing the way law is taught through his startup ApprenNet.

Okamoto, a Professor of Law and Director of the Program in Business & Entrepreneurship Law at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel, has already rolled out his engaging and gamified instructional program to about 20 law schools nationwide, thanks to initial grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $180,000 so far, with a potential million-dollar grant on its way this summer. Okamoto is assisted by recent Drexel law grad Emily Foote and developer Paul Tzen.

ApprenNet, currently in beta, is an interactive website that augments and expands on the classroom experience by redefining legal education as an apprenticeship. A student watches a client pose a question on a legal topic, then posts a video answer, finally getting to see an expert answering the same question. Others can view student answers, and the budding attorney gets a portfolio of video responses which can be shared with potential employers.

By the end of this semester, Okamoto estimates that a quarter of U.S. law schools will be using ApprenNet. "Professors struggle over how to insert practical training," says Okamoto. ApprenNet is hands off. All the instructor has to do is send a student to the website. The startup grew out of Okamoto's LawMeets program.

"The whole system relies on practitioners' participation," says Okamoto, who has been most heartened by the discovery of a huge pent up demand to provide teaching and feedback among practitioners the world over. Usually, in a guest lecture, students are surfing or sleeping, and are not engaged. The way ApprenNet works, says Okamoto, it takes only 10 minutes to record an expert video, and students are eager to get feedback from the experts.

So far, Okamoto has not sought revenue outside of sponsors who are excited to be in front of law students, like Practical Law Company and Bloomberg. "We have not yet charged any user for the exercise, but have been collecting data on what people are willing to pay," says Okamoto, who is building in the ability to charge users a small monthly subscription fee.

There is also potential to create ApprenNet for many other disciplines, like training food service workers, teachers, or even musical training. "We'll take care of law first, says Okamoto, "and then use it in lots of different places. Why can't we crowdsource violin?"

Source: Karl Okamoto, ApprenNet
Writer: Sue Spolan

Baiada Center expands to Baiada Institute, offers family wisdom at recent summit

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship announced today that it is expanding to become the Baiada Institute, a University-level institute within Drexel University. The Baiada Institute will pursue more seed capital, micro-grants, and Small Business Innovation Research grants.

Previously, Baiada functioned within the LeBow College of Business.

The parents of Mel, Mark, Mike and Matt Baiada must have been some kind of magic. The four siblings have found business success in very different fields. On March 8, the Baiada Center, named after the family patriarch, hosted The Brothers Baiada: 4 Faces of Entrepreneurship.

Mark Baiada founded Bayada Nurses, and has grown a home health care operation to more than 200 offices in 20 states. He was awarded Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year, which commended his tenet to think big, work hard, and show love.

Mike Baiada was one of Drexel's earliest students to receive dual business and engineering degrees. Mike's ATH Group fundamentally alters the air traffic control process, aiming to greatly increase timeliness and profitability. Mike, also a commercial airline pilot for United, says the secret to success is to determine process first, and then create minimal technology to make ideas a reality.

SolidSurface Designs is Matt Baiada's business. "When I was in grammar school, we had to walk two miles to get home. We would pass a lumber yard every day," recalls Matt. "There was a contractor there who had a whole lot of cash and was always peeling off bills. That was pretty impressive." Matt began by fixing up the Baiada family home, then founded a carpentry and cabinetmaking business that became SolidSurface, a 20,000 square foot manufacturing facility with 25 employees.

Mel, the youngest of the brothers, went into information technology. He sold his company Bluestone to Hewlett Packard in 2001 for over $350 million. His advice: passion is useless if there is no need for your product or service in the marketplace -- save your passion for long term sustainability. Mel is now managing partner at BaseCamp Ventures and President of Basecamp Business.

The early morning event, part of the Eye of the Entrepreneur series, drew a crowd of about 150.

Today's announcement was made possible by a $500,000 donation from the Barbara and Charles Close Foundation, $250,00 from Mel and Mark Baiada and $200,00 from Dick Hayne of Urban Outfitters, also a Drexel trustee. A behavioral laboratory planned for the new 12-story LeBow College of Business facility will foster experiential learning in sales and negotiations.

Source: Matt Baiada, Mark Baiada, Mel Baiada, Mike Baiada, Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship
Writer: Sue Spolan

Plum Analytics disrupts academic traditions with metrics that create fast track to prestige

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Andrea Michalek is looking to take Publish or Perish down a notch. Dresher, Montgomery County-based Michalek and co-founder Mike Buschman have just launched Plum Analytics, and they've got traditional academia in the crosshairs.

"If you look at how prestige is measured now," says Michalek, "there is a time lag from when your academic article is published to reaching a critical mass. From the eureka moment to getting credit now takes about seven years." It takes about two years for an article to be published, then there's a review period, followed by researchers citing the work in their articles. Tenure and prestige are based on citation counts and links back to an article.

But, says Michalek, with all the data available online, a much earlier indicator of academic excellence is possible. Advancing from brilliant idea to academic prestige can become a near real time process. If a researcher gives a talk at a conference, he or she can post the deck to SlideShare, as well as tweet and blog about it. All of these sites have built in metrics that indicate traction and interest.

"We gather from fourteen different sources, including Facebook, CiteULike, LinkedIn and Wikipedia."

Michalek partnered with Buschman to form the bootstrapped startup while both were working in a distributed team for the academic research tool Summon, which has been purchased by over 400 libraries in over 40 countries worldwide in just three-and-a-half years. Buschman will remain in Seattle, while Michalek resides here in Philadelphia. Plum Analytics presents its startup tomorrow at a special education edition of Philly Tech Meetup at the Quorum of the University City Science Center.

Source: Andrea Michalek, Plum Analytics
Writer: Sue Spolan

Search church: NoLibs' Seer Interactive 'hiring at will'

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Seer Interactive is a search engine optimization and management agency, but unlike its competitors, Seer says it doesn't game Google. While other SEO and SEM firms use any number of tricks to get clients to the top of search results, Seer, says CEO Wil Reynolds, relies on an ethic of caretaking. No tricks. Reynold's philosophy is to build popularity organically, not by creating thousands of dummy blogs that link back to the client homepage, a popular tactic.

Seer, housed in a former church in Northern Liberties, has built its reputation almost entirely by referral, according to Reynolds. "I've always had a belief that if you take care of each client to the nth degree, and you hire good people, over time you generate an avalanche of referrals," he says. "Cold calling is not my style. Instead, my style is to kick ass for you so you tell other people."

Seer now counts 60 clients worldwide, in places like Brazil, South Africa, and most major US cities.

Reynolds just got back from San Francisco, the headquarters of eight clients. "I like that personal connection." While Seer was officially incorporated in 2002, it wasn't a real business until 2005, when Reynolds left his job at Aeon for quite altruistic reasons.

His job was getting in the way of volunteering three hours a week at CHOP, and four days after being denied permission to leave early to get to the hospital, Reynolds quit and took on Seer as a full time endeavor. Giving back is essential to the nature of the business. There are 24 logos of Seer supported non-profits displayed on the company website.

"We've been growing accidentally," says Reynolds. "This happened organically." Reynolds has gone so far as to tell clients not to pay when there have been delays in delivery. "We weren't taking on new SEO clients for the past 12 weeks so that we could ramp up hiring."

Seer just hired six new employees in the last six weeks, bringing the total to 44, with an additional half dozen contractors and part timers on the books as well.

In the past year, says Reynolds, staff has doubled. In contrast to other tech firms, Seer hires marketing staff almost exclusively, with only one developer on board. Revenue, according to Reynolds, is up 50 to 70% annually for the past four years. "We hire at will. I will overhire on talent because I know it's easy for us to get new business." Seer accounts include Revzilla, LinkedIn, Wine Enthusiast, Intuit and Crayola, to name just a few.

Source: Wil Reynolds, Seer Interactive
Writer: Sue Spolan

Conshohocken's OpenDesks reaches 1,000 worldwide workspaces as it chases investment

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Need a hangout in Honolulu? A desk in Des Moines? Conshohocken-based OpenDesks can get it for you. The startup just announced that it offers 1,000 temporary work spaces worldwide. Options for rentals range from a desk in a coworking space, to a private office, to meeting rooms. Chris DiFonzo, co-founder and CEO of OpenDesks, cites a recent statistic that coworking is up 88% and now accounts for over 1,300 spaces internationally, according to Deskmag.

DiFonzo, who originally created the OpenDesks concept after leaving his previous job in 2010, relaunched in June 2011 with partner Keith Dallara. "It's been a direct uphill climb," says DiFonzo. "We went from less than 100 spaces to over a thousand."

To appeal to investors, OpenDesks recently registered as a C corporation. Revenue, says DiFonzo, comes from making a margin on the space. OpenDesks has access to offerings from international space providers Regus and Alliance Business Center Network, as well as regional provider American Executive Centers. "What we are working toward is delivering OpenDesks as Software as a Service," says DiFonzo. "A company would pay a fee, and the entire team would have easy access to flexible workspace anywhere in the world."

DiFonzo cites the example of client Readyforce, a California-based startup in First Round Capital's portfolio. The company needs offices all over the country for a month at a time to conduct remote interviews. "We've been able not only to get them locations that offer great service and are owner operated, but we've saved them 20 to 30% off list prices."

DiFonzo says it would be a lot of work for them to line up offices themselves. In contrast, space seekers on OpenDesks get real time confirmation with a well designed, easy to use interface.

The company's main competitors are LiquidSpace and LooseCubes, but DiFonzo says both of those companies' offerings are concentrated around headquarters on the west coast and New York City, respectively.

The OpenDesks website averages 300 to 500 searches a day, according to DiFonzo, and since June, has made close to 400 reservations worldwide. The app is also available as on both iPhone and Android platforms.

Source: Chris DiFonzo, OpenDesks
Writer: Sue Spolan

Startup Beach House to put entrepreneurial spin on Jersey shore

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Let's set the scene: Three entrepreneurs are hanging out on the beach. Not just any beach, but the Jersey shore. It's summer. In other people's minds, it's a lazy time. But for entrepreneurs Greg Berry, Mike Bianchini and Dave Drager there's no such thing as shutting off one's brains, not even in the presence of sun, surf and sand. An idea is born: Startup Beach House.

This summer, says Greg Berry, founder of Municibid, up to 15 people will work and play together for a week in August. Groups of 2-4 will create up to five new companies, present at a demo day, and win awards. The project will begin on Saturday Aug. 11, with a demo day on Friday Aug. 17, and will wrap up on August 18.

Berry says, "Let's see what they can build over the course of a week. We'll change it up and have some fun, and see how people deal with the distractions that come from being at the beach."

So far, the project's Launchrock-powered homepage has drawn more than 1,000 visitors and nearly 200 sign-ups. It so happens that Dave Drager was part of the Philly Startup Weekend team that created Launchrock, and he is also VP of Technology Development at Razor. The third member of the SBH founding team, Mike Bianchini, is the CMO of Municibid.

Berry says a house has not yet been chosen, and if there is sufficient interest, there might be enough people to fill two adjacent houses. The team is looking for rentals in Sea Isle City, Avalon and environs, and ruling out the dry towns of the Jersey shore. "People might like to have a cocktail outside of the house," says Berry.

"The participants will determine how hard they want to work to put out a product," adds Berry, who plans on prizes for first place, and says he already has some commitments from companies for goods and services to be handed out to the winning team. "We are actively looking for a partner to invest in the winning company." Investors, advisors and mentors will be invited to stop in.

Startup Beach House organizers have not yet determined if there will be a fee to participate. "We'd love to be able to do it for free, or keep the cost as minimal as possible. A nominal fee could ensure that the the teams are committed to going," says Berry.

Applications will likely be due in the beginning of May, with a review period to follow that will include team interviews. Berry is considering an online voting process to determine top teams, and the final decision will come in mid-June.

You can follow Startup Beach House on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Greg Berry, Startup Beach House
Writer: Sue Spolan

New Philly Startup Leaders president: 'We are way closer to cracking the code than people think'

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Bob Moul, the new head of Philly Startup Leaders, joked that he was ambushed into accepting the position. Termed "a recovering corporate guy" by interviewer Greg Bernabeo of Saul Ewing at last Thursday's PACT Expert Series Event with Philly Startup Leaders, Moul entered the startup world initially as a way to give back.

Moul, who literally began his career in the mailroom of EDS in 1981, advanced through the ranks, and got hired by SCT, which was purchased by Sungard for $650 million. Moul then moved to the far smaller Boomi. He went from managing 1200 people at SCT to 15 people at Boomi, but describes it as one of the happiest times of his life because he could wear so many hats.

Success followed Moul, who sold the Software as a Service integration provider Boomi to Dell in 2010. "After I sold Boomi, I finally had an opportunity to lift my head up," says Moul. "I was a little disappointed in what I saw. This region has so much potential, with so many raw ingredients. We have world class universities. It's a great city to work and live in. We have great entrepreneurs. I asked myself why it's not all coalescing."

Moul, who now serves as CEO of appRenaissance in addition to his PSL post, cited the Delaware Valley's checkered stats: "Our region is No. 3 in terms of innovation capacity, No. 4 in R&D expenditures, but dead last of the top 15 metro areas in terms of business creation and entrepreneurial activities."

Starting a year ago, Moul says he approached anyone who would have a conversation with him about the gap. A hundred meetings later with entrepreneurs, angels, VCs, and institutions, Moul reports an almost unanimous feeling that so much more could be done. "We are way closer to cracking the code than people think," says Moul.

In particular, Moul would like to see a bridge between friends and family funding and VC funding. Retooling the culture will increase the willingness of successful businesspeople to give back through mentoring and advising. "Try to lead by example, or pay it forward. The more you put out, the more you get in return," says Moul.

"Innovation is a messy thing. It's not a linear process. We need a culture where it's OK to take risks, and at the same time OK to fail. As entrepreneurs, we should get more efficient about how we do that by testing quickly and failing quickly, not eating up a ton of capital in proof of concept."

In response to one audience member, Moul advised the entrepreneur to validate first and code second.

Moul is encouraged by the proliferation of coworking spaces and incubators sprouting up in the area. "Entrepreneurs come together and atoms start bouncing off each other. New initiatives are created. There's support when mentors hang around."

Moul recommends a forum where businesses pitch problems to entrepreneurs, rather than the traditional format where entrepreneurs pitch to business.

Moul is already hard at work shaping the future of PSL, and just announced the creation of the PSL leadership team. Danielle Cohn will helm Public Relations; Brian Glick will be in charge of the new PSL Circles Program, designed to cluster like minded startups; and a new PSL University will be led by Bob Moore of RJMetrics. Tracey Wellson-Rossman will head PSL's new partnership program, and Tim Raybould, CFO of Ticketleap, joins as PSL treasurer.

Source: Bob Moul, PSL
Writer: Sue Spolan

Drexel engineers music, 3D technology innovations with separate Philly institutions

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Drexel University looks at the entire region as an extension of its campus. Ideas flow like steam beneath Philadelphia's streets. Two professors in different departments are heading multidisciplinary teams that merge new technology with Philadelphia traditions.

In collaboration with the Academy of Natural Sciences, the plan to print 3D dinosaurs has already gained national attention. In the area of music technology, Professor Youngmoo Kim is developing the first app to do real time annotation of Philadelphia Orchestra performances. The Drexel-generated iOS orchestra app will be the first of its kind in the world.

Paleontologist Ken Lacovara is in the process of reanimating dinosaurs. Before you jump to the obvious Jurassic Park conclusion, there are a lot of steps in between. Lacovara, a paleontologist, has teamed up with Dr. James Tangorra in Drexel's College of Engineering to scan and print out 3D dinosaur bones.

Also on board is Drexel Mechanical Engineering prof Sorin Siegler, whose focus is biomechanics. "We don’t really know exactly how dinosaurs moved," says Lacovara, who wonders how a creature weighing 60 to 80 tons could move and trot. Not to mention lay an egg.

With a birth canal opening at two and a half stories in the air, and an egg the size of a volleyball, Lacovara wonders how the massive dino would withstand the stress of squatting and getting up. With the help of his colleagues, creating 3D models and working out the biomechanics will answer literally tons of questions.

Over in Drexel's METLab, whch stands for Music, Entertainment and Technology, Youngmoo Kim takes a break from a robotics demonstration to talk about his collaboration with The Philadelphia Orchestra. It started a few years ago, when Kim made his students sit through a classical concert. "Those without classical training said, yeah, that was nice, but I didn't get it," recalls Kim. It was around the same time the iPhone came out, so he and students undertook a project to create an app that would tell listeners about the performance in real time.

It was such a hit that Kim and students applied for and won the Knight Arts Challenge. While Kim cannot be specific about the date of the public rollout, he says it will be within the year. Perhaps the launch will coincide with the orchestra's 2012-2013 season opener this fall, but Kim remains mum.

Kim also says that not every concert will have an accompanying app, so concertgoers who find smartphone use distasteful can choose performances without the tech overlay.

"There used to be a brouhaha over supertitles at the opera," says Kim, who has dual training in music and engineering. "Ten to twenty years later no one cares. If you go to an opera now and there are no subtitles, something seems wrong. Likewise, 10 to 20 years from now, no one will care if someone uses a phone at the symphony."

Source: Ken Lacovara, Youngmoo Kim, Drexel University
Writer: Sue Spolan

TicketLeap CFO Raybould aims to fill in the blanks for entrepreneurs with Capography

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 28, 2012

There is no better feeling in the world. When you're a startup and those first investments start coming in, it's a heady combination of validation and responsibility. Suddenly, there's money to spend. But that good feeling deflates fast in the face of a blank Excel spreadsheet, and terms to make your head spin.

Capography, launched last week, simplifies and standardizes the process of keeping track of all that money. Founder Tim Raybould, who is also CFO of TicketLeap, hopes that Capography becomes the standard resource for startups and entrepreneurs to maintain and share cap tables. The cloud-based product has national and possibly international reach.

Capography, which is a separate business from TicketLeap, is available for a $199 annual fee, and includes three compelling features: instead of the blank slate of Excel, Capography provides a wizard, which guides the user through a series of questions. Next is a feature Raybould calls The Thinking Cap. "It's a widget at the bottom of the page," says Raybould. Open it up to get details on any term you don't understand. "It's more than just a definition. It cuts through the noise." There might be opinions from prominent figures in the industry, or examples of the term in action.

The third feature is the waterfall report. It shows startups exactly how profits would be distributed among investors. "The report dwindles it all down to one number: how much I get if I sell the company for X," says Raybould. "There are complicated terms that dictate who gets paid what first. Usually, founders don't get access to the waterfall until they are ready to sell the company. Capography's waterfall report allows you to model it out anytime."

Raybould developed Capography during nights and weekends, and plans to remain in his position as TicketLeap's CFO, where he maintains records on the company's $7 million in investments.

Just days after Capography was launched at the February 2012 Philly Tech Meetup, Philadelphia based DocDep announced the launch of SmartCap, which seems to be a direct competitor to Capography, but is aimed at VCs as well as venture backed companies, with a more complex pricing structure with some services for free and a tiered pricing structure for advanced offerings.

Source: Tim Raybould, Capography
Writer: Sue Spolan

Vascular Magnetics' $7M Series A round shows impact of Science Center's QED program, company's team

Richard Woodward Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Fresh off a $7 million round of Series A financing, Richard Woodward says without hesitation that the company he co-founded, Vascular Magnetics, would not exist without the first-of-its-kind QED Proof of Concept Funding Program at the University City Science Center.

A veteran executive from the biotech sector with extensive startup and early stage experience, Woodward was semi-retired and consulting in 2009 when he learned about the QED program, which assesses white papers on promising technologies and links the best with a business advisor and the possibility of funding. In the case of Vascular Magnetics, Woodward was paired with Dr. Robert J. Levy of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and they were awarded $200,000 by the QED program in 2010. The result was CHOP’s first spin-out company, focused on developing its proprietary, magnetically targeted drug delivery system for the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD).

“I was joking with my wife that this would have been a whole lot easier when I was 40,” Woodward says. “She said that when I was 40, I wouldn’t have had any idea what to do.”

In one respect, Woodward has come full circle with CHOP. His daughter had a medical condition that incapacitated her for her a couple years and a physician from CHOP helped contain the ailment, allowing Woodward’s daughter to pursue a career working for another children’s hospital.

“Dr. Levy, I have so much respect for that man,” says Woodward, the COO, of the company’s founding scientist. “He’s brilliant and a very prolific inventor, with something on the order of 31 issued patents. He probably has another 30 in various stages of the application process.

“It’s fairly rare to find an academic like that.”

The entire Series A round was funded by Wayne-based Devon Park Bioventures, whose general partners Christopher Moller and Marc Ostro will join the Vascular Magnetics board and rounds out a compelling case study of the potential of Greater Philadelphia's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Funds will allow the company to complete clinical trials, which are expected to begin in 2014. While the company will stay “aggressively virtual,” according to Woodward, there’s a good chance it will hire up to two more individuals. Also, the company is planning on maintaining workspace in the Science Center’s Port Business Incubator.

PAD effects about 30 million in Europe and North America, including 10 million in the U.S. Vascular Magnetics’ system aims to provide a more durable and effective treatment than angioplasty, grafts and drug eluting stents. It does this by combining biodegradeable, magnetic drug-loaded particles, a magnetic targeting catheter and an external device for creating a uniform magnetic field.

Woodward says some of Levy’s team at CHOP will be involved as consultants.

“These are some of the people that have developed the whole system. It’s important to have them around.”

Writer: Joe Petrucci
Source: Richard Woodward, Vascular Magnetics

Photos courtesy of Vascular Magnetics
Richard Woodward
Dr. Robert Levy

Women own IgnitePhilly9, Philadelphia Orchard Project wins $1,000

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Like some kind of sustainable Vaudeville act, a giant check made out to The Philadelphia Orchard Project danced past Paul Kimport, co-owner of Johnny Brenda's, where Ignite Philly 9 was underway last Thursday. The Ignite 6 winner received $1,000 for its urban fruit tree initiative.

There are a few truly key vantage points with good sight lines to the stage at JB's, and Kimport stood at one of the best, with a view of the entire area. To the right, bathed in the blue light of a photo booth, speaker Yasmine Mustafa practiced her talk about bringing GirlDevelopIt to Philadelphia. Straight ahead, past the attentive bartenders, Jessica Moore was onstage talking about her startup, Philadelphia Cow Share.

This was one of the best Ignite Phillys we've done," says co-organizer Dana Vachon. "The speakers were diverse. The crowd was diverse. It was awesome! It's always exciting to see a couple hundred people get so excited about the good things in our city."

Co-organizer Geoff DiMasi adds, "I am really proud of the diversity of speakers. Some cities make Ignite into a tech and start-up event while ours is a celebration of the city."

Perhaps the most mind blowing moment came at the top of the program. Keya Dannenbaum, founder of ElectNext, opened IgnitePhilly not with a talk about politics or civics, as expected. In five minutes, with very simply illustrated slides, Dannenbaum brought the house to tears with a story about a bridge, a note, and a great love.

"I was pretty nervous since it was so personal, and I knew the expectation would be something different because, one, I'm always talking about ElectNext and two, because I felt that it would be more typical of an Ignite event to speak to a specific accomplishment directly relatable to Philadelphia," says Dannenbaum, who had absolutely no idea what the response would be. She'd only ever told the story once before, at her wedding. "I ultimately decided to tell it because I just really, really love that story." She intentionally left out all mention of ElectNext, which continues to grow from its headquarters at PMN's Project Liberty.

It was a night that went to the women. Pam Selle's speech, entitled Go the Fuck Home, was about finding a balance between work and life, and received dozens of twitter and real life accolades. Mustafa, who turns 30 this week, won for Best Overall presentation. Sisters Emaleigh and Aine Doley talked about their grassroots neighborhood renewal work in Germantown. Diana Lind of The Next American City asked us to consider blowing up Interstate 95, for real.

Some pretty sharp guys also took the stage, like the Bicycle Coalition's Alex Doty, up and coming stand up comic Doogie Horner, the brilliant Dave Martorana, Tim Bennett of Bennett Compost, as well as Jeff Friedman and the Code for America fellows, who are in residence here this month.

While DiMasi could not get over the fact that he's already organized nine Ignites (when he can still recall creating the first) the packed room begged for Ignite 10. Says Vachon, "So far, we do not have a date for Ignite 10, probably sometime in the late spring."

As far as rumors of moving to a larger venue? Not true. "We love the venue and while we would love to accommodate more people, we think the impact of an intimate sold out event is perfect for now," replies DiMasi.

Source: Keya Dannenbaum, ElectNext, Dana Vachon, Ignite Philly
Writer: Sue Spolan