Hillary

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500803_162-20027739-500803.html?tag=cbsnewsSectionsArea.3

Maybe Katie Couric needs to know about what you are trying to do with this conversation. Just saying….

Ripple On!!!

How could anybody NOT realize that?

I moved to Philly less than six years ago from abroad. I had no previous perception of Philly (good nor bad), and something that has always been appalling to me is Philly’s sociological phenomenon of low self esteem – I agree, here in Philly people tend to focus more on the problems than in the good things. The good news is that in my six years here I have also perceived an improvement on that front.

Now, even if we are the best cheerleaders the city can have we cannot ignore realities. As some pointed out Philly is not the most business friendly city (taxes, unions, transportation, crime).

But even if you decide to stay in Philly, (and there are thousands of tech companies in the region), what makes a city a great technology hub is what makes Philly a great medical/biotech hub: a critical mass of education, innovation, government agencies, non profits, institutions, professionals and businesses, all concentrated in this geographical area, that enables the region to be somehow “self sustaining” in that industry.

And back to the idea of “big name” tech companies not present in Philly, I think it is both a symptom and cause of why Philly is not a great tech city. Some big names happen to grow in a city and later attract others… some other big names move to a city because they were attracted… it’s part of a cycle.

And what can we do: I think the city is moving in the right direction in every front and the tech businesses are growing. We are still David trying to fight against Goliaths and hopefully we will reach the critical mass in a few decades (yes, decades). In any case, I think this is an exciting place to start a tech business: precisely because this is not a tech town you can tap on a large market with fewer competitors and a growing “buy local” sentiment.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you write “the more we continue to talk about what is wrong instead of how to fix it, the more everyone else (meaning the world at large) will believe it.” Perception may not be reality, but it certainly feeds the way resources are allocated.

I can’t speak to the Philadelphia tech community, but I’ve seen the D.C./regional tech community grow up over the last 20 years. DC used to only be a government town, and the rise of the biotech corridor in MD and the AOL/dot.com corridor in Virginia lead to more resources–and more demand for city life (sports, clubs, etc.). You have the city part down well, so I’m guessing the issue may be business climate — and the definition of what a tech company is. (I think Don’s comment about focusing on the industries that are there already makes a lot of sense).

Understand why companies are leaving (is it a city issue? state regulations or taxes?), where they’re leaving for, and what it will take to attract tech entrepreneurs and tech companies to put down roots in Philadelphia.

Congrats on sparking a great conversation to have. And, BTW, Happy New Year! –Daria

So while I agree that we have work to do (as does NY) to improve on all of the points you raise, and that incentives can help to build a critical mass that then feeds on itself, ultimately i don’t believe that is what truly holds us back as the next great startup mecca. I think if we explore what caused NY’s scene to improve so dramatically we can learn some lessons from that, although ultimately we need to pave our own road. But i think a lot of it has to do with the melting pot of putting together tech types with heat seeking missile founders and creative designers and marketers/social media, etc. We need to figure out ways to attract more heat seeking missile founders to Philly as they are the key to building high growth tech companies. Part of that is a better living environment and philly and in particular center city and west philly have come a long way in that regard. But the other piece is convincing them that what they need to build a top tech company is here. But through our universities we get them here (which is a huge advantage over other cities that don’t have the great universities that we do) and it is simply a matter of keeping them here, which should be a solvable problem. I also think more can be done to put startups together with each other. Indy Hall and DreamIt and PSL have shown that good things happen when we put startup types together. We have the science center as well but overall NY has way more dedicated startup co-working/entrepeneur type space with flexible rent terms and i think we could use some more of that in philly to encourage the melting pot. People say we don’t have enough money here but I am not sure i agree with that as i think FRC, Genacast and others would be more than happy to put more money into deserving philly companies and good money will always find the great innovation and entrepreneurs, wherever they are located in my view.

I also think there is some merit to Don’s comment that we need to focus on the industries already present in philly and how tech can be used to innovate in those industries. So pharma/meds, education, financial services and legal services come to mind. You don’t have to be a life sciences company to provide technological innovation to the life sciences industry, you just need collaboration between former life sciences company executives (and there should be plenty in this area with the recent consolidation and layoffs) and tech types who are true innovators. I think more of a focus on tech innovation on the business side in these industries has more of a chance than the consumer internet which is a pretty competitive field even though it is sexier.

I think we could do more to embrace immigration in philadelphia and in particular trying to attract immigrants who can contribute to the technology scene. I know the city has a general immigration initiative but maybe a tech specific initiative could help.

But just my two cents and the biggest thing is to continue the dialogue and put things into action.