
Philadelphia is becoming one of the best places to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to aren't aware of the local tech resources that are available to help them.
With applications for the Philadelphia Founder Institute now open, we're excited to release the Philadelphia Startup Resource Guide, which is currently in Draft v1 below! It was developed by the Philadelphia Founder Institute and local leaders: Don Samoil and Steven Turner.
This is just a draft, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version.
Are you looking to build a startup in Philadelphia? Then apply to the Philadelphia Founder Institute today!
Text version included below, for ease of searching:
Startup Stages
There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.
1. Idea Stage
This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.
A. Inspire
- Philadelphia Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters)
- Inspirational Philadelphia Startup Events: Open, inclusive startup events that often focus on ideation. (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)
- Girl Develop It Philadelphia
- Girls Who Code
- Liberty Valley Initiative
- N3rd Street
- NextPlex / Philly
- Philadelphia Entrepreneur Dinners
- Philly EdTech Meetup
- Philly Tech, Software, MedTech & HealthTech Meetup
- Philly Tech Entrepreneurs
- Philly Tech Week 2017
- Startup, Founders, and Entrepreneurs Book Discussion
- StartUp StorySlam
- Startup Weekend Philadelphia
- TechGirlz
- Technical.ly Philly Meetup
- The Startup Showcase
- Women Who Code Philadelphia
B. Educate
- Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing tech events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire).
- Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development events and startup bootcamps for entrepeneurs. (Includes comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)
C. Validate
- Team Formation: Events for Finding Co-founders in Philadelphia. (i.e. tech networking events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)
- Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs
- CoFoundersLab
- Ellevate
- Entrepreneurs' Forum of Greater Philadelphia
- Entrepreneurs' Organization Philadelphia
- FounderDating
- Innovative Networking Professionals
- Pennsylvania Entrepreneurs and Tech Meetup
- Philadelphia Business Professionals
- Philly Junto
- Philly Startup Leaders
- Social Venture Network
- Build First Product: Hackathons & product events in Philadelphia.
2. Launch Stage
In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.
A. Start
- Establish: Philadelphia law firms & banks for startups
- Ally Bank
- Antheil Maslow & MacMinn
- Baer Crossey McDemus LLC
- Ballard Spahr LLP
- Bank of America
- BB&T Bank
- Beneficial Bank
- Citizens Bank
- Cozen O'Connor
- Duane Morris LLP
- Gerber Growth
- M&T Bank
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Philadelphia Small Business Lawyer
- Philadelphia Startup Law Center
- PNC
- Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC
- Silicon Valley Bank
- Spadea Lignana LLC
- Taney Legal
- TD Bank
- United Bank of Philadelphia
- Weber Law
- Wells Fargo
- Philadelphia Workspaces: Co-working and flexible workspaces for startups in Philadelphia.
- 1776
- 2424 Studios
- BOK
- CityCoHo
- CultureWorks
- Headroom
- Impact Hub Philadelphia
- Industrious Office
- Indy Hall
- Joynture
- Kismet Cowork
- MakeOffices
- Mt. Airy Nexus
- NextFab
- Old City Collective
- PhillyIhub
- Pipeline
- PLEXUS Innovation Hub
- The Exchange
- The Fire Works
- The Yard
- Thrive Philly
- Venturef0rth
- Walnut St. Labs
- WeWork
B. Develop
- Formalize: Philadelphia accounting, development and HR tools for early-stage startups.
- Philadelphia Incubators: Groups that prepare companies for seed investment and provide advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources)
- Ben Franklin Technology Partners
- Blueprint Health
- Drexel University Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship
- EvoXLabs
- Goodcompany Ventures
- NextFab Incubator
- Pennovation Center
- Project Liberty Digital Incubator
- Seed Philly
- Southbox
- Startup Next Philadelphia
- The Sixers Innovation Lab
- UPstart
- Walnut Street Labs
- Vet-Tech
C. Launch
- Philadelphia Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)
- Pitch & Demo Events: Tech events that showcase Philadelphia startups for investment.
- 1st Pitch PA
- 2017 PSL Accelerator Demo Day
- Camden Catalyst - Tech Startup Pitch Competition
- Drexel University's StartupFest
- PCI Ventures 5th Annual Showcase + DevelUPmed Demo Day
- Philadelphia TechBreakfast
- Phorum Philly
- PNC StartUp Day
- Startupalooza Philadelphia: Angel Pitching for Entrepreneurs
- TiE Startup Pitch Event
- UPenn AppITUP Challenge
- Venture Idol
3. Growth Stage
Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.
A. Recognition
- Philadelphia Investor Networking: Events and groups that connect professional investors with founders.
- Major Media: Mainstream local business press that often showcase local startups
B. Funding
- Philadelphia Angel Investors: Seed-stage investors and micro-vcs.
- Brett Topche
- Brock Weatherup
- Dave Kurtz
- David Bell
- David Bookspan
- David Horowitz
- Don Samoil
- Ellen Weber
- Elliot Menschik
- Gabriel Weinberg
- Howard L. Morgan
- Jamey Sperans
- Jim Hausman
- Karen Griffith Gryga
- Kartik Hosanagar
- Kevin Kruse
- Michael B. Aronson
- Michael Levinson
- Pardon Makumbe
- Percy Nikora
- Peter Hotz
- Philly Admin
- Raymond Walheim
- Robin Hood Ventures
- Sashi Reddi
- Saul Richter
- Stephen Gill
- Steven Turner
- Wayne Kimmel
- Philadelphia Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond
- 1315 Capital
- Ben Franklin Technology Partners
- BioAdvance
- Boathouse Capital
- Comcast Ventures
- Cross Valley Capital
- Domain Associates
- Dorm Room Fund
- Dreamit Ventures
- Fairmount Partners
- First Round Capital
- Gabriel Investments
- Genacast Ventures
- LLR Partners
- Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures
- NewSpring Capital
- Osage Partners
- Red & Blue Ventures
- Renovus Capital
- Rittenhouse Ventures
- Rough Draft Ventures
- Safeguard Scientifics
- SeventySix Capital
- Sustain VC
- TL Ventures
- Trestle Ventures
- Versa Capital Management
C. Growth
- Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
- 42Floors
- Allstate
- Farmers Insurance
- Hiscox
- Instant Offices
- John Ferullo Insurance Agencies
- LoopNet
- McCloskey Partners
- Nationwide Insurance
- Rittenhouse Benefits
- Search Office Space
- Stacksco
- Tech Insurance
- The Burg Agency
- The Graham Company
- The Lindenberger Group
- The Rosen Group
- Trusted Choice
- Wingate Consulting
- Expansion: Philadelphia Growth accelerators and consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
4. Philadelphia Startup Success Stories
Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.
- Arcweb Technologies
- Azavea
- Bainbridge Health
- BioBots
- Biomeme
- Blackfynn
- Bluecadet
- CDI
- ChargeItSpot
- Cigna
- Cloudamize
- CloudMine
- Club OS
- Clutch
- Comcast
- CoreDial
- CRM Science
- Curalate
- DuckDuckGo
- Five Below
- FluidEdge Consulting
- GLOBO
- GoPuff
- Greenphire
- GSI Health
- Guru
- IMS Technology Services
- InstaMed
- J2 Solutions
- Jornaya
- Journey Sales
- KickUp
- KloudSign
- Leadnomics
- LUXTECH
- Margo
- MLeads
- Monetate
- Oncora Medical
- PeopleLinx
- Perpay
- Practice XYZ
- Quattro
- ReactiveOps
- Redline Automotive Merchandising
- Relay Network
- RevZilla
- ROAR for Good
- Seer
- Sidecar
- Slyce
- SmartyPal
- Spark Therapeutics
- Stitch Data
- StratIS
- Swain Techs
- Tabula Rasa HealthCare
- Tembo
- The One Health Company
- Think Brownstone
- Ticketleap
- Tonic Design
- Torchlight Technology Group
- Urban Outfitters
- VeryApt
- WebLinc
- Wildbit
- WizeHive
- WorkplaceDynamics
- Yellowdig
- Zonoff
Supporters
To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.
1. Philadelphia Startup Leaders
Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.
- Bob Moul
- Brendan OHara
- Brynne Tillman
- David Castro
- David Newman
- Dhairya Pujara
- Don Samoil
- Eamon Gallagher
- Gabriel Weinberg
- Gene Marks
- Gloria Bell
- Greg Satell
- Joe Witte
- Jon Zaikowski
- Joshua Davidson
- Kathleen Klasnic
- Kevin Kruse
- Kevin Siskar
- Lindsay Tsai
- Liz Funk
- Patrick FitzGerald
- Reid Hamilton
- Ross Kukulinski
- Stefan Klotzbuecher
- Steven Turner
- Susan Pirog
- Yoon Cannon
- Yuval Yarden
- Zsolt Olah
2. Philadelphia Government Startup Resources
Public organizations that facilitate local economic development
- Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia
- City of Philadelphia: Commerce
- City of Philadelphia: Innovation
- City of Philadelphia: Innovation and Technology
- Global Philadelphia Association
- Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
- Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Independence Business Alliance - Philadelphia's LGBT Chamber of Commerce
- Philadelphia Immigrant Innovation Hub
- StartupPHL
- The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia
- Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians
3. Talent
Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.
- Local Philadelphia Tech Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)
- Community College of Philadelphia
- Drexel University
- Eastern University
- Holy Family University
- La Salle University
- Peirce College
- Philadelphia University
- Penn State
- Princeton
- Saint Joseph's University
- Temple University
- The Art Institute of Philadelphia
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of the Sciences
- Villanova University
- Philadelphia Local Employers
Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Philadelphia Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a draft, and more input is needed!)