Dreamers Welcome
Dreamers Welcome
Perhaps New York and San Francisco aren't the only places to be. Suddenly, a new clique of startups from effectually the land are moving to Philly—and staying
Dreamers Welcome
Maybe New York and San Francisco aren't the merely places to exist. All of a sudden, a new clique of startups from effectually the country are moving to Philly—and staying
Feb. xi, 2015
Candace Mitchell sauntered on to the stage at World Cafe Live and started talking about pilus—specifically, the $500 billion hair intendance manufacture that she's borer into with her company, Myavana ("My Hair Nirvana"), an app that personalizes style and product recommendations for women of color using pilus strand analysis. "Let's talk about priorities, people—hair and beauty are at the top of the list," Mitchell quipped. Then she ran through her business organization model: 57 million blackness women in America, each spending more than 9 times the boilerplate on their hair — but who have not had a mode to sift through the services and products to find what's best for their particular needs. Until now. "Myavana is leading a technological revolution in the haircare market, meeting the needs of millions of women who have been far underserved for too long," Mitchell said. And so she beamed, equally the audition broke into adulation.
Asaf Nevo, on that same stage, showed the audition a sweet photo from his recent wedding—as a prelude to demonstrating how his photo-sharing app, Pico, collates all pictures taken at an result onto one Facebook page, as it did during last year's Philadelphia Marathon. Merely where Pico will really thrive, Nevo went on, is with big commercial brands. "Just in the US in the final year, brands have spent more than $5 meg in engaging with fans on Facebook," Nevo said. Then he left his audition with the real news: "I'm happy to announce that we only signed our starting time paying customer. Feel complimentary to get excited."
Nine of DreamIt 2014'due south 12 startups are staying in Philadelphia—the most e'er. Only iv of 15 from the grade of 2022 decided to telephone call Philly home.
Mitchell, an African American estimator scientist—with nifty hair—from Atlanta, and Nevo, an Israeli, hail from different parts of the planet. Their passions—and their businesses—are worlds apart. They were brought together by DreamIt Ventures, the Philly-based startup accelerator, as role of its fall 2022 entrepreneur class. Their pitches were role of DreamIt's Demo 24-hour interval in early December—the culmination of the intense iii-month boot camp, featuring a room full of investors looking for the Next Large Thing. True to DreamIt's model, both Mitchell'due south and Nevo'south ideas are disruptive in their respective fields, and have the potential to brand investors whip out their checkbooks. But what makes Mitchell and Nevo unique in the register of technology startups here is something far more unexpected: Both are staying in Philadelphia.
"This is the near supportive environment we've ever been in," Nevo gushed from the stage. "Coming to Philadelphia was the smartest business decision we made."
Including Pico and Myavana, nine of DreamIt 2014's 12 startups are staying in Philadelphia—the start time so many companies have decided to set upwards shop here. Since 2008, when Philly entrepreneurs David Bookspan, Mike Levinson and Steve Welch launched DreamIt, 65 young companies take gone through the program. (DreamIt has also run accelerators out of Austin, Baltimore and New York.) Almost all have promptly packed their bags afterwards. In 2012, for example, but four of the 15 DreamIt companies remained in Philly. The difference is a snapshot of what makes Philly a burgeoning hub for tech startups.
Patrick Fitzgerald, DreamIt Philadelphia's Managing director, says he didn't prepare out to convince the 2022 class to stay in town. "For our internal economics, it doesn't matter where they go," he says. "Nosotros merely want them to be successful." Only he acknowledges that their program was especially geared towards highlighting local successes, and introducing them to local investors, local interns and others in the city who might pave the style frontward. The Mayor's role sent officials to speak to the entrepreneurs; Nutter himself went to their endmost ceremony; Comcast hosted an upshot at its cafe.
"This is the most supportive surround we've ever been in," Nevo gushed from the stage. "Coming to Philadelphia was the smartest business decision we fabricated."
Besides for the first time last fall, all the companies in the programme worked out of DreamIt'southward new office space at 3401 Market Street, forming a clique of new Philly startups amid a hub of entrepreneurship in University City. They were allowed to remain there until January, when a new DreamIt group moved in—and are always welcome back for communication or connections. Meanwhile, a handful of the companies—including Myavana and Pico—moved to VentureF0rth, a co-working space in Northern Liberties for tech startups. "DreamIt is in Philly," says Nevo, "and all of our business is too. It doesn't make sense to get dorsum to Israel—and it doesn't make sense to relocate to New York or San Francisco. Philly has a rise startup scene that's coming up at present."
Mitchell left her friends, family and business partner backside in Atlanta for what she thought was a three-month stay up north. But as she neared the end of DreamIt, she realized it didn't make sense to carelessness ship and caput home. During the program, Myavana'south customer base increased by 25 percent. She met investors who better understood her concern model than those in Atlanta. And DreamIt exposed Mitchell to an underappreciated Philly asset: Its talent. Each company in the accelerator was matched to mentors from throughout the region, including several local tech startups that have seen national success, similar DuckDuckGo, Curalate and Artisan mobile. Mitchell was especially struck by DreamIt alum SnipSnap, a coupon-clipping app that has grown tremendously over the concluding 2 years—in part because of the connections fabricated here.
Mitchell also hired three developers in Philly—two Temple students and one who had worked at another startup. Finally, she had the squad she needed to develop Myavana'south mobile app—and couldn't leave that behind. "Building a squad is ane of the near of import aspects of making your business a success," Mitchell says. "I found that team here—and they are not in a position to motility to New York or Atlanta."
Mitchell and Nevo both acknowledge that proximity to New York adds to Philly'due south appeal: For the sake of meetings and reaching their market, both consider themselves effectively in the "New York area." But they have too found what so many young Philadelphians know to be truthful: "Philly is very welcoming, less rushed, less expensive, more cozy and homey than New York," says Nevo. "I am really surprised past the fact that people are so surprised we decided to gear up upwards our US operations hither. I brutal in love with Philadelphia."
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/dreamers-welcome/
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