A Big Thank You goes out to our sponsors for making this event possible:

Headlining Sponsor: 

Supporting Sponsors:

Chariot Solutions
Cohen Partners
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Siegal & Drossner PC
HostMySite.com

Raffle Sponsors:

Seer Interactive 

Photography Sponsor:

Koala Photography

Graphic Design Sponsor:

Bashpole

Thanks to our amazing committees for organizing and running this event:

Operations Committee:
Rachel Brennesholtz
Nicolas Warren
Chris Cera
Tracey Welson-Rossman
Piyali Sircar

Marketing Committee:
Ben Ashpole
Yulia Barnakova
Aaron McLean
Claire SokWai Mak

Sponsorship Committee:
David Frigeri
Rob Di Marco
Brad Denenberg

Save the Date:
July 9, 2009, 5pm-9pm
Location (To Be Confirmed, Stay Tuned): Jamaican Jerk Hut, 1436 South Street

Cost:
Too low to print!
But, seriously, we’ll let you know when the official invitation goes out.

Festivities:
Jamaican Island Band Playing Live All Night!
Raffles for Great Prizes Every Hour!
Amazing Food Menu - All You Can Eat (But please don’t eat it all…)
Kegs of Beer and Plenty of Other Great Refreshments!

Save the Date in your calendar now and watch the PSL Talk Email List for a link to buy your tickets on TicketLeap. 

A big thank you goes out to our committees and sponsors:

Operations Committee:
Rachel Brennesholtz
Nicolas Warren
Chris Cera
Tracey Welson-Rossman
Piyali Sircar

Marketing Committee:
Ben Ashpole
Yulia Barnakova
Aaron McLean

Sponsorship Committee:
David Frigeri
Rob Di Marco
Brad Denenberg

Sponsors (to date):
Chariot Solutions
Cohen Partners

Last month’s Fishbowl stirred up wonderful ideas for our host and will potentially make a great impact on the Philadelphia community.  Please read Karen’s recap of her Fishbowl as she highlights what she took from the roundtable.

Fishbowls have accelerated business development and sparked innovative new ideas for company after company over the past 18 months. If your startup company would like to call upon the brilliance of Philly entrepreneurs and host a fishbowl with PSL, don’t hesitate to contact Nicolas Warren for details at fishbowl@phillystartupleaders.org.

From: Karen Davis, CEO of Philadelphia Arts and Business Council.
Final Comments:

“I’m so impressed with the generosity of the group to spend so much of their personal time with me brainstorming ideas and solutions. I felt tremendously energized after our session and very encouraged by the possibilities. Thank you, thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge, your time and your tremendous enthusiasm with me.”

Philly Startup Leaders Fishbowl Presentation
Karen Davis, President & CEO, Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia
May 20, 2009

Issue:  Currently, the Council’s Technology Connectors® program places technology professionals as volunteers with arts managers to help solve a variety of technology issues within their organizations such as database implementation, developing websites, infrastructure and connectivity issues etc. The program has proved problematic in achieving a high rate of success with arts organizations because of the lack of dedicated staff to IT issues, prioritization of technology among other management issues, inadequate financial resources and/or knowledge of how to obtain services and, an inability to think beyond the immediate technology problem to be fixed, so in constant need of support. The Council would like to re-design how we provide technology assistance to the region’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations to help them operate more effectively and efficiently.

Salient Points from Participants:

• Consider getting out of the volunteer recruitment and project matching/management business.

• Do what we do best which is to be a conduit for arts groups to partner with technology businesses whose expertise is delivering technology services and solutions.

• Consider providing a directory of regional resources that the Council recommends or has established a relationship with to provide discounted services to arts organizations.

• Focus on strategic technology planning, technology education and awareness; not solving specific problems or providing tactical implementation of technology solutions.

• Consider a hybrid approach- providing some services such as planning and referral to regional service providers for other issues.

Dear Philly Starup Leaders Community:

Summer is around the corner and before we know it, so will be our first ever Philly Startup Leaders Summer BBQ. This event will be open to the PSL community, including friends and family. In order to make this happen, we’ll need a few extra hands on the planning committee.

If you’ve been thinking about getting more involved with Philly Startup Leaders, what better way! Show your support for the starup community in Philadelphia. Attend our planning kickoff meeting:

When: Thursday, May 28th, 6:00pm
Where: Science Center, 3701 Market Street, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA
Why: Help us plan and run the first-ever PSL Summer BBQ!
RSVP: Please let us know you’re coming. Call or email Tracey Welson-Rossman, PSL Director of Events at twr@chariotsolutions.com or 609-519-0901.

Location:  Terra Building, Room 1107
Address:   221 South Broad St.
Contact:    Nicolas Warren

The next fishbowl is about a month away and I’m excited to introduce our next presenter from the Philadelphia Arts and Business Council, Karen Davis.   One of many things Karen does is help non-profit and arts initiatives find the IT help they need.  Karen is going to present some recently underperforming strategic initiatives and we’ll help work them out.  This Fishbowl holds particular appeal as it is a City Of Philadelphia project we’re assisting.

PABC has been around for a few years and receives financial and in-kind support from many of the city’s most prominent companies and foundations. Karen is seeking guidance from the outstanding entrepreneurial community to bolster her business.

Be part of the growing community of Philadelphia’s entrepreneurs. Come wearing your thinking cap and participate in the animated brainstorming that will be taking place on the 20th^th.  Several respected Philadelphia innovators will be in attendance.

Please RSVP by registering at following link via Ticketleap and don’t hesitate to contact us with inquiries. Send inquiries to:

Nicolás Andrés Warren
fishbowl@phillystartupleaders.org
215.285.8132

Online event registration

FISHBOWL: What is this all about?

Fishbowls are workshops for business owners to call upon their entrepreneurial peers in the Philadelphia community to work out a problem or situation with their business.  The focus can range from improving business practices, to marketing, strategy, or kick around a legitimate and innovative idea.  The goal is to facilitate a round table discussion and produce results that make a difference.

Fishbowl hosts have the floor to themselves with limited moderation from the Fishbowl rep’, just to keep things orderly.  The fishbowl is all about the hosting company’s business.  The fishbowl is not about getting a cheering section or a pat on the back.  Fishbowls gather the brightest local minds to cultivate and propel you ahead.

Fishbowls take place every other month on the third Wednesday of the month. The location is subject to change, so check back for confirmation.

For more information on hosting a Fishbowl for your company, contact Nicolas Warren – fishbowl@phillystartupleaders.org

May 13 at 7:30pm

Location:
3600 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA

• April 22, 2009 - 7 pm
• Location: Hamilton Hall at the University of the Arts
• Address:  320 South Broad Street (map)
• Contact: Jordan Epstein

Here is a description from Jordan Epstein, the Series Chair:

PSL’s newest event series Entrepreneur Unplugged will extend the spirit of Founder Factory by bringing successful Entrepreneurs “on stage” to share their personal stories of risk taking and decision making.  The format will be a 30 minute presentation followed by question and answer.  The series will be streamed live, recorded and distributed online.  Register today to reserve your free seat.

We’re proud to have Boris Silver open the series and share his experiences with his startup, Sport Interactiva, which provided fantasy sports games to over 1 million users on social networks.  Boris took a leave of absence from the University of Pennsylvania to grow the business full-time and navigated a successful exit just 9 months later.

Thanks to our friends at the University of Arts for providing an absolutely amazing venue to showcase the series.  The series continues on 6/17 and 8/19 at the same time and place.  Contact Jordan Epstein if you’d like to take the stage at a future event or would like to suggest a presenter.

Register today to reserve your free seat for Entrepreneurs Unplugged

Ticketing is now open for Entrepreneurs Unplugged, the series that shines the spotlight on local entrepreneurs to inspire, inform and entertain our local startup community.  Tickets are free thanks to the University of Arts- who provided this amazing venue, Groundup Marketing - which designed our logo, Ticketleap for donating free ticketing services and Bart Mroz, our videographer.  It’s less than two weeks until the premiere, so reserve your seat today.  For those on mobile or text only browsers: http://tr.im/izu9

Get Tickes for Free: Click here to register