A male dominated field? One woman’s take

This story is completed in partnership with Temple University’s journalism capstone class Philadelphia Neighborhoods. Students Tracy Galloway and Maria Zankey will cover technology issues through December.

Nancy Massey says she’s from “the DOS-based world.”  She says that in the 1980s, when the Disk Operating System was still widely used, working in technology was “so much simpler” in comparison to the work she’s used to doing now.

But a little complexity has never stopped her.

“I love a mystery, and I love a challenge,” Massey says. “Even today, [working in technology] is like solving a mystery, a puzzle.”

Massey, who currently works as a Web consultant for her namesake business, MasseyNet.com, has been working for more than 30 years in Philadelphia’s technology industry – a field largely dominated by men.

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Solve Media, formally AdCopy, launches in Philly (not New York)

For the executive team at Solve Media, this venture is just the latest chapter in a long partnership.

“At this point, we can finish each other’s sentences,” says Ari Jacoby, CEO and co-founder of Solve. Solve’s management team, which includes Stu Libby, Todd Lieberman, Max Sobol [founder of StartPhilly] and Jeffrey Weisberg, all formerly worked on VoiceStar, a Philadelphia-based call analytics company that was purchased by Marchex in 2007.

The band got back together for Solve Media, a new First Round Capital-backed startup with offices in Center City and in New York City. The company’s first effort is TYPE-IN, a product that embeds advertisments in CAPTCHAs, drawing a mix of praise at the inventiveness and disdain at yet another vehicle for advertisers. Since launching yesterday, the company was featured in today’s Wall Street Journal, as well as in VentureBeat and Fast Company.

However, while each publication claims that the company is “New York based” most of its operations are right here.

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VC Roundup: Guggenheim’s weird year, DreamIt gets NYT shoutout

Welcome to the VC Roundup, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

This edition of the VC Roundup is sponsored by PACT. Check out their latest event “The Next Generation Architecture Summit: Cloud Computing on the Rise” on October 5th. For more details, including a speaker lineup, click here.

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And the final two Switch companies are…

Geographic software company Azavea and sustainability tracker Zecozi will round out the slate at Switch – our biggest event yet that will feature five demos from five local companies. The late additions will join last-minute travel site Packlate, music technology company Orpheus Media Research and web development shop P’unk Ave.

A regular here at Technically Philly, Azavea will be demoing CommonSpace its new application that allows Philadelphians to easily determine the walking distance to anywhere in the city. We’re also proud to showcase Zecozi, a Good Company Ventures company that will launch its first product shortly before the event.

We plan on previewing each company in the coming weeks, but the best way to be inspired is to purchase a ticket. Not only will you get to see five great local companies, but we’re happy to announce that you’ll also get half off of drinks at the Tavern on Broad after the event.

A big thanks to our sponsors: First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, The University City Science Center, MCD Law Partners, VC Deal Lawyer, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Corzo Center.

Event Highlights: September 20th – 26th, 2010

It was a wonderful weekend, wasn’t it Philly? The weather was wonderful, the Phils swept the Nats and the Eagles clung to a week two victory. I mean, did you see that Jayson Werth game-winning home run?

Hopefully we can carry that momentum into the week with a great slate of tech events, including the return of Mobile Monday as well as a happy hour with Refresh Philly and Two Guys on Beer. To the events!

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Friday Q&A: SCVNGR’s John Valentine, Philadelphia rewards lead

SCVNGR's John Valentine

Update: Corrected Valentine’s educational background, Tapinko status.

When talking to SCVNGR’s John Valentine, be warned: his phone will ring constantly.

“It’s been crazy,” he says after hanging up with Chickie & Pete’s, the legendary Philadelphia sports bar. The bar agreed to use SCVNGR’s new local rewards program, but needs to turn off the demo that the company prepared for them as customers are beginning to already use the demo mobile coupon.

Valentine, who left his job at a law firm to work for the company, can tick off nearly a dozen cities he has been to in the last month, pitching business owners, delivering printed SCVGNR materials and holding events.

Boston-based SCVNGR, a DreamIt Ventures grad, is making waves as the scrappy upstart in the social check-in space. In an industry where Foursquare is getting all the buzz while Gowalla is nipping at their heels, SCVNGR is quickly growing, accepting $4 million of investment from Google while rapidly expanding the size of the company from 11 employees to 70 in 11 months. And, after being one of a handful of companies to get early access to the Facebook Places API, SCVNGR claims that it saw 100,000 downloads of its iPhone application in 48 hours.

Valentine, who met the SCVNGR founders at DreamIt while he was working on Tapinko, is tasked with rolling out SCVNGR’s new local rewards program. That is, the service that allows users to accumulate points for doing challenges. Users can then use those points to redeem rewards like free stuff, discounts and more. This Wednesday marked the Philadelphia release of rewards, making it the second city after Boston to have the feature available.

We chatted with Valentine at Kraftwork in Fishtown as he took a break form his whirlwind sales adventure through his old stomping grounds. We asked him what’s it like to get money from Google, how he’s stalking TechCrunch and what VC firm once gave him ice cream.

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Links: More Naval Yard development, the science of football and More

DEFINITE READS

• City, bloggers talk taxes over drinks [Inquirer] — Among the dozen or so on hand to talk about the recent blowup around business licensing was Indy Hall co-founder Geoff DiMasi.
• Data center opens at Philadelphia Navy Yard [Philadelphia Business Journal] The making of the Technology Park deal [PBJ] — The data center deal shouldn’t be confused with the energy innovation hub due for the Naval Yard too.
• How Philadelphia’s Navy Yard will become mini-city of energy innovation [Inquirer]
• Gaining on death, cooling therapy catches on slowly [Reuters] — The University of Pennsylvania is leading the trend in “therapeutic hypothermia” to battle the effects of cardiac arrest.

Below, why big companies matter in job creation, the science of football and more.

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Thanks to our weekly sponsors

Technically Philly is made possible by advertisers and sponsors that are important to Philadelphia’s technology community. This week we’d like to thank:

Volpe and Koenig, P.C. — Since 1987, intellectual property boutique law firm Volpe and Koenig has provided guidance on matters relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, e-commerce, technology joint ventures, non-disclosure agreements, technology acquisitions, licensing and litigation. Whatever your intellectual property law issue… Volpe and Koenig bring law to your ideas.

Tek Lado Magazine: technology and pop culture magazine for the new bilingual generation, TekLado –  published in English and Spanish – caters to Hispanic and non-Hispanic geeks, gamers, techies, comix fans and more. The mag hits the streets of Philadelphia on Septempber 22, 2010.

Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce – The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to promoting growth and economic development, advocating for sound public policy, and serving its members with outstanding programs and benefits. GPCC is the premier advocate of the region’s business community, representing members in 11 counties across three states with one voice.

Brolik Productions Customers visit your website and immediately judge your company. Will they stay or will they go? Brolik delivers innovative design, original content and a tasteful product that equals long-term loyalty for your brand and sour grapes for the competition.

Caffeine Fish – Caffeine Fish develops the Trainboard iPhone app and offers iPhone development consulting in the Philadelphia area.

NextFab Studio — NextFab is a membership-based, high-tech workshop and prototyping center. Our facility provides comfortable, clean, and safe workspaces with hand tools, 3D printers, computer controlled machine tools, software, and electronics workbenches. Expert instructors and a community of collaborators are on hand to help you problem-solve and achieve your vision. NextFab Studio has everything necessary for you to invent, repair, create, and innovate!

Springboard Media – Springboard Media is a certified Apple Specialist and retailer based in Center City and now, in Exton. They’ve got a ton of accessories and a great trade-in program that can score you up to $1,500 when you’re ready to upgrade.

Volpe and Koenig, P.C. — Since 1987, intellectual property boutique law firm Volpe and Koenig has provided guidance on matters relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, e-commerce, technology joint ventures, non-disclosure agreements, technology acquisitions, licensing and litigation. Whatever your intellectual property law issue… Volpe and Koenig bring law to your ideas.

Interested in joining these organizations and individuals in supporting Technically Philly? Check out our ad packages and contact our Ad Sales Manager. Can’t find something that fits? We’ll customize a package for you.

Switch Philly: Stealth company named fourth presenting company

At Technically Philly we’ve written nearly 1,000 posts covering the technology community here in Philadelphia. If you paged through our archives, you would come across hundreds of local companies, each with something innovative to offer the city and the world.

However, in the rare circumstance that you do not have hours to look at TP’s back archives, let us help you take an easier, much more fun approach: Switch.

Switch is a brand new event from Technically Philly that will feature seven-minute demos from the most innovative and interesting companies in the Philadelphia region. At Switch, you’ll be able to see the Philadelphia-based companies that inspire and innovate in a little under an hour.

Continue reading on Phillymag.com to find out the fourth of five companies presenting at Switch. Read about the event here.

Comcast Roundup: TunerFish in New York Times, shares ‘plunged’ and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• “Search Takes a Social Turn” [New York Times] — The trend piece addressing the online return to focusing on what existing contacts feel for reviews and opinions, citing Comcast-owned startup TunerFish, which lets users share what they’re watching with friends.
• “Comcast’s NBC-U Dreams May Be Online Video’s Nightmare” [Gigaom] — According to the opinion piece, “right now, there’s a very good chance that most people in America will soon have just one choice for truly high-speed Internet access suitable for watching video — their local cable monopoly.”

Below, Ecolisting.com announced, Comcast shares plunge and more.

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