Friday Q&A: Robert J. Moore of RJ Metrics and TedxPhilly

Though Robert Moore is obsessed with business data, it’s plain to see that his company is doing just fine.

RJ Metrics, which Moore started in his attic with Jake Stein, now has four employees and, according to Moore, has seen year-over-year revenue grow by 10x in 2009. Because of this growth, the company is now looking to make the leap across the Delaware to expand its workforce in Philadelphia.

After launching the business with a rap video (see it in all its glory after the jump), the company now has “about three dozen” clients paying four figures a month to use the RJ Metrics dashboard to help draw actionable conclusions from its data.

“It’s a monthly subscription service, and the beauty of that model is retaining customers to make your income highly predictable. It allows you to be aggressive,” says Moore.

Moore is also one of the many speakers slated to talk at Philly’s first Tedx conference.

We talked with Moore about being a data nerd, what he’ll be talking about at Tedx and the once piece of data that fascinates him.

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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:

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.

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!

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.

Comcast Roundup: ‘Xbox Live now bigger than Comcast,’ why GOP win helps 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 ane-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Watch Out, Big Cable: Xbox Live Now Bigger Than Comcast [Gigaom via New York Times] Xbox Live’s 25 million subscribers tops Comcast’s 23 million, a figure that declined by a quarter million subscribers last quarter.
• Names You Need to Know In 2011: Comcast’s Steve Burke [Forbes] — A suggestion by a Forbes reporter to make him a part of an upcoming issue on the biggest new names to know, as Burke will be largely leading the integration of NBC Universal into Comcast. H/T Philly Tech News
• AT&T, Comcast May Fend Off Web Rules Under Republicans [Bloomberg via BusinessWeek] — “Verizon Communications Inc. and cable companies led by Comcast Corp. may find it easier to block Internet-service regulations with Republicans in charge of the U.S. House, analysts said.”
• Astros, Rockets finalize deal to launch TV network [Houston Chronicle] — Comcast SportsNet Houston to launch in 2010, seen as a big victory against Fox Sports, with whom local sports are currently being broadcast. It will be the tenth regional Comcast SportsNet.

Below, a TiVo executive on the Comcast-NBC deal, how Comcast could help make Philly a better city and more.

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Stuzo acquired by Dachis Group

Stuzo, the Fairmount-based Facebook application development shop has been acquired by the Dachis Group according to Techcrunch and a message from Stuzo founder Gunther Pfau to Technically Philly.

Pfau declined to disclose any details but said that he will continue to helm Stuzo and the company will remain in the city as an operating unit of Dachis.

“We’re looking to bring on board more technical, project management, and account talent,” said Pfau.

Stuzo started in 2005 as a platform for college students to trade textbooks and other goods at Temple University before pivoting to become one of the first developers on the Facebook Application platform.

“It didn’t completely gain traction,” admitted Pfau in a video interview last year.”We really made a decision overnight … to change gears.”

The company began building apps like MyHeritage before focusing more on promotions for other brands like Coca-Cola and Proctor and Gamble, quickly becoming one of the largest Facebook development shops in the country.

The Dachis Group, based in Austin, is a “social business consultancy” with many of same clients as Stuzo.

Philadelphia CTO Allan Frank to focus on city wifi, paperless government [Video]

City CTO Allan Frank addresses a GovLoop meetup group Nov. 2, 2010.

Updating citywide IT infrastructure has had to be a major focus for his first year, but City of Philadelphia Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank again outlined an ambitious five-year plan to “bring city government into the 21st century.”

Since coming on, Frank said he first worked on consolidating citywide IT services, which he finalized in July 2009. The CTO then focused on building out “one hell of a network” for the city’s IT operating environment. Only now, he said, can he move to focus more on “enabling high performance government.”

“Number three is what I actually thought I came in to do… but I had to get one and two done first,” Frank told two dozen people attending the meetup put on by GovLoop, a Washington D.C.-based social network for government employees that is finishing up a 12-city tour.

After the jump, see the video of Frank’s entire speech.

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Startup Roundup: Dell acquires Berwyn’s Boomi; Zecovi deals with exclusive CherryPad

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated newsletter or RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

MUST READS

Dell announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Berwyn-based Boomi, a SaaS software provider, according to a press release. Terms were not disclosed.

Sustainability online shopping platform Zecovi has had problems shipping the CherryPad, an affordable Android tablet that the local company has exclusive rights to distribute. Zecozi has taken heat, PhillyTechNews reports, but orders are starting to ship according to some customers.

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CEO: Inquirer to host startup incubator next year

Philadelphia Media Network CEO Greg Osberg speaks at Temple University

On a night when dozens of political candidates were making broad proclamations about the future, Greg Osberg stood behind a lectern at Temple University to lay out his vision for the Philadelphia Media Network, the newly formed parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com.

The former Newsweek publisher and CEO of the Philadelphia Media Network was speaking as part of the Philadelphia Initiative for Journalistic Innovation, a speaker series hosted by Temple University’s journalism department.

“It’s going to take a couple of years to pull off this miracle,” he said of the current financial state of the company adding that, in the past five years, the company has lost half of its advertising revenue, 25 percent of subscriptions and 90 percent EBITDA.

After the jump, see eight proclamations Osberg made about the company’s future including his plans to house a startup incubator.

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VC Roundup: The city invests in green tech, Zecozi raises funds

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.

Number of deals by local VC’s (and the city): 4
Number of investments in local companies: 2

DEFINITE READS

When a company enters into DreamIt Ventures, they get a small amount of seed money and a small amount of cash for living expenses. Parse.ly co-founder Andrew Montalenti writes how his company stretched those bills while losing 15 pounds. How? By using the ubiquitous University City food trucks and beans. Lots and lots of beans.

The Inky’s Joe D, who is way smarter than us on such matters, says that big companies have the edge when it comes to raising money. DiStefano details the regions investment picture, referencing First Round Capital’s latest fund as an example of growth and a healthy local investing ecosystem.

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DreamIt alumni Yunno tapped by Toomey campaign

After being digitally outmaneuvered in 2008, the Republican Party is looking to up their online efforts for tomorrow’s midterm elections — and they’re relying on a Philly startup to do it.

Yunno, the DreamIt Ventures graduate that offers social engagement campaigns to brands, has been working with Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey to help augment the campaign’s online strategy.

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Event Highlights: November 1st – 7th, 2010

Let’s call this our “Technically Not Tech” edition after one of our favorite editorial departments here at TP. After a busy September and a packed second half of November, it looks like many tech meetups are taking it easy this week.

That’s okay by us, because it gives us a chance to broaden our horizons and explore events that aren’t regulars here on our event highlights.

This week: meetup with folks that want to use tech to impact our government and then chat with the next big dog at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. If you’d rather be strictly business, PACT’s CIO Institute is sure to please.

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