Q&A: Terrence Hicks, VP of investment at Ben Franklin Technology Partners

Terrence Hicks under the entrance to the Ben Franklin Technology Partners office

A linchpin of the local entrepreneurial community for nearly 30 years, Ben Franklin Technology Partners is one of the unique advantages of starting a company in Pennsylvania.

Partially funded by the state government, BFTP of Southeastern Pennsylvania is one of four Ben Franklin organizations across the Pennsylvania that provides early capital and mentorship. The organization is often the first investment received by those in the local IT, life science and physical science spaces and is an investor in over 100 local companies, including AboutOne, Vuzit, CityRyde, Monetate and many more. The firm also had several exits in NuPathe, Boomi and ClickEquations.

However, the group is fighting to keep its public investment at the current $4 million level, down from $6.9 million in 2009.

Despite the state cuts, BFTP has remained extremely busy partnering with the Philadelphia Media Network for an incubator, creating the DreamIt Plus program and fulfilling its role in the $129 million GPICHub project.

We sat down with Terrence Hicks, Ben Franklin’s vice president of investment to discuss Ben Franklin’s role in the local community, its current funding situation and his increased interest in video games.

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Neil Kleinman: What is the Creative Economy asks Empowerment Group [VIDEO]

The creative economy is building ideas, rather than products first, Neil Kleinman tells the Empowerment Group in a recent interview.

Kleinman, a senior fellow of the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at the University of the Arts and former dean of that school’s College of Liberal Arts, discusses the center, its role, building business around ideas and how that can help Philadelphia.

Tweet love for Michael Nutter and other Links [VIDEO]

• Taking a Social Media Cue from Politics [Carr] — Highlighting Michael Nutter’s use of Twitter
• Where Will Your Future IT Workers Come From? [CIO] A profile of young tech groups, including Philly’s own TechGirlz
• A Hall Pass for bureaucracy: Code for America Philadelphia [Dangerously Awesome] Indy Hall’s Alex Hillman on the civic hacking crew
• Lokadot’s Free iPhone App for Touring Philadelphia [Geekadelphia] Visit it at Lokadot.com.
• Media Bureau—An Artists’ Colony Teeming With Talent—Flourishes in NoLibs [Philly Weekly]
• Another HQ leaves Philly, what’s up with that? [Philadelphia Business Journal] — Cigna
• Kembrel Wants to Link Designer Labels to College Consumers [Forbes] — “Three Wharton MBAs have started a business that uses the Web to help designer clothing makers reach college students.”
• Aol Video visits Indy Hall [Aol]

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:

MOGO Media — MOGO Media provides best-of-class training for designers and developers through world-wide conferences and seminars. The organization will host a CSS seminar on August 11 in Philadelphia.

Newsworks — NewsWorks is the online home of WHYY News and its growing network of journalism partners. This public media service covers the Philadelphia region, Delaware and South Jersey, with a focus on regional issues, neighborhoods, health and science, and arts.

Morgan Lewis — Morgan Lewis provides comprehensive transactional, litigation, labor and employment, regulatory, and intellectual property legal services to clients of all sizes—from global Fortune 100 companies to just-conceived startups—across all major industries.

Alteva — Reduce your total cost of telecom ownership and improve employee efficiency and customer satisfaction with Alteva’s cloud-based Voice over IP phone systems and services.

Reed Technology — Reed Technology’s Web Archiving Service is a litigation protection, web compliance and e-discovery solution for all your online assets.

The University City Science Center — The Science Center has officially opened Quorum, a central gathering space to enable the entrepreneurship and innovation communities to meet, share and learn.

Splat Productions — Splat Productions provides smart, brand-centric website design and internet marketing services to privileged clients in the Philadelphia region and beyond.

Caffeine Fish — Caffeine Fish develops iOS apps including Trainboard and PhillySubway and offers consulting in the Philadelphia area.

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.

Jamestown gets props from Penny Arcade in PAX 10

A screen shot from Jamestown

In 2009, Mike Ambrogi along with his brother Tim and Hal Larsson meticulously plotted their move from the West Coast to Philadelphia. Now, they’ll be heading back as a featured independent developer at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, the largest consumer video game expo in North America.

The bootstrapped Center City-based game developer’s first title, Jamestown, was selected from over 100 entries as a member of the “PAX 10.”  The PAX 10 awards independent developers with free booth space, free entry and a moment in the spotlight at one of the most popular video came conferences in the country.

On the company’s blog:

I think I speak for the entire team here at Final Form Games when I say: ZOMGPAX10BBQ!!!11!

I could spend some time writing about the emotional rollercoaster of getting to this moment. Fact is, I want to. I think it’s a pretty good story.

The announcement received nods in Joystiq and WIRED. The game is now available through Steam for $10.

It looks like Venmo is moving to NYC

Venmo, the mobile payment service founded by University of Pennsylvania grads that is often listed among the top Philadelphia startups may be leaving town.

Though the site’s contact page says the company’s office is still located at 2038 Locust Street, recent job postings on the company site suggest that the company has moved north.

Venmo has headquarters in midtown Manhattan, with plenty of sunlight and a Whole Foods across the street. We offer competitive salaries, benefits, and stock options.

Venmo co-founder Andrew Kortina has long resided in the 67th Ward though is often in Philadelphia and is supportive of the local startup and developer communities. Fellow co-founder and former director of technology at TicketLeap Iqram Magdon-Ismail’s Facebook page also lists New York City as his home.

An email to Venmo seeking comment yesterday has not been returned.

Last days to apply for Code for America fellowship

Now’s your last chance to apply to help guide Philadelphia municipal government through the tides of technology.

An announcement this afternoon says that the deadline for Code for America’s technology public service fellowship ends Sunday, July 31.

From the release:

“This is your chance to step up and make a difference. You’ll be part of a class of a fellows equally committed to changing government through technology, and you’ll spend the year working hand-in-hand with them and your government partners to make government more open and efficient. It’s what you can do for your country.”

The City of Philadelphia was one of 20 cities that applied for the 2012 fellowship program and one 10 that was selected, after participating as an inaugural member in 2011. We’ve been covering their efforts as part of our Transparencity series.

Apply to be a Code for America fellow here.

City: questionable gifts did not influence Verizon contracts

Business between Verizon and the city should continue as usual, officials say, even though a city employee was fired last week for taking more than $50,000 in gifts from the Verizon sales staff and an account set up to provide rewards for the city’s business with the phone company.

“Mr. James had multiple dealings with Verizon and the City has multiple contracts with the company. Each of those contracts was awarded through a competitive bid process and we have no reason to believe that the process was tampered with,” says Brian Abernathy, Chief of Staff to city Managing Director Rich Negrin.

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Skillshare educational marketplace to launch in Philly on August 16

Updated, July 27, 1:49 p.m.: The company says its moved its launch to August 16.

If you’re wondering how to scale a company fast, take a look at the trajectory of Skillshare, a New York-based startup intent on creating a market for educational classes in major cities across the country and globe.

The company, which began gaining public attention in April, is opening its service to Philadelphia as soon as August 16, organizers say.

Skillshare allows anyone to create a class or enroll in someone else’s, essentially creating a DIY education marketplace on a local level. The company suggests that its classes could be a potential business channel for companies or freelancers, and could be a revenue stream in and of itself. In New York, where the site has already launched, the site recommends that teachers set an average admission price of $25.

The classes could be a boon for local tech education, but it’s perhaps the company’s nimble scaling with seemingly modest publicly-known investment which make it more interesting to entrepreneurs.

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Startup Roundup: The world looks to New Hope after $100m myYearBook acquisition

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 a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

MUST READS
After being acquired last week for $100 million, media is paying attention to the little New Hope startup that could: myYearBook. Business2Community covers the company, Portfolio writes about the company founder’s ambitions to stay onboard, and The Wall Street Journal has coverage of the myYearBook acquisition last week and more.

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