Friday Q&A: Entrepreneurs Forum rebuilt to connect with startups, veterans

Dan Ross is proud to say that some Philly companies have done well during the past year in what many economists say is the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

And he’s got proof.

On Wednesday, 100 companies in the Philadelphia region were awarded at the Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Philadelphia‘s Philly 100. It wasn’t an arbitrary designation; these are companies that were able to meet the contest’s stringent restrictions: real growth in sales and revenue figures year-over-year, among others.

“We know of a number of award programs, top 25s or top 50s, they were not able to fill their quota. The good news is that we were able to achieve our top 100 with some great firms,” Ross said in a telephone interview early this week.

Of course, the gains are modest, but they’re gains, found by companies that are staying current and nimble in concerning times.

“We don’t see some of the hugely dramatic numbers that we’ve seen across the board, but they’re growing. They’re making it through the economic times and continuing to thrive and grow employment.”

Since retiring, Ross has been steering the Forum as Executive Director for six years, volunteering 20 to 30 hours a week to help young businesses connect with veterans. The service — which is funded by business sponsors and the Forum’s monthly events — is offered free of cost.

Like the businesses it recognizes, the Forum, too, has refocused its efforts to stay current. After a series of focus groups, it has launched its fiscal 2011 event series, “True North,” which focuses on young, early-stage businesses and high-growth late-stage companies. And it’s now offering an “experts on-demand” advice service that any entrepreneur can take advantage of.

After the jump, Ross talks about the Philly 100 winners, the region’s information technology growth, and about the Forum’s newly found strategy.

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Links: Local currency movement, Amish entrepreneurs and more

DEFINITE READS

• Freelancer John Steele writes for Keystone Edge on the growing local currency movement, in which three suburban communities are encouraging the use of a town-specific form of money to develop local purchases.
• Keystone Edge also has a Q&A with Erik Wesner, the author of a new book that includes insight on vibrant entrepreneurial Amish communities.

Below, Science Cheerleader launches new project, GSI Commerce scores (or some other basketball pun) and more.

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Friday Q&A: Novitas Capital and PACT’s Dean Miller, silobuster

When Technically Philly gave Dean Miller a ring yesterday, he admitted to spending the majority of the conversation staring out of the window.

“We have our summer celebration tonight, and I’m worried about this thunderstorm,” he says.

Miller, a partner at Novitas Capital, shouldn’t be worrying. For one, the event is inside. Two: Ealier this month Miller oversaw the merging of two of the regions high profile technology groups: Eastern Technology Council and Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance. Both had the similar mission of helping foster technology entrepreneurship and investing.

“We knew that if you put them side by side you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart,” says Miller. As head of the MAC Alliance, Miller helped oversee the consolidation of the two groups into the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology, or PACT.

“We’re kind of a one stop shop and strategic hub now whether you are an investor or an entrepreneur,” he says.

We chatted with the local tech veteran about the roaring 90s, PACT’s new event strategy and Miller’s plans for world domination.

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Friday Q&A: Catherine Cook of myYearbook.com

Earlier this month, New Hope-based myYearbook.com founder Catherine Cook was honored as the number one young entrepreneur in the country by paidContent, according to a press release.

Cook has been loved by media since she and brothers Dave and Geoff launched the high school-focused social media site in 2005 – when she was was barely old enough to drive – after deciding that traditional yearbooks weren’t making the cut in the age of new media.

The award was accepted with pride, we’re sure, but we wondered when one becomes a regular, old “entrepreneur.” After all, Cook isn’t sixteen anymore.

Could it be $10 million in sales and 9.8 million unique hits? Maybe being noticed as the third largest and only growing social media portal aside from Facebook would do the trick. Does a title even matter?

“I am 19, I do like having that added honor to it, but I feel like sometimes it’s glam’d up a little too much. When some people hear it they get some kind of skewed perception that you’re a millionaire and a big spender,” Cook told Technically Philly in a telephone interview.

“I drive a 1996 Mitsubishi Galant.”

We’d like to think that Cook might be considering an upgrade since the company recently decided to monetize its Lunch Money feature, a virtual currency with which users can purchase gifts for friends or donate to noble causes. One million fake dollars cost $9.99 real cash. Six months in, Lunch Money is making eight figures in sales, Cook tells us. Virtual gifts have become one-third of the company’s revenue.

We caught up with Cook to see what her and her brothers have been up to since launching the site almost four years ago, what’s happening with $13 million in venture funding raised last year, and whether the Cooks are rooting for the Phillies or the Yankees, after the jump.

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Philly regional entrepreneurship lagging, says annual Kauffman study

The Philadelphia region is home to the fewest, least confident entrepreneurs of the country’s 15 largest metro areas, according to an annual report [PDF] on new business ventures from the Kauffman Foundation.

New business formation increased nationwide in 2008, mostly for the “lowest-income potential” startups, according to a press release from the Kansas City organization.

The survey does not include only tech-related ventures, but all new launches.

National entrepreneurial activity has remained steady in each year of the 12-year-old study, despite the status of the economy, as Wall Street Journal blog Venture Capital Dispatch reported.

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Technically Not Tech: StealthRowing indoor rowing training

Twenty-four year old Daniel Harbuck agrees that necessity is the mother of invention.

Almost a decade ago, as a young high school rower, the University of Penn Wharton undergrad tried to convince friends to trudge through 10 feet of snow to help him train on Salt Lake in Utah, where he grew up. They wouldn’t.

Instead, he had a friend—”a football player, a big guy”—hold a boat in place in an indoor community pool.

“We were right next to 65-year-old ladies doing water aerobics,” Harbuck says. “It was a nice idea that clearly needed a lot of work.”

It was the first iteration of StealthRowing—a device the business student is developing that enables rowing athletes to experience on-the-water training while indoors.

Essentially, a row boat cockpit is anchored to the edge of a pool, enabling rowers to practice balance and teamwork. The stationary design allows them to be tied down in a pool—but not locked in—to train in any weather.

The technology is the first to offer rowing synchronization and balance training in an indoor setting. During interviews with 1,050 clubs affiliated with USRowing, 82 percent expressed interest in the project and purchase intent, he says.

“Those who know rowing understand the need for this,” he says.

Last week, Harbuck won $5,000 from University of Pennsylvania’s Weiss Tech House for the idea. That’s in addition to $10,000 won with a Wharton Venture Award last year. On Wednesday, he hopes to win $20,000 more in Wharton’s Business Plan Competition.

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Regional entrepreneurship foundation takes major players on its advisory board

A slew of big names were named to the advisory board of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship to Youth.

All told, 13 new members were appointed, including former RedLasso CEO Kenyon Hayward, RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, the longtime president of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Temple University President Ann Weaver Hart, according to a press release.

The regional incarnation of the New York City-based nonprofit is headquartered at Temple and follows the group’s mission of providing entrepreneurship education programs to young people from low-income communities.

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Special Event Highlights: Entrepreneurship Week

The economy has been rough.

We know it all too well here at Technically Philly. Jobs are sparse and all that sittin’ around gets you to thinking: What if you took your talents, your Rolodex and that unemployment check and started your own business?

The The Empowerment Group‘s Entrepreneurship Week—running all week long—is chock-full of 13 events to learn about starting or super-powering your business. And every last minute of it is free.

As promised in our events roundup earlier this morning, find out what’s going on this week throughout the city, after the jump. For more events, visit our events calendar.
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