Independents Hall gets back to work, experiences growing pains

Independents Hall co-founders Geoff DiMasi (left) and Alex Hillman speak at the coworking space's Town Hall.

Independents Hall co-founders Geoff DiMasi and Alex Hillman just came right out and said it.

“We suck at putting these things on often enough,” said Hillman to a crowd of roughly 30 members of the coworking space that were crammed into the building’s northern wing.

Hillman and DiMasi where speaking at Indy Hall’s third town hall, an informal gathering where the coworking space updates its members and interested public on news pertaining to the space while providing an update of the plans of the Indy Hall leadership.

Yesterday evening, Hillman and DiMasi shared some new policies to help Indy Hall deal with its ballooning membership, new security protocols to address recent thefts and a pledge to return Indy Hall to a hub of social and professional events.

“I feel we haven’t done a great job in returning to the cultural aspects that made Indy Hall awesome,” said Hillman.

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Startup roundup: P’unk Ave launching Apostrophe 1.0 CMS, Clio possible “household name” backing, Proton saves BP $3.7m

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse 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. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

P’unk Ave will launch the first version of its open-source Apostrophe content management system on Wednesday. The developer says that the CMS has been used for several of its clients, including Duke University, Kiberton Waldorf School and the Environmental Management Assistance Program. We’ve wrote about the CMS in this roundup before, and after talks with co-founder Geoff DiMasi, we think the team is playing its release pretty low-key for the quality of the product. It might be DiMasi’s punk rock roots—ask him about seeing Fugazi back in the day.

Orpheus Media Research, developer of music analysis tool Clio, says in an to Technically Philly that after reaching out to investors with its full business plan, the new company has been “aggressive in reaching out to major industry players,” and is in partnership talks with two large content partners and three “household name” corporations for technology and funding. Additionally, after reducing its funding requirements, it is now seeking private equity partnerships with angel firms as opposed to venture capital. Get on that, investors.

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Event Highlights for October 19-25, 2009

We’ve become official employees of the Philadelphia Phillies post-season. It sure as heck feels like a full-time job, doesn’t it?

We know: it’s gonna be tough making it out to some of those events on our calendar this week unless someone’s carting a television along, or at least a mobile subscription to MLB.TV. After all, our boys play tonight, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

But we still have you covered. And it just so happens that the events are weighted on Tuesday. Coincidence? Major League Baseball-psychic-connection? We may never know. Hit the jump for the highlights. No, not a replay of that eighth-inning three-run Victorino homer. Event highlights.

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Friday Q&A: DIY Days founder Lance Weiler

Tomorrow more than 27 filmmakers, musicians, game developers, storytellers and tech geeks will speak to patrons gathered at the DIY Days conference, a free event being held at the University of the Arts, to talk about the future of the media entertainment business.

It’s a future that seems uncertain, yet exciting: the struggle and embrace between amateur and professional work. The transformation of storytelling. Creating sustainability in media.

But most importantly: Do-It-Yourself culture. A culture that the event’s founder and organizer Lance Weiler says is as much about doing-it-yourself as it is about community. And perhaps surprising to some, a culture in which technology is deeply ingrained.

Weiler got his break with The Last Broadcast, a low budget horror film that he and a partner cobbled together for next to nothing. The film ended up being the first desktop feature film made with consumer grade video materials, the first movie distributed via satellite, and grossed $4.5 million dollars through the years.

Some believe that the Blair Witch Project might have borrowed a few ideas from the film; both are horror films presented in documentary-narrative style about low-budget filmmakers searching haunted woods who go missing. Except Weiler’s was filmed a year before the latter (and featured Jersey instead of Maryland).

Out of that experience, Weiler learned how to self-distribute, negotiate with broadcasters, and taught himself all sides of the media business.

DIY Days, Weiler’s baby, is the result of a book deal gone bad. On his own volition, that is. Offered the opportunity to write about his self-made success, Weiler decided to create the same resource for folks free online. From that decision evolved the Workbook Project, a content-rich portal for digital creatives. DIY Days is what he considers physical manifestation of WBP.

We’d be lying if we said we weren’t stoked about it. After all, we’re doing it ourselves, too. So, we reached out to Weiler to hear the why’s, how’s and who’s of DIY Days. As it turns out, we don’t have to sell our computers to gain some DIY cred.

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Video walk-through of the new IndyHall coworking facility

A crew of Independents Hall workers constructing the new coworking facility before it opened. Photo courtesy of Alex Hillman.

Don’t mind the mess at IndyHall.

On Friday, May 1, co-founders Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi moved the dedicated coworking community into a spacious new office on Third and Church in Old City.

There are still a few more screws to tighten, that’s for sure. But while it might not be ready for white-glove treatment, you gotta give ‘em props for pulling off a complicated move in little more than a month.

Since announcing their decision to move from Strawberry Street, members have increased significantly, the community launched and sold out its first class as part of an education initiative planned for the old location, and everyone involved surely has some stories to tell.

We stopped by IndyHall on Friday to see how the move is going and toured the new spot-on video after the jump.

A special thanks to Drew Lazor of Philadelphia City Paper in assisting with this video. Be sure to check out Drew’s coverage of the IndyHall walk-thru at the Clog.

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Ignite Philly 3 speakers announced

With the event only four days away, Ignite has published a list of the 16 speakers scheduled to present.

Included are several people who should be familiar to Technically Philly readers, including Andrew Rosenthal of Happier, Ben Kessler of Unbreaded, and Johnny Bilotta & David Martorana of Two Guys on Beer. All of the speakers have five minutes to present their topic of choice, and each presentation will have 20 slides that rotate every 15 seconds. The idea is to get a sampling of all of the great things happening in our fair city.

TP’s Brian James Kirk talked with organizer Geoff DiMasi, earlier this last month.

Ignite Philly starts at 7 p.m. this Saturday at Johnny Brendas. Admission is free.

Events highlights for the week of April 27 – May 3, 2009

What’s going on this week?

Oh not much. Just that huge, silly Mashable mixer that brings the popular blog to Philly for the first time. Rumor has it they even catered the event specially to Philadelphia.

After you recover from talking social media until 2 a.m., you can shake off the grogginess by attending the third Ignite Philly presented by P’unk Ave‘s Geoff DiMasi and company. But, please, get there early. Last year’s was so packed that Johnny Brenda’s stopped letting people in.

If you can’t be around this weekend, then at least make it out to the SEO Grail April Meetup on Tuesday where Pay Per Click strategies and tips will be discussed.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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IndyHall anticipates signing lease after membership drive

This article originally appeared in the April 9, 2009 issue of Philadelphia City Paper and is reprinted here with permission. Photo Credit: Neal Santos.

Picture Old City overwhelmed by a procession of independent workers carrying desks, chairs and laptops up Third Street. Add a lively marching band ushering them along and the evening news to document it.

�Can you imagine if Channel 6 had a helicopter in the sky?� Alex Hillman asks Geoff DiMasi, joking with his business partner in a conference room.

�It would be insane. We�d stop traffic,� he says, laughing chirpily.

Hillman and DiMasi run Independents Hall, a shared office space that rents desks to self-employed workers � though they�d cringe to hear it described so antiseptically. To them, the space is an environment for a �coworking� community, and the inevitable collaboration that comes from putting freelancers in close proximity.

In the two years since its inception, the number of freelancers interested in IndyHall (as it is popularly known) has grown dramatically, prompting Hillman and DiMasi to consider relocating from their current digs on Strawberry Street. They hope to make the move in May. If they pull it off, they�ll not only put Philly on the coworking map � they�ll be in the vanguard of the coworking movement.

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IgnitePhilly organizers ask community to suggest presentations for third event

Have five minutes to spare on Saturday, May 2?

Consider stopping by Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown that evening to catch just one presentation at the next planned IgnitePhilly speaking event. Or take those minutes and give a presentation of your own. The third in a series of Ignites was officially announced yesterday in a blog post written by Geoff DiMasi of P’unk Ave, who says that organizers are currently accepting recommendations from the community for potential speakers, 15 in all, before the May event.

“Are you working on a rad project, have something interesting to say or know someone that is?,” he asks in the post. “We are looking for inspiring speakers that are doing cool things in Philadelphia.”

Ignite gives presenters a chance to fire off the details of their ideas or projects in five minutes or less with 20 backing slides. No sales pitches or shameless self-promotion accepted. Still confused? Just watch the video presentations from the first and the second Ignites. It’ll take much less than five minutes to realize the potential to learn, share knowledge, and grab one of JB’s frosty, craft-brewed beers while you’re at it. Beer may seem like a side note, but its an integral point of contrast to the university lecture setting that the organizers are trying to steer clear of.

We called DiMasi to glean some additional details and found out why he thinks Ignite is 2009′s answer to Fugazi, after the jump:

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Indy Hall to expand, add educational element

It’s been just over two-and-a-half years, and things seem to be working out for Independents Hall: the community is thriving, the success of the business model has made Philadelphia a cornerstone for the coworking movement, and the Strawberry Street office is frequently packed with workers.

However, it is that runaway success that has forced Indy Hall to make some tough choices about its future. The coworking company has filled membership to capacity and there are eight more people on the waiting list. In an effort to take the next step, owners Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi called a “Town Meeting” last night to propose their plans to 40+ members of the community packed tight into the Old City office space.

In short, Indy Hall will likely expand into a space that is two-and-a-half times larger than the current offices, and there will be an effort to create an alternative education system powered by the community. See all of the details of the new plan, including the exact location of the new offices, after the jump.

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