RJMetrics buzz, Quorum marks a year and PitchSwap debuts [Startup Roundup]

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.

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RJMetrics has received a friggin’ lot of buzz (search Twitter) over the past week for a study checking in on Google Plus engagement of 40,000 users. According to the report, the average post receives less than one +1, less than one reply and less than one re-share. BusinessWeek asks if Google Plus is a ghost town. Publishing these kinds of reports has been sound strategy for RJMetrics, delivering huge audiences direct to their doorstep. Our Entrance Exam with RJMetrics’ new chief marketer Ted Bockius, published yesterday.

It’s been a year since the University City Science Center opened its entrepreneur clubhouse Quorum. The organization is celebrating that its hosted 170 events and 8,000 attendees in that time.

The organizers of Philly Startup Weekend will be hosting a PitchSwap on June 14th: an event aimed at learning to pitch someone else’s business in order to learn from the process. RSVP here. They call it “karaoke for entrepreneurs.”

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Ted Bockius: “I bet on RJMetrics and Philadelphia and my ability to help grow the company and the Philadelphia tech scene” [Entrance Exam]

Ted Bockius is the new Chief Marketing Officer for Center City-based business analytics firm RJMetrics.

Another in the Entrance Exam series, which asks new members to the Philadelphia technology community why they came and what they’ve learned.

The head of online marketing for big boy U.S. Bank has left San Francisco and last week started a chief marketing role for hungry Center City business analytics startup RJMetrics. Meet Ted Bockius.

A marketing hire is a marketing hire in an industry focused on gobbling up engineering talent, but RJMetrics co-founder and CEO Bob Moore, who is fixated on growing a technology business in Philadelphia, says we shouldn’t underestimate snatching up an established corporate web executive from the West Coast — even if he has some roots here, having grown up in Newark, Del. and considering his sister is Carolyn Jackson, the CEO of St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital. (Just to be clear, though Bockius says he’s unrelated to the namesake in law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius)

Bockius, who did his undergraduate work at the University Delaware and has an MBA from New York University, has moved a few blocks away from the Philadelphia Building, where RJMetrics holds court at 13th and Walnut. RJMetrics, who is now at 18 staff, with four more starting next month, said Moore, adding that this time last year they were at five.

Bockius, 45, also ran online marketing for DivX, before and after its 2006 IPO, and, for six years, was a marketing principal for NYC-based Insight Venture Partners, where he first met Moore and RJMetrics cofounder Jake Stein.

“I wanted to work with the RJMetrics founders Bob and Jake and had several other opportunities with later stage software and Internet companies in larger tech markets of San Francisco and New York that I was also considering,” said Bockius. “I bet on RJMetrics and Philadelphia and my ability to help grow the company and the Philadelphia tech scene and have been very happy with my decision.”

Below, Bockius talks to Technically Philly about his decision to come to Philadelphia and his goals at RJMetrics.

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Pinterest analytics platform Curalate raises $750,000 in seed round [Startup Roundup]

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.

Startup Roundup has had some technical difficulties for the past couple weeks, so we’re playing catch-up this morning. Consider things officially back on track.

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Curalate, a marketing and analytics platform for Pinterest, has announced that it has received $750,000 in seed funding, TechCrunch reports. The round is backed by NEA, First Round Capital and MentorTech. The company features former leadership of storage space startup Storably, as we reported last month.

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UberPhilly passcode to get $26 toward 1 ride you take this weekend in Philly

Lavar Burton, at left, with his Uber driver last weekend.

In celebration of Lavar Burton, of Reading Rainbow fame, using Uber locally last weekend, the on-demand car service that has soft launched in Philly is sharing a discount code with Technically Philly readers.

• Use the code “UberRainbow” and get $26 towards 1 ride you take from Friday through Sunday at 5pm in Philly.
• When using the Uber mobile app or the SMS tool, use the code and summon a driver.

More from the Uber blog here.

SnipSnap: new couponing app makes iTunes top 100 free apps, 70,000 downloads

When you’re sharing iTunes front page space with Google Search and Bejeweled Blitz, you know you’re getting noticed.

And SnipSnap app is certainly getting noticed. The new couponing app is #54 on the iTunes free apps top 100 list (as of publication) and was briefly ranked first in the iTunes Lifestyle category.

Since launching, the app has been downloaded to more than 70,000 devices, founder Ted Mann told Technically Philly. He says nearly 300,000 coupons have been “snipped” so far.

Mann says he saw the app ranked as high as #41 on iTunes free apps list.

SnipSnap launched at Switch Philly during Philly Tech Week and recently announced funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners, as Technically Philly reported.

More details on the $1.5m appRenaissance seed investment [Startup Roundup]

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.

Startup Roundup has had some technical difficulties for the past couple weeks, so we’re playing catch-up this morning. Consider things officially back on track.

MUST READS

FirstMark Capital managing director Amish Jani writes on BusinessInsider why the investment firm decided to back Bob Moul a second time with a $1.5 million seed round in appRenaissance. It’s a great look behind-the-scenes at why proven entrepreneurs get money.

Our own Yael Borofsky writes about a very public courting of Airtime’s Dan Shipper by San Francisco startup 42Floors. Shipper declined. In related news, Airtime now features seamless Outlook integration. We particularly enjoyed this comment: “The early history of Silicon Valley has already been written. But the early days of the Philly startup community are being written right now.”

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Airtime cofounder Dan Shipper publicly courted by SF startup, confirms commitment to Airtime and Penn degree

Dan Shipper, Penn sophomore and cofounder of Airtime.

Last month, San Francisco-based office space discovery firm 42Floors caused a big to do by publicizing a job offer they made to Dan Shipper, a Penn sophomore, entrepreneur and, yes, philosophy major.

Shipper, 20, is also one of the co-founders of the Airtime for Email marketing startup, which recently pitched at the last Switch Philly. The Penn student confirmed his dedication to working on Airtime and making his way through his undergraduate Philosophy major.

We had to ask him: What would happen if the Philadelphia entrepreneurial community wrote you a letter to stay here?

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KinderTown: app store for kids expands ages, doubles users

Launched in November from DreamIt Ventures co-founder Steve Welch, news from KinderTown, the curated app store within the app store for kids, hits TechCrunch news:

KinderTown, the startup behind the educational iOS app store for parents (and honestly, a personal fav) is expanding its focus today. According to feedback from its users, the number one complaint was that KinderTown wasn’t available for older children. Now that changes, as the service will bump up its supported age range from 3-6 to include children ages 7 and 8 as well. To kick off the launch, 125 new apps aimed at older children have been added to service, and more will be added every week.

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Bootstrappers Breakfast: Mike Krupit of Novotorium brings national meetup to Philadelphia

The kickoff Philadelphia Bootstrappers Breakfast at Elephant and Castle in Center City during Philly Tech Week

Entrepreneurship and investment need not be inextricably linked.

That’s something of the bailiwick of Mike Krupit, the seasoned suburban entrepreneur who is now the general manager of Langhorne-based incubator Novotorium.

Krupit kicked off the Philadelphia Boostrappers Breakfast with a chatty group of 30 entrepreneurs at Elephant and Castle in Center City during Philly Tech Week. The meetup will take place the fourth Tuesday of every month — next time will be May 22 — and the first had a waiting list, so get it on your calendar.

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Uber Philly: on-demand car service soft launches with ‘Rider Zero’ Josh Kopelman

First Round Capital managing partner Josh Kopelman, who invested in Uber Philly, is the service's first local rider today. Photo provided by Uber.

Fast-growing Uber, the on-demand car service that lets users nab rides using SMS or its mobile apps, has soft-launched in Philadelphia today.

To quietly kick off its local research mode — where it rolls out cars and finds a local charge rate for its dynamic pricing — the team had First Round Capital managing partner Josh Kopelman, who invested in the service, serve as its first local user. Philadelphia will be the ninth city.

Sign up here. Download the app here.

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