Join us for this year's "A Seat at the Table" on Wednesday, November 13th, 2019. This is an interactive dinner discussing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in tech. This event kicks off Founder Factory, our full day conference celebrating entrepreneurship and innovation in Philadelphia.

Enjoy delicious food in good company, with a focus on listening, learning, and collaboration as you gear up for Founder Factory, our annual full-day conference the very next day.

Where & When

The night before Founder Factory!
Wednesday, Nov. 14th, 2019 from 5:00PM - 8:00PM
The Center for Architecture and Design
1218 Arch St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Founder Factory is a full-day conference where entrepreneurs, investors, students, government groups, and community partners come together for an engaging day of learning, resource-sharing, and ecosystem building. Expect inspirational talks, actionable advice and meaningful connections as you continue conversations with friends made the night prior at A Seat at the Table.

Where & When

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, 9:00am-6:00pm
La Peg at Fringe Arts
140 N Christopher Columbus Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Plan on joining us? You can register to attend via phillystartupleaders.org

An emerging field of alternative and more inclusive investors has quietly begun to transform early-stage entrepreneurship. New financing models and funds have been developed, and a new crop of diverse fund leaders are emerging -- and yet the majority of entrepreneurs have little awareness of these new funding options.

If you’re an entrepreneur interested in learning more about new more inclusive forms of capital and the investors leading these funds -- this event is for you.

Date and Time:
Thu, September 12, 2019
12:00pm-5:00pm

Location:
Quorum at University City Science Center
3675 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Join for a conversation and workshop with experienced and active investors from Village Capital, RevUp Capital, Catalyst Fund, Vamos Ventures, Impact America Fund, Valor Ventures, Next Wave Impact, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeast PA, Social Venture Circle and many others who will share their experience on topics such as:

Inclusive Capital: Learn from VCs investing in women, latinx, black founders and other communities of entrepreneurs underserved by traditional VCs.

Alternative Capital: Learn more about revenue-based financing, peer-selected financing and other nontraditional early stage investment opportunities.

Interactive Workshops: Go deep on targeted topics of interest such as revenue based financing, how to communicate effectively with VCs, and others.

Keynote by Kauffman Foundation Vice President of Entrepreneurship​ - Victor Hwang the nation's leading foundation supporting entrepreneurship. Victor will share insights from their Capital Access Lab and lessons from their recent report titled "Removing Barriers" to capital for entrepreneurs.

By nature of the startup — a notoriously all-hands-on-deck-at-all-times experience — it’s not often that employees get to stop and smell the roses.

The founders at Center City-based Guru had experienced startup culture enough to know that they didn’t want to recreate that kind of environment. When building Guru, which makes an AI-driven knowledge sharing tool designed to activate a company’s collective intelligence, they decided to create a culture where values and decisions were made intentionally.

That emphasis on being intentional has embedded itself into Guru’s internal culture, and even into employees’ individual habits. Take Engineering Manager Mansi Pathak.

“I like to work out in the morning before work, to clear my head and wash away any residual stuff from the day before. Start fresh,” said Pathak. “I live in Fishtown and I walk to work slowly, intentionally, to be in the moment before I get to the office.”

Pathak also leaned into Guru’s deliberate nature when planning her career path.

“I came in as a front-end engineer,” she said. “I was comfortable technically, but recognized early on that I wanted to grow into new aspects of the job. I wanted more impact on the product roadmap, and to be involved with people management, helping others grow their careers. I voiced that to my manager, and he gave me clear checkpoints for how to get there.”

Pathak recently sat down with us to share what it’s like to walk in her shoes for a day as an engineering manager at Guru.


Read the interview here:
Growing Fast by Taking it Slow

The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In doing their research, they considered several factors including but not limited to:

Revenue potential
Leadership team
Brand/product traction
Competitive landscape

Additionally, all companies must be independent (un-acquired), privately owned, at most 10 years old, and have received at least one round of funding in order to qualify.

Check out the list here: 
Best Tech Startups