Blake Jennelle has blog

We did it Philly! Fast Company profiles Philly, interviews Josh Kopelman and gives me a shout out (undeserved, but thank you).

http://www.fastcompany.com/art...

We're one of only eight cities to be profiled: Boulder, Seattle, New York, Boston, Austin, Chicago, New Orleans and, oh yes, Philly!

That is great news to hear. Although the desirability of a city as a place to launch a startup should not have anything to do to the amount of press it receives, the fact of the matter is that these are the sort of things that help a city become a "magnet" for for entrepreneurs and thus contribute, indirectly, to supporting the startup ecosystem.

Absolutely. Perception and reality feed each other inside and outside of Philly. They affect decisions people make on where to locate themselves, their companies and their investment money (and much more).

I predict you will see Philly in the Fast Company series. I've already made intos for them there for an interview. They've expanded the list of cities beyond the original five (Boulder, NY, Seattle, Boston, and Austin). Philly is in the next batch.

Great to hear, Brad. Thanks very much for making the intros.

Awesome news, Brad. That's really great. Thanks! We need to get you a key to the city next time you're here -- or at least a case of Victory Golden Monkey.

Good news and hopefully a continued push to keep things going here and not just a bunch of noise that disappears.

Great news Brad! Thanks so much for helping to make this happen -- and for letting us know! You made my day.

Brad, it is great to hear that. Philly may not be at the same stage as
Boulder or Boston, and it certainly has it's problems, but it
definitely has a fiery bunch of entrepreneurs working hard to get
their ideas off the ground. It's also a great place to live.

I've certainly enjoyed starting GreenKonnect here.

What about DreamIt Ventures? This program is also rather unique to our city.

Dreamit is great, but it's not unique to our city. Dreamit is a spinoff of the yCombinator 'seed stage investor' model which has been done many places around the country, another notable one being Techstars.

DreamIt is a big plus. It hasn't seen as much success as Y Combinator or TechStars, but a number of companies are doing quite well, especially SCVNGR. Ultimately though, the impact is pretty minimal.

You can't really measure portfolio success in such a short period of time b/c you need to give things companies time to exit. Y-Combinator has been around 4 years longer than DreamIt, Techstars I think 3, so it's natural they see success earlier. They also have better brand recognition, so they are going to get the top prospects initially.

I think DreamIt has been a big driver in many ways, and not sure I agree with your opinion that it's minimal. My $0.02

TechStars actually is only a year older than DreamIt if I recall correctly with a large number of financings and exits. A number of those are in the first year though which was a better time economically, so it isn't apples to apples. You're right, only time will tell.

As for the impact, I wouldn't say that is DreamIt specific. It's just that the bandwidth for all of these programs is small. When you have 10 companies a year, with about 7 sticking around for at least another year, and not all of those staying in the region, it is a small impact. Don't get me wrong, it's a big deal to have DreamIt in our home town. It's just going to take a lot more than that.

DreamIt also has the potential to be a role model for other investors. If DreamIt performs well by investing very early, angels and VC in Philly might start smelling opportunity there and not just risk.

There is certainly a growing number of cities with seed-stage accelerator programs like DreamIt. That said, Philly's DreamIt is one of the top programs in the country and one of the very few with a multi-year track record.

DreamIt Ventures is starting to produce some very interesting stories. Three examples:
* SCVNGR raised $4 million from Google Ventures
* Notehall appeared on ABC's Shark Tank
* SeatGeek was a finalist at TechCrunch50

I'm working with him now to help promote the 2010 application round, which is now open.

Glad to hear that you're helping to promote the next round. Who are you working with? One of the partners? I'm doing what I can to promote it via my twitter stream and blog... I also try to promote it at Penn State, too.

I'm working with @mikelevinson mostly. Will you be traveling out to Penn State in the next month or so? You'd be a great person to speak to students and encourage them to apply. It's so much more compelling to hear a fellow alum like you (someone who was sitting in their chair once) than to hear someone like me. I can help you with the legwork of getting in touch with student groups and setting up a time to speak. I can also provide a slidedeck if you'd like to work off of one.

I travel up to PSU fairly frequently. One of my co-founders is in State College as is a team of interns that works with us. I tried to set something up with Steve Welch there last year that fell through, but would be happy to work with you to setup something again and speak about our experiences in the program. Would love to help.

Awesome! I'll send you an email.

This relates to a conversation I've been having a lot lately. We started working with the Private Investor's Forum, a network of angel investors from all over the region. They are preparing for the Angel Venture Fair 2010 in Philadelphia, something I had never heard about until a few weeks ago when we started working on it. I immediately realized a huge disconnect between the investors, lawyers and consultants who are planning this fair and the many promising entrepreneurs in Philadelphia (who seemingly have no idea this fair exists). A big part of cultivating Philadelphia as an entrepreneur city is connecting the money with the ideas or at least creating awareness for events like this one. Simple, but I don't think it's being done.

My impression of the Angel Venture Fair is that a lot of entrepreneurs know about it but it could be promoted better. As a source of funding, it's a cross-section of the angel community in Philly -- which is to say pretty risk-averse and hesitant to touch seed stage companies.

The fact that you're working with them Jason is a reason for optimism.

Well it looks like we're playing a middle man role here and will be working to bring the entrepreneurs to the table as well as meeting with angels to find out what they are looking for. If you guys want to participate, maybe rep startup leaders or some other entrepreneurial groups you're involved with, let me know.

The problem with AVF is that deals don't happen there. I've heard this from organizers. (Not going to name names.)

Also, there are a lot of amateurs on the investing side we have to deal with. Look at Brad Feld's definition of an angel investor:

"My historical viewpoint was an angel investor is defined as someone who makes at least one equity investment in a seed or early stage company each year of at least $25,000. So, if an angel investor has been investing for four years, they have at least four separate investments of at least $25,000 each for a total of at least $100,000 invested. Basically, if you can’t (or don’t) invest at least $25,000 per year, I don’t think you should call yourself an angel investor." (Source: http://bit.ly/6DGUyo)

I would bet that less than 10% of the AVF "angels" or any "angels" in Philly meet that definition.

"Deals don't happen there" -- I'm not so sure I would put it that way. We met an angel there that championed our angel investment round almost about 7 months later. That is a very long time, but it's worth noting that the connection may have never been made if we hadn't attended.

On angels - I've heard it being $10k per year, but I'd happily accept either. It's a worthwhile question (among others) to ask how many "active angels" participate in AVF vs overall participants.

I like that definition. There are a lot of pretenders out there. I hear "angel investor" has less stigma than the word "unemployed."

how about "under-employed" :)

Some people would say working at all is over-employed. :)

So I have an idea, and I need some feedback.

This discussion really has me thinking. I asked myself, What's unique about the Philly startup scene? What are we here in Philly the best in the world at?

Not an easy question at all. Are we better than *everyone* else at anything?

I think so. I think we're the best city in the country for bootstrapping and have the tightest community of bootstrappers in the world. The phrase I've been chewing on is "The City of Bootstrapper Brotherhood"

Here's why:
* Bootstrapping is a necessity for most startups given the limited seed capital here.
* There's an incredibly tight-knit community of bootstrappers, perhaps more than anywhere else.
* There's a large community of successful entrepreneurs to mentor us. It's just that they built businesses by bootstrapping (and with traditional bank financing) and not with venture capital.

What do you think? I'm still getting my head around it. Once I have some clarity, I'd like to blog about the soul of the Philly startup scene and how to brand it.

I'd like to throw a new start-up that will surely be a big resource for current and future start-ups: NextFab Studio.com (at the Science Center). NextFab's programming partner, Breadboard (breadboardphilly.org) already hosts some PSL happy hours. I'm sure the Science Center would be happy to host Blake and Co. for any organized discussions if you want to address these topics in real time and space. David Clayton or myself would be happy to help coordinate if interested. Also, NextFab and Breadboard are having a dual opening tonight from 5-8pm so come on by, have a beer (3600 Market Street) and then head up to 3711 Market to see NextFab's new facility.

I am *super* stoked for NextFab. I don't think it has gotten nearly enough attention. It has the potential to galvanize and provide a home for a critical part of the creative scene. David Clayton has also been a great friend to PSL. He's gone above and beyond to help us work with the Science Center and secure spaces for events, among many other things. I'm very grateful!

Of your three points, I only have an issue with the middle one. Having come to Philly in '07 with some ideas and wanting to start something new, I was put off because of what seemed like a tight-knit community. From the outside, it looked like an old boys club and is at first intimidating and then annoying to keep seeing/hearing about. But once someone grabbed my hand and walked me inside, I realized the warmth, brotherhood and knowledge that the community has. Yeah, some people still put off an "air" that they're better, but overall I don't see that now.

However, I know others just starting out in Philly that feel the same way i did. So it's one of those things that can be a fault and an asset or just something that needs to be worded carefully.

Didn't realize people are feeling this way so this is really helpful. I remember feeling on the outside when I first started Anthillz in 2007 and before I started Philly Startup Leaders -- and that's not a good feeling. I'd like to do whatever I can to make new folks feel like full-fledged members of the community as quickly as possible.

Have you followed Eric Ries' lean startup on Twitter and elsewhere? Pretty good stuff - and the model has lots of publicity right now from his touring, etc.

Good call - I heard about it but haven't been tracking it. Here's an overview from Eric Ries for anyone who's interested: http://www.startuplessonslearn...

Starting a company in the Philly suburbs, yes.
Starting a company in Philadelphia proper, no way.

For one, taxes are a mess. The Philly income tax is over 4% - plus the outrageous business taxes - which, have to be paid a year in advance I might add - plus the poor public transit, parking, and transportation infrastructures. Add in crime and 8% sales tax and the suburbs are looking pretty good.

Your distinction is an important one: Philly region vs. the city of Philadelphia. A lot of the complaints in the comments seem to apply to the city's taxes and unfriendly government. These can be avoided by locating outside of the city limits.

Nice spark for feedback Blake.

For one reason or another, didn't see much of a startup community here before I left Phila for Tokyo in early '07.

While in Tokyo, I heard rumors of a bustling startup wave in Phila. To be honest, I didn't believe it.

...was I ever wrong! Since I've returned in August '09, I've seen more of a startup community here than I've ever seen in anywhere, and I am LOVING it. PlaySay.com has been making huge progress since I've been back, at large from the help of my fellow entrepreneurial peers. You're absolutely right, our support for each other makes us one powerful pack.

Fast Company, please step into any of the venues Blake mentioned in his post above - you'll see this is the livest old city around with startups on any block.

You must have a great sense of the before and after, having left in the pivotal year (2007) and reappearing two years later!

Outside of the Philly startup community, there does seem to be very little understanding of how energetic and tightly integrated the community is here. Last year, around this time, when my team was looking at the various startup accelerator programs, for where we should set down with our venture, we had no idea how vibrant a startup community existed until we really became part of it through DreamIt Ventures - and we were Philly natives...

This is unfortunate for more than one reason, but in particular with regard to the younger entrepreneurs who start playing with ideas in college and then look for what they should do with their entrepreneurial ambitions. Showing these aspiring entrepreneurs that it's possible to take an idea and grow it from the ground up into a sustainable venture in a city is important, because otherwise, they're going to run off to other startup hubs or worse, the Fortune 500 and dream about startups from their cubicles. This is also important for the entrepreneurs who look at applying to startup accelerator programs like Y Combinator, TechStars, and DreamIt Ventures. Philly is one of just a handful of cities with a top-4 startup accelerator program (YC, TechStars in 3 cities, DreamIt, LaunchBox Digital) - the fact that we have resources like that need to be a central rallying point for attracting outside entrepreneurs.

Much of the foundation for this is here. Sure, it could be always be better, stronger, more active. But, the groundwork has been laid in organizations like PSL, Indy Hall, Ignite Philly, etc. Now we need to promote the hell out of it!

The more that we can do to show off the tremendous community that is forming here, the more college entrepreneurs will choose to stay in Philly to grow their businesses, the more startups will apply to be part of programs like DreamIt, the more activity there will be for seed-stage investors to fly in and look at.

I don't think we need to wait around for a decade for today's entrepreneurs to succeed and turn around and start mentoring/investing. Sure, it will be better then, but it's easy enough for them to come and fly here (though the reputation of our airport may scare a few away...!). We just need to make sure that there continues to be something interesting for them to look at when they arrive and for them to know that it is here.

Again, the foundation is built. Let's use it, promote the hell out of it so that people know that it is here, and mentor the next batch when they arrive.

(Thanks, Blake, for making the Fast Company series a rallying point for the community. Regardless of whether Philly is selected, it gives us a checkpoint on where we can be looking as we work to make Philly the best startup hub it can be.)

I share your positive outlook.

It's interesting that there is still essentially a marketing problem even within the region. I would think we need to address this problem before the region can start getting more exposure on a national level.

I don't have a good sense at all of how well information is traveling to the outer reaches of the different communities that make up Philly. Would love to though...

My experience has been that people are still shocked when they learn about all that's going on here. There's definitely more awareness than there was a year ago, but not dramatically so.

When people outside of the area compare Philly to other places, the Philly they think they know is a very different place than the one we know. It's our job to close that gap.

What we see in Philly right now will make it a great start-up city in a decade. We're the first wave. Starting here is certainly not easy. Sometimes, it does feel as if the only thing we have supporting us is other first time entrepreneurs.

From the outside, I think we likely look like a bunch of amateurs right now. I'm not saying that we are, but until Philly starts producing some serious home runs, that is how it is going to be.

But home runs are difficult whe, we lack one huge component in Philadelphia, early stage capital with relevant experience. It's unfortunate because the experience is here, but the majority of experienced people in this region are very risk averse.

You'll notice that Fred Wilson highlights this experienced, early stage capital as key to the newfound success of NYC as a start up hub. And if you look at the other places on that list (that we know of), they also have that. All of those cities are seeing significant investment in pre-revenue companies. We aren't (outside of pharma). You can whine all you want

So we have a chicken and the egg, we need people to take risks in investing, but the only risk takers seem to be the people who need the money. As Philadelphia businesses, we'll have to hustle more and hope that we can make it against the odds, and then help the next generation of start-ups.

(Disclaimer: I know we have some very good early stage investors in Philly. It's just that we only have a few of them. These "hubs" have many, many more.)

Early stage funding is one problem, but on the other side, investors don't have enough exit opportunities. Google alone has acquired almost 60 companies since 2001, and we just don't have enough companies doing that sort of thing in our back yard.

That's a very, very interesting point. I never even considered that. I wonder with the NBC/Univeral/Comcast giant that is about to be birthed in Philadelphia, if that might change for media focused companies?

How important is geography in a dot com exit? This is something I don't know about and am curious to learn.

Not sure, but I've got to imagine it does. At least as I think back on all of my TechCrunch reading, it seems like it has some impact.

It could be that it is networks though, not geography directly. Of course, networks are impacted by geography.

Your comment has been haunting since you posted it (a good thing).

It may take a decade for these things to happen -- a vibrant early stage environment and a large pool of startup successes turned mentors -- if nothing big changes and we progress incrementally. But there are disruptive forces that could get us there much faster: a local homerun, a few high-flying leaders inspiring and/or funding others (First Round Capital comes to mind), some startup dons from the Silicon Valley relocating here. Or something else entirely that none of us would have guessed.

Only two years ago there was no startup community here, just a scattering of isolated, lonely entrepreneurs. Likewise, the tech and creative scenes were just picking up steam.

Imagine what two more two year periods might hold -- let alone five of them.

If I could "like" this post 100 times, I would.

Haha, glad we agree.

It's hard for me to say where Philly ranks nationally in this conversation; but it's pretty clear that there is a pretty significant groundswell of start-ups in the City. Though there may not be the "that's it" company yet - a Google of the world - there are lots of smaller companies doing some cool stuff. Perhaps one day one will emerge and get huge. If not, there are lots of people doing good work and building their businesses. Nothing says you have to be huge to be successful, though you have to have that potential to get VC funding. That may be what hurts Philly in the conversation -- a lack of a huge hit -- more than the lack of smaller, successful entrepreneurs.

We're working to create a place for start-ups and smaller businesses in Manayunk - so I hope there are a few more out there.

I concur with much of what's been said about the government here. Everything is just too hard.

A startup homerun here really could change everything. It may take a wave that big to carry our message outside of the region.

There's some great commentary on the Philly Startup Leaders email listserv that I want to add to the discussion here on the blog.

Michael Searer: "Maybe the better question is what changes to the city would make philly a better place to both start up and stay."

Geoff DiMasi: "I think it is a testament to how much we all love Philadelphia that we are all here. The city laws (taxes, etc) are not favorable to business. I am doing my best to encourage change, as you say. Onward."

Josiah Kiehl: "I hear it said frequently that nyc and sf are great startup cities because they have a number of entrepreneurs that have been around a while. They have decades of startups succeeding and so mentorship and angel investers are easier to come by. This is something that comes with time. Not sure how you improve on that."

Scott Edward Anderson: "I agree we need to focus on what makes Philly great -- and there are many things -- but we also need real resolution on some of the significant barriers."

I agree with a lot of what Alex has to say in that there is a caustic element to many of the civic institutions surrounding the creation of business in Philadelphia. I have called it the “Politics of Can’t” for many years now. But I believe the benefits overall, some listed below, far outweigh the bungling from Philadelphia’s civic leadership. That is why I have returned to Philadelphia myself and decided to start my own new business initiative last year….


Philadelphia is one of the best places in the country to begin a start-up business.

Access: Tight knit start-up community. Support each other.

Networking. Events every week that promote productive collaboration.

Great services providers: Legal, accounting, business operations, marketing ( and getting better and better almost daily – look for some really innovative programs from some of the best providers very soon! )

Many great large companies are headquartered or have a major presence in the Philadelphia region. Media and Communications and Life Sciences in particular.

Philadelphia has a history of innovation and a legacy of starting business. Philadelphia was the business center that launched a nation!!



Lifestyle: Philadelphia is one of the most livable urban areas in the country.

Un-matched cultural and historic institutions: PMA, Philadelphia Library Company, Franklin Institute and much more…

Academia. Philadelphia is home to 17 four year colleges or universities inside the city !! Over 20 more in the surrounding suburbs

Center City Philadelphia has a true walkable city center.

Cost of living is inexpensive.

Philadelphia has thriving restaurant scene.

Philadelphia has abundant nightlife.

Recreation and the Outdoors : Fairmount Park is an urban oasis. Any and every outdoor sport can be had!!

As everything in life has its cycles, Philadelphia is on a major grassroot community upswing of startup innovation and growing every day! The energy is amazing! This is by no means a comprehensive list, just some thought to add to the discussion already in place. What more can we add? Philadelphia is definitely one of the best places to start YOUR business!!

sorry for the double post...bad wireless connection on the train...

I love Philly and I really want to see us succeed as a community of innovation (indeed, I'm dedicating myself to trying to foster its emerging cleantech hub). But there are two problems with Philly that just won't die:

1.) Government
2.) Taxes

I recall Josh Kopelman tweeting about this back in November. He said, something to the effect that if Philly hired a "Director of Business Prevention" they couldn't make it worse than this: http://bit.ly/1FrZFg and he linked to a TechnicallyPhilly post about how difficult it is to start a business in Philly.

Then there are the taxes. Forget the wage tax, which is in itself a problem, have you ever tried to work freelance in the city? Not only do you have to pay a business privilege tax, but you have to pay double taxes in your first year of operation.

Indeed, we don't make it easy on our city -- and it's not exactly "Open for Business."

We can do better. Will Mayor Nutter take a meeting with us?

Thanks for reminding us of the TechnicallyPhilly post. We should be constantly referring back to that post, and working on ways to fix the situation.

Amen Scott. I sincerely hope the mayor will take a meeting with us. I put some effort into this two years and spent a little time with Andy Altman, his former #2. Personally I'm cynical that meaningful tax reduction or simplification is coming here any time soon, especially with all the budget drama the mayor's been through. But I'd loved to be surprised and am willing to help you push it.

Agreed. I'd love to see a meeting happen, but I think it takes way more organization than just a meeting. Probably more time and organization than most of us [entrepreneurs] can afford truthfully.

It would be good to let Nutter know about all the entrepreneurial community's activities not filtered through the city's agencies and programs. I'm sure it would be quite and education for him. That is something I know many folks would like to be involved in....good idea. Maybe we can set it up through Rob Wonderling's office at the Chamber?

I'd be surprised if the mayor knows much about what's going on at the grassroots. I agree it would be good to meet with Rob. I shook hands with him when he was in the state house but that was about it.

I share much of what Alex laments about in the bungling civic initiatives that exist in the business environment here, what I have called "The Politics of Can't" in Philadelphia. But I have to say that much is being done to correct that and particularly coming from the bottom up, on a community level. That being said, here are some of my reasons for why I did come back to Philadelphia recently and did start a new business initiative:

Philadelphia is one of the best places in the country to begin a start-up business.

Access: Tight knit start-up community. Support each other.

Networking: Events every week that promote productive collaboration.

Great services providers: Legal, accounting, business operations, marketing ( and getting better and better almost daily – look for some really innovative programs from some of the best providers very soon! )

Many great large companies are headquartered or have a major presence in the Philadelphia region. Media and Communications and Life Sciences in particular.

Philadelphia has a history of innovation and a legacy of starting business. Philadelphia was the business center that launched a nation!!


Lifestyle: Philadelphia is one of the most livable urban areas in the country.

Un-matched cultural and historic institutions: PMA, Philadelphia Library Company, Franklin Institute and much more…

Academia. Philadelphia is home to 17 four year colleges or universities inside the city !! Over 20 more in the surrounding suburbs

Center City has a true walkable city center.

Cost of living is inexpensive.

Philadelphia has thriving restaurant scene.

Philadelphia has abundant nightlife.

Recreation and the Outdoors : Fairmount Park and urban oasis. Any and every outdoor sport can be had!!

As everything in life has its cycles, Philadelphia is on a major grassroot community upswing of startup innovation and growing every day! The energy is amazing! This is by no means a comprehensive list, just some thoughts to add to the discussion already in place. What more can we add? Philadelphia is definitely one of the best places to start your business.....

Great list of talking points. Our economic development organizations often leave out your first three points when they pitch business on moving here (access, networking, service providers) and that's a real shame. For businesses, those three things drive revenue AND make it feel good to be here.

My wife calls it Philly's "Can't Do" attytood. We gotta put that to rest.

Hahaha. She totally deserves a high five for that. :)

I think Philadelphia is a great place for creative initiatives. And there's a spirit of entrepreneurial ideas, execution, and thought that is 2nd to few. Our respective communities grow stronger every day, together and individually.

The cost of living is extremely approachable, and quality of life is good.

It's no secret that I'm a huge champion of all this city has to offer. I love living here, I love working here. My favorite part about traveling is coming home to this city.

Frankly, though, this city has among the most toxic business environments in the country.

The fact that the communities you mention are here despite that says something about the heart of the inhabitants. Heart, however, is not the only thing powering sound businesses decisions.

I was recently turned on to the Pew Charitable Trusts' "State of the City of Philadelphia 2009" report, which identifies not just how poorly Philadelphia is doing as a city, but how we're doing against national averages.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail...

The results are "shocking", to say the least, especially in light of all of the activities you mentioned. If you haven't spent some time with it, I highly recommend grabbing the PDF and reading it.

I stand by the fact that Philadelphia is a phenomenal city to come to for creative endeavors and entrepreneurial endeavors. But at the beginning of 2010, I'm finding it very difficult to answer the specific question "Why you should start a COMPANY in Philadelphia?" with anything other than, "You probably shouldn't."

At least not yet.

Change doesn't happen by not doing anything, and I think that we are in the best position out of anyone to parlay any attention from the government into action.

I don't know what that looks like yet, and have my own hangups about politics and government. Be that as it may, they aren't going to do it for us.

I'd also like to hear your response to Blake's question.

Thanks for posting "Philadelphia 2009: The State of the City" -- I did a bunch of browsing, and am hoping to get through it entirely in the next week.

The Pew Foundation's Philadelphia Research Initiative has an RSS feed, but no email subscriptions. I created a Feedburner feed if anybody wants to subscribe by email:

http://feedburner.google.com/f...

Just subscribed to your bootlegged feed. Love it.

DiMasi nails exactly how I felt writing this post, with:

"I am conflicted when I point out failures of Phila Govt, since I love Phila so much. An incredible city, but needs leadership to match it."

http://twitter.com/geoffd/stat...

My stomach dropped when I read "the city has one of the most toxic business environments in the country." Scary words. In how broad a sense to you mean that? Are you talking about taxation and government or more broadly?

I understand why your stomach dropped, but I do think that it is really important to be willing to advocate for change and to speak openly and honestly about issues that impact the business climate in Philadelphia.

Alex and I are both committed to running multiple businesses in Philadelphia. I hope it is clear that we try to have a positive impact on the city in as many ways as possible.

However, we stand to gain more respect by embracing the issues that we face, speaking openly about them, and working towards solutions.

This, of course, does not mean that we can't celebrate the great things about Philadelphia (there are many), but let's do that with integrity and purpose.

I'm all about an honest accounting of the problems here. I just think it's a massive overstatement to say "this city has one of the most toxic business environments in the country." It has shock value but that's about it.

The reality is that business and wage taxes are 2-4% too high and that city government and the various city agencies can be a pain in the ass to deal with.

These things have never impacted a startup's ability to succeed. They are at the bottom of the list of things a startup should be thinking and worrying about it.

On the list of things a startup should be worrying about -- talent, community, mentorship, capital -- Philly is starting to come into it's own. This region is improving at a DRAMATIC pace.

Don't get me wrong, inflated taxes and bureaucracy can and should change. They encourage established businesses to move outside city limits to the surrounding areas. They discourage outside businesses from relocating to the region. And they have plenty of other side effects none of us want.

But I'll tell you what else has side effects none of us want -- toxic statements like this:
"But at the beginning of 2010, I'm finding it very difficult to answer the specific question 'Why you should start a COMPANY in Philadelphia?' with anything other than, 'You probably shouldn't.'"

This is sensational and ridiculous.

That is fantastic news! Thanks for all of your help Brad. It is nice to know that people outside of Philly know what a great place it is and are willing to help us tell the world.

Agreed Blake! Until we as Philadelphians stop looking at and talking about Philly as a 2nd class city, we will never be viewed by others as anything else. We have to be the ones to show the rest of the world what a wonderful place this is to live and work. Our problems are not any different than anywhere else. Let's stop concentrating on the negative! Start reinforcing and talking about the positives. Then we will start getting the positive attention that will help bring in the resources to correct some of the issues.

Let me also clarify: For established businesses based on innovation -- the kind of businesses our communities most want to see here -- marginal tax rates and government bureaucracy are also at the bottom of their lists.

I think we'll find that when these things are fixed, they will have a small, incremental impact. And then we'll be back to focusing on the things that really make a difference.