Philly Startup Leaders Founder Moving to NY
Date: December 21, 2010
“Blake Jennelle, the entrepreneur who founded PhillyStartup Leaders, said on his blog Saturday that he’s moving to the Big Apple ‘because my muse is there. Literally, she lives in New York. And in the more literary sense, my muse is there, too. My imagination lights up in New York. I’m drawn to create there.’”
MyDunkTank segment on Mary Talks Money (JUMP TO 4:32)
Date: November 15, 2010 (filmed August 18, 2010)
Mr Rogers “Halloween for Haiti” Thank You Message
Date: October 31, 2010
State of Young Philly: Is the Philly Startup Scene HOT or NOT?
Date: October 1, 2010
Good Co Ventures: You might be a social entrepreneur if…
Date: September 30, 2010
ABC’s Mary Talks Money: Mom’s investment in his first company
Date: August 18, 2010
Technically Philly: MyDunkTank makes a cowboy out of Blake
Date: July 23, 2010
Excerpt from the article:
“What Jennelle has done is made a pledge, donned a Western hat and begun a month of wandering Philadelphia as an urban cowboy, the pledge he made as part of myDunkTank, the new experimental fundraising website launched last month by Jennelle and partner Chap Ambrose.
“Jennelle raised $2,095 for youth social business incubator Startup Corps, according to a post on his blog. To follow through with his pledge, Jennelle will spend 30 days parading through the city in denim, boots and a beard. He’ll be chronicling his adventures on the site’s blog.”
Read the full story on Technically Philly
Blake is now the MyDunkTank Cowboy (crazy fundraising dare)
Date: June 19, 2010
Money Matters TV: Interview on MyDunkTank and Philly Startups
Date: June 9, 2010
Philadelphia Daily News: Cover story on entrepreneurship
Date: April 28, 2010
Excerpt from the article:
“ONLY THREE years have passed since Blake Jennelle started his first company here, but the founder of Philly Startup Leaders says that the city’s young-entrepreneur community has gone from nonexistent to booming.
“‘I thought I was the only person crazy enough to start a company in Philly,’ says Jennelle of his decision back in 2007 to launch Anthillz, a tech company that no longer exists.
“So, Jennelle organized a happy hour for other young entrepreneurs at a Center City bar. That first night, eight people showed up to drink beer and trade ideas.”
Good Company Ventures presentation: Why invest in missioneurs
Date: April 14, 2010
New York Times mentions my Twitter contest for client DreamIt Ventures
Date: April 15, 2010
Excerpt from the article:
“The Philadelphia-based DreamIt Ventures, a start-up accelerator, paid $1,400 to Shawn Huston for his short pitch on Fundrevolt:
“‘Take control of your money before Bernie does. Join the revolt and get easy to use tools to grow your 401K/IRA.’
“DreamIt’s Twitter pitch — that’s Bernie Madoff it was referring to — was selected by a panel of judges.”
Read the full story on the New York Times website
Creative Cities Warsaw: My interviews of fellow missioneurs
Date: March 23, 2010
Creative Cities Warsaw: Interview on mission entrepreneurship
Date: March 23, 2010
Creative Cities Warsaw Presentation: Your mission in practice
Date: March 22, 2010
Interview on Fox 29 News about Gigabit Philly
Date: March 20, 2010
Informal Keynote from the First Mission Mob
Date: March 16, 2010
Unofficial Tour of the First Mission Mob
Date: March 16, 2010
Fast Company: Why You Should Start a Company in Philadelphia
Date: March 15, 2010
Excerpt from the article:
“But what Philadelphia’s current startup scene lacks in experience it makes up for in enthusiasm.
“Blake Jennelle, a self-appointed leader of the community, founder of Philly Startup Leaders and a serial entrepreneur (Anthillz, TicketLeap), calls it a ’self-help ethos.’ That sounds about right for a place known as the City of Brotherly Love.”
Read the full story on the Fast Company website
Philadelphia Magazine: How Philly Got in Fast Company
Date: March 23, 2010
Excerpt from the article:
“There’s two things I first noticed about Jennelle when we met at a Center City bar in February.
“He’s young. The twenty-something entrepreneur is the founder of Philly Startup Leaders, a grassroots networking group that hosts several popular monthly meetings that serve fledgling businesses. He started the group while building his first company, a social network for business colleagues which eventually failed.
“Second is the distinct twinkle in his eye. Jennelle’s amiability is as gold as a glass of pilsner. His positive attitude is a reflection of Philadelphia’s youthful startup community, which he felt needed a movement like Startup Leaders for mentorship and support during the tough times and long hours.”
Read the full story in Philadelphia Magazine
Philly Business Journal: Fees for Angel Venture Fair Called “Ridiculous”
Date: March 12, 2010
Excerpt from the article:
“Blake Jennelle, who founded Philadelphia Startup Leaders, said on his blog, blakejennelle.com, that many entrepreneurs think the Private Investors Forum has ‘ridiculous pricing’ for presenting, or even applying to present, at its Angel Venture Fair.
“The group, which is a consortium of angels and other angel groups, charges companies $250 to apply to present at the venture fair and $1,000 to present at the event.”
“In an e-mail, Jennelle supported his contention by citing a passage from the Web site of a national organization for angel groups, the Angel Capital Association.
“It says that in 2008, the association recommends that application fees not exceed ‘a few hundred dollars’ and fees for presenting not exceed $500.”
Read the full story on the Philly Business Journal website
Ignite Philly Presentation: How to Save our Startups and Non-profits
Date: March 2, 2010
Philly Business Journal: Philly Startup Leaders Worth Watching
Date: September 22, 2009
Excerpt from the article:
“Philly Startup Leaders actually has a chance of outlasting Netpreneurs, which continued for about 10 years and ran through $10 million of Morino’s money. Blake Jennelle is the founder of PSL. It grew from an initial meeting of eight people — ‘the only other tech people I could find,’ Jennelle said. ‘We were all islands.’
“Two years later, there is a 500-member email list. Jennelle says other leaders have emerged and responsibility for running the organization is shared among volunteers like him. They applied for and received nonprofit status, and have done planning to ensure the group would go on even if the founders move on. If he’s right, that’s a huge achievement in a short period of time.”
Read the full story on the Philly Business Journal website
Keystone Edge: Philly Startup Leaders and the City of Bootstrapping
Date: June 4, 2009
Excerpt from the article:
“Blake Jennelle co-founded Philly Startup Leaders with Cecere in 2007 and is marketing director for Ticket Leap, a full-service ticketing and event-management agency used by some 8,000 venues across the country. It was started in 2003 by CEO Chris Stanchak–then in his final year at Wharton–and his mother, who are among the 23 now employed with the company.
“Jennelle went one further than Cecere in saying, ‘The state of entrepreneurship in Philadelphia is very strong. It is apparent that the City is booming with innovative start-ups.’
“‘There are hundreds, if not thousands, of startups popping up all over the Philadelphia region. I think we’re seeing a tipping point in the region, fueled in part by pockets of entrepreneurs, technologists and innovators who have started to join forces and form communities.’”
Read the full story on the Keystone Edge website
Investor Pitch for Anthillz.com at DreamIt Ventures Funding Day
Date: September 4, 2008
Ignite Philly Presentation – The Lost Art of Bootstrapping
Date: June 11, 2008
Philly Business Journal: Grassroots Groups Nurture Creativity
Date: April 18, 2008
Excerpt from the article:
“Philly Startup Leaders is one of three organizations that members of what sociologist Richard Florida calls the creative class have created to make Philadelphia a better place for people like them…
“Jennelle said they are three legs of a stool, with his group serving entrepreneurs, Independents Hall serving freelance creative people and MakePhilly and the Hacktory serving ‘the geek, hacker, artist, engineer class.’
“‘If you take our three groups together,’ he said, ‘we have really big coverage over the communities of creativity and innovation in the city.’”
“Philly Startup Leaders was born out of Jennelle’s experiences after starting Anthillz, which is building a Web site that matches small businesses with freelancers and consultants.
“He was doing a lot of networking to meet potential investors and encountered other people who were starting companies. After he’d met about eight, he e-mailed them about getting together for a few beers and they did. The next meeting attracted about four more.
“‘After three or four months, we hit a tipping point and we started to meet all these other startup founders,’ he said.
“‘The word got out among the startup community and people just ate it up.’”
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