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Where is DreamIt located? I can't find it on their website.


Oh, nm, I found it deep in their FAQ. Philadelphia? Yikes! (Not saying anything bad about Philadelphia, but it's not exactly known as a startup hub. You really do want to minimize the odds against you in a startup situation.)


I'm a Philly native, and participated in the DreamIt program this summer. -- vuzit.com. In 2005/2006, it seemed that everytime Paul Graham wanted to bash a city's startup culture Philadelphia got thrown in there. I'm hoping that perception is changing ... http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html

Philly is one of the largest startup hubs in the world for bio-tech and life sciences. Philly might not be known for its tech scene as much, or very early stage investing, so DreamIt has been a big step for the ecosystem here. Philosophy on investing seems different than what I see in Silicon Valley and NYC.

There is money here: Entrepreneur Magazine's VC 100 in August 2008 listed Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA as tied for 3rd in the country as far as #deals done. Josh Kopelman and Chris Fralic from First Round Capital are here too.

There is community here: Phillystartupleaders.org is a group of 250+ mostly tech entrepreneurs and VCs that meet monthly for a happy hour event. Indyhall.org is one of the most successful coworking spaces out there. IgnitePhilly was a huge success, with another one planned in the next couple of weeks. phillytechhq.com is a blog aggregator of all the tech companies here (big + small). The "user group" community is pretty huge too: http://phillygroups.org/community/GroupDirectory

There are alot of universities that provide access to talent: Drexel, Penn/Wharton, Temple/Fox, etc.

Philly also has an awesome combination of art and American history that make it a wonderful place to live. I hope this clears up some perceptions about Philly!


Very useful information -- I'll have to look more into it. Thanks!!!




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