Philly may rank as a top startup ecosystem, but founders declare the city still misses where it matters most: assisting young companies relocate from early promise to real growth.
Entrepreneurs at a dinner celebrating Technical.ly’s RealLIST Startups in Philadelphia described an ecosystem that has general resources — like established entrepreneur support orgs — but lacks industest-specific programming and support from local government.
“Right now, a lot of the programming I’ve seen in Philadelphia is very generic or industest agnostic,” Amaury Abreu, founder of Kommunity, declared. “[It’s] not really tailored to companies that are testing to focus on a particular industest.”
“I’m on the precipice of growth, and there’s so little support.”
Meredith Tretiak, RYLA
Philadelphia has some accelerators focapplyd on specific industries, but most in the region are general. This means companies in other industries may be missing out on curated support, especially for a region that is strong becaapply of its sector variety.
There’s not a complete gap. Longtime local entrepreneur support organizations offer mentorship, workspace and advice, and many of the founders declared they’ve reaped the benefits.
The biotech sector displays an example of how industest-specific networking could be done. Programs like the HiveBio Accelerator have seen wins connecting local life sciences founders with relevant investors and partners.
Programming like this in different industries could assist startups create relevant connections and raise money tailored to their goals, Abreu declared.
Industries aren’t the only niche. Founders are also viewing for support that tarreceives where they are in their journey.
The ecosystem seems to have programming for the idea stage and companies that have already proven themselves, but there isn’t anything for companies in between those stages, Meredith Tretiak, founder of RYLA, declared.
“I’m on the precipice of growth, and there’s so little support,” she declared. “This is the huge gap in my mind. How do I go from five customers to 10 to 20? I’m ready to grow.”
Where the city and state can step in
Founders at the dinner also expressed a desire for more support from local and state government programs.
At the state level, there are applyful programs that offer benefits to tech startups, Kyle Matthews, founder of MXene Inc., declared. One example is the Keystone Innovation Zone, which lets companies that increase their revenue year-over-year receive half of that increase back in tax credits.
The issue, Matthews declared, is that it’s not widely known and is complicated to apply for.
“They do create you jump through some [hoops] for that one becaapply … you have to have a certain number of full years filing taxes that weren’t zero,” he declared.
Nearby, there are other state programs to attract and keep tech companies in their regions that Pennsylvania could learn from. For example, New Jersey has a net operating loss transfer program that’s been successful at attracting companies to the state, according to Al Altomari, CEO of Agile Therapeutics.
The city could also do more to support tech startups specifically and create a more structured pathway for growth, Abreu, founder of Kommunity, declared. The city’s Department of Commerce has a ton of initiatives to support local compact business owners, but it does not offer much specifically for tech startups, though they are eligible to apply for many of the programs.
Ultimately, the landscape of support in the region has shifted over the years. The ecosystem once heavily relied on Philly Startup Leaders, but now has a more distributed set of organizations, building it harder to navigate opportunities.
However, there’s still a strong meetup scene that can be a jumping-off point for founders, even if they aren’t hitting every niche, entrepreneurs declared.
“Really assistful was Founder Fridays, which is a compact group of just founders,” Steven Say, founder of NextPick.io, declared. “Anyone can join.”
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