West Philadelphia : Innovation + Job News

You are in a foreign country. You don't speak the language. Something awful happens. "I was in China," says Ryan Frankel, co-founder of PalmLing, a startup out of University City aimed at providing real time concierge level translation assistance to travelers at a modest daily cost. "I thought I could eat anything on the menu, but the next morning I was in a world of pain. It was a serious situation. I don't speak Mandarin. I staggered to the pharmacy. At that point, I would have given anything to have someone there capable of communicating on my behalf."

That was the lightbulb moment for Frankel, who connected with business partner Kunal Sarda back at Wharton, where both were pursuing MBA degrees. "We are helping international travelers navigate the complexities of a language barrier," says Frankel. A PalmLing subscriber calls an access number 24 hours a day and gets connected real time with a live translator who can do the talking on the traveler's behalf to a pharmacist or taxi driver, for example.

PalmLing has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000, which will be used to create a PalmLing mobile app. Right now, all it takes to get connected to a translator is a standard mobile phone and an access code.

The human capital intensive business requires live translators to sign up. Travelers can book PalmLing for periods of 10, 20 or 60 days, at a variable cost of $1.50 to 4.00 per day, depending on the length of the package.

"We went from zero to 1,300 translators in the last month without any advertising," remarks Frankel, who counts stay at home moms, retirees and ex-military among the legion of live assistants who get paid anywhere from $15 to 25 an hour. "We offer PalmLing for Hindi, Mandarin, and all Spanish speaking countries," says Frankel, who estimates coverage of about 200 million trips annually with those three languages alone. Frankel adds that those 1,300 employees were acquired at nearly zero cost.

Frankel and Sarda are also seeking partnerships with businesses to acquire customers in three core stages of travel: before the trip on sites like Orbitz and TripAdvisor, en route at the airport or in the airline magazine, and at the destination, working with hotels, transportation providers and local mobile phone companies.

Source: Ryan Frankel, PalmLing
Writer: Sue Spolan

Students graduating from law school may be well versed in the doctrine, but have no idea how to put together an angel funding package or negotiate a divorce. Drexel University law professor Karl Okamoto is changing the way law is taught through his startup ApprenNet.

Okamoto, a Professor of Law and Director of the Program in Business & Entrepreneurship Law at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel, has already rolled out his engaging and gamified instructional program to about 20 law schools nationwide, thanks to initial grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $180,000 so far, with a potential million-dollar grant on its way this summer. Okamoto is assisted by recent Drexel law grad Emily Foote and developer Paul Tzen.

ApprenNet, currently in beta, is an interactive website that augments and expands on the classroom experience by redefining legal education as an apprenticeship. A student watches a client pose a question on a legal topic, then posts a video answer, finally getting to see an expert answering the same question. Others can view student answers, and the budding attorney gets a portfolio of video responses which can be shared with potential employers.

By the end of this semester, Okamoto estimates that a quarter of U.S. law schools will be using ApprenNet. "Professors struggle over how to insert practical training," says Okamoto. ApprenNet is hands off. All the instructor has to do is send a student to the website. The startup grew out of Okamoto's LawMeets program.

"The whole system relies on practitioners' participation," says Okamoto, who has been most heartened by the discovery of a huge pent up demand to provide teaching and feedback among practitioners the world over. Usually, in a guest lecture, students are surfing or sleeping, and are not engaged. The way ApprenNet works, says Okamoto, it takes only 10 minutes to record an expert video, and students are eager to get feedback from the experts.

So far, Okamoto has not sought revenue outside of sponsors who are excited to be in front of law students, like Practical Law Company and Bloomberg. "We have not yet charged any user for the exercise, but have been collecting data on what people are willing to pay," says Okamoto, who is building in the ability to charge users a small monthly subscription fee.

There is also potential to create ApprenNet for many other disciplines, like training food service workers, teachers, or even musical training. "We'll take care of law first, says Okamoto, "and then use it in lots of different places. Why can't we crowdsource violin?"

Source: Karl Okamoto, ApprenNet
Writer: Sue Spolan

When shots of Jameson's are poured, stacked three deep and consumed with great aplomb, it must be DreamIt Ventures demo day. But that's getting ahead of the story, because the libations came only after the presentations were given, after the business cards were handed out, and after 12 intense weeks of entrepreneurial incubation.

"Demo Day was a great success. All 14 companies had strong presentations and we had a full house of investors. The companies' booths were packed with interest until we had to exit the building! It’s one of the strongest classes that we’ve had at DreamIt," remarks Kerry Rupp, DreamIt managing partner.

The 2011 Philadelphia DreamIt Ventures class wrapped up last Wednesday in University City at World Cafe Live. Just a few blocks from DreamIt offices at 34th and Market, fourteen startups presented polished seven minute pitches. 

ElectNext, Cloudmine and SnipSnap are all slated to remain in Philadelphia, and details of their plans have not yet been announced.  ElectNext also got a same-day bump with a Fast Company article featuring founder Keya Dannenbaum.

One company, UXFlip, started life at DreamIt as FeedbackTrail, but 8 weeks into the program, founder and CEO Michael Raber says he had to drop and turn on a dime when it became clear that FeedbackTrail was not going to be a long term revenue generator. With three weeks left in the DreamIt program, Raber created UXFlip, which will allow mobile app developers to make changes without forcing a user-end update.

Spling, a social media content sharing platform, is the standout for raising a $400,000 Series A round of funding during DreamIt.

"The companies represent the best and brightest entrepreneurial talent in the Internet & mobile space. They include PhD’s and JDs from top academic institutions like Yale, Stanford and UT, as well as dropouts from top academic institutions like Duke, Georgetown and the Wharton School at Penn," adds Rupp, who notes that one company's founders are still in their teens.

"Five of the companies were selected in partnership with Comcast Ventures, as part of the Minority Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (MEAP)," says Rupp. "ElectNext, Kwelia, MetaLayer, ThaTrunk and Qwite include owners who are African American, Asian, Hispanic and Indian."

The afterparty, and the shots, went down at National Mechanics, the go-to bar for the local tech community. It got loud, but you've got to forgive the crowd. It was the last time they'd all be together in one room. The companies have a week to pack up and move on. None received checks or solid offers at Demo Day, but a lot of cards were exchanged and some promises made. At happy hour, companies compared the size of their spikes -- on Google Analytics.

Up next, according to Noelle McHugh, DreamIt's office manager and MacGyver, the team goes north to New York City for DreamIt 2012, which begins in March. Applications for the NYC DreamIt class open on December 26th, with a March 16 deadline for companies, and an April 6 2012 deadline for individuals. The New York class begins in mid-May of next year, and at the same time, applications for the 2012 Philadelphia program open.

Source: Kerry Rupp, Noelle McHugh, DreamIt Ventures
Writer: Sue Spolan

The University City Science Center does not slow down for the holidays. In the last week, it has announced a a new coworking space for emerging startup companies and a new round of funding for its QED Proof of Concept program.

The new coworking space, dubbed the Bullpen, is located inside the Science Center's Port Business Incubator (3711 Market St.)  and already has its first "pitcher" in Belgium-based Biologistics Consulting. The Bullpen offers relief from expensive office space in the form of desks, phone, and high-speed Wi-Fi, plus a convenient location in the heart of University City.

In addition, says Science Center President and CEO Stephen Tang, "Bullpen residents have access to the same services and programs offered to all the residents of our Port Business Incubator."

Biologistics Consulting, which is a participant in the Science Center's Global Soft Landing Program, isn't the only Belgian company at the Port Business Incubator. Arlenda Inc., which facilitates risk-based decision making for pharmaceutical- and  vaccine-makers, has moved into office space at the incubator, working closely with local universities, CHOP and Merck, to name a few.

On Monday, three first-time recipients of $200,000 each were announced for the Science Center's QED program, which aims to facilitate commercial investment in early stage and high-potential life science technologies.

Funding went to Philadelphia University for a new biocidal textile technology to address the high-incidence of hospital acquired infections.

Thomas Jefferson University won funding for the first clinically reliable test for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the primary form of pancreatic cancer.

Also, Lehigh University in Bethlehem received funding for a portable medical oxygen concentrator for patients with lung disease.

Source: Jeanne Mell, University City Science Center
Writer: Joe Petrucci

Then twenty-somethings Matt Joyce and Tim Ifill were having the same kind of friendly planning conversation a few years ago that many people have across the city every night. The friends, who in 2004 founded Philly Fellows, the organization that works to create a pipeline of talent for city nonprofits, were pondering where they could stop off and get a six-pack of beer to bring to a social gathering.

In some states, it's a non-issue. You can't walk 50 feet without running into a convenient takeout spot. In Pennsylvania, however, it's a little different, what with its complicated and antiquated liquor laws. Different levels of costly licenses, and the seemingly random stipulations that come attached to them, create a maze of sorts for six-pack hunters.

That led Joyce, 30, over the last few months to create Philly6ers, an online resource for easily locating and rating nearby pizza shops and delis that sell takeout beer. The site has approached 1,500 visitors in the last week, according to Joyce, and he is already planning a mobile app and statewide expansion (PA6ers).

"It seems to address a pretty commonly held frustration in Philly, so the general feedback has been positive," Joyce says. He is still weighing an official launch event and whether he'll try to make the site profitable. Having worked his entire career in the nonprofit sector -- most recently for the William Penn Foundation – the Philadelphia resident is mostly focused on making the site a strong resource rather than a business.

Joyce pulled data from licensing information from the PA Liquor Control Board for all "E" licensed retailers in the city. That license is typically issued to eateries to sell takeout beer. Not a complete stranger to building websites – he and Ifil built the Philly Fellows site – Joyce leaned on Google to make the data presentable and functional.

"It ties in so nicely to Google spreadsheets and forms and now something called Fusion Tables, that if you know a little bit of Excel and can make data tables relate to each other, Google makes it easy to present this data online," Joyce says. "It's fun."

Philly6ers has already taught Joyce a thing or two. For one, some areas of Philly are relative beer deserts, like Fishtown and Port Richmond, which, according to the site, are practically devoid of licensed takeout spots. Joyce wonders why some areas are like that, while most of West Philly is covered with licensed establishments. Also, Joyce has discovered that the seemingly random and usually empty seating areas at small delis are mandated by law. Topics like these are covered on the Philly6ers blog.

One thing Joyce says he'll have to negotiate is how to handle bars that are licensed to sell six-packs. While many of us have asked nicely and overpaid for a brown paper bag full of loose cans or bottles of beer in an establishment that might technically allowed to sell takeout, Joyce does not want to dilute the Philly6ers database with those bars. Rather, he wants to include only those state-appointed "R" retailers with real capacity to do so. Since that data is not easily attainable, user feedback will be key.

Joyce is thrilled that he is already hearing feedback from those who have successfully used the resource. He jokes that the 76ers might send him a cease and desist order.

"But I have to imagine the Sixers organization is just as interested in knowing which delis sell beer as the rest of us," he says.

Source: Matt Joyce, Philly6ers
Writer: Joe Petrucci