Bob Moul, the new head of Philly Startup Leaders, joked that he was ambushed into accepting the position. Termed "a recovering corporate guy" by interviewer Greg Bernabeo of Saul Ewing at last Thursday's
PACT Expert Series Event with
Philly Startup Leaders, Moul entered the startup world initially as a way to give back.
Moul, who literally began his career in the mailroom of EDS in 1981, advanced through the ranks, and got hired by SCT, which was purchased by
Sungard for $650 million. Moul then moved to the far smaller
Boomi. He went from managing 1200 people at SCT to 15 people at Boomi, but describes it as one of the happiest times of his life because he could wear so many hats.
Success followed Moul, who sold the Software as a Service integration provider Boomi to Dell in 2010. "After I sold Boomi, I finally had an opportunity to lift my head up," says Moul. "I was a little disappointed in what I saw. This region has so much potential, with so many raw ingredients. We have world class universities. It's a great city to work and live in. We have great entrepreneurs. I asked myself why it's not all coalescing."
Moul, who now serves as CEO of
appRenaissance in addition to his PSL post, cited the Delaware Valley's checkered stats: "Our region is No. 3 in terms of innovation capacity, No. 4 in R&D expenditures, but dead last of the top 15 metro areas in terms of business creation and entrepreneurial activities."
Starting a year ago, Moul says he approached anyone who would have a conversation with him about the gap. A hundred meetings later with entrepreneurs, angels, VCs, and institutions, Moul reports an almost unanimous feeling that so much more could be done. "We are way closer to cracking the code than people think," says Moul.
In particular, Moul would like to see a bridge between friends and family funding and VC funding. Retooling the culture will increase the willingness of successful businesspeople to give back through mentoring and advising. "Try to lead by example, or pay it forward. The more you put out, the more you get in return," says Moul.
"Innovation is a messy thing. It's not a linear process. We need a culture where it's OK to take risks, and at the same time OK to fail. As entrepreneurs, we should get more efficient about how we do that by testing quickly and failing quickly, not eating up a ton of capital in proof of concept."
In response to one audience member, Moul advised the entrepreneur to validate first and code second.
Moul is encouraged by the proliferation of coworking spaces and incubators sprouting up in the area. "Entrepreneurs come together and atoms start bouncing off each other. New initiatives are created. There's support when mentors hang around."
Moul recommends a forum where businesses pitch problems to entrepreneurs, rather than the traditional format where entrepreneurs pitch to business.
Moul is already hard at work shaping the future of PSL, and just announced the creation of the PSL leadership team. Danielle Cohn will helm Public Relations; Brian Glick will be in charge of the new PSL Circles Program, designed to cluster like minded startups; and a new PSL University will be led by Bob Moore of RJMetrics. Tracey Wellson-Rossman will head PSL's new partnership program, and Tim Raybould, CFO of Ticketleap, joins as PSL treasurer.
Source: Bob Moul, PSL
Writer: Sue Spolan