Brock Weatherup would like to change the narrative about Philadelphia's startup climate. First, stop comparing it to Silicon Valley. Instead, talk up "our special aggregation of all the elements needed for the startup community." And that old meme about Philadelphia’s brain drain? Get over that, too.
Last week, Weatherup used the bully pulpit as the
University City Science Center’s first Entrepreneur IQ (short for Entrepreneur in Quorum) to encourage the crowd to get bullish on the region. The new program will offer targeted advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.
A hugely successful serial entrepreneur, angel investor and president of
Philly Startup Leaders, Weatherup is best known as CEO of Pet360, which sold to
PetSmart in 2014 for $160 million.
Silicon Valley, said Weatherup, with its highly developed entrepreneurial ecosystem, its abundance of capital and its ferociously competitive business climate, is in a class by itself, followed only -- distantly -- by Israel, "and then there are the rest of us."
Consider what Philadelphia has to offer, he argued. Its diverse economy provides emerging companies with a multiplicity of often-illusive first and second customers. It has capital, it has talent ("finding great people is always the hardest thing") and, unlike other cities where he has worked, it has an open and welcoming entrepreneurial community.
It is in that spirit that Weatherup is volunteering as the first Entrepreneur IQ, sponsored by
Fox Rothschild.
Weatherup will begin counseling aspiring startup founders during office hours (April 4 and May 18). You can get more information or signup
here.
WRITER IN RESIDENCE is a partnership between the University City Science Center and Flying Kite Media that embeds a reporter on-site at 3711 Market Street. The resulting coverage will provide an inside look at the most intriguing companies, discoveries and technological innovations coming out of this essential Philadelphia institution.