Innovation & Job News

A new crop of startups emerged from Philly Startup Weekend 4.0, held at University Of The Arts this past weekend, with some refreshingly accessible concepts. The winner, Voxx.io, founded by visiting entrepreneur, Josh Hudnall, will use mobile technology to customize the music heard in bars, restaurants and coffee shops to the specific taste of their patrons. In second place, Feed Me, founded by Philly native and Startup Weekend newcomer, Jiate Zhang, proposes an AirBnB-type web platform that connects pizza-wary strangers with people who love to cook.  Third place went to Dreamit Ventures alum Michael Raber, for Boxly, a spread-sheet based mobile app that will allow complex on-the-go data collection for both individual and group uses.

Forty-seven pitches, ranging from crowd sourced dental care to street parking aps, were narrowed down to 12 finalists, including a team of local high school students. Startup Weekend had fewer finalists than past startup weekends, but each team was larger with more diversified talent. 

“Best bit of feedback I got was ‘This was the most communal startup weekend I’ve been to.’” says event organizer Chris Baglieri says.  “I think that’s pretty rad.”

Of all the gifted teams, what determined the winners?

“You can connect with them, maybe a little more so than some of the others," says Baglieri. “Like Voxx.io. I mean you walk into the bars and you see these old jukebox CD things. Those are just kind of antiquated so you can see the appeal.”

In the final day, Feed Me pulled together it’s winning presentation without a programmer or designer and no workable demo. “I’ve worked for a couple of startups doing financial strategy so I’ve seen the full scope of ‘this is awesome, things are going well’ to ‘Oh my God, I think we might not exist anymore.’”  Zhang says. “The thing about Sartup Weekend is it’s really effective at simulating those experiences within a day.”

Hot off the recent acquisition of his first start-up, UXFlip, by appRenaissance, Raber delivered again.  He’s looking forward to building Boxly and bringing it to the app market. “I have this tablet and I have this Iphone and I’m carrying them everywhere and I’d rather carry that than my laptop,” Raber explains. “Yet it’s so difficult to get information into those devices. I probably have two dozen aps that deal with to-do list or organizing information. I started thinking how can we build a platform that enables people to do what you do on a spreadsheet? ”

Raber was accompanied by his 13 year-old partner and son, Zachary.

“It’s an interesting time to have kids. There’s so much going on in the world and things are changing so quickly, specifically in the technology area.” Raber says. “I like to joke around and say in another 10 years I’ll be working for his startup.”

As for Hudnall, Voxx.io is set to move forward after developing a solid team of six and making some vital connections. “We proved our concept,” Hudnall says. “The biggest thing we needed to know was that we could see a check-in, in real-time and that we could match it up with a musical profile.”

So will Hudnall, who is principal developer and founder of fastPXL, move from Denver, Col., to Philly to realize his latest dream?

“I’m not ruling anything out.” Hudnall concedes. “Philly’s awesome.”

Source: Chris Baglieri, Philly Startup Weekend; Michael Raber, Voxx.io; Josh Hudnall, fastPXL
Writer: Dana Henry

Manufacturing chemicals firm Reaxis opened a second manufacturing center and R&D lab in the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center this week.
 
The firm is hiring a sales associate, inside sales associate and product engineer. Reaxis manufactures a wide range of products used several industries, everything from plastics and coatings to sealants, electronics and oil and gas applications
 
Among other companies that reported hiring this week: Cepstral, College Prowler, GTECH, WYEP and WYEP, the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum and Kelly Strayhorn Theatre.
 
Cepstral, a global company and developer of Text-To-Speech software, is seeking two hires to join their team, both software engineer-speech application developers, one with experience in programming in C/C++ for Windows environments and a second with experience in programming in C/C++ for Mac OS X environments.
 
GTECH Strategies is hiring an Energy Director for a new initiative underway, ReEnergize Pittsburgh, a program that focuses on promoting residential energy efficiency and reducing the region’s carbon footrprint.
 
As part of the program, 16-20 community ambassadors will be hired part-time to help with the educational component for ReEnergize Pittsburgh. The initiative is looking to hire highly motivated community-based partners willing to reach out to their local networks. Read all about it in Pop City.
 
College Prowler is hiring a full-time web developer to assist with frontend and backend work on Facebook. Those pursuing a degree in computer science need apply.  
 
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is hiring a Manager of Corporate Giving who will be responsible for corporate fundraising, including corporate annual giving, corporate sponsorships, corporate program grants and special event sponsorship. Experience in fundraising through face-to-face solicitations, grant writing are important.
 
The Kelly Strayhorn Theater is hiring a Managing Director. The ideal  candidate has financial planning and management experience and is a results oriented collaborator committed to the organization’s success. 
 
WYEP and WESA in the South Side is hiring a full-time Marketing Assistant who will work with the Marketing Director and assist with all facets of marketing for both stations, including print publications, website and social media, station events, public relations, and marketing campaigns.
 
Writer: Deb Smit

For more of Pittsburgh's latest and greatest, sign up here to receive Pop City in your inbox for free every week.

Technology is the common denominator among four startups that received a total of $370,000 in investments from the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA earlier this month.
 
"The goal is to create and retain jobs, assist in the development of new technologies, and support emerging tech companies as they grow and increase sales," BFT/CNP says in a news release.
 
Erie-based CE Convergence offers a convenient, easy-to-use continuing education management tool and online marketplace for professionals with licensing requirements. The software is initially focused on the accounting profession, but can be easily adapted to healthcare, law, teaching, real estate, and insurance. 
 
Founded in State College, Ascent Bio-Nano provides high-performance, low cost, miniature flow cytometry devices used for biological studies, therapeutics, and even the medical diagnosis of HIV and cancer. The company has filed for seven U.S. patents and invention disclosures for this device through Penn State University. 
 
Lasers for Innovative Solutions (L4IS) is a State-College based manufacturer of electronic inspection and monitoring devices with technology capable of decomposing physical objects and digitally reconstructing them as an interactive 3D model.  This is important as many large companies are seeking new methods to inspect high value assets such as genetically modified crops and gas well core samples.  
 
Located in Cumberland County, CrimeWatch US  has developed a software platform designed to operate on web and mobile technologies that allows more than 33,000 domestic law enforcement agencies to manage and control fugitive/offender updates.  The public can easily access information across social media networks and other forms of electronic communication.  
 
Source: Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA
Writer: Elise Vider             

Last week, we reported on Dunmore Corporation, the Bristol firm whose products are circling the planet onboard a NASA probe.  Turns out there are more made-in-Pennsylvania goods currently up there in the final frontier.
 
Die-Tech, a second-generation, family company in York Haven, makes components for "almost everything that goes into space from America," says P.K. Dennis, Die-Tech's marketing manager whose father founded the company in 1974. And Vectron International's Military/Space Center of Excellence in Mount Holly Springs  has been supplying frequency control products for space missions as far back as 1958.
 
Die-Tech precision stamps the tiny metal "legs" that attach to capacitors, the electricity-storage devices most recently installed on the Mars Rover Curiosity that is on a two-year mission to explore the Red Planet. Vectron is also onboard Curiosity.
 
Die-Tech provides its metal stampings to Presidio, the California maker of what Dennis calls the "Mercedes Benz of capacitors."

"You don't want your [component] to fail when it's in outer space," she notes.
 
Besides serving the aerospace industry, Die-Tech's portfolio also includes the automotive, medical devices, military and consumer electronics sectors.  Medical devices and automotive are both growth areas, Dennis says; medical devices because of their high profitability and automotive because even though fewer cars and trucks are being made, those that come off the assembly line carry more electronics than ever. Another growth area, she adds, is in Mexico, where many U.S. and European companies have moved their assembly plants.
 
Source: P.K. Dennis, Die-Tech
Writer: Elise Vider

Social media continues to permeate every aspect of our lives. Now it's coming to us through our televisions.
 
Aspinwall-based 321Blink is launching a TV show this week that it believes will give businesses and nonprofits a boost in disseminating their social marketing messages.
 
The creative marketing company is producing 321Blink the Show, a 30-minute, hi-def program that will air weekly with a succession of two-minute segments that highlight local businesses and nonprofit organizations through interviews, clever dialogue and music.
 
The question is, will this be something a discerning viewer will want to watch?
 
Tripp Clarke and Tim McLaughlin, Pittsburgh entrepreneurs with experience in video and media, think so. The format promises to be interesting and will generate a buzz, they say, as the show is promoted across multiple social media platforms.
 
From a marketing perspective, businesses will get more mileage for their dollar from TV. They cite a study by the Wharton School of Business that reports that video improves comprehension and retention by 50% and speeds up buying decisions by 72%.

“Television delivered in an entertaining fashion, that’s well shot, in high definition, will have definite appeal,” says McLaughlin.

“The show is a driver to other platforms (like YouTube and Facebook),” adds Clarke. “Those platforms will then drive back to the show.”

321Blink the Show was inspired by the popularity of the Pittsburgh FYI Network of 20 years ago, a program that featured local businesses, says Clarke. Some of the first shows have an MTV meets Pittsburgh feel to them.

The show will air throughout Pennsylvania, beginning on Sept. 28^th, on several TV channels including PCNC, Fox 53, and ABC affiliates.

Businesses can use the video as fresh content for their social marketing strategy, or 321Blink can manage it for them, says Clarke. Fresh content will help businesses to rank better in searches while driving web traffic and moving the message.

The company, founded in 2011, employs seven full-time and three part-time. 321Blink also encourages local filmmakers and musicians to contribute.

Source: Tripp Clarke and Tim McLaughlin, 321Blink
Writer: Deb Smit

Image of Clarke and McLaughlin courtesy of 321Blink

 In the predawn of August 30 at Cape Canaveral, NASA launched its Radiation Belt Storm Probes, the first twin-spacecraft mission designed to explore Earth's radiation belts. Protecting the satellites as they plunge through harsh extremes of radiation, temperature and magnetic interference, is multi-layer insulation, made in Bristol by DUNMORE Corporation .
 
DUNMORE has been a major supplier of highly specialized materials for space exploration for more than 25 years, on board missions including the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Juno, Aquarius and Curiosity exploratory missions.
 
Even as government-sponsored space business diminishes, aerospace remains a growing market for DUNMORE, says Vice President John Jordon, with private-sector satellites and soon space tourism making up the slack.
 
DUNMORE is a 41-year-old supplier of coated and laminated films used in a wide range of industries. The company has three locations: its Bristol headquarters and plant, where its aerospace products are made, Brewster, NY and Germany. The company recently completed an expansion in NY and is next planning to grow in Bristol. For now, employment, about 300 worldwide with about 100 in Bristol, is steady, Jordon says.
 
Meanwhile, the twin probes, protected by DUNMORE's multi-layer insulation covering the crafts' exteriors and instruments, will spend the next two years looping through the Van Allen radiation belts that encircle the planet. Their mission is to send back critical data to help scientists understand space weather's effects on power grids, communications systems and GPS service.
 
Source: John Jordon, DUNMORE Corp
Writer: Elise Vider

In the 21^st century, there is social networking, there is e-learning and now there is Eduplanet 21, a Mechanicsburg startup – and mashup – that blends the two to deliver a new approach to professional development for teachers.

The young company, founded in 2011, offers an alternative to what CEO Jeff Colosimo calls the "obsolete professional development" mandated for teachers. Eduplanet21 offers a software platform, K-12 education-specific content and ongoing services by subscription to school systems and educational consortiums.

Paired with traditional physical sessions, or fully virtual, the package offers teachers ongoing and sustained access to state-of-the-art educational practice and theory, information sharing and collaboration with colleagues around the world. For the client school systems, it offers a cheaper, faster and better way to sustain professional development.

Colosimo compares the model to buying content on an e-reader, paired with facilitated comment threads. Eduplanet21 provides its content in the form of "social learning institutes," web-based, multi-modal learning opportunities on K-12 education topics including curriculum development and teacher evaluation, "some of the most challenging and pertinent issues to education today."

Eduplanet21 recently received a $150,000 investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania. Colosimo says the company has about 100 customers so far and projects about $300,000 annual revenue this year as it continues to seed the market and test its product.

So far, the company has six full-time employs, which Colosimo hopes to double by the end of the year as Eduplanet21 gears up to accelerate its sales growth.

Source: Jeff Colosimo, Eduplanet21
Writer: Elise Vider
 
.
 

Wind and sun helped Shoener Environmental  weather the economic downturn. "Renewable energy kept us going through the recession," says president Ed Shoener.
 
The consultancy, with Pennsylvania locations in Portage and Dickson City, along with San Diego, CA. had long focused on helping commercial and residential real estate developers navigate regulatory and environmental mazes. But since the real estate market stalled, a shift to design and permitting of renewable energy projects has enabled the company to stay "steady and slowly growing," Shoener says.
 
Shoener has been working on wind energy projects since 2000; its portfolio includes the Krayn Wind Project in Cambria County, 25 turbines on a reclaimed strip mine and the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm, one of the largest wind farms in Pennsylvania with 66 turbines on over 200 acres in Cambria and Blair counties.
 
Now, says Shoener, with technological advancements in solar, "utility-scale solar projects are a developing market on the East Coast," says Shoener. "It's sort of like where wind was a few years ago." Solar, he predicts, will be competitive with other forms of energy within 10 years.
 
One of Shoener's latest projects is a 103-acre solar farm in Lurgan Township near the Pennsylvania Turnpike that would be one of the largest solar installations in the state.  Shoener is working with the developer, Orion Renewable Energy Group in Oakland, CA, to secure permits in order for the $20 million project to begin construction.
 
Shoener founded the consultancy in 1994. Today the company employs about 40 and adds one or two jobs a year in Pennsylvania offices
 
 
Source: Ed Shoener, Shoener Environmental
Writer: Elise Vider

ViroPharma Inc., a homegrown global pharmaceutical company, is expanding at its Exton headquarters, nearly doubling its space and its local workforce with new, high-paying jobs.

The company will lease an additional 71,000 square feet of office space to accommodate planned growth and will add at least 151 new jobs to its existing 188 employees over the next three years. The company has about 350 employees worldwide.

ViroPharma received a $583,000 funding offer from the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), including a $130,000 Pennsylvania First grant and $453,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits, according to DCED.

The Governor's Action Team, working with the Chester County Economic Development Council, coordinated the project.

"For us it is about growth," say ViroPharma's President and CEP Vincent J. Milano. "We're committed to this area for the long-term and look forward to creating opportunities in this community."

The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania investment portfolio company was founded in 1994 by a small team of entrepreneurial scientists in Exton and reported $544.4 million in 2011 sales.

The company says it is "poised for new levels of growth as we commercialize important life saving products; expand our presence into European markets; and work to develop novel treatment paradigms for … serious diseases."

"ViroPharma is dedicated to providing new treatment options to potentially address these types of great unmet medical needs: serious diseases, with limited – if any – treatment options."

Source: DCED and ViroPharma
Writer: Elise Vider