Sing along with us: Can you hear what we’re listening to? Not a classic holiday tune, but a little collab news from Philadelphia’s tech scene.
At a New Year’s Eve party in the old town Science History Institute On Wednesday, two tech and entrepreneurial organizations brought together the old and the new in Philadelphia’s tech scene to celebrate their partnership.
Philly Startup Leaders (PSL) and the Women in Tech Summit (WITS) formally affiliated, leader Isabelle Kent When Gloria Bell said this week.
Entrepreneur participates (Cody Eddings, Brittany Jenkins), Ecosystem Builder (mercedes ballard, John Mercer) and angel investors (Mark Kramer, Will Houston) Similarly, a Dec. 7 event meant to celebrate the collaboration announced additional partnerships with tech hiring organizations Trivaja’s diversity tech summit Celebrate PSL’s 15th anniversary.
The pair said the partnership came naturally: Bell has been on PSL’s board of directors in the past and is a “mainstay” of Philadelphia’s tech scene, said Kent. Technical.lythey met by chance conflict meeting We met in Toronto in June of this year to discuss how each organization can support each other.
.@startup leaderAbout partnership with Isabel Kent @WomenTechSummitof @Gloria Bell during a shared holiday party pic.twitter.com/bTgpCHAxGN
— Technical.ly Philly (@TechnicallyPHL) December 8, 2022
Bell assisted PSL with recent promotions and logistics. Founder Factory Events, and both organizations are quickly planning a series of events in the spring. The 2023 WITS takes place in his April, moving to DiversiTech and then to PSL. entrepreneur expo. (how is it Philly Tech Week 2023 Presented by Comcast, you might be wondering? News about the 13th annual event will be out soon, but he’s scheduled to return to the series in mid-May. )
That’s what “everyone in Philadelphia is really good at,” Bell said.
Bell took the reins of WITS this past June after running the Chicago-based event series for three years Create the future of ITIn 2023, in addition to the organization’s five regional events, we plan to run a large, multi-day virtual event next summer. She added that the organization will be launching her podcast in January, and PSL will help bring in women in tech and entrepreneurship as guests.
The organization recently women’s technology global award Received Community Initiative of the Year for our commitment to gender equality in the tech industry.
“It was a huge honor given the few global organizations we’ve competed against,” Bell said.
Isabelle Kent speaking on stage at the PSL Holiday Party. (Photo by Sean Reed)
Kent took over the helm of the PSL in early 2021 and began fine-tuning accelerators and events over the past year and a half. Rather than focusing solely on the startup stage, PSL has moved towards hosting more vertically specialized accelerators such as the “Cannabis” and “Ethical Entrepreneurship” programs. Kent said the group partners with local meetups and organizations to enrich its programs.For example, the company’s blockchain his accelerator is DeFi Philly.
Kent said this particular type of programming will continue, with applications for the spring round ending soon and a focus on “culture tech” (via sponsorships). Comcast NBCUniversal’s LIFT Labs) focus on the creative and content sector business. The organization is also reviving a blockchain accelerator that had a waiting list after its last cohort and is hosting another round of ethical entrepreneurship accelerators.
By fall 2023, PSL may focus another accelerator on literacy-related solutions, such as digital literacy and financial literacy, Kent said. They also started talking to some partners in the biotech space.
At Wednesday’s event, current and past members of PSL’s accelerator shared stories about what they’ve learned and how the startup scene shaped them. Kent said it was a good time to reflect on where the organization has been and where it’s headed, and to celebrate other organizations with similar missions in Philadelphia.
PSL CEO said: “Many of us want to be together for a long time and see each other succeed, and yesterday was a testament to that.”
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