Follow Along

RedVelvetStefRedVelvetStef: @MeldonJ LOL!! Did you see my episode last night?? #ccwstef
18 hours ago
MeldonJMeldonJ: But I also think cupcakes should be used as a form of currency, so my judgment leaves much to be desired.
19 hours ago
MeldonJMeldonJ: In the mood for cupcakes after watching Cupcake Wars on Sunday. Even the loser cakes looked scrumptious to me! How bad could a cupcake be?
19 hours ago
mediaaprilmediaapril: Congrats!! RT @ButtercreamPhl: Holy crud food network called; cupcake wars season 2 baby! http://myloc.me/9Ql14
20 hours ago
MeldonJMeldonJ: RT @85Broads: Those people who say it can’t be done should get out of the way of people doing it. --@cindygallop1 http://ht.ly/2ef4k via @nakisnakis
1 day ago
mediaaprilmediaapril: @courier_intell I'm replying to the fourth of four tweets within five minutes that make no sense. U know about the twitter character limit?
2 days ago
mediaaprilmediaapril: Can someone tell me WHY?! (RT @nprnews) 'Jersey Shore' Cast Rings Opening Bell At NY Stock Exchange; Is Nothing Sacred? http://n.pr/9jtgeT
2 days ago
MeldonJMeldonJ: I would absolutely love to be an "audience of one" http://nyti.ms/9YtHdW! They never mention any of the prices of admission though...
2 days ago
rchestnutsrchestnuts: @johncappiello sweet. Yeah, I can't bring the mrs with me record shopping anymore.
2 days ago
tubenerdtubenerd: @johncappiello is there such a thing?
2 days ago
  • (This guest post was written by Ken Diamond, entrepreneur and career specialist)

    WinTheView™ (WTV™) is a powerful interview preparation and presentation tool that is designed to help job seekers determine the critical hiring requirements and formulate the key points they wish to articulate during the interview.  A PDF file is generated in the form of a flip chart-like presentation that can be printed and taken to the interview. The WTV™ development center is secure and enables the job seeker to prepare multiple presentations, follow-up letters and accomplishment stories with online access 24/7. An example of a sample presentation:


    WTV™ Can Be Used In The Following Ways:

    1. Focus process and thinking on your most compelling key points so as to enter interview situations prepared and confident.
    2. Introduce WTV™ as a professional looking printed qualifications summary during the interview to impress the hiring manager and help guide the discussion your way.
    3. Create a lasting impression with a printed or emailed “leave-behind” WinTheView™ summary for each hiring team member.
    4. Email a WTV™ PDF file immediately after each phone screen interview to increase your chances of earning that coveted face-to-face interview.
    5. Email a WTV™ PDF file in advance of each face-to-face interview to facilitate discussion and demonstrate a proactive mindset.
    6. Generate a “career summary” presentation, then link its PDF file on your LinkedIn.com profile via SlideShare, so they can find you.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • VenmoImagine never having to ask for separate checks at a restaurant, or splitting the bill, four ways, with credit.

    An innovative pair thought of it first.

    Iqram Magdon-Ismail and his partner, Andrew Kortina, found a way to quickly and easily transfer money, amongst friends, co-workers and whomever, without handling cash or IOU’s (I owe yous).

    Venmo, (a combination of the words “vendor” and “mobile”) is a website dedicated to helping people transfer money in a method that is quick, easy and paperless.

    “We built it because we had a problem,” said Ismail.

    “We had no way of exchanging money with each other, except for cash and checks.”

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • The Betta Rosetta

    by Max Sobol on January 12, 2010

    Ryan Meinzer needed to learn Japanese fast. He loved Rosetta Stone’s approach, but like many students he had no money…nor discipline to stay seated more than 5 minutes at a time.

    “I wanted to learn Japanese in the many sporadic idle minutes of my day, one word at a time, one minute at a time,” says Meinzer, “…and I didn’t have the $300 for those attractive yellow Rosetta Stone boxes.”

    Two years later, and two years more proficient in Japanese, Meinzer now runs his own language learning software company, PlaySay.com, which has served over 10 million digital vocabulary flashcard files to over 4,000 users worldwide. The online business currently offers products to learn Japanese, learn Chinese, and to learn Spanish, with many more languages to come. Many language departments of major universities across the United States are rapidly integrating the products into their curriculums for students. With the ability to trash their paper flashcards, students are raving about PlaySay.com. The Tokyo Metropolis and The Philadelphia Inquirer also seem to enjoy spreading the news of this cool new competitor of Rosetta Stone.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • Introducing Runt.ly

    by Guest Contributor on December 21, 2009

    (This guest post was written by Muhammad At-Tauhidi, corporate lawyer and entrepreneur):

    runtly2I created Runt.ly as an easy way to share ad-hoc content over Twitter and other micro-blogs.  Runt.ly was designed as a “mini-blog” — for you when you have more to say then you can fit on a micro-blog but not so much that you would be inclined to create a traditional blog post for it.  Runt.ly makes it really easy to create multimedia posts that contain WYSIWYG text, photos and video that can be shared with a single short URL.  Although Runt.ly is similar to other “light-blogging” tools like Posterous or Tumblr, the focus is less on giving users their own personal homepage and more on making it easier for users to share individual pieces of content.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • The Philadelphia Business Journal has a writeup on recent alumni of DreamIt Ventures’ accelerator program and specifically calls out Notehall and SeatGeek.

    Notehall, which provides a marketplace for students to buy and sell class notes, was also apparently featured on ABC’s Shark Tank.   While the site launched at the University of Arizona, the company is using new funding to diversify to as many universities around the country as possible.  The site uses a prepurchased credit system for the economics within the site.  Sellers take 40% on the sale of their documents.  Credits are awarded for various things, including rating documents you’ve purchased, which adds a nice layer to, and encourages, the credibility system of who you should purchase your notes from.  They are based out of Manayunk.

    SeatGeek, who formally launched at the TechCrunch50 this past September, also got a nice part in the Journal piece.  They use a predictive model to determine the trends and future prices of sporting and concert events.  Using this information buyers and sellers can pick the most opportune times to make their transactions.  SeatGeek currently has affiliate relationships with brokers but will also have premium level services in the future as another revenue source.

    Great to see local startups getting so much attention.

  • We talk and think a lot about social marketing here at Start Philly. It is clearly a startup space many people have rushed into and more and more move into every day.  Over on Max’s blog he muses about the rise of the social branding agency.  What’s interesting about this is that it takes a bit of an old school approach to a new school medium.   It almost brings the human back into the social circle.

    Many tools, such as  CoTweet, HootSuite, and TweetFunnel, are out there enabling more and more types of entities to track their brand, track their pr, their marketing efforts etc.  The problem is they still put the onus to act and react on this data on people whose primary skill set may not be in these fields.  Sure, pretty graphs sell, and people want insights into their data from 5,000 feet, but unless you have trained people on the ground to help you manage what you’re seeing, you’re not too much better off than you were before.

    One thing I do like about these tools however, agency or not, they all win.  “Social media” is a trendy phrase, but just an inevitable evolution, and no matter who wins those wars be it Twitter, Facebook, or the next big thing, these tools and agencies helping people manage this type of data are here to stay.