05 May What does a Philly success look like?
Defining “triumph” for Philadelphia’s scrappy tech community can be a very divisive task. For some, it’s already here. For others, we’re barely scratching the surface. Here’s one look at what Philly’s “Snap moment” could be.
Echoes of Snap, Inc.’s successful IPO were heard in tech ecosystems across the country.
In a sprawling, vivid account, the New York Times described L.A. real estate tigers salivating at the thought of a sudden onslaught of millionaires. Likely, the hawkers say, newly-minted millionaires will rush to snap up costly homes near sunny Venice, where the company is headquartered.
Introduce even the imaginary notion of a major exit like this one as an indicator of success in Philly’s tech community and you’ll split your average meetup group in half: those who praise it as a needed event to bring more growth to the region and those who say pushing for an exit when conditions aren’t right is just looking for trouble.
You could even drive a more fiery divide in that imaginary room by separating those who think the goal should be a flashy B2C company with a sexy tech angle and those who feel our true potential can be found in a B2B model, leveraging the foundation of local academic and medical research institutions.
In that imaginary room, look for us squarely in the middle. We’ll be the ones asking both ourselves, and the community, this essential question: What does tech success in Philly look like?
Spoiler alert: It’s probably not Snap.
Read the full article at Technically Media.