City Official Hoping To Put Philly's Tech Scene In Spotlight
By KYW tech editor Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - America Online founder Steve Case will be in Philadelphia later this month as part of his bus tour to invest in startup companies.
That's the kind of national attention officials here say the city's tech scene wants and deserves.
It's a supportive community, says Archna Sahay, and those in it know it:
"You can fall back on that for advice, for connections, for access, and that's one of the things that people will find when they come to Philadelphia."
It's part of her job as the city's manager of entrepreneurial investment to get that message out there to firms considering, for instance, New York or DC:
"The cost of living is fabulous, so your burn rate is a lot lower, your money goes farther in a place like Philadelphia."
There's so much talent here, she thinks the next Google and Twitter will emerge from a local startup, but the current Google and Twitter and companies like them would serve themselves -- and their customers well -- by having a presence in town:
"Amazon was here recently poaching our talent, taking them back to Seattle. They've noticed us, right? So now it's a function of talking to Amazon and asking them to open up a satellite office here in Philly if they're going to make all the effort."
