This cofounder shares why Philly is the ‘awesomest’ town to build a business

The year had barely started when Alex Urevick-Acklesberg (better known on Twitter as @Alex UA) sat down to put together a rundown of his top 14 reasons why Philly is the best city to start a business in, by way of a Medium post titled “14 reasons why building a business in Philly is the awesomest.”

In the article, the Zivtech founder — who saw his company move into a 10,000-square-foot office in the heart of Center City — proclaimed his love for his home town as a “7th generation Philadelphian.”

“I hear a lot of people say negative things about building businesses in Philly, but by and large most of these critics aren’t from here and haven’t started or run a business,” the entrepreneur wrote on Monday. “But let me tell you: Philly is an amazing place to build a business, and [here] are 14 reasons that prove it beyond all reasonable doubt.”

While all the classic Philly tech perks made the rundown (cheap real estate, access to talent, strategic location and so on), Urevick-Acklesberg also gave some wonkier upsides a shoutout (like local tax credits by way of the Keystone Innovation Zones and access to loans from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC).

(We specially liked No. 3, titled “Smarty-pants people”.)