Philly Startup Leaders’ top concerns for the 2015 election. One might surprise you

One sign that the Philadelphia tech scene has arrived? Members are organizing to make sure their voices are heard.
Philly Startup Leaders developed a list of the group’s top concerns for the 2015 election after hosting a series of town halls in the last few months. It’s a comprehensive, specific document listing what the Philly entrepreneurship community wants to see from the next mayor and City Council. The top-level issues include supporting the startup community, tax reform and education.
Read it
The initiative was spearheaded by former PSL president Bob Moul, who worked closely with the Nutter administration on StartUp PHL and other tech projects. RJMetrics’ CEO Bob Moore led the project to write up the document.
The list itself is not surprising: it asks officials to continue and build off of many Nutter initiatives, like StartUp PHL and Nutter’s practice of supporting the opening of new startup offices. What might be surprising is the heavy education focus, pointing to how the issue of education will touch every Philadelphia community. We noticed this bullet point especially: “Establish a liaison or program that will enable volunteers from the business and tech communities to engage more deeply and directly with Philadelphia schools and other civic causes.”
At the first town hall, held in early 2015 at RJMetrics, the Commerce Department’s Luke Butler reminded the crowd that the local tech community already had a seat at the table. Now, it’s about building off of that momentum.
“You don’t need to be introducing yourself to to the next mayor,” Butler said. “He or she will already know who you are because of the work that has been done.”