A speaker stands at a podium facing an audience, with many attendees raising their hands in response.
Keynote speaker Rhett Power on the Main Stage at Founders Alley Philly 2026 (Courtesy)
This is a guest post by Philadelphia-based impact lending professional Amaury Abreu and AI strategy and business transformation leader Erik Caputo, who are co-producers of Founders Alley, for which Technical.ly is a media partner.

On a Tuesday in late October, Founders Alley Philadelphia: Our City in Motion took over Pennovation Works for the second edition of our annual convening.

More than 230 people signed up to participate, including 90-plus who identify directly as founders, investors or ecosystem partners. They ranged from first-time builders to people who’ve been working to grow Philly’s startup scene for decades.

That’s the key to our event. Founders Alley exists to put Philadelphia’s founders in the same room as the capital, partners and community that help them grow. Our tagline is “Where capital meets culture,” and this year we leaned into both parts: We had four rooms of programming inside the Grays Ferry space, complemented by an outdoor plaza showcasing startups, community groups and local artists.

Our thesis from the beginning has been to showcase different aspects of entrepreneurship alongside the various groups that exist in the city serving our startup ecosystem.  Under one roof we wanted to bring together these groups and provide an opportunity for exchange of ideas — and we are proud to say we believe that was accomplished!

A man with a gray beard speaking into a microphone with his hand raised, standing in front of a presentation screen about Landon Donovan.
Rhett Power closes the afternoon with the keynote on the Main Stage (Courtesy)

Live on stage

Throughout the day, our main stage was filled with panels discussing topics like fundraising, mental health and government, and how each of these intersect with entrepreneurship. 

At the same time we had side chats and workshops happening throughout Pennovation Works, creating interactive spaces where people could explore different topics of interest. Our curated rooms include.

  • Founders Corner, with sessions on AI, IP and capital, turning startup updates into investor signal and right-sizing governance before your MVP.
  • Founders Roundtable, featuring small-group conversations on sales, AI-first go-to-market talent and the mindset of entrepreneurship, plus an Innovation Space founder roundtable.
  • The Workshop, with hands-on sessions on climate tech fundraising and investor readiness.

Law firm Duane Morris also hosted private office hours, so founders could bring their legal questions to the firm’s team one on one.

Keynote speaker Rhett Power — an executive coach who has built, scaled and exited six businesses — closed the afternoon on the Main Stage. We were honored to have him share key concepts from his book “Headamentals: How Leaders Can Defeat Negative Self-Talk.”

Our first pitch competition, plus a hackathon

A man speaks into a microphone before three people seated in blue chairs on a stage in front of a large screen displaying “Aline Pitch Competition Announcement.”
The ALINE pitch panel at the first Founders Alley pitch competition (Courtesy)

This year we launched the first Founders Alley pitch competition, run with our technology partner ALINE. Founders recorded 60-second pitches in the ALINE app — no deck required — and the finalists pitched live on the Main Stage. Kirsten King of Pennovation Works, Joel Ruffini of Duane Morris and ALINE CEO Andrew Line judged. Tina Nassir of DNS-service TNA.io took first place, and Christopher Nguyen of Glamore.io came in second.

In the Workshop, the AI Collective PHL ran Hack for Humanity from noon to 4 p.m., with teams building in public through the afternoon.

Founders Row and the after party

Outside, Founders Row lined the plaza with 32 tables of startups, sponsors, community partners and local artists. Next to it, VetsinTech ran the Drone Cage, where veteran founders showed their work live: Citadel North flew its autonomous indoor drone, and Measure Once Cut Once demoed its robotic production stop for woodworkers.

Lunch was a local effort. Street Side, a cafe in Olde Kensington, served a light lunch inside; Dump N Roll parked its food truck outside with Asian-fusion dumplings, bao and cheesesteak spring rolls; and law firm Pierson Ferdinand covered extra snacks.

The day ended outdoors. Art Battle Philly kicked off the evening with a live painting battle, and happy hour carried the conversations into the night.

A man in a light blue blazer stands in the center of an office space, holding papers while addressing a group of people.
Erik Caputo giving his keynote speech to kick off the day (Courtesy)

Thank you and what’s next

None of this happens without our sponsors: Duane Morris, Cocktails & Capital™, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, The Code Registry, PIDC, EisnerAmper and Pierson Ferdinand. Thank you also to ALINE, our official technology partner; Broadpath, our in-kind partner; Technical.ly, our media partner; and Pennovation Works for hosting us.

Founders Alley hosts events in Philadelphia throughout the year and is bringing the format to more cities, starting with San Diego. Follow along at foundersalley.org and @founders_alley.