Inside coPhilly’s #PHLMade Demo Day

From investors to artists, coPhilly’s #PHLMade Demo Day gathered a vibrant cross-section of Philadelphia makers and doers. The daylong event showcased more than 20 early-stage companies, including members of the coPhilly accelerator program.

The Saturday event, held Aug. 16 at coworking space CityCoHo, gave the companies the chance to show off their wares, including products such as TechSquare’s new PowerKnots, which keep smartphones fully charged on the go.

“It’s nice to see people supporting the Philadelphia tech scene,” said Devon Logan, founder and CEO of TechSquare. “I’m excited to launch my product here and subsequently on Indiegogo in the coming weeks.”

Devon Logan, founder of TechSquare, left, speaks with Wayne Kimmel, managing partner of SeventySix Capital. (Photo by Jason Sherman)

A handful of products debuted at the event. Coffee was served by café-slash-life skills training program The Monkey & The Elephant. Many entrepreneurs were seeking advice or suggestions. Most were in the early stages of their bootstrapped startups.

Morgan Berman, founder of sustainable local living platform MilkCrate, said the event was a great opportunity to interact with new people — including potential customers, supporters and VCs.

“We were really excited to chat with other startups and hear about their successes and learn from their struggles,” Berman said. “I’m really looking forward to being more involved in the tech scene and helping the sustainable community grow and gain more awareness.”

The MilkCrate team, from left: CTO Jason Cox, Founder Morgan Berman and CMO Rachelle Pownall-Brown. (Photo by Jason Sherman)

Wayne Kimmel, managing partner of SeventySix Capital, took the time to speak with each entrepreneur to learn more about their business.

“I was extremely impressed with the entrepreneurs and companies that I met at Demo Day at CityCoHo,” Kimmel said. “[coPhilly Founder] Kevin Provost and his team did a great job. I was really excited to hear that so many of the companies were going to use my portfolio company, Indiegogo, for their crowdfunding campaigns.”