Why Technical.ly’s new membership program matters, and why you should join

When we were planning to launch Technical.ly in late 2008, there wasn’t quite a “Philly tech community.”

There was a high-tech sector and a Route 202 corridor and the first coworking outpost and university programs and a founders group and an IT workforce and other pieces. But there wasn’t a shared identity across them all.

Over the last near-decade, we at Technical.ly have faithfully reported on the murmurs and progress of the assembling units that today make up the familiar and robust Philadelphia tech community. We consider our origins as a news organization as uniquely tied to what has happened here since.

The very definition of a community is likely tied to the idea that no one person or organization can control or own it. That’s what makes communities maddening and beautiful and chaotic and powerful. We have always aimed to be the first draft of that community’s history. We want to secure that future, and we want to do that with you.

That’s why today Technically Media, the 20-person independent media organization that publishes both Technical.ly and social impact site Generocity.org, has announced it has launched a pilot individual membership offering.

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This is not a paywall.

We aren’t selling anything. Yes, for $12 a month, you’ll get early access to our events and reporting, but more interestingly, you’re telling us that you think Philadelphia is better with us than without us.

Technical.ly has never just passively and remotely dipped our toes. We produce journalism on a community we think will define Philadelphia’s future. We write longform and have the best damn daily headlines email around. We’ve shaped Mayoral elections and share informed opinion. We do this work across the Mid-Atlantic and aim to connect an impressive but otherwise rarely connected region. With membership support, these and other offerings get better.

Primarily, we keep the lights on through the events we produce (like NET/WORK and Philly Tech Week), the underwritten reporting we do (like Grow PA) and the talent acquisition services we offer (like employment-branding Talent pages, like this and this). You support our reporting and community work if your organization purchases these services — plus you get the value therein. But, to be frank, it remains a tight budget. We’ve never had a way for individuals to contribute (beyond a small very early test).

If you think having Roberto reporting with every beat of his Venezuelan heart on Philadelphia companies and technologies with an eye to making this city better, then this is for you. If you think having Catherine and Lauren and Alexandria developing annual programming that defines the tech community calendar, then this is for you. If you think having Zack supporting the development of the next generation of reporters who understand this region’s innovation ecosystem, then this is for you. If having Cary and Jeanette building products and Brian and Vincent and Aileen closing deals and another dozen teammates pushing this company, and this city, forward, then this is for you.

So join us.