Commerce Director Harold Epps dropped by Stitch’s Center City office

RJMetrics, a company very closely associated with the Philly tech scene, had some pretty major news last month: its legacy business was acquired by San Francisco-based Magento, and its newer product was spun out into a standalone company called Stitch.
Up to speed? OK, good.
On Thursday, staff from both companies — housed in the noisy 1300 block of Chestnut Street — huddled up on Stitch’s 15th floor HQ for a visit from the City’s Director of Commerce, Harold Epps.

Director of @PHLCommerce Harold T. Epps visiting our office today #rjmetrics #stitchdata #magento #phillytech#philly pic.twitter.com/YbNalKXD9m

— Magento BI (@magentobi) September 15, 2016

“You’ve all got skills I can only hope for,” Epps told a roomful of technologists, who voiced their concerns about the city’s wage tax and the deficiencies of the school system.
Epps addressed each concern by pointing at some of the steps the city is taking on each front.
For example, that mission to Europe the Commerce Department is leading to lure business is also meant to bring back ideas from the European education model, he said.
The city exec also congratulated RJMetrics cofounder, now Magento Head of Analytics Bob Moore, on the success of the recent acquisition.
“I think one of the things that local government can do to support startups is show up,” said Moore. “By taking time out of their day to say hello, they are telling these workers that what they do matters.”
Slightly late to the party was Councilman Allan Domb, who missed Epps’ speech but hung around for a game of ping-pong with Moore.

Councilman @TeamDomb was a bit late but he managed to sneak in a round of ping-pong with @robertjmoore pic.twitter.com/B5PMD3zZWD

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) September 15, 2016

Looks like government types are coming around on table tennis.