Is it a bubble, boom, bust or bedlam? [Startup Roundup]

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.
Update, Oct. 10, 2011, 1:33 p.m.: Fixed the spelling of Bluecadet’s brand name. It is not “Blue Cadet” as previously listed, it is one word.
MUST READS
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that investment capital for early-stage startups is drying up in the Valley as more companies chase dollars, causing investors to become more picky about the startups they choose and the amount of money they decide to invest. Not so fast says well-known venture capitalist Fred Wilson. He backs up stories like VentureBeat’s report that shows VCs are having trouble raising cash for early-stage. But the more startups the better, Wilson says, as long as investors make better decisions where they place their bets. On the other side of things, some reports show that venture capital could be on pace to to break records reminiscent of the late 90s tech boom, GeekWire reports.
All the back-and-forth leaves us wanting to tell an antidote about a recent e-mail Technically Philly received. Pitched by a startup for a news story, we followed-up: “What’s the revenue model?” The response came dry: “What do you mean?” We wonder if startups are spending enough time focusing on the business basics to create a solid offering that transcends trends.
So, how is Philly’s startup community faring? The Business Journal has a report on Philly Startup Leaders regrouping process, and The Phenomlist writes on Philly’s technology community in its Emerging Tech Cities series. Are we moving forward?

GIVE A GLANCE
As we reported, DuckDuckGo raised a round of funding last week led by Union Square Ventures, the well-known New York City investment firm. Founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg has more on his personal blog, as does USV’s Brad Burnham. Be sure to check out the company’s traffic growth, which after an even keel in 2010, skyrocketed in January of this year. It’s maybe no coincidence that the spike came after the company started campaigning its ironclad privacy policy, which got it major press.
The team at CharityGiftMarket.com, a Camden startup, announced last week that it has launched its online marketplace to raise money for charities.
DreamIt Ventures-backed ElectNext was awarded a Judges’ Choice Award at the 2011 Web 2.0 Expo in New York last week, according to a press release.
Northern Liberties interactive firm Bluecadet tells us that it received a notable profile in Communication Arts, a graphic design, interactive and advertising trade magazine, noting that in 2010, every project that the firm was commissioned to complete was recognized by the Webby Awards. The whole story is here.
MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME
TicketLeap announced that it has launched an iPhone app for scanning tickets. Read more and see a video demo of the new product here.
OpenDesks, which allows businesses with extra temporary office space to sell that space, announced last week in an email newsletter that it has launched an iPhone app to more easily find its 700 locations.
In a surprise move, Viddler is closing personal accounts, focusing on courting business users who will pay for service. The change won’t affect existing customers, and users won’t need a credit card to sign-up for the business trial, the company says. The company is trying to reduce spam sign-ups.
AlphaBuyer, which is looking to sell deregulated energy through the popular group buying method popularized by Groupon, is focusing a new campaign to entice PECO customers to switch to one of its energy providers, considering that the company’s rates are going to increase in 2012.
Geekadelphia covers Storably, the new startup hoping to save space, literally.
Startup Roundup will post weekly on Wednesdays until there’s not a Philly startup story left to link to on the Internet. See others here, or sign-up for its email newsletter.