After spending most of his life in Washington, D.C., Kris Heidler is making the move to Center City Philadelphia.
Heidler, 39, is LeadiD’s senior director of analytics. He spent the last year working remotely for the venture-backed Ambler lead-tracking startup (out of 55 staffers, only four work remotely, said spokesman Adam Figueira, and they all work in sales).
“Once I hit the one-year mark, relocating to Philadelphia in order to join the on-site team seemed like a great move for everyone,” Heidler said. Before LeadiD, he worked at Neustar and 2U.
Below, Heidler tells us why he made the decision to move, what he won’t miss about Washington and about a curious moniker for Valley Forge.
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When and why did you decide to move to Philly? What factors were you weighing when making that decision? Did you know anything about the Philly tech scene beforehand?
I probably decided around December that I really wanted to be in the main LeadiD office. I was already coming up to Ambler on a regular basis, but being able to spend the entire week interacting with the other teams was really the driving motivation behind the idea.
I also knew a bit about Philadelphia’s thriving tech scene. I admired the commitment that incubators like DreamIt made to local startups, and then somebody told me that evidently the nickname of Valley Forge is “Silicon Valley Forge” so the move made complete sense.
What’s your first impression of the Philly tech scene?
There are a lot of innovative things taking place here. Nobody is doing yesterday’s work or working on yesterday’s technologies. They’re solving cutting edge problems. That’s been immediately obvious to me even in my limited time here.
Talk to us about the difference between where you last lived and Philly, what do you miss from over there that you would like to see over here? What’s better about being in Philly?
I love D.C., it’s been home for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the area and recently lived across the street from my grandparents’ old house! There’s a tech presence for sure, but you’ve got to look hard to find it. In Philly, it seems like there’s a different tech company on every city block — and, of course, in the suburbs as well. In Ambler, LeadiD shares a building with a number of other tech startups.
Let me tell you what I don’t miss: the Wizards, the beltway and traffic circles — not because I can’t handle them but more because nobody else seems to be able to! Honestly, besides a bit of nostalgia, I’m happy to be in Philly and don’t think I will miss much. I also hear that Philly is a great food town and I’m excited to explore it!
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