We asked 6 Philly founders who run remote companies what ‘local’ means to them these days

The first few years Technical.ly curated the RealLIST Startups — our selection of intriguing tech startups that were coming into their own in here in Philly — what made a “local” company was a lot clearer.

But in the pandemic, local has been redefined. Most of the tech companies we talk to these days have a regional office or founder, but they’re building their team from all over. Some were founded in Philly, build their products in labs here or have a higher ed connection. But the days that tech companies set up shop in Center City offices feel long gone.

When we gathered the founders from Philly’s 2022 RealLIST for a roundtable discussion last week, we wanted to know how they were thinking about locality.

Mike Fiebach, cofounder of ecommerce company Mainfactor, is a through-and-through Philly guy, he told this reporter recently. And although he and his founding team launched the company here in 2020 (on March 3, 2020, to be exact) it does feel different than his previous company. Because it was days old when the pandemic took shape, they never got an office. They have a handful of Philly employees, but they’re hiring from wherever.

“In the earlier days, I always got asked why I was in Philly. But I think Philly has established itself as a hub for startups,” Fiebach said. “And being on the other side of a pandemic too, people don’t care anymore where you come from.”

For Matti Perilstein Burnett, cofounder of end-of-life healthtech company Eternally, being based in the Philly region has been an advantage with investors. Working first out of their team members’ houses, and then their space in Narberth, that geographical diversity is something investors from outside the region are interested in, the founder said. Pennsylvania roots also help in a roundabout way.

“It’s also been helpful in terms of our story and our growth. PA is not particularly friendly for telehealth startups, and we’ve overcome a lot of hurdles,” she said. “So when we go to more friendly policy-driven states, its almost like we’ve proven ourselves already. If we can do it in Pennsylvania, we can do it here.”

Philly’s meds-centered economy has also been helpful in making connections, and growing a healthtech startup. The company launched right as end-of-life care became critical amid a pandemic, and Perilstein Burnett said they had to learn how to grow even faster than they anticipated.

Two others RealLIST founders in the health space, Anthony Scarpone-Lambert and Julia Anthony, aren’t always based in Philly, but feel like their companies are Philly startups. Anthony, founder of SOLUtion Medical, has an international patient base, and she’s connecting with investors remotely and works between Johnson & Johnson JLABS locations in Philadelphia and New York. But it’s been an easy move to remote-first work.

“We still consider ourselves a Philly company, at least I do, but we would like to branch out with capital here and other resources as we’re moving forward,” she said.

Scarpone-Lambert, a Philly native, launched Lumify Care as a nursing student at University of Pennsylvania. He said that the company has been remote-first from early on — there are employees on the east and west coasts in the US, and they have team members in Poland and Singapore — but he identifies the company’s home as here.

“Philly will always feel very special because that’s where we started, and although we’re now spread out, I think we’ll always consider ourselves a Philly native company,” he said. “It’s where our piloting and users came from, for that reason I still feel very connected to Philly.”

Shivani Shah, who launched the healthcare professionals-focused dating app ForeverX last year with brother Sagar, is the non-Philly half of the founding sibling duo. She’s based out of North Carolina while completing a medical residency, but feels plugged into the resources, groups and startup community here, even from afar.

“Philly is our home,” she said. “Everyone is very cordial, everyone likes to help with the startup culture here and the people are really helpful. I think it’s what’s made this journey really rewarding.”

And while Cody Eddings, cofounder of fintech startup SnapRefund, is one of the most truly local founders working out of his home in Old City, he doesn’t really feel like a “Philly founder.” Eddings is a St. Louis native, and no one on his team was born and bred in Philly. Their location doesn’t feel like one of their main selling points, especially in this remote-focused world, even if they’ve picked up some of the city’s personality along the way.

“I think we’re always just trying to do something bigger than one city,” Eddings said. “We don’t use it as a selling point, but there is a grittiness in Philly. If you’re here long enough, you tend to get that edge, too.”