‘Everywhere you look there are artifacts of entrepreneurship and innovation’: runner-up of General Assembly story contest

One of the likenesses of Benjamin Franklin that Justin Sapolsky references. Photo courtesy of PhillyHistory.org

By Justin Sapolsky

Last month we asked you to write us a 250 word story about why you love Philly for a chance to win $250 in General Assembly class credits. Thanks for your submissions. We’re posting the winners this week: Meet Wharton student Justin Sapolsky, one of the contest’s runners-up.

Find his story below the jump. And don’t miss General Assembly’s weekend workshop on entrepreneurial thinking and best practices in UX design from Nov. 17 – Nov. 18.

I love Philly because every where you look there are artifacts of entrepreneurship and innovation.

First, the USA was founded in Philly. The city contains over 5,000 likenesses of Ben Franklin, one of America’s most influential early entrepreneurs. Fast forwarding through history, nearly 300,000 college students attend schools in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. This population offers a rich source of individuals with specific skills, intellectual curiosity and hunger for making the world better through innovation. Not only do the schools offer talent, any budding entrepreneur can take a clipboard to one of the many campuses in Philadelphia and find a captive audience eager to give early product feedback.

Finally, the inhabitants of the City of Brotherly Love are fiercely loyal. You can see it everywhere from the raging passion of Eagles fans to the close knit and extremely supportive tech and startup community. The community is rapidly growing in a very exciting way, and many resources are sprouting up to meet the demand, like Seed Philly, DreamIt, VentureF0rth, MentorTech and First Round Capital‘s Dorm Room Fund. Philly is full of rich history and a booming start up scene which all make it a very exciting place to be.