I want to keep developing as a small business owner and leader.
That’s why I keep track of my professional goals each year — in addition to personal resolutions. This past year was no different. Most of those goals involve my company Technically Media but not all.
Below see what I’m most proud of having accomplished in 2015.
- LEADERSHIP Philadelphia named me one of 55 young leaders the city should prioritize retaining. [January]
- I reported out and wrote a piece of two wonky municipal tax code changes. [January]
- I continued my adult approach to investing some in my wardrobe. This post amused many who have known me for years. [February]
- I curated a Philadelphia tech community questionnaire for mayoral candidates and then got their responses, informing a Mayoral forum we held (we had a City Council one too). [February]
- I wrote one of the most thorough obituaries of my life, of a leading Delaware investor. It was well-trafficked and garnered positive feedback for being fair and complete. [March]
- I wrote a nice feature on why software giant SAP has its North American headquarters in suburban Philadelphia. [March]
- I coordinated a live podcast recording, during which I told a story of my own — and used the interviews for that piece for a profile of a departing Delaware entrepreneur (including audio) and thought leadership from Richard Florida. [March]
- Philadelphia magazine published a long feature on Technical.ly. (I wrote them a letter to the editor followup.) [April]
- We hosted another enormous Philly Tech Week, this time with Comcast as the title sponsor. [April]
- Temple University’s Fox School of Business honored me with a ‘Self Made and Making Others’ award. [May]
- We hosted our best team retreat yet, a dozen of us at a mansion in New Hope, Pa. to be followed by zip-lining. [June]
- A freelance piece I wrote for Drexel’s alumni research magazine was published on a robotics startup. [July]
- I was the keynote speaker at celebrated open source conference FOSSCON. I did OK. (And wrote a piece on open source legend ESR while there) [August]
- We announced that we would begin publishing Generocity.org, a social impact news site that would become our second brand. (Tellingly, I’ve been speaking about social enterprise for years, including at an event in Brooklyn earlier in 2015) [September]
- We hosted the biggest and best Baltimore Innovation Week yet, including a curated conversation around commercialized technologies, about which I wrote. [September]
- We moved into a new office building, beginning with a new temporary headquarters as our permanent space was finalized. I feel lucky for three years at First Round Capital. [October]
- I attended and wrote a feature on e-gaming tournaments. [October]
- Our inaugural Delaware Innovation Week was full of surprises. [November]
- We hosted a second Rise civic innovation conference, and I had a great time interviewing Philadelphia Mayor Elect Jim Kenney on stage. [December]
- With the help of several team members leading, we hosted the most organized (and fun!) All Team Day yet, bringing together the full-time across markets to talk about our goals for 2016. [December]
I also had some on-going efforts in 2015 that made me proud:
- Technical.ly stakeholder meetings: We brought together small groups of leaders in our respective communities and pulled out the clearest thread of conversation, from the changing epicenter of tech in Brooklyn to how Delaware is raising its standards to DC wanting more depth.
- Doing Innovation Awards right: I’ve always resisted our hosting awards because they so often become meaningless pay-to-play or simple popularity contests. From our first ever in Brooklyn and Delaware, and the best version yet in Baltimore (and one I led for the Philly journalism club Pen and Pencil), we took nominees and curated thorough lists, to then allow for public voting.
- Putting together Innovation Maps: This year we took on the very challenging effort of mapping out where tech and innovation happens in our communities. There was lots of conversation following their publishing — here is Baltimore’s.
