ENTREPRENEURS BOOTCAMP AIMS TO MAKE DREAMS A REALITY

What happens when you take 30-plus entrepreneurs, put them in a 4,000-square-foot open space and provide them with funding and business advice for three months? It sounds like a reality show, but it’s not. It’s the second annual DreamIt Ventures program, which began on May 18, 2009, when the budding entrepreneurs moved into their workspace at the University City Science Center at 3711 Market Street on Philadelphia’s Avenue of Technology.

The DreamIt entrepreneurs will receive funding, office space at the Science Center and business advice from entrepreneurial gurus. In exchange, they will be responsible for getting their company to the next stage of growth, which often involves building a prototype or market-ready product and having their company ready for funding and/or launch by the end of August. The 2009 DreamIt group includes a variety of companies including:

• Jobaphiles, the Boston-based, job-auction service connects college students with local employers.
• Waffl, a New York-based company, provides platform community for owners and patrons of bed and breakfasts and small inns.

Steve Barsh, a managing partner of DreamIt is excited about this year’s entrepreneurs who are fired up and ready to go. The collaborative workspace at Quorum will fuel the collective energies that all these companies represent.

The DreamIt entrepreneurs will be the first members of the University City Science Center’s new Quorum program. Quorum is designed to create a magnet for entrepreneurs and innovators throughout the region to convene, interact, network and exchange ideas.

Plans call for the space that DreamIt will occupy over the summer to be fitted out in 2010 as a modular, “greet, meet, and eat” space that will provide a forum for entrepreneurs to build knowledge and explore opportunities.

Quorum also offers Science Center-supported programming at diverse events across the region and has an online presence through a LinkedIn group and Twitter.

“There is great synergy between DreamIt and Quorum,” says Science Center President & CEO Stephen Tang, Ph.D. “Quorum is all about creating a ‘clubhouse’ for entrepreneurs. I can’t think of a better set of initial residents than the DreamIt companies.”

David Bookspan, a DreamIt founder and managing partner, comments, “DreamIt is thrilled to have such a dynamic and supportive location for the companies. The Quorum space enables these companies to become a part of the Science Center community and Philadelphia, which we hope will ultimately keep them in Pennsylvania.”

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