Boston's tech identity issue versus Philly's

Tom Paine

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So you think its just Philadelphia that has a tech industry inferiority complex?

Dan Pimack / Fortune TermSheet

Well, then read this article, What's really wrong with Boston tech? by Fortune's Boston-based Dan Primack (a Haverford College grad no less), who covers the PE business globally, on Boston's somewhat diminished national status in the tech world, although they are still much bigger than us (according to the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers & the National Venture Capital Association based on Thomson Reuters data for 2013, New England ventures raised $3.3 billion versus $420 million for Philadelphia Metro). Although Primack notes a recovery from the meltdown of the old Route 128 minicomputer era, and a much more engaged and vibrant urban tech scene, he still wonders where the next big things are coming from.

As he sees it, some of the problem can be attributed to the lack of tech media based in Boston, although he notes the exceptions of a couple of Boston websites and one or two
people assigned to the beat from national tech blogs. While Silicon Valley is covered
to the hilt, on the east coast he perceives a New York media bias of sorts, in that since
so many media organizations are based New York, more reporters are based there and tend to hype up the next hot New York startup, which in a virtuous or vicious circle of sorts creates a stonger ecosystem for the New York tech scene. (That is my rough interpretation of his words, not his).

Of course Philly has, in addition to its local outlets (with due credit to Technically Philly), several well known tech reporters from national websites based around the area, though most are not here specifically to cover the Philly scene. In some cases, they only
live in the area due to its proximity to New York - at least that's my impression.

My point of view is that while a strong local tech media is important, it is also important that it is independent and objective in its coverage, rather than engaging in boosterism.

If you've got good stuff, you don't need to overhype it.