Pittsburgh Techies Reach Out To SXSW

Pittsburgh techies are making a pitch to South by Southwest to try and join the interactive conference.

It’s that time of year again — South by Southwest panel picker time. And if your social media stream is like mine you’ve been getting the solicitations and alerts about how everyone is voting.

Pittsburgh tech community has been making itself known at the annual interactive conference for the last several years. This year appears to be no different, with at least eight different proposed panels involving Pittsburgh entrepreneurs and techie types. An interesting note, most of the local proposals center on education and technology. MORE: SXSW Pittsburgh-style

Voting is open until Sept. 6 at the panelpicker site. Event organizers received more than 4,000 entries this year.

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3 Pittsburgh Firms make Inc 500 List

Target Freight Management, Branding Brand and 4moms are among the handful of Pennsylvania companies that have made the 2013 Inc. 500 list.

Target Freight Management was No. 129 on the overall Inc. 500 list for its 2,896 percent three-year growth. It was second only to Wilson Legal Solutions of Newtown Square, near Philadelphia, among Pennsylvania companies on the Inc. 500.

Branding Brand was No. 334 with 1,302 percent growth in the past three years. The Pittsburgh-based mobile commerce company was started in 2008.

4moms was No. 401 with 1,112 percent growth over the past three years. The company, which makes baby products, is based in Pittsburgh.

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Obama to Visit PA

President Barack Obama will be headed to Pennsylvania and Upstate New York next week.

Politico reported Monday that Obama would be in both states next week touting his economic programs. But the site didn't have any specific locations other than "a string of stops" in upstate New York. There's no word on potential stops in Pennsylvania and whether that would include southwestern Pennsylvania.

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Do More By Doing Less?

Every entrepreneur wants to get work done as quickly as possible, but sometimes the best way to get more done is to do a little less. Take some time to document guidelines and schedules to streamline future work sessions:

Most entrepreneurs subscribe to the philosophy: "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." This mantra, accepted by many small-business owners as fact, is only half true. If you want something done right once and you have no other time commitments, then the fastest way, in fact, is to do it yourself. However, if you want something done right repeatedly, day-in and day-out, all day long, and you don't have the time to do 10 full-time jobs all at once, you can't do it yourself.

To get everything your company needs done, you must transfer procedural knowledge, decision-making guidelines and a schedule from inside your head to your employees.

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Pittsburgh PA- Where the American Dream Still Lives

Pittsburgh ranks in the top 10 cities in the US where the American Dream still lives, and where people can come from rags to riches. Collected by Business Insider, these cities are those which offer a significant chance of its residences moving up on the economic scale:

In many ways, the American dream is in trouble. Increasing inequality means that it's harder than ever to break into the top income brackets from the bottom. 

A new study from some of the most prominent academic economists around, including John Bates Clark winner Raj Chetty and Emmanuel Saez, that was featured in The New York Times finds that there's massive regional variation in how many people crawl out of poverty. 

The key lesson? It's better to be born in the Northeast or on the West Coast than the South and Midwest. Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Detroit are the least upwardly mobile large cities in the country. 

In Atlanta, a child born in the poorest 20% only has a 4% chance of moving to the top 20%.
Among the things common to upwardly mobile cities were mixed communities of poor and middle income people, rather than intense concentrations; more two-person households; better schools; and higher civic engagement. 

Here are the 10 cities out of the largest 50 in America where somebody born in the poorest fifth of the income distribution has the best chance to make it to the top fifth.

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3 Pittsburgh Companies Go Social

3 Pittsburgh companies are going on to the national Social Madness competition! 4CTechnologies, NexTier, and 4moms will be representing the city over the next few weeks- keep your eyes peeled!

National Round 1 of Social Madness began this week with three Pittsburgh-area companies competing with winners from other American City Business Journal markets.
4CTechnologies, a Forest Hills-based business consulting and software engineering firm, won in the local small category and is now in the national small category.
Local medium category winner NexTier Bank, a financial services company based in Butler, is now competing in the national small category.
Strip District-based 4moms, a robotics company that makes high-end baby products, dominated the local large category and is now in the national large category.
National round 1 runs until July 22. Round 2 will also be an open format from July 23-29. The remaining rounds will consist of a bracket format, where companies compete head-to-head. National winners will be announced Aug. 20. The three Social Madness national winners each will have the right to designate a charity to receive $10,000.

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Keep an eye out for the upcoming National Small Business week here in Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their small business will get useful international trade strategies, tips on obtaining certifications and best practices from successful local business leaders on June 20 at the U.S. Small Business Administration's National Small Business Week event. 

The informational sessions and workshops will be held at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute in Oakdale, Pa. SBA Administrator Karen Mills will lead an armchair discussion with leaders from Pittsburgh's nationally-acclaimed startup accelerator, AlphaLab. Mills, Jim Jen, executive director of AlphaLab and Ilana Diamond, managing director of AlphaLab Gear will discuss early stage business development for small companies and give advice on what small businesses need to succeed and grow. 

Breakout sessions on certifications for small businesses, crowdfunding and speed mentoring sessions will also be featured. Other highlights include an economic overview address by the chief economist for PNC Bank, a luncheon address by Chesapeake Energy's vice president and executives from 84 Lumber, Innovation 21 and staff from local universities will also be on hand to dispense advice. 

A discussion on the "Pittsburgh Entrepreneurial Ecosystem" will be led by local business leaders and moderated by Seton Hill University's E-Magnify Director Jayne Huston, an SBA Women's Business Center. 

The June 20 Pittsburgh-area National Small Business Week event will be live streamed at www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek. The live streaming of all National Small Business Week events is provided by Microsoft. 

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