Philly Hardware Meetup at South Philly NextFab

We’re very excited to be meeting at NextFab, a membership-based makerspace at the heart of Philly’s hardware community.

We have a great group of guest speakers::

• Shoshana Weintraub is the CTO at Baleena, leading the research and development of the various components of Baleena’s innovative device. Baleena is developing the first convenient and highly effective, in-drum solution to target microfiber pollution from residential washing machines.
• Tom Ward, co-founder, and CEO of Epoch Boats. Epoch, a Philadelphia hardware startup, designs and manufactures high-performance electric boats that make boating easier while reducing environmental impact. Prior to founding Epoch, Tom spent 15 years in the R&D and NPD departments of several established hardware companies in roles ranging from Engineering Intern to Senior Director of Engineering. He will give a talk titled ‘Guerilla Prototyping’ about methods for rapidly building and testing insanely low-cost hardware prototypes with a focus on real-world examples.
• Don Panco, cofounder, CTO, and Interim CEO of Kapsul, runs Blinkenlights.tech to provide services related to CTO and other executive functions, entrepreneurship, engineering, and design. Their specialties lie in the IoT and Industrial IoT spaces, and product development for both enterprise and consumer-focused clients. Founder Don Pancoe is a mentor with Techstars, Founder Institute, and others.

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Agenda

6:30-7:00 pm: Arrive, mingle, grab some food and a beverage
7:00-7:15 pm: Opening remarks
7:15-8:00 pm: Guest Speakers + Q&A with the audience
8:00-8:30 pm: Open Mic.
Anyone in attendance can give a demo or short presentation on their hardware product, startup, or project.
8:30-9:30 pm: Mix, mingle, and close out the night.
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Thank you to our partners for helping make this event!

NextFab is a membership-based makerspace at the heart of Philly’s hardware community that provides tools, technology, education, events, and services for makers of any skill level. Nextfab offers a variety of education and startup programs, as well as professional design, production, and placemaking services.

informal is a freelance collective for the best independent professionals in hardware and manufacturing. Whether a client is looking for a single contractor, a full-time employee, or an entire team of professionals to work on everything from product development to go-to-market, informal has the right collection of people for the job. With projects as varied as 3D printers to electric vehicles, informal members work with companies at every scale to design, manufacture, and ship physical products.