Founder Factory Preview: Sidecar Leaders to Talk About Scaling a Business Fast

The 2015 Founder Factory audience. Photo via YouTube.

Founder Factory is back. On Thursday, an estimated 500 people will convene at the annual event, hosted by Philly Startup Leaders, to talk about the state of Philly tech. The juicy agenda will allow attendees the opportunity to network with Philly venture capitalists and also glean some actionable tips for their own workplaces.

“What PSL is doing — creating a venue for us to learn from one another and network — is critical for us to help one another grow,” said Steve Tutelman, COO of the Philly-based e-commerce company Sidecar.

Tutelman and Sidecar founding CEO Andre Golsorki will talk to the Founder Factory crowd about how to scale a business in a talk titled “Calculated Moves: What Your Financial Metrics Indicate About Scaling Your Business.” The team scaled its startup from under 30 people to 100 people in just 18 months. And they’re looking to double the business again in 2017 and in 2018.

Golsorki said that scaling is not about just growing one part of the business, but about making sure that all verticals, including client services, sales, and marketing, are high performing so that they too can be scaled. And according to the team, the explosive growth was also a result of methodical and deliberate thinking about how to spend money.

“Entrepreneurs are often overwhelmed with where to put their money, and they’re often unsure of where and when to scale or pull back, but the answer is in their data and the underlying metrics of the business,” said Tutelman.

And the e-commerce leaders promise that they won’t just talk about what they got right. “Philadelphia has been critical to our growth, and we want to share with our community the major challenges we’ve experienced,” Tutelman said.

In additional to an impressive slate of local tech leaders who will speak at the event, PSL is bringing in entrepreneurs from New York and Boston. Keynote speakers include Etsy COO Linda Kozlowski, Birchbox’s former Co-CEO Hayley Barna, and David Tisch, a managing partner at BoxGroup.

The event will kick off with a Wednesday evening Diversity Dinner featuring Mayor Kenney, Councilwoman Helen Gym, Councilman Allan Domb, and a number of Philly tech leaders to discuss how Philly can diversify its tech ranks.

It’s not too late to register — view the agenda and entire lineup of speakers here.

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