Danya Henninger
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Articles by Danya Henninger
Remitly expanding in Arlington to tap the region’s deep fintech talent bench
This story was reported with support from our partner Arlington Economic Development, a launchpad for innovation and a top destination for businesses of all sizes. A Seattle fintech firm is expanding in Arlington — not because of the county’s proximity to the US capital, but because of its talent depth.
DC announces $5M+ in funding for city startups and accelerators
DC is funding six new startup accelerator cohorts, including an effort to launch five life sciences companies, as it expands support for entrepreneurs building businesses within city limits. Speaking on the first day of DC Startup and Tech Week, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced $2 million in grants for three support organizations via the city’s new Technology Ecosystem Fund. She additionally detailed seven new direct startup investments totaling $3.15 million through the DC Venture Capital Fund.
Announcing Ben Sailer, Technical.ly’s editor in North Dakota
With experience from recent roles at tech companies, Ben Sailer is bringing global best practices in information-sharing to Technical.ly, from and in service of his home state of North Dakota. A writer since childhood who pursued a journalism degree thanks to early teacher encouragement, Sailer today joins the team as our new market editor.
Call for nominations: 2026 Technical.ly Awards
It’s time to spread the love. The annual Technical.ly Awards honors impactful leaders, change-making companies, up-and-coming entrepreneurs and tech innovators helping communities evolve and thrive. It all starts with your nominations. Finalists are then curated by our reporters and editors, and winners are decided by popular vote. Why nominate? This is your chance to make a difference in someone’s life or career. That’s no exaggeration.
Luke Villermin wants to buy a business — and he has $100M to spend
Being a builder and being a founder don’t always go hand in hand. For some entrepreneurs, building means starting with an idea, raising money and creating a company from the ground up. For Luke Villermin, it means something different. The Lafayette entrepreneur is searching for one “exceptional” US business to acquire through his company, Glass Bay Capital. With up to $100 million to spend, Villermin says, he isn’t looking to build a portfolio or become a passive investor.
Deep Tech Startup Crawl photos: From science to ‘sci-fi,’ DC’s deep tech community has landed
This is a guest post by Margaret Roth, principal at Squadra Ventures and co-organizer of the Deep Tech Startup Crawl, for which Technical.ly is a media partner. The DC region has a growing cluster of deep tech startups building cutting-edge technologies with real-world applications. Work happening in this sector is specialized and complicated by definition, so this energy can be tough to trace company by company.
Hey young jobseekers: It’s not the robots (yet)
• Young-graduate unemployment is genuinely high, but the rise is driven by a frozen hiring market and more job-seekers, not AI layoffs. It’s a stuck economy, not a robot takeover. • AI’s real fingerprints are narrower and stranger: Computer-science grads carry one of the highest jobless rates of any major even at top pay, just 18% of jobs are thought to be at high near-term automation risk.
Louisiana is one of 5 contenders for a federal nuclear energy campus
Louisiana is in the running to host a major nuclear energy campus that federal officials say could draw up to $50 billion in investment, create nearly 25,000 jobs and supply power to drive the AI surge. The US Dept. of Energy (DOE) this week named Louisiana among five potential host states for its Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, alongside Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed memorandums of understanding with each state to keep exploring proposed projects.
Meet 6 Louisiana founders working to solve the world’s environmental and energy challenges
New Orleans resident Johny Lopez wants to make building facades follow the sun. His startup, Solara, is developing moving solar panels that attach to building exteriors and not only generate electricity, but also provide shade and reduce interior cooling costs. It’s one of six startups selected for this year’s Cleantech Open NOLA cohort, whose founders will share their ideas at a public showcase on Wednesday in New Orleans.
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This is How I Got Here, a series where we chart the career journeys of technologists, entrepreneurs, tech workers, builders and people in the innovation economy. Want to tell your story? Get in touch. • TK Bullet point 1 • TK Bullet point 1 • TK Bullet point 1 • TK Bullet point 1 A keyboardist tapping out showtunes beneath a halo of cardboard organ pipes is not something you expect to find in the middle of an urban street.
Philadelphia finally has a 250-year vision. Will we lead with it?
Philadelphia now has a long-term vision statement — not for the next budget cycle or administration, but for 250 years from now. The 96-word statement, finalized this spring and unveiled publicly last month at our Builders Conference, emerged from three years of reporting, stakeholder sessions and feedback from nearly 1,000 residents. It will be commemorated in a mural overlooking Elfreth’s Alley, the nation’s oldest continuously inhabited residential street.
Photo gallery: Pics from the 2026 Builders Conference
The 2026 Technical.ly Builders Conference was a big success, with more than 350 people from 30+ states coming through the doors of CYTO PHL in Philadelphia. Our reporters wrote real-time recaps of each session, and we have a searchable table of all of them here. We also have lots of photos from our panel discussions, AI workshops, founder fishbowls, Creator Lab, podcast room, Mural Arts paint sessions and more.
Why employers should develop workers in the age of AI, instead of chasing ready-made talent
If you want a seasoned, powerful employee, you probably shouldn’t go looking for one. You should grow one. Just look at Pokémon. That was the argument FSH Technologies founder Lilly Chen made at the Technical.ly Builders Conference, explaining the hiring strategy that’s helped her build a growing public service software company, one that counts Pennsylvania city governments and school districts as clients.
PHL Tech PAC calls on Philadelphia to launch a startup innovation office
This is a guest post by Amaury Abreu, founder of Kommunity, producer of Founders Alley and cofounder of PHL Tech PAC. Philadelphia Innovation & Technology PAC is excited to launch its advocacy platform with a simple but powerful invitation to Philadelphia City Council and the Mayor’s Office: Let’s build a dedicated City Innovation Office together. A permanent, funded home inside city government where Philadelphia’s startup community finally gets the focus it deserves.
Silence has become part of the story for Pittsburgh immigrant entrepreneurs
Fear of immigration enforcement can reshape the public life of a business. It can limit what owners say to reporters and distort the picture communities get of who is building, hiring and investing locally. That was one of the clearest takeaways from Technical.ly reporter Alice Crow’s recent appearance on City Cast Pittsburgh, where she discussed her reporting on how heightened ICE enforcement is affecting immigrant entrepreneurs in the region.
In a world of AI search, Technical.ly is a primary source
AI chatbot use is exploding in the US, and it’s not just because people are creating more and more workslop. The most popular way Americans use generative AI these days is actually not generating content. It’s “searching for information,” according to a December report by market research firm Ipsos. Instead of thinking about the bots as something to block, we view them as another way to get our info and analysis to people who want it.
Game Your Future: A new kind of gaming conference is coming to Baltimore
This is a guest post by Dexter Carr, founder of esports platform Game4Good and co-organizer of the Game Your Future Conference, for which Technical.ly is a proud media partner. When Game4Good’s annual conference returns to the Baltimore Convention Center from Nov. 14-16, it won’t look like your typical gaming expo.
Call for nominations
The annual Technical.ly Awards honors impactful leaders, change-making companies and innovative technology products making communities better. To start things off, we ask you for nominations. Finalists are then curated by our reporters, and winners are decided by popular vote. This first step is the most important. We need your help to find this year’s stars! This is your chance to make a difference in someone’s life or career Why nominate?
5 journalism principles for ethical use
For the first time in history, there’s no friction between having an idea and putting it into writing. Thanks to generative AI, telling stories and sharing them with the world has never been easier. This ease brings with it some downsides. And when it comes to potential detrimental effects, “workslop” has nothing on “news slop.” Professional storytellers — journalists, creators and other information providers — are trusted messengers.
Technical.ly just launched a new site version to better connect our community
See that phrase up in the top left corner? “Reported by Humans Since 2009.” That’s something we probably wouldn’t have guessed we’d be highlighting when this site first launched more than a decade and a half ago. We’ll be changing up the tagline regularly — and if you’re the first newsletter subscriber to email us when we switch it, we’ll send you a $25 gift card. Our rotating tagline is just a tiny part of the glow-up we gave the site, and we’re excited for you to check it out.
What Philly can gain from a closer look at Chicago’s tech growth
I can’t tell if it’s confirmation bias or the algorithms at work, but lately I’ve been seeing a ton of Philly friends post pics from Chicago. That’s unusual. Chicago and Philadelphia have a kind of weird relationship. They show up in the same breath as examples of “other big US cities,” but have never really had a deep kinship or persistent rivalry. It feels kind of like siblings that don’t speak, or influencers at a brand event trying to avoid one another in their shots. But maybe that’s changing.
Social beats TV: Technical.ly joins API cohort to rewire how news travels
How people get information is rapidly changing, and news organizations shouldn’t gatekeep. We should partner. More Americans are getting their news from social media than TV? Yeah, that happened. People are increasingly turning to AI chatbots to fact-check and seek relevant info? Ok, fine. If journalists’ goal is to inform our communities, let’s not waste time complaining about these shifts. Instead, we can increasingly think of our reporting as a “wire service” for these information delivery methods.
Most companies don’t IPO, so here’s how to plan for your likely exit
The most important day of an entrepreneur’s journey might be the one when it ends. The big question: Will it end on your terms? That’s the dilemma behind most startup exits, whether they take place through a merger, acquisition or an initial public offering (IPO).
Artscape 2025 brings tech and talent to downtown Baltimore
Baltimore’s beloved free arts festival is switching things up for 2025 — and not just with its art. Artscape has moved downtown and takes place earlier in the year than usual, over Memorial Day weekend on May 24-25. The new timing and location come with a message: The festival, produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA), isn’t just about creativity. It’s about innovation.
Why every city has a ‘startup week’ now — and whether they should
When Technical.ly first launched Philly Tech Week 15 years ago, the logic was straightforward: gather scattered entrepreneurs and technologists together, put the city on the map, and throw a few great parties along the way.
Filadelfia tiene grandes planes para sus pequeños negocios. Aquí te contamos cómo destacar el tuyo.
Los pequeños negocios quizás aún no sean considerados una parte fundamental de la economía de Filadelfia, pero sin duda están en el corazón de su cultura y sus vecindarios vibrantes. Por eso, en Technical.ly nos hemos propuesto destacar a emprendedores de los 48 códigos postales en la ciudad y explorar lo que significa construir un negocio aquí. Este proyecto forma parte de la iniciativa estratégica Grow Philly, delineada por el Departamento de Comercio de Filadelfia.
Entrepreneurship unifies: Introducing a new podcast on ecosystem building
Entrepreneurship is one of the few issues that unites nearly all Americans, with 94% surveyed believing everyone should have a fair chance to start a business, bridging political divides. As local economic development strategies increasingly embrace ecosystem building, efforts are shifting from slick websites to attracting human capital, with storytelling a key to standing out in a crowded field.
Why did North Philly shift toward Trump in 2024? ‘Social issues do not feed your family’
This article is a part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism with lead support from the William Penn Foundation, and additional funding from Lenfest, Comcast NBC Universal, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation and Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation.
Technical.ly’s new Report for America journalist in Baltimore will cover Maryland’s digital divide
Technical.ly is adding a new full-time reporter in Baltimore, and we intent to look statewide more than ever. Our editorial team this summer will welcome a journalist with a focus on covering Maryland’s rural-urban digital divide, thanks to our selection as a 2025-2026 Report for America newsroom. Being selected again to host an RFA corps member signals a vote of confidence in our work, and recognition of the importance of this critical topic.
Why this self-made software engineer left Silicon Valley to focus on investing in women
Technical.ly is a free news resource thanks to financial supporters like Truist, which underwrote this story. It was not reviewed before publication. Learn more about Truist, a top 10 US commercial bank. This is How I Got Here, a series where we chart the career journeys of technologists. Want to tell your story? Get in touch. It took 12 years for Grace Francisco to work her way through college.
How employers can attract and retain Gen Z talent
The next generation of talent is entering the workforce, and employers are adjusting their strategies to attract and retain Gen Z employees. At the 2024 Young Smart & Local conference, hosted by Campus Philly in early November, a panel of local HR professionals discussed how this , socially conscious group is reshaping hiring and workplace practices.
Live updates on vote counts
The 2024 election has finally reached its culmination. All eyes are on the race for president between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Beyond all the other things it will affect, this outcome could have major ramifications for regional tech economies. And the state where Technical.ly is headquartered and has two reporters, in Pittsburgh and in Philadelphia, is considered key to a win. We’re proud to present here live election results for Pennsylvania.
Block the bots or feed them facts? How Technical.ly uses AI in journalism
The tech affects the news industry from two directions: the inside — how AI tools are used to make the news — and the outside: how news products get used by AI companies building their tools. As a news org that covers innovation, experimentation is core to Technical.ly’s culture. We encourage our team to test ways AI-powered tools, like any other new technology, can help us connect with our community more effectively, efficiently and empathetically.
Celebrate your tech community: Nominations are open for the 2024 Technical.ly Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2024 Technical.ly Awards. This is your chance to shout out the people, companies, products and programs moving your region’s innovation ecosystem forward. What are these awards? Throughout the year, we honor startups, technologists and ecosystem builders with our RealLISTs. These awards let the community shout out more of the great work and people contributing to the local landscape. We’ve hosted these community-driven shoutouts annually for more than half a decade.
Help manifest Philadelphia's future at the Bookstore Crawl
The staying power of books means that even 250 years from now, Philly will almost definitely still have bookstores. What will the city look like for these future shops? No one knows for sure, but we can influence the answer. Stop by Technical.ly’s pop-up this Saturday during the second annual Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl to help create a collective vision statement for the city a quarter-millennium in the future.
What will Philly look like in 250 years? Help imagine the city’s future
As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States — a movement that was created, debated and consecrated in Philadelphia — let’s look ahead another quarter millennium. What will Philadelphia be like in the year 2276? We want your help in imagining our city’s future. Sure, we can’t know everything that will happen, or even most of it. But if we can articulate a vision for what life might look like 250 years from now, we can inspire pathways to get there.
Joe Biden wants to pass the baton to Kamala Harris, and Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro could be her running mate
With President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats now must navigate a shift that is unprecedented this late in an election year. And if Harris becomes the nominee, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — a first-term governor who has focused on technology and earned plaudits for economic policies that boost business creation and innovation — has a chance of being selected as her running mate.
Philly founder Will Toms on building REC and empowering creatives to fight ‘digital redlining’
Buying a sewing machine was a memorable moment for Philadelphia entrepreneur Will Toms, cofounder and chief creative officer at REC. The membership platform and digital marketing agency he launched in 2015 with Dave Silver was purposely built through collaboration. So when a member suggested a sewing machine would be useful, they bought one and added it to the collection of tools at their Center City coworking space.
Technical.ly receives $50,000 Lenfest 'Every Voice, Every Vote' grant to investigate local IT and tech policy
Deploying technology in smart ways is critical to progress. That’s especially true right now in US cities, and it’s why the Lenfest Institute awarded Technical.ly $50,000 to report on local IT and tech policy. This fall brings a presidential election where AI is likely to play a role, in messaging and cybersecurity battles that pivot around voter-rich urban centers.
Track power outages with ‘Is PECO Okay,’ a new site from the Philly dev behind ‘Is SEPTA F*cked’
Heat waves bring a surge in energy use, which can lead to power outages. A new dashboard lets you track them as they happen in Philadelphia — and watch how fast electricity is restored. Ardmore resident Doug Muth built IsPECOokay.com after losing power during a storm.
Workforce development
May 29, 2024 6:30am May 20, 2024 5:30am May 20, 2024 5:20am May 20, 2024 5:15am May 13, 2024 6:15am All Categories Civic News Company Culture Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter Professional Development Software Development Sponsored Articles Startups
Top insights on building better innovation ecosystems in 2024
Lean into neighborhood vibrancy. Make apprenticeship programs welcoming. Cultivate in-person connections. Celebrate online community. Define your audience. Be able to tell your story. A/B test! These themes and more emerged as hundreds from around the country gathered in Philadelphia on May 9 at the Technical.ly Builders Conference to discuss startup growth, entrepreneurship support, workforce development and other factors in building better innovation economies.
The VC reset lets ‘quality deals’ shine, and it’s even more important for founders to ‘be kind to people’
Raising venture capital has never been a given, but economic factors in the 2010s led to a historic flood of startup investment that gushed forward throughout the last decade. Now, the tides have turned. The return of interest rate hikes has sobered the VC community. That’s a positive thing, according to Nasir Qadree, founder and managing partner of DC-based Zeal Capital.
There’s a mismatch between economic data (it’s almost all positive) and sentiment (ugh life sucks)
The opening panel at the 2024 Technical.ly Builders Conference gathered people in leadership positions at a wide variety of organizations and companies, each deeply involved in the innovation economy, but all from very different vantage points. In the big picture, over the past few years, entrepreneurship has boomed and wages are up even among the lowest earners, said Theresa Singleton, of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, but people don’t feel that way.
To increase employee engagement, learn the ‘art of intentional gathering’ and let people feel safe to be creative
Remote work appears here to stay, at least in hybrid fashion. That shift has created new challenges for companies looking to retain talent. When scheduling a meeting, whether in person or virtual, always make the purpose clear, said Hannah Marks, a consultant whose experience in employee operations includes Discord, Lyft and time at startups.
To build an inclusive innovation ecosystem, seek partnerships, improve quality of live and practice ‘relentless incrementalism’
Across geographies, organizations are springing up with the mission to diversify local tech scenes and ensure more people get to participate in regional innovation economies. That goal isn’t just relevant to current entrepreneurs, according to Danae Mobley, CEO of STEM nonprofit Coded by Kids and executive director of 1Philadelphia. The effort will affect how cities can achieve digital equity and strengthen youth career pipelines, she said, urging decisionmakers to think broadly.
Will AI change the job market for better or worse? It’s all in how we use it: ‘AI, good. AI plus humans, bad’
With recent advances in generative AI — and the ChatGPT-led popularization of the tech — there’s a growing chorus that says society is primed for a major paradigm shift, something like what happened after the industrial revolution or the introduction of electricity.
Apprenticeship programs not only change lives, they strengthen the workforce companies need to thrive
Creating alternative pipelines into the tech workforce has the potential to change lives. Dominique McPhaul, a packaged application development associate at Accenture, told her own story as an example. “My apprenticeship has offered me and those around me the freedom of autonomy,” McPhaul said. Her mother got pregnant in high school, and wasn’t allowed to graduate. McPhaul herself did graduate high school, but there wasn’t money for college. She felt a loss of identity, and a loss of direction.
To be seen as a ‘cool tech hub,’ regional leaders can lean into strengths, embrace former weaknesses and bring people together
Economic development organizers from aspiring tech hubs each offered advice for how to grow and strengthen their local economies. Small ecosystems need to be honest about what their strengths are, but also about where they may fall short, said Zakiyyah Ali, executive director of the Tech Council of Delaware. As far as being a “cool tech hub,” she said, Delaware’s not there yet, “but we’re working on it.” She recommended leaning into data and being sure to do a comparative analysis to peer regions.
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