RJMetrics’ Robert J. Moore talks Philly, innovation, and recording a rap song

Philadelphia is on the map as a budding innovation hub, and it continues to grow.

“I always have viewed Philadelphia as having this really great combination of West Coast ambitions and East Coast sensibilities,” said Robert J. Moore, co-founder and CEO of data company RJMetrics.

Fresh off a networking conference earlier this week, Moore says the fact that Philly has become a hub to tech innovation has more up sides than not for new start-ups.

“There is a lot to be gained by just increasing the visibility of what you’re working on as an entrepreneur,” Moore said, adding that it also forms a community “that has some credibility in and of itself.”

When he and his co-founder first came on the local tech scene, there wasn’t much of a scene at all, according to Moore. But all that has changed over the last five years.

“Philadelphia has a much lower cost of living [and] Philadelphia has an amazing university system” with students angling for tech jobs, Moore said.

“That’s a paradise to me.”

To hear Robert J. Moore’s full conversation with WHYY’s Jennifer Lynn — and why recording a rap song helped his business — click the audio above.