Alum has his eye on U. talent

Ashesh Shah is the kind of young alumnus Penn wants. A Management and Technology student who majored in computer science, management and finance, Shah went off to start a technology consulting firm and chose to keep the business in University City. Intermedia, the company Shah and classmate Manu Gambhir started after graduating from Penn in 1991, resides in the new Port of Technology building at 3701 Market Street. The two decided to ride the wave of popularity surrounding CD-ROMs in the early 1990s. "Our whole reason for doing this was it was right around the time that multimedia PCs became big," Shah said. Intermedia began as an interactive CD-ROM program design firm, authoring titles like "Virtual Crossword Puzzles" for TV Guide and Reader's Digest, a USA Today-branded reference product and "Lovejoy's College Counselor" -- which was included in a list of the top 100 CD-ROM titles. In 1996, as the Web began to drain demand for multimedia CDs, Intermedia made the transition from software consulting to Internet consulting. Regardless of what kind of consulting the company has performed, it has always worked out of University City. "The reason we stayed here was we knew the Penn campus," Shah said. He recalled that when the firm needed employees early in its growth, "we'd just march over to the Engineering school, to [Computing and Educational Technology Services]" and recruit people. "Our first permanent hires were all Penn students," Shah said. "The talent and the capability of students there is pretty much unmatched." Shah said that Intermedia benefits from past Penn students as well as current ones. One of the firm's most visible Web sites, the online presence for athletics gear company Puma, was brought to Intermedia by a Penn alumnus who was working for that company. Intermedia spent three months researching Puma's public image to get an idea of what its customers might go for. The site features a bright red background, animated widgets, and a soundtrack by Korn. But Shah said that "at the end of the day, we want you to buy a pair of shorts." The site exceeded expectations and turned a profit ahead of all estimates. While Shah has experience in both the technical and managerial aspects of his industry, he sees himself as primarily an entrepreneur. "I derive the most personal pleasure from the entrepreneurial ventures," Shah said. At the same time, Shah advises that "you must understand the business you're running." "I think the best way is having a real strong understanding of the technology," he said. As someone who has spent nearly all his life in the Philadelphia area -- Shah grew up in Lansdale and now lives on the Main Line -- the twenty-something has ideas for making "Philacon Valley" dreams coalesce. He thinks the University's P2B incubator initiative is a good start, but that it should have been considered earlier. "First, I think it's about time," Shah said. "Over the last 15 years at Penn, increasingly [there has been] an entrepreneurial focus. Every student walks around with a business plan." Shah said that the city needs the atmosphere of a cohesive technology sector, "not only to retain the talent and for the network, but also to obtain the talent." Operating a company in the city is "prohibitively expensive," Shah said, and the city wage tax has a "huge effect -- the city's got to do something about that." The Port of Technology, where Intermedia has its offices, is located in a Keystone Opportunity Zone, where it is exempt from most taxes. A company like Intermedia needs "to make real strong ties with other companies -- it can't operate in a vacuum," Shah said. Shah had actually planned to move Intermedia out of the city before it was wooed into the Port of Technology. "The only thing that kept us in the city was the universities," Shah said.

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