A tale of two "Smalltimore" definitions

Welcome to Friday, Baltimore. I'm still digesting the conversation I had with a handful of founders and technologists yesterday, in which we covered how they view Baltimore's tech ecosystem and what the city needs to be successful going forth.

The term “Smalltimore” came up. I’m a Philly transplant, and you can’t live here for long without hearing the expression. For me, it mostly meant that if I saw you in one context, there was a good chance I’d see you in another, or that six degrees of separation in Baltimore were more like three or two tops.

The conversation instead centered around what Smalltimore meant for emerging founders in Baltimore. It mostly boiled down to the power of networks, both good (i.e. stronger and more intimate networks) and bad (i.e. if you're outside those networks, how do you get in?).

The ask here, for all of you reading, is: What does “Smalltimore” mean for you? If it’s a term that’s resulted in mostly bad, can it be used for good? If it’s been an advantage, can you tell me how? And how do you prevent the negative consequences of it?

Dropping Gems

• Learn a quick cybersecurity skill with yours truly. The best way to prevent a hack is to be the hacker.
• An explainer blog on how to build a text-based game using OpenSea API by Banjo Obayomi, a 2020 DC RealLIST Engineer. It provides an interesting use case and application of the NFT craze.
• A Web3 NFT tutorial on how to build an app to mint NFTs. Whether you actually want or even should build an app to do that is another question, but the skills to do it are invaluable.

In Other News

• The Maryland Tech Council is expanding and creating new chapters across Maryland.
• Leap, the Columbia-based home services software company, acquired workflow- and customer relationship management-focused JobProgress.
• Baltimore-adjacent remote talent marketplace platform Instant Team raised $13 million in a Series A. This is two years removed from a prior $1.5 million raise. In another two years, who knows how big the Series B raise will be.
• Gas is expensive, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the culprit. You should probably buy your gas on a Tuesday. Sorry to be telling you this on a Friday.
• For anyone that remembers the pig heart transplant story from two months ago, and the groundbreaking surgery that Dr. Bartley Griffith conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center: David Bennett Sr., the man that received the pig heart, recently died. I’d like to note that the procedure was successful, and a man with a failing heart lived for two more months than he likely otherwise would have.
• Baltimore’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is this Sunday at 2 p.m.

— Technical.ly reporter Donte Kirby (donte@technical.ly)