Technical.ly closes Delaware office

February 27, 2025 7

WILMINGTON — After 10 years of covering innovation and technology in the First State, Technical.ly Media’s Delaware office has transitioned to operating as a satellite office for its broader Philadelphia market.

Technical.ly Founder and CEO Christopher Wink made the announcement in an email earlier this month. The online news website has also ended the weekly Delaware newsletter and directed its Delaware reporter to national and regional coverage. The Technical.ly website still includes an archive of the previous reporting done on the state.

Wink wrote in a column that Delaware readers should expect reporting to start looking like Technical.ly’s work in Montgomery County, Pa., which has blossomed into a tech hub but doesn’t operate as an independent one.

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Technical.ly’s decision was affirmed by a study the news organization ran, paid by a grant from the Longwood Foundation.

“I do think Delaware should be unabashed in its alignment with the Philadelphia region,” Wink later told the Delaware Business Times. “Consider me 10 years into reporting, and there was a moment where I was wondering whether Delaware should stand on its own? I do feel confident in my answer: at this stage, right now, it cannot be based on economic activity and commercialized technology. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

The company started in 2009 at the hands of Wink and Technical.ly Chief Creative Officer Brian James Kirk, along with Sean Blanda who has since moved on, to offer smart tech journalism at a time when the media industry was working out how to address new social media websites like Facebook.

The first Technical.ly markets were Philadelphia and Baltimore, but Wink said he was approached by Mona Parikh, the director of Start Up Delaware under the Markell administration, and asked why Technical.ly wasn’t in Delaware.at the time. That led to an introduction with Dan Freeman, founding director of the University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship.

“They were big champions at the time and there were these generations of people who were talking about how Wilmington needed a new economic generator. We couldn’t be only credit card company with regional offices,” he said.

Back in 2010, Technical.ly was first to report on Delaware’s first-ever coworking space, then called coIN Loft in downtown Wilmington.

The Technical.ly team was so convinced in the future success of a Delaware-based media product that it opened up shop in the First State in 2014, writing about the state’s innovation identity. That coverage continued to include coworking spaces, as well as start-ups and the latest in technology.

The problem, from Wink’s perspective, was that the investment from Delaware to forge that innovation identity was not there. In fact, other cities and regions are moving at a much faster rate, meanwhile the remote work trends are pouring gasoline on an open flame.

“I don’t think enough Delaware leaders get that this game is moving fast. The remote worker fights around the region are ferociously pushing a story around their innovation economies to try to attract those workers,” he said.

He pointed to Technical.ly’s attempts to host a Delaware Innovation Week, mirroring what the organization previously put on in Philadelphia and Baltimore. But the company struggled to find state and business leaders to help make it happen.

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“That would have been a moment to say that Delaware was a few steps behind other markets. But we just keep being a little behind,” he said.

Through sponsorships posted on Technical.ly’s website, it’s clear to see that the organization is backed by economic development organizations, professional services, as well as tech hiring organizations.

In its early days, Technical.ly saw about 85% of its revenue from events like conferences where readers and innovators meet, such as Philly Tech Week. But these days, that revenue source has dropped and partnerships, such as those who sponsor the site, have helped make that lift in lieu of event revenue.

Technical.ly will continue to take pitches and report on Delaware’s technology and innovation stories. But Wink said that right now, the writing is on the wall that there needs to be a big push for change in the start-up culture and people in the First State need to take note.

“I’m a believer in Delaware. People would often assume I’m a native because I used to be at a conference sharing Delaware data,” he said. “I am optimistic that whenever there is a leadership change, there’s a chance to change course. But when you’re playing behind, you don’t have the luxury of reassessing everything all over again.”