We are running http://trubee.com. Bootstrapped, Beaverton-based

I run http://concrete5.org. We’re an open source content management system based here in Portland. We used to be a full service interactive media firm and just under a year ago we decided to release our previously commercial software for free to make the world a better place. We’re translated to a dozen languages, we’ve got thousands of developers in our forums, we’re showing up in RFPs as a required option right next to Drupal and Joomla. I’m not a guy with an idea, I’m a guy with a product that is working today.

It is true, I love Portland. I’m not confident we could have built a CMS as revolutionary in approach and UI if we were in San Francisco or Seattle – too many distractions. There’s a passion for real work here. That’s great. There’s a lot of bright (and affordable) workers with cool ideas and prototypes.

What Portland does NOT have is any real business scene. I’m sure I’m making enemies by saying this publicly, but someone has to be frank.. Working for Nike or Intel is a stepping stone everyone trips over. Then what? Make a startup? Awesome for you. #1 problem; building a better mouse trap is not really going to help you. Any business is a success because of their partnerships, their executive team, their ability to connect with competitors and customers, oh, and then their product. This is hard for the bright engineer in us to swallow, but unless you’re watching Beta instead of VHS – it’s true.

OHSU is a fine place, but it is no Standford. The benefit of a great school isn’t just a great education, its a great rolodex. The fact that Linus hangs out in Beavertron is a nice tidbit for the news, but frankly he doesn’t get out much and it looks like GIT is where his mind is at. Wade (wikipedia) should really be mentioned as often as Linus is, but beyond the AboutUs board seat I don’t see a lot of local activity there either. I’m not sure what the OTBC is supposed to be about, but when I called them looking to put together an advisory board of open source heavy hitters for our internationally recognized project, the answer I got was “check out P.O.S.S.E – I think they provide some local services around open source in Portland..” uhhh.. yeah.. riiight. The OEN is a meat market of service providers who at best poke holes in business plans for a small fee. And the SAO, while I am eager to see what Scott does with it, has traditionally been a way to pay slightly less for health insurance.

Every big client we’ve ever had as come from out of state.
Most of them from California, Boston and New York.

I don’t mean to come off like a jaded, judgmental ass… (woops, too late!) and again, I deeply love Portland. I am a transplant, I’ve had two kids here, there’s no place I’d rather live in the greater 48… So I say this with nothing but love and the hope that perhaps my rant will help others avoid some mistakes I’ve made, perhaps motivate some real players to come out of the woodwork and get involved, and of course not overly negatively impact my ability to work here.. But Portland’s interactive scene seems to still be the same point it was ten years ago when the PDC financed the Creative Services building as a way to attract clients from out of town to shop our creative talent. (and yeah, that worked out real well)

OsCon leaving here for San Hose was a huge loss. Someone smart should be worried about why that happened. OsBridge should be a good thing I guess, but what we really need is established people, events, companies from /elsewhere/ looking at Portland. Not Portlanders patting themselves on the back and complimenting their respective white belts. To make a food analogy (because I do that) there are waaay too many soux chefs, not enough well known executive chefs, and certainly not enough patrons. There IS some cool stuff happening here, just as there is always some great food when a bunch of soux chefs get together at a BBQ. But the challenge Portland has is who is selling and eating these amazing meals?

Frankly, I think the best we can shoot for today is “San Francisco’s Garage” – and even that is a goal not a reality.

Think I’m wrong? Show me.
franz at concrete5.org

Open-source software licenses provide protection from large corporations with aggressive legal departments. In contrast, patent laws are dysfunctional from the perspective of a small business–because a small business cannot defend even a solid patent against a large corporation. If there were such a thing as an “open patent”–that provided in the patent world what open software provides in the copyright world–then we would be more focused on creating products, not just software.

Like artists, we are driven to create what we believe has value. Maybe what we call our side projects are really the equivalent of an artist’s portfolio. For the most talented, those side projects open doors to interesting projects that can pay the bills.

While waiting for the next interesting income-generating project, we spend time around other tech folks who can remind us that yes, our side-project software creations are worthy of praise.

We’ve learned that monetizing our creative efforts requires that we balance our solitary coding instincts with social networking. That perspective has yielded rich tech-oriented networking opportunities here in Portland. These events are identified in the Silicon Florist blog, the Calagator calendar, and sometimes in the LinkedIn PDX Technology Professionals group announcements.

These events are mostly free of glad-handing sales types, and this allows introverts to feel comfortable; conversations are expected to start with moments of awkwardness.

We lament the fact that government leaders haven’t learned the importance of nurturing (i.e. less heavily taxing) small, fragile startups that create new things of value. That makes it harder for startups to grow into the large corporations that government can heavily tax (including indirectly, through employee salaries).

Unfortunately large corporations typically fail to recognize that individuals, not business processes, are the true engines of innovation. Fortunately some small businesses are smart enough to hire the tech folks who demonstrate their ability to generate value. These are the success stories that inspire a continued focus on creating.

Community oriented – both socially and professionally (see above re: tools), with a growing, flexible overlap between the two, which adds the third way that this work here in PDX feels different than it has in the past (other tech blooms have happened: ‘silicon forest’, remember that?):

Fun and excitement. People actually enjoy each others’ input and contribution – it doesn’t feel stiff and overly scheduled (like ‘work’) but more like ‘side projects’ – at any given time, I feel like folks here can pick and choose between a bunch of potential contributions – some on their own stuff, some on others’ stuff – and attribution (for the most part) gets done and done right. So, what is building is camaraderie and trust in an atmosphere of competence, openness, and ‘we are going to get there together’