Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Labor Day Weekend 2026: Eats, Drinks, and Happenings in Portland – Bridgetown Bites

This year, Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7, and with the adjoining Saturday and Sunday, September 5 and 6 it makes for a nice long weekend.

I never assume you have the time to keep up with every single thing I post around here. I barely do. And I’m the one writing them. So consider this our cheat sheet. These are the most-read Silicon Florist stories from August 2026, as decided by you, the readers. That way none of us has to pretend we caught every last one of them the first time around. And I can remember what I actually wrote.

Following the departure of the previous director, our friends at the Portland Metro Region Innovation Hub — the Portland chapter of a statewide network of hubs for innovation activity — were on the search for a new director to lead the organization. I talked a whole bunch of folks who were interested in the role and a number of them applied. But when the dust cleared, it’s been revealed that Kelly Lyons has selected to lead the organization.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

From Building $18 Million Startup as a BYU Student to a GP in a VC: Adam Shaw’s Founders & Funders Bet – TechBuzz News

That instinct — find the margin, build the relationship, bet on yourself — has carried Shaw from Woodland, Washington, a small town an hour’s drive from Portland, through a medical-supply company he scaled as a college student from zero to $18 million during the pandemic, a management-consulting stint that helped restructure procurement for a group of major REITs, and now into the role of co-founder and partner at Founders & Funders, the Utah-born venture and events company he now runs alongside Jeff Erickson.

If you’re interested in connecting with folks from the Portland startup and/or tech community, there are a number of opportunities to do so. And this week it spans from coworking sessions to birthday parties. So let’s find you a few places to show up, this week.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

AI Builder Series: AI Without the Hype — September 5, 2026

Led by Scott Hanselman, this session is practical, grounded, and interactive. Together, participants will explore how to use AI tools in ways that actually save time, reduce repetitive work, and support creativity. The goal is not to chase buzzwords or speculate about AGI. It is to understand what is useful now, what is overhyped, and how to make informed decisions about the tools showing up on our laptops, phones, and in our work.