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

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

What Makes a Compelling Investment Thesis? — Oregon Venture Fund

As early-stage venture investors, often when evaluating a company there is hardly any revenue to underwrite, no retention metrics, and little data to base decisions on. Oftentimes, there is a team going after an opportunity and it is up to us to make an argument for why we believe that there is a clear, falsifiable case for why that very company could become large relatively quickly, why this is the time for that to happen, and why this is the team to pull it off. That argument is our thesis.

In the modern day world of proprietary home contraptions like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, it’s difficult to find solutions that do exactly what you want them to do. Which is why I’m glad that there’s the Open Home Foundation and Home Assistant, an open source approach to the robots that run our connected devices within our abodes. And in November, Portland will have a day to compare notes, share insights, and celebrate the more open approach. All as part of Home Assistant Community Day PDX.

If you’ve been anywhere near Portland as of late, you’ve likely heard about the potential shuttering of multiple schools. Due to dropping enrollment numbers. Salem-Keizer is having similar discussions. And while this whole thing can be heated and uncomfortable, it’s really nice to have the ability to assess the actual data. Which we can. Thanks to Right Size Portland.

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

The Hardware, Economics, and Security Challenges of Long-Context AI — Tellagence | by Nitin Mayande | Oct, 2026 | Medium

Longer context comes with real hardware costs, higher inference bills, latency challenges, and — perhaps surprisingly — new accuracy and security problems. The key question is no longer “How much context can we fit?” but rather “How much context do we actually need, and how can we represent it efficiently and safely?”

I’ve been tracking on C1 since their early days. And with the wealth of cybersecurity and identity talent in our region, I had high hopes. But I certainly didn’t expect those hopes to pay off so rapidly. But the world of AI and agents has certainly sped up the timeline on a number of fronts. So it should come as little surprise that C1 has reached an agreement to be acquired by Workday.

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

Anthropic can’t reliably control its AI agents — it’s cutting off its internal evals from the live internet instead | TechCrunch

The incidents, disclosed in a blog post, involved AI agents tasked to solve problems seeking resources on the internet. In the process, they exploited software flaws, accessed databases without paying fees, used URL-shortening services to smuggle information past restrictions, and even submitted a false murder tip to the Philadelphia police.

If you’re looking to get out to an event or three this week, there are a bunch of options available. There’s also High Desert Innovation Week happening in Bend with several events to attend.