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

I could feel it. You needed some more good news today. Luckily Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representative Suzanne Bonamici are working hard at the Federal level to make that good news happen. To the tune of ~$6 million in support of Oregon startups.

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

Why Bootstrapped Businesses Are More Relevant Than Ever 

For entrepreneurs without the luxury of risk capital, product-market fit can’t be an odyssey. It has to be a starting point. Much of the global economy has been built this way. The path may take longer than the VC “go big or go home” approach, but many small companies scale into middle market businesses, and a few of the best find their way to market leadership, even in tech. Consider Atlassian and Basecamp. For every VC-backed startup, there are hundreds of bootstrapped founders building profitable businesses without any outside investment.

Came across a new effort from long-time startup community member George DeCarlo. It’s called Hatchable. And it’s built by Woobox, the same local shop that’s hosted more than 10 million sites over the past 15 years. Best of all? It seems to be striking a chord with all of the cool AI kids.

One of the most challenging timelines in the Portland startup community is the length of time between founding a company and successfully reaching a liquidity event for that effort. An acquisition, an IPO, a PE deal… something that rewards the founders for their efforts. So when a local startup manages to start, grow, and exit in a matter of years — rather than a matter of decades — it’s worth taking note. Bluesky feed and AT Proto startup Graze has been acquired by Flipboard.

You gotta love the entrepreneur support organizations. No. You do. That wasn’t a question. They keep working and working to help founders and startups. Almost nonstop. I mean, it seems like Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Angel Oregon Tech event was just last week… What’s that…? Oh. It was…? Well, I guess they’re bored now because OEN Angel Oregon applications are now open for the next cohorts of CPG, Life & Bio, and Tech.

As with every single thing political these days, it can be difficult to consume, assess, and navigate all of the noise. Maybe this is one of those times where technology can help you find your way to the appropriate ticket that reflects your political stance. Meet Portland Votes.

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

It’s Not All Bad In Oregon. I’ve spent a lot of words this year… | by Josh Carter | Aug, 2026 | Medium

Credit where it’s due, OEN is starting to take this on directly. They’ve spent the last couple years deliberately pushing their reach beyond Portland, into Central Oregon and the North Coast, and their board recruitment has followed the same logic, adding directors based in places like Hood River instead of pulling exclusively from the Portland bench.

We spend so much time in the digital world. I’ve been inspired to do a little more in the physical world. That’s why I’ve started a new little experiment. And if you’ve been brave enough to join the experiment, get ready to be happy. I just put a bunch of envelopes in the mail. Like it was the last century or something. Just wanted to give you a heads up.