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

Last week, we gained two valuable insights into the platforms for Tina Kotek and Christine Drazan, the two candidates for governor of Oregon. And a rematch of the Oregon governor’s race the last time around. I know you’re busy. So I wanted to be sure that I provided some insights on each candidate from a startup perspective, based on their published plans and a recent forum where each candidate spoke.

Sometimes, the most promising opportunity is in a space that appears to be overcrowded and dominated by major brands. Like selling handmade goods. With Etsy and ebay and any number of other competitors, that may seem like a solved problem. But, then again, Google wasn’t the first search engine. It just entered a cluttered market and did the job better.

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

The Sports Bra deserves our support – Portland Business Journal

As most readers know, The Bra, as it’s known to fans, is a women’s sports bar launched in 2022 by Portland native Jenny Nguyen. As many of you may also know, the establishment has recently been targeted by anti-trans rights protesters.

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting the list of companies that won the competition to take the main stage at Bend Venture Conference, this year, your wait is now overly. BVC has released the list of the five early stage companies selected for 2026.

Interested in getting together with folks…? Well, there are plenty of events this week to give you the opportunity to do just that. Hopefully, there are any number of interesting topics and opportunities for you in the list below.

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

You Think You Need a Foot Doctor – by Dr. Astrid J. Scholz

I’ve been thinking about this because of the requests for proposals, terms of reference, and other procurement announcements that come across my desk, and the desks of my colleagues who have spent decades inside and alongside mission-driven organizations. They arrive as neat, fundable, RFP-shaped asks. We need a five-year strategic plan. We need a succession plan. We need to hire a development director. We need a new executive director. Each is a reasonable request. Each can be answered with a one-pager, a template, and an invoice. And each, in my experience, is usually the wrong place to start.

Portland Business Journal hosted Oregon gubernatorial candidates Governor Tina Kotek and state Senator Christine Drazan for what has been billed as the one and only discussion the two will have prior to the election. As always, I’d like to remind you that I am not a savvy political correspondent. Or even a hamfisted unsavvy political correspondent. I just regularly vomit words onto the Internet. I will, however, do my best to share an objective assessment of the event and the views that each candidate shared during the discussion from my usual myopic startup lens. Much like I did with my analysis of both Kotek’s and Drazan’s published plans for Oregon.

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

Knight Family commits $1B toward a college of engineering at UO | Office of the President

I share this news while also acknowledging that we are working through difficult budget conversations. This exceptional gift is designated for engineering and accelerating scientific impact. It does not resolve the work still in front of us to address our structural deficit over the coming years. But it does affirm the principles laid out for those conversations: that we would invest in the strengths that set our university apart, continue to highlight research leadership and excellence, and make the UO a destination of choice for more students.