---
title: 'Positive press: The Oregonian points to the potential the startup community holds'
date: '2009-04-23T22:48:33-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 338
char_count: 2210
tokens: 440
categories:
  - Community
  - MikeRogoway
  - Oregon
  - Oregonian
  - Portland
  - Startup
tags:
  - 'high tech'
  - 'mike rogoway'
  - Oregon
  - Oregonian
  - Portland
  - Startup
---

# Positive press: The Oregonian points to the potential the startup community holds

Hang in there, you entrepreneurial type you. You’re making progress. I know it. You know it. And now, other folks are starting to take notice. Like *The Oregonian*.

In a recent article entitled “[Oregon’s high-tech better off now than in dot-com bust](http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/04/oregons_hightech_better_off_no.html "Oregon's high-tech better off now than in dot-com bust")” business and tech reporter [Mike Rogoway](http://twitter.com/rogoway "Mike Rogoway")—one of the mainstream media folks in Portland who clearly “gets it”—had the following to offer about the under the radar startup scene:

> And though the state’s technology manufacturing base continues to erode, a cluster of Web services companies are creating a vibrant culture around social-networking technology.
> 
> Hopes are high they could lead Oregon technology out of this latest downturn, though their economic impact is muted.
> 
> Many of these small companies have set up shop in previously rundown buildings downtown or on Portland’s inner east side. They share a passion for social media, which connects people online through a series of tools including wikis, blogs and the instant-messaging service [Twitter](http://twitter.com "Twitter").
> 
> Prominent examples include [Jive Software](http://jivesoftware.com "Jive Software"), [AboutUs](http://aboutus.org "AboutUs") and [SplashCast](http://splashcast.net "SplashCast"). Dozens, maybe hundreds, of even smaller companies are bootstrapping themselves with just a handful of employees and their laptops, using low-cost open-source software to launch their businesses with a minimum of startup costs.

So you keep doing what you’re doing there, Portland and Silicon Forest startup types. You’re making a difference. And people are starting to realize what kind of potential we have here.

For more insight on the technology business environment, see Mike’s piece on the [current state of Oregon’s high-tech scene.](http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/04/oregons_hightech_better_off_no.html "Oregon's high-tech better off now than in dot-com bust")

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