Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
I know, I know. You have so many good ideas. So many potential presentations. Tell you what, pick a few of the best ones and get them submitted for Ignite Portland 6 because your time is running out.
That’s right. This Sunday is the final submission deadline for proposals. And then the Legion of Tech is going to meet at E-San and… hold a tick. There’s something new happening here. Read More
Given that even I have grown weary of bitching about the latest Twitter kerfuffle, I thought I might try and post something positive.
And what could be more positive than giving a local startup a little oomph as it competes with some heavyweights for a prestigious award? Well, nothing of which I can think, at the moment.
And while sales and tax management software startups aren’t the usual ilk of what I cover around here, I do love a good David and Goliath story. So here it goes… Read More
I hate reporting this stuff, but I just caught wind of another layoff at Portland-based Vidoop.
According to a post on the Vidoop blog:
The reality of the current economic climate and its impact on our target market (Financial Services) has unfortunately required a reduction in staff. Saying goodbye to loyal members of the Vidoop family has been one of the toughest decisions for myself and our management team, particularly following the announcement we made last November. The impact of the economic downturn has drastically lengthened the sales cycle for new technology, so we are proactively reshaping our cost and channel structure to ensure we can continue to deliver services to clients and ride out this more hostile environment.
“If I only had more time to do [x].” It’s a phrase the confounds many a startup. And truly, every once in a while, that confounding problem is something terribly technical that requires a specific level of expertise. But most of the time, it’s simply something that needs to get done. Yet something for which it is impossible to find the time. And that makes it all the more aggravating.
All it would take is someone to help you do it. But that—especially for bootstrapped companies and side projects—can make the problem even more insurmountable. The idea of paying someone to do the job? Usually, not an option.
You know what would be perfect for completing these tasks? An intern. Even better? A paid intern. Someone who was getting reimbursed to help you with your project. And someone who had some skin in the game to perform at a level that would help your startup improve. Read More
WebVisions is quickly approaching. It’s coming up next week already, May 20-22 at the OCC.
Time to stop procrastinating and register. Better yet, take advantage of the package deal WebVisions and Open Source Bridge are offering, i.e. full access passes to both events for $300. Jump on that deal before May 18, and you’ll save $200.
Look at it this way. If you have an interest in either conference, you’ll get the other for a song, i.e. $50. Or maybe you’re a Web designer who wants to attend WebVisions who has a Web developer buddy who wants to attend Open Source Bridge. That’s a pretty sweet split cost. (Hint, hint)
Have you seen the speaker lineup for WebVisions? It’s jam-packed with local and international talent, assembling to talk about the future of the Web design, business strategy and user experience.
Oh, and Silicon Florist is a sponsor so the turoczybot commands that you attend.
You became an entrepreneur—or went out on your own—to help change people’s lives. To build something incredible. To give your life purpose. To do that, maybe you’re working out of your house. Or a coffee shop. Or maybe you’re looking for somewhere to work.
What if you could do some of that life-changing work simply by choosing to park yourself and your machine at a particular coworking space in town? To put it another way, what if you could help people simply by doing what you’re already doing?
Now you can. Read More
Every time I’ve mentioned the trip I had planned for this week—“I’m going to Omaha”—I got the same quizzical look and a one answer response: “Why?”
Well, let me tell you. I’m sitting in Nebraska, right now, because there are a couple of guys in Omaha—Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson—who write Silicon Prairie News, which is like the TechCrunch of their region. And they’re helping pull together a ton of events like they’re the Legion of Tech for the region. And they’re talking about opening a creative coworking space like they’re the Citizen Space of Omaha. Read More
I’m unofficially dubbing tonight “awards night” for the Pacific Northwest tech scene, given that we had two competing awards shows—Oregon Tech Awards and the Seattle 2.0 Awards—handing out statuettes to impressive tech companies all up and down the Pacific coast.
For the Oregon Tech Awards, two Silicon Florist regulars managed to walk away with top honors. Jive Software was named the Emerging Company of the Year and GadgetTrak was named Cool Product of the Year. The only downside was that Ontier—another one on whom I try to keep an eye—was also in the running for Cool Product. Read More
When it comes to Oregon companies competing for Angel funding, I’m always going to pull for the Web-based apps. It’s just kind of how I am. And those folks are definitely starting to turn heads, whether it’s at speed pitching events like the Big Idea Bash or through competitions like Angel Oregon.
In 2009, Portland-based WeoGeo has come closest to winning top prize at these competitions. Earlier this year, they were robbed walked away as the runner up for the Angel Oregon event.
Now, another Portland startup, Zapproved, is looking to claim the prize at the first Willamette Angel Conference. Read More
When it comes to building Web apps and sites, making sure that those sites respond to a wide variety of browsers and can effectively support a heavy loads of concurrent users can be the difference between succeed and sucking.
But finding the resources to perform—or purchase—that load testing and performance testing has, to date, been an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. And that has left many startups in a Catch-22 situation.
Until now. Read More