---
title: 'Portland startups at an "Early Stage": Start-Ups: Silicon Valley, it ain''t (and that''s awesome)'
date: '2012-12-05T10:38:52-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 342
char_count: 2290
tokens: 445
categories:
  - '#featured'
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Startups
  - Videos
tags:
  - 'early stage'
  - ks12
  - PIE
  - Portland
  - start-ups
  - Startups
---

# Portland startups at an "Early Stage": Start-Ups: Silicon Valley, it ain't (and that's awesome)

While covering the lives of tech startups can good fodder for reality television, there are far more interesting story lines to be found. If you actually dig below the surface. Why do entrepreneurs do what they do? How do they get there from here? What’s it like building a startup in Portland?

Berlin-based startup [KS12](http://ks12.net "KS12"), a recent graduate of [PIE](http://piepdx.com "PIE"), *\[Full disclosure: I work for PIE and am a mentor for KS12\]*, spent their time in Portland documenting the progress of their peers. And talking to people in the Portland and broader startup community about what it takes to build a startup.

The result? “[Early Stage](http://vimeo.com/ks12/earlystage "Early Stage"),” a [Video Sprint](http://videosprint.net "Video Sprint") on entrepreneurs in Portland.

\[HTML1\]

In addition to PIE startups [AppThwack](http://appthwack.com "AppThwack"), [Code Scouts](http://codescouts.org/ "Code Scouts"), [Little Bird](http://getlittlebird.com "Little Bird"), [Lytics](http://lytics.io "Lytics"), KS12, and [Stublisher](http://stublisher.com "Stublisher"), the piece highlights views from PIE alums [Athletepath](http://athletepath.com "Athletepath"), [Cloudability](http://cloudability.com "Cloudability"), [Geoloqi](http://geoloqi.com "Geoloqi"), and [Urban Airship](http://urbanairship.com "Urban Airship"); [Brad Feld](http://twitter.com/bfeld "Brad Feld") of [Foundry Group](http://foundrygroup.com "Foundry Group") and [TechStars](http://techstars.com "TechStars"); [Andy Baio](http://twitter.com/waxpancake "Andy Baio") of [XOXO](http://xoxofest.com/ "XOXO") fame; cyborg anthropologist [Amber Case](http://twitter.com/caseorganic "Amber Case"); and [John Jay](http://www.fastcompany.com/most-creative-people/2011/john-jay-wiedenkennedy "John Jay"), Global Executive Creative Director of [Wieden+Kennedy](http://wk.com "Wieden+Kennedy").

I know I’m a little close to the project to be objective. Still, it reminds me of [The Founders](http://www.techstars.com/tv/the-founders/ "The Founders") series from TechStars.

But, quite frankly, my opinion doesn’t matter. So I’d love to hear your opinion on the piece. And I’m sure KS12 would, too.