Portland Lunch 2.0 is back—and more popular than ever. We saw proof of that last Thursday at CrowdCompass. Over 270 people signed up through the Meetup page and we had 200+ walk through our office. It was a great turnout, and we were happy to host.
The Portland startup scene has grown a lot over the last few years. More people are seeing this city as a great place to start a new adventure. Many companies have sprung up, expanded, or were recently acquired. A lot of things have changed, and so this type of event is very much needed in the community. All you have to do is show up, talk to interesting people, and enjoy a free lunch. Plus, you get to see some really cool offices. For us, Lunch 2.0 was a great way to catch up with old friends and meet new people. It was also a good way for us to tell people about the job openings at CrowdCompass.
This event in particular is really meaningful for me. We met our first employee three years ago during Lunch 2.0 at the Green Dragon. We built CrowdCompass together, and it’s grown immensely—we now have 41 employees here in Portland, and expect to have a few more by the end of this month. Cvent acquired us this past June, and they’ve poured a lot of fuel on the fire, ensuring our continued growth. CrowdCompass has come a long way in the last couple of years, and we’re not the only ones. There are a lot of incredible startups in Portland. There are a lot of smart, talented people. Lunch 2.0 gives them a way to connect.
More photos…If you missed Lunch 2.0 last Thursday, we have a few other meetups at CrowdCompass. PDX Ruby meets here on the first Tuesday of every month, and the group for beginners meets on the third Tuesday of every month. Innovation in Motion will start back up in January. We’re also really excited to kick off Pong + Tech in January with New Relic (hosts of February’s Portland Lunch 2.0), CorSource, and AltSource. We think this new event will be a fun, regular way to meet others in the community, and possibly come away with some bragging rights.
The tech startup scene in Portland is awesome at supporting each other, and that’s why there are so many good events geared towards the community. Lunch 2.0 was created for the people who couldn’t attend a lot of these after-work meetups. It disappeared for a while, but now it’s back. I’m really glad we got involved. If you missed this one, check out the Portland Lunch 2.0 Meetup page for the next few locations.
Dave Shanley is the founder and CTO of CrowdCompass.
(Lunchbox image courtesy Shutterstock. Used with permission.)
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[…] You see, back in the day, Portland Lunch 2.0 was a really effective means of connecting the community, celebrating wins, giving people an option for networking during business hours, and allowing businesses who were hiring to both show off their office spaces and introduce potential emp…. […]