--- title: 'And then, Portland''s mayoral race suddenly got exponentially more important for Portland startups' date: '2016-02-10T14:14:04-08:00' type: post word_count: 1217 char_count: 7635 tokens: 1583 categories: - '#featured' - Oregon - Portland - Startups tags: - election - Mayor - mayoral - Portland - race --- # And then, Portland's mayoral race suddenly got exponentially more important for Portland startups Let me preface this with the statement that I don’t even like politics. Mostly because I don’t get it. I come from a long line of coal miners and blue collar workers. You don’t politick. You just work. That being said, even a political n00b like me can see the writing on the wall. And so, here I sit. Writing my second [politically fueled post of the day](http://siliconflorist.com/2016/02/10/chris-harders-move-portland-development-commission-head-business-oregon-good-startups-inclusion/ "Why Chris Harder’s move from the Portland Development Commission to head up Business Oregon is good from startups and inclusion"). Because I wanted to bring your attention to the Portland mayoral race. Because it just got **way** more important for every startup in Portland. Before I began ranting, I have to credit two folks with dragging me into the whole “politics” thing. One was [Skip Newberry](https://twitter.com/skipnewberry "Skip Newberry"), who served as the startup and technology liaison for Portland Mayor Sam Adams. As a tech entrepreneur, Skip got it. And he recognized that startups had better damn well get it as far as municipal politics go if they were to succeed. He continues to lean on that political savvy in his role heading up the Technology Association of Oregon. And I continue to learn from him. The second person was [Vince Porter](http://twitter.com/vincetporter "Vince Porter"), who headed up Oregon Film before joining the governor’s team in Salem. Like Skip taught me about municipal politics, Vince guided me on the machinations of state politics. And educated me on thinking about the impact of efforts and startups, statewide. Like Skip, he also cautioned me that startups ignored state level politics at their own peril. So with that in mind, we return, gentle reader, to present day. Where I sit, [like the narrator describing his sofa selection to Tyler Durden](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?qt=qt0479228). “No matter what happens in the Portland mayoral election,” I say. “At least we’ve got that whole PDC thing handled.” Then [one shoe dropped](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/real-estate-daily/2016/02/pdcs-executive-director-stepping-down.html "PDC's executive director stepping down"). And today, [the other one dropped](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2016/02/pdcs-chris-harder-tapped-to-lead-business-oregon.html "PDC's Chris Harder tapped to lead Business Oregon"). We have just lost cabin pressure. Suddenly, two of the leaders who have been helping to fill the void left by Skip’s departure from Portland government—Patrick Quinton and Chris Harder—are no longer going to, as the kids say, have our back. And that is more than a bit disconcerting. You see, the PDC has been doing some really innovative and creative things to help the Portland startup scene over the past five years. And it’s been a far cry from the typical economic development of the “let’s just get square footage leased” ilk. It’s been truly transformative and critical work. Things like the Portland Seed Fund, the Startup PDX Challenge, the Portland Inclusive Startup Fund, Techtown Portland, the [Diversity Pledge](http://siliconflorist.com/2015/06/17/building-startup-scene-techtown-portland-companies-diversity-pledge/ "Building a better startup scene: Techtown Portland companies take a diversity pledge"), and many more. But it doesn’t stop there. They’ve sponsored any number of tech events, including multi-year sponsorships of [TechfestNW](http://techfestnw.com "TechfestNW"). Their teams have worked to champion technology adoption within city government, encouraging government folks to become customers of local startups. Heck, they’re even active on Twitter. The list goes on and on. But now, they’re no longer going to being filling that void. There is going to be a vacuum. Which brings us to the Portland mayoral elections coming up this year. Because we’re going to need whomever we elect to step up and fill the gap in a couple of major ways. I see two specific opportunities our next mayor is going to have to move the Portland startup scene forward. But they’re also significant risks that, if ignored, could cause our city could to, just as easily, slide backwards: First, we’ve been desperately missing a role like the one Skip held at the city. With a whittled down staff, the current administration has little to no time to handle even critical tasks, let alone engage with the Portland startup scene the way Skip and Sam did. This, to put it lightly, has made the current administration a non-entity in the Portland startup scene. A decided step back from the days when the mayor used to show up at hackathons and [startup events](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTaSqPV7b0 "Open Source Bridge 2011 - Keynote: Sam Adams")—or even participate in [wacky 30 hour streaming telethons](http://30hourday.org/2010/02/a-talk-with-mayor-sam-adams/ "A Talk With Mayor Sam Adams") or [chatting with podcasters](http://siliconflorist.com/2011/06/21/meet-the-startup-conversation-portland-mayor-sam-adams-part-1/ "Meet the Startup: A conversation with Portland Mayor Sam Adams (Part 1)")—on a regular basis. We need the new mayor to make this role a critical part of their team. And we need that person—or better yet, people—to be accessible, available, and present in the Portland startup scene. Because otherwise, the mayor and city council will be flying blind in terms of technology, innovation, and startups. Second, we need the new leadership at the Portland Development Commission to not only take the baton from Patrick and Chris but to sprint further and faster than [they were able to do](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/12/charlie_hales_portland_mayor_n_1.html "Charlie Hales: Portland mayor names his top 5 priorities for 2014")—because the PDC now, thanks to their efforts, has substantial programmatic infrastructure to leverage. And good will. And participation. If anything, it’s time to double down on efforts in the city. And to accelerate activity for the Portland startup scene—especially as we, as a city, broaden our purview into incredibly active entrepreneurial communities beyond the bastion of pure technological pursuits and far more diverse than the homogeneity of its previous iterations. What’s that got to do with the mayor, you ask? Well, the mayor oversees the PDC. And so, it’s critically important that the mayor we elect decides to continue supporting the momentum the PDC has. Not to be Chicken Little, but worst case, the sky could very well be falling on our Portland startup scene. At least in terms of municipal support and involvement. We as startups stand, with this election, to lose momentum with the PDC **and** to continue to suffer a lack of representation on the mayor’s staff. And this isn’t a “two negatives make a positive” sort of thing. This is more of a “two factors exponentially magnifying one another” in a bad way. So I’d encourage you to begin to take a more active role in considering, questioning, and communicating your needs to the mayoral candidates. Because honestly, even a political neophyte like me can see this very easily going the wrong way if the Portland startup community’s needs are not raised as a priority. And, you know me. I’d prefer that we continue to build [the most amazing entrepreneurial town in the world](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/07/30/portland-oregon-entrepreneurial-town-world/ "Portland, Oregon, is the most entrepreneurial town in the world").