---
title: 'Coming into its own: Over the past five years Portland''s TechFestNW has grown into a destination tech event'
date: '2016-04-28T09:45:05-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 580
char_count: 4097
tokens: 754
categories:
  - '#featured'
  - Events
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Startups
tags:
  - Event
  - Portland
  - tech
  - techfestnw
  - tfnw
---

# Coming into its own: Over the past five years Portland's TechFestNW has grown into a destination tech event

It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since we held the first [TechFestNW](http://techfestnw.com "TechFestNW"). Back then, we called it the [Portland Digital eXperience or PDX](http://siliconflorist.com/2012/08/14/experience-portland-thinking-musicfestnw-tech-conference-pdx/ "Experience Portland: Some of the thinking behind MusicFestNW’s new tech conference, PDX"), and it hosted a small contingent of tech faithful at both the Leftbank and Ziba Design, late in the summer of 2012. This week, a bigger, better—and independent of MusicFestNW—TFNW filled the Armory in Portland with activity, energy, and a view into our tech future.

Over the course of the life of this ever-changing event—and its iterations and maturation under the guidance of Willamette Week’s editor-in-chief [Mark Zusman](http://twitter.com/markzusman "Mark Zusman")—the gathering has taken place at Leftbank, Ziba, OMSI, Washington High School, and the Armory. It spawned a “Startup Crawl” that has taken on a life of its own sending hundreds of people around Portland to visit the offices of the startups here. It has brought incredible founders to town to talk and—even more importantly—highlighted the amazing founders we have here in our midst. It’s been referred to as “[the next SXSW](http://fortune.com/2012/08/28/tech-may-have-found-its-next-sxsw/ "Tech may have found its next SXSW").” It provides a platform for young startups to pitch their concepts to investors and media. And, perhaps most importantly, it has served as [a call to action for Portland startups](http://siliconflorist.com/2013/09/10/overthrow-successful-city-making-portland-great-portland/ "How do you overthrow a successful city? Making Portland the next great Portland").

Not bad for five years.

If you missed this year’s event, it’s been incredibly well covered by a bunch of folks. Here’s a sampling of articles on the event:

- Digital Trends: [50 startups go to bat (and one walks home with cash) in the first-ever PitchfestNW](http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/pitchfestnw-2016-finalists-winner/ "50 startups go to bat (and one walks home with cash) in the first-ever PitchfestNW")
- GeekWire: [How this Hollywood vet is using virtual reality and storytelling to disrupt the sports world](http://www.geekwire.com/2016/hollywood-vet-using-virtual-reality-storytelling-disrupt-sports-world/ "How this Hollywood vet is using virtual reality and storytelling to disrupt the sports world")
- Portland Business Journal: [Aubrey Thelen wants Nest to rule the Internet of Things](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2016/04/techfestnw-aubrey-thelen-wants-alphabet-owned-the.html "Aubrey Thelen wants Nest to rule the Internet of Things")
- Portland Business Journal: [How Intel’s Tawny Schlieski is making VR a lot less weird](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2016/04/techfestnw-how-intels-tawny-schlieski-is-making-vr.html "How Intel's Tawny Schlieski is making VR a lot less weird")
- Portland Business Journal: [How Oregon will play a role in our self-driving future (Video)](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2016/04/how-oregon-will-play-a-role-in-our-self-driving.html "How Oregon will play a role in our self-driving future (Video)")
- Portland Business Journal: [Getting virtually real with HeadcaseVR’s Lucas Foster](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2016/04/techfestnw-getting-virtually-real-with-headcasevrs.html "Getting virtually real with HeadcaseVR's Lucas Foster")
- Portland Business Journal: [With Intel layoffs as a backdrop, ‘frontier technology’ comes to the fore](http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2016/04/techfestnw-with-intel-layoffs-as-a-backdrop.html "With Intel layoffs as a backdrop, 'frontier technology' comes to the fore")

For more information, visit [TechFestNW](http://techfestnw.com "TechFestNW").

*\[Full disclosure: I am the cofounder of TFNW and I continue to advise on the project every year.\]*