As a community, we don’t get together as much as we used to. Back in the old days. And I’d like to work on changing that. Because I miss you. Here’s a good excuse. Our friends from Keen IO are in town. And they remember when we used to get the Portland startup community together too. So they’re inviting you all out for a happy hour. A Happy Data Hour. Read More
Month: April 2016
Portland startup Vacasa quietly raises a healthy amount of venture capital
While I tend to refrain from covering funding announcements, this one seemed like it would be of particular interest to folks. If only as a signal that we should be including a new name when rattling off the impressive startups in our community. You see, Portland’s Vacasa just announced that they have raised $35 million in Series A financing. And that’s the largest round any Portland company has raised in two years. Read More
REMINDER: New Relic FutureTalk with Hideshi Hamaguchi, tonight
Back in the early days of Silicon Florist, one of the first startups I began covering regularly was a Portland startup called LUNARR. And while that venture didn’t achieve the stratospheric heights we all hoped it would, it did bring an incredibly thoughtful and interesting cofounder to the fore in Hideshi Hamaguchi. Now, fast forward nearly a decade and Hideshi is speaking at New Relic’s FutureTalk, this evening. Read More
Big day for Puppet. Yeah, it's just Puppet.
It only stands to reason that a company that started its life as Reductive Labs would wind up reducing the complexity of their name. But that’s one of the many things that Puppet—yeah, it’s just Puppet now—announced today. Read More
Remember when the City of Portland was a shining example of open data? It can be again
There was a time—not so long ago—when the City of Portland was at the forefront of making civic data transparent and open. And while Portland has stumbled a bit in terms of leading the charge, we now have a very real opportunity to pick our open selves up, dust our data off, and get back in the running. Read More
Not so great: A 30 second review of the Intel reality show, America's Greatest Makers
Given that Intel PR reached out to me a ton of times to get me to cover their new, Survivor producer backed reality show, America’s Greatest Makers, I felt that it was only appropriate for me to provide a quick review of the premiere of the first episode. Read More
Portland's Cozy has a new partner in New Mexico
50 startups vie for attention during TechFestNW's inaugural PitchFestNW
When you’re just starting out, getting the attention that you firmly believe that your earth shattering startup idea deserves? That can be challenging—at best. So opportunities to test your story with an audience, get in front of potential investors, and hone your ability to convey the value of what you’re building are always welcome. And that’s why a new event from TechFestNW attracted more than 100 applicants. Read More
More flavors of reality: Oregon Story Board drives Augmented Reality development with Microsoft HoloLens training
One good story deserves another, so speaking of Oregon Story Board… Virtual Reality isn’t the only reality they’re exploring in Portland. Following up on the grant they garnered from Microsoft, the digital storytelling accelerator now offers Augmented Reality development training specifically designed for the Microsoft HoloLens environment. Read More
The design of VR: Experience a WILD environment during Design Week Portland
It’s been a while since we’ve had a new communications platform. One that is new and different and motivates us to think about new ways of designing. And creating content. And experiences. But we’re seeing more and more of that happening with our reality, both augmented and virtual. That’s where Oregon Story Board alum WILD is playing. And now you can too. Read More