--- title: 'What the Portland startup community needs more of… and less of' date: '2016-08-19T11:05:26-07:00' type: post word_count: 464 char_count: 3171 tokens: 604 categories: - '#featured' - Oregon - Portland - Startups tags: - Community - 'kathryn brown' - less - more - Portland - Startup --- # What the Portland startup community needs more of… and less of *Editor’s note: Hanging out in the [Portland Startup Slack](https://pdx-startups-slack.herokuapp.com/ "Portland Startup Slack"), [Kathryn Brown](https://pdxstartups.slack.com/team/kathrynbrown "Kathryn Brown") opined that many of the events and organizations trying to support founders in our community seemed a little misdirected. I asked her to elaborate if she could. What I got was a great list of things we should be doing more of… and things we should be doing less of. With her permission, I’m republishing her Slack posts, here.* > Watch out, I've had lots of coffee + just posted an epic "What the [\#PDX](https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDX?src=hash) [\#startup](https://twitter.com/hashtag/startup?src=hash) scene needs" in the general room. > > — Kathryn Brown (@kathrynmbrown) [August 19, 2016](https://twitter.com/kathrynmbrown/status/766691054816940032) [//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js](//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js) Here’s what we need more of… ---------------------------- ### 1) More collaboration / interaction with the Portland business community at large Early startup founders can really benefit from the connections that come from good ole’ executive networking. ### 2) Startup financial planning mentorship Help with growth planning, financial modeling, etc. ### 3) Founder-run startup scene (as [Brad Feld](http://twitter.com/bfeld "Brad Feld") says) Many leaders of entrepreneurship orgs. in our community have never founded a company. How do they know what it’s like / what entrepreneurs actually need? ### 4) Exited founders mentoring and re-investing This makes for a mature and dynamic ecosystem. Why did FB acquire Instagram, seemingly out of the blue? Kevin was an early intern at FB and knew Zuck personally. ### 5) Software / tech shouldn’t be lumped with consumer goods / food / apparel Most pitch contests here make software companies compete against noodle companies and peanut butter companies, and it’s completely flawed because the biz models and needs are vastly different. ### 6) Startups supporting each other / startup partnerships Let’s use each others’ products, yo! ### 7) Risk-taking Investors here are funding the most boring startups while the best and most ambitious startups are leaving our city for better opportunities i.e. [Chroma](http://chroma.fund "Chroma"). Their product is very compelling. Here’s what we do not need more of… ----------------------------------- ### 1) Pitch events + pitch practice Great, you can pitch, but it won’t get you anywhere here in PDX because the likelihood that you will “win” more than a few grand in a competition is slim. ### 2) Local startup competitions Waste of time. ### 3) “Mentors” who actually have no practical experience ### 4) Happy Hours Happy hours are fun! But we have so many of them. Let’s focus on helpful events. **Thoughts?** Come discuss in the Portland Startups Slack or ping [@kathrynmbrown](https://twitter.com/kathrynmbrown "kathrynmbrown on Twitter") and [@turoczy](http://twitter.com/turoczy "turoczy on Twitter") on the Twitters.