There’s a lot to like about the Portland Maker community. And a lot that reminds me of the Portland startup community ten years ago. Amazing people. Awesome creativity. And some really really interesting projects. That’s why it’s been an honor to get to participate in PDX Maker Week to celebrate that awesomeness. Read More
Starting off the week with a recap of XOXO, a continuation of the conversation around Portland investors, Seattle VC Bill Bryant, Workfrom releases a mobile client, Automattic’s successful distributed team, and the economics of venture capital. Read More
Plenty of links for a short week. Here’s what I found today that I liked and thought you might, too. It includes stories on Uncorked Studios, NoAppFee, Stumptown Speakers Series, another Silicon Florist happy hour, and a profanity laden tongue in cheek piece on Apple’s recent iPhone announcement. Have a good weekend! Read More
Probably not the happiest of link roundups, but at least one that’s full of concern and critique. From Oregon Measure 97 to hating the enforced “fake it ’til you make it” of the startup world—or maybe just the fakeness in general–to what it’s actually like to be a female engineer to layoffs, there’s a lot worth reading here. And I hope it helps. Read More
As Randy Fernando of Vault closed, “Let’s start a conversation.” No doubt, this is going to be a topic of conversation for weeks to come. From my vantage, it’s not an isolated story. And Randy’s post serves as an eloquent recounting of a personal experience—one that reflects numerous other fundraising stories circulating around Portland for early stage startups—and a plea for all of us to work to change it. Read More
Anecdotally, you hear it all of the time. That Portland is a town of Makers. With great spaces like ADX and the PSU LID. It’s a town of people who love the intersection of creativity and technology. Of making physical objects. And connecting devices in weird, strange, and delightful ways. So it only stands to reason that we should take the opportunity to celebrate that. Meet PDX Maker Week, September 10-17, 2016. Read More
Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. And welcoming back the rain. Here’s a roundup of links that includes Iovation makes an acquisition, Cedexis’ new digs, Jaguar Land Rover Incubator in TechCrunch, Notion and Watsi, Biamp manufactures locally, Pipeline Angels returns to Portland, and Mark Suster on what it’s like to negotiate a venture round. Read More
Portland has long been home to any number of interesting podcasts. With new shows cropping up all of the time. But even today, the intricacies of podcasting can still be cryptic and intimidating. (Sorry Adam Curry, it’s true.) That’s why it’s always nice to see projects that look to eliminate those barriers and get more voices—literally—on the air. Meet Stream PDX. Read More
Since its inaugural gathering at the Portland Digital eXperience (the first instantiation of what would later become TechfestNW), the Portland TechCrawl has continued to be the largest gathering of startup and tech folks in the city, every year. This year—with the numbers of attendees currently well north of 1,000—promises to be no different. Read More
I know that there are plenty of meet ups in town. Plenty. But one thing I’ve noticed is that they still tend to be fairly siloed. Either by skills. Or by industry. Or by platform. Or by something I can’t think of right now. So when Mitch Daugherty, my fellow cofounder at Built Oregon, suggested something that broke down those silos? I was super interested. Read More
