Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
It’s no secret that corporations and startups have a lot to learn from one another. Even when those corporations are just beyond being startups themselves. That’s why I was super interested to see Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, get into the accelerator game. And today, I was even more pleased. Because I heard that Portland startup Lytics would be taking part in it.
For early stage startups, the idea of briefing industry analysts may seem like something to pursue in the distant future. But for the types of business-to-business companies Portland builds, they can be a great way to get in front of large corporate customers and buyers—especially if they think you’re cool. Like the way Gartner feels about Portland startup Lucid Meetings.
While there are so many things I love about the Portland startup community, one of the things that always seems to irksomely fall by the wayside is quantifying what’s actually happening in our community. We’ve got anecdotal evidence in droves. But metrics? Not so much.
As the Portland startup community continues to work toward being more inclusive, a recent report from the Kapor Center couldn’t be more well-timed. The “Tech Leavers Study” captures evidence on why people “voluntarily” left jobs in the tech industry. The findings aren’t surprising. But the quantification of the detrimental impact of toxic startup cultures is. To the tune of $16 billion a year.
Last time Portland hosted the 1776 Challenge Cup, local startup NoAppFee.com won here in town, which led to a win at the regional competition in the Bay Area, and culminated in the company being named the People’s Choice at the global finale.
I know any number of us have expressed concerns about the increasingly deteriorating state of privacy and security online. And as it continues, we’re all looking for ways to protect ourselves. But it’s confusing. And difficult.
As we all know, when you’re in a startup, money is tight. But every little bit of exposure has the potential of completely changing the course of your company. How do you reconcile the two? You take advantage of discounts, scholarships, and grants. Like this one that Business Oregon is offering up to help fund a trip to London for VR/AR folks.
I know. I know. I’m a little tardy with the reminder. But let’s face it. You probably would have put off submitting an application until now anyway. So let’s just call it even. Fine. Agree to disagree. But rather than arguing with me, you should probably get to work on your DevOpsDays PDX talk proposal.
The Portland startup community always has its fair share of events. But that fair share seems to transition to overshare as the weather gets better around here. I know. It doesn’t make sense to me either. But that’s how it is. There’s a ton to do. And a ton to choose from.
While raising capital is never easy, it’s a lot more difficult when you don’t have any local resources on which to lean. That’s what a couple of Eugene entrepreneurs are hoping to fix with the Coast to Crest Fund, a new $3 million seed fund focused on Lane County startups.