Portland, Oregon, startup news, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Screenshots used to be a fairly convenient way of sharing visual information with support folks and the like. Droplr made taking, marking up, and sharing those screenshots faster and easier. But it wasn’t really until the advent of Slack—and the increased use of screenshots that came with it—for Droplr to truly come into their own. Now, the Bend startup is the third fastest growing app in the Slack app ecosystem.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: It’s lonely being a founder—or even the cofounder—of a startup. That’s why I’m always happy to see events and programs that bring founders together. So just imagine how psyched I am when a founder focused event collaborates with a founder focused program. Founder founder founder. Well, and coffee.
Sometimes, I think that I miss podcasting. But then I listen to myself on a podcast. And then I realize… Yeah. Probably best left to others. Others who are more well spoken and entertaining. Oh. And interesting. Don’t forget interesting. Nonetheless, I may have said one or two compelling things. Either thanks to the talent of the interviewers or because, you know, even the broken clock is right twice a day.
By now, you’ve likely encountered the lean business canvas. It’s single page worksheet that helps folks build a high level business plan for their startup. Alternatively, its’a quick and easy way figure out that your idea for a company has no chance of succeeding as a business. Either way, it’s a useful framework. So if you can use that formate to help understand your business, what if it a similar worksheet could help you understand the culture of your business? Enter The Praxis Department and the Startup Culture Canvas.
You may have caught the news that Jaguar Land Rover has recently repositioned its local startup efforts, shifting from the Jaguar Land Rover Incubator to the Jaguar Land Rover Innovation Labs. But what sort of changes does that entail? JLR gives us a glimpse with a a new video on the project.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of people starting stuff. And it’s not just companies. I like it when people start podcasts, blogs, events, meetups… you name it. Start start start. That’s why I was really happy to see that the inaugural Latinx Tech PDX was so successful that it’s starting to be a thing. They’re doing it again, this Thursday.
Leave it to Portland. In a day and age where more and more solutions are going for faster, slicker, and more invasive, folks like August & Wonder are taking a completely different approach. What if, instead of glowing and bleeping, the latest high tech gadget appeared to be a finely crafted and seemingly analog object?
If you haven’t watched The Fab Lab with Crazy Aunt Lindsey, you’re missing out. Not only is it produced in Portland and an amazing effort to stimulate kids’ curiosity about science, technology, engineering, and math. But it’s also helmed by an amazing woman who is a person of color, providing an incredible role model for a demographic that’s all too often ignored by those industries.
Unless you’ve been around the Portland startup community for a while, you may not remember Meridian. Even if you have been around a while, the name might not immediately ring a bell. But it should. Because from my perspective, it was one of the more successful startup exits in Portland. Not in total value, but definitely in multiples returned to investors and the speed at which that investment was returned.
In a world where marketing and advertising continues to up the level of creepiness on a regular basis (Thanks, Cambridge Analytica!), it’s refreshing to see a company that’s willing to stem the tide of distrust. And it’s even more awesome when it’s a Portland startup. That’s why it was great to see Lytics pushing for an industry standard around trust based marketing.