There was a time that there were nearly a dozen startup accelerators in Portland. All with demo days of various flavors. Some were targeted at investors. Some at corporations. Some at community. But what they all had in common was celebration. Celebrating a group of founders and the companies they were building.
But that time — where demo days were more prevalent — has passed. Which, unfortunately, means that a unique opportunity to gather in celebration of founders and the companies they’re building has also passed.
Until now.
You see, local startup accelerator PIE is bringing back its demo day. Pulling it out of the proverbial mothballs after more than four years. Because it seems like founders and the Portland startup community could use a little bit of celebration, right about now.
What we do miss about PIE Demo Days, however, is that they consistently served as a brief moment of celebration where we could come together to embrace and support some of the awesome founders building amazing companies in our midst. So that we could all gather together — new founders and serial entrepreneurs, established companies and startups, would-be entrepreneurs and their soon-to-be mentors — as a community.
Sound interesting? Well, you should consider attending.
As always, the event is free of charge, but space is limited. Seats are general admission. If you choose to make a donation to PIE, that will give you access to a block of reserved seats, front and center. If you’re worried about figuring out childcare so that you can attend? Stop worrying. Childcare will be provided, free of charge to attendees. We’ve arranged for our go-to photographer, Hockley Photography, to capture the event for posterity. And, as in previous years, we will be partnering with Blaze Streaming Media to ensure that family and friends from around the world can tune into the event from the comfort of their Web browser if they’re not able to attend in person.
The event takes place March 14, 2019 (Pi Day!) at the Aladdin Theater in southeast Portland. Tickets are currently available. Although they’re going fast. (At the time of this writing only about one-third of the seats were left.) So if you’re interested in attending, it’s best you grab your tickets as quickly as possible.
For more information or to RSVP, visit PIE Demo Day 2019.
[Full disclosure: I am the cofounder and general manager of PIE. What’s more, it’s generally my fault that we haven’t had a demo day for more than four years. Let’s rectify that.]
