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Month: January 2019

For the whom the fail tolls: Getting real about the emotional impact of startup failure on founders

Rick Turoczy on January 8, 2019

Throughout the multiple decades I’m spent in the startup world, the idea of starting your own company has moved from obscurity to a cornerstone of popular culture — and modern day entertainment. But there is one thing — for those in the thick of it — that hasn’t changed: starting a company is incredibly difficult. And emotionally draining. But that’s not something that’s often part of the pop culture conversation.

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Doing a better job of quantifying the Portland startup community with PDX Startups

Rick Turoczy on January 8, 2019

You’ve heard me bemoan it any number of times. Ask someone what the Portland startup community is like and you’ll get any number of adjectives. But you won’t really get any numbers or metrics. We’ve just never seemed to capture that terribly well. But PDX Startups may help change that.

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Portland’s Janrain has been acquired by Akamai

Rick Turoczy on January 7, 2019

Remember how I said that one of the issues with creating a self-sustaining ecosystem in Portland was the irregularity of liquidity events? Well, I don’t want to get my hopes up, but… we just started the third month in a row with a liquidity event. This time, it’s Janrain getting acquired by Akamai.

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Portland talent takes to Twitter to find that next tech gig

Rick Turoczy on January 5, 2019

It’s nothing new to announce that you’re looking for a new gig. And maybe it’s just happenstance. Or maybe it’s just the new year. But I’ve had a couple of tweets in my stream lately featuring talented folks who are looking for a new job. Likes and retweets will only go so far — and knowing how critical finding good talent is — I thought I’d share a few of them here. (And if there are others I should include, please let me know.)

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Interested in interns? Portland’s Emerging Leaders will help connect you to talent

Rick Turoczy on January 4, 2019

Speaking of interns… the Emerging Leaders Internship offers a compelling opportunity to source talented interns for your organization. That’s why Business for a Better Portland is encouraging local companies to participate in the program again this year. But you have to hurry because applications close soon.

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TechfestNW reveals 75 startups selected for PitchfestNW 2019 and opens a second round of applications

Rick Turoczy on January 4, 2019

I remember when TechfestNW — then called the Portland Digital eXperience — barely had 75 people in the audience. Now they have 75 startups — and potentially more — attending the event to participate in PitchfestNW. And that’s not even the main event.

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Beware the Ides of March, Portland startups… and maybe all of 2019

Rick Turoczy on January 4, 2019

For all the optimism about the beginning of the new year, there’s also a fair amount of realism. And some well informed pessimism. Most notably, for the latter, surrounding the economic correction that we’ve all been anxiously awaiting as we watched the longest running bubble in startup history continue to gently waft along.

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It never fails: Time for another rendition of Fail Talks at FailPDX.

Rick Turoczy on January 3, 2019

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. But I keep saying it because I believe it. You can learn far more from stories of failure than you can from stories of success. And nowhere is that more true than the wonderful world of startups. That’s why I’m really happy to hear that FailPDX is back with a new rendition of Fail Talks.

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Start the new year with a Startup Weekend… and a road trip

Rick Turoczy on January 3, 2019

I’ve always had a deep appreciation for the Startup Weekend format. Why? Because in my mind it serves two valuable purposes, really quickly. One one hand, it rapidly unvarnishes the whole startup mystique for would-be entrepreneurs without them actually making the leap. On the other, it’s a great way of identifying those individuals who have the grit and hustle to be great founders.

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