Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
While the term unicorn has lost a bit of its luster as of late, it’s still an impressive milestone for any company to achieve a $1 billion valuation, but especially for a northwest company to do so. That’s why it was interesting to see Portland Seed Fund portfolio company Auth0 announce its Series E raise, which officially gives it the unicorn moniker.
There are any number of amazing Portland startups. (Clearly. That’s why I’ve been writing about them on this blog for nearly a dozen years.) But every once in a while, a startup comes along that becomes the center of gravity — the proverbial Cinderella story — for a generation of startups around here. Cloudability was very much one of those startups. And today, the denouement of that startup story begins, in the best of ways, with an exit. Cloudability has announced an agreement to be acquired by Apptio.
I always say that the “P” in “PDX” stands for “procrastination.” It’s all but a definitive cultural trait around these parts. But sometimes, we all miss out on something really special due to that dragging of the proverbial feet. That’s why I’m really happy to announce that — instead of closing today — the XXcelerate Fund’s startup accelerator, XXcelerator, is giving you another week to get your application completed.
Now in its third year, the PDX Women In Tech State of the Community survey continues to provide much needed insights into the dynamics of both the Portland startup community and the broader Portland tech community. But illuminating those insights is only possible if you take a few moments to participate.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. Communities are not built on evening events, alone. Which is why I always love daytime events that make knowledge, people, and networks more accessible to folks who might not have the chance to attend events after work hours. Like Coffee with Co-Founders.
If you’re a woman working in healthcare or life sciences and are interested in connecting with your peers in Portland, there’s a new opportunity to do so. It’s the Women in Leadership – Healthcare & Life Science Event.
Just a quick reminder that Portland Startup Poker 2.0 and Founder Dinner take place this Thursday, May 9, 2019. The event starts at 5:30PM at Cloudability.
Despite the prevailing startup mythology, the actual truth is that being a founder can be draining, depressing, debilitating, and lonely. Not exactly the “be your own boss” halcyon existence perpetuated in the media. To exacerbate things, many early stage founders choose to go it alone. Rather than seeking out the help they need. But when they do realize they need help? One of the folks many people seek out is Jerry Colonna. And as luck would have it, he’ll be in Portland on May 13, 2019.
If you’re a startup that’s making a physical thing, having products like Autodesk Fusion 360 available to you free of charge can be super helpful. But it can also be frustrating if you don’t feel like you’re doing all you can to get the most out of the product. That’s why Autodesk Portland is hosting “Fusion 360 Stump the Chump in Stumptown.”
Being in the startup acceleration and mentoring business, I do love me some status reports and updates. Even if that startup happens to be an accelerator itself. And that’s why I was happy to see this latest update from Mitch Daugherty on the Built Oregon consumer product accelerator project.