Portland rarely sees things occur in rapid succession. Funding tends to be sporadic. Exits tend to be blips here and there. But that may be changing. Because it feels like we are starting to see a growing trend of well known Portland startup founders moving on to their next thing. The latest? Nat Parker is leaving moovel, a journey which started with his startup GlobeSherpa.
Seven years ago, I started an incredible journey in founding and building a company that has reshaped urban mobility and improved public transit in 20 cities across the United States. It has been a privilege to work alongside incredible people, from the original GlobeSherpa family to the 150 professionals at moovel North America today.
Our mobile ticketing solutions are used every month by more than 6 million people, and the products our team is building to connect transit to other modes of alternative transportation are changing the way people move for the future. This experience has taught me that people are always the secret sauce, and that technology – no matter how innovative – needs incredible human beings to make it work.
Malia Spencer at Portland Business Journal chatted with Nat about what’s next.
“This business has gotten to a growth stage, and that is a great accomplishment,” he said in a phone interview with the Business Journal. “The team has reached an inflection point and a hand-off opportunity and one that aligns with what I keep coming back to and what I love and what I am good at: starting something and building a team that can go against incredible odds.”
For more information, see Nat’s LinkedIn update announcing his departure.