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Month: March 2020

Capturing a list of local Oregon retailers, restaurants, cafes, and other small businesses who offer gift certificates

In the midst of all this COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus insanity, I received a very clearheaded email from Livelihood NW, one of the entrepreneur support organizations here in Portland, with a list of simple actions that would help small businesses owners impacted by pandemic to survive.

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Wondering what gear you need to present in this new all remote only environment?

No matter how well set up you’ve been as a remote employee, we’re all struggling with adapting to this new all remote, all of the time environment. That’s why I really appreciated the latest video from Portland’s Aaron Parecki on what sort of equipment makes for a more effective remote presentation setup — including lighting.

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Concerned about the COVID-19 impact on Portland restaurants and food carts? Grubhub has a solution

Like many of us, I’ve been thinking a lot about our local food carts, restaurants, brewpubs, and coffeeshops in this new world order of social distancing and avoiding crowded spaces. How can we support these critical components of our Portland culture and economy without exposing ourselves and others to possible infection? (I honestly can’t believe I just typed that sentence. Oof.)

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ConvertKit The Creator Fund launches to help creators impacted by COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus

Everyone loves to brag about what companies are headquartered in their town. But what about fully remote companies with no actual headquarters? What about them? Well, I say if Portland boasts a bulk of employees — like say Automattic or Zapier — or if some key execs — like ConvertKit — live here in town, then we can claim them as a Portland company.

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Is your startup impacted by COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus? Built Oregon wants to tell local and state governments

I know the headline seems like a rhetorical question. And I apologize. Clearly, we all have. But like so many things in Portland and Oregon, that impact is largely anecdotal at the moment. And nonprofit Built Oregon would like to help quantify it. So that officials at local and state government have a better understanding of the actual numbers of companies impacted.

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TechfestNW reschedules due to concerns of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus

Things are weird, Portland. And not in a “Keep Portland Weird” kind of way. And it shows no signs of slowing, given the growing concern about the spread of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. Today, annual destination tech event TechfestNW announced that they were postponing their annual event until August.

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Ten cities captured 50% of the growth in tech jobs: Portland is not one of them

There was a time when Portland was continually on lists. Best place to live. Most bikeable. Fastest growing. New tech hubs. But despite those perceptions, we’re not seeing the growth in the tech sector we had foretold. According to the Brookings, cities like Phoenix, Charlotte, Madison, and Provo are attracting more tech talent than Portland.

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An experiment in heartbreak: PIE Demo Day 2020 moves to online, only

I thought I was going to have to cancel the very first PIE Demo Day.

Not in one of those, you know, hollow-threat-coach-voice-yelling “If you startups don’t get your acts together, we’re going to have to cancel demo day!” kind of way. Not at all. I thought we were going to have to cancel it because of forces beyond our control.

I can remember it clearly.

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