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Month: January 2022

Groundhog Day, all over again: 2-2-22 seemed like a good opportunity for Portland Lunch 2.0

Rick Turoczy on January 18, 2022

Getting connected to folks in the Portland startup community has always been more challenging than it should be. And the pandemic has only exacerbated that whole situation. And while virtual events aren’t ideal, they are better than nothing. Especially if they take place at a time that’s not forcing you to spend even more of your day in front of the computer. That’s why there’s Portland Lunch 2.0.

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Getting on stage to pitch your startup soon? Here’s how to structure it

Rick Turoczy on January 14, 2022

By this point in my startup career, I’ve easily seen thousands of startup pitches. Maybe tens of thousands. What’s more, I’ve also had the privilege of working with hundreds of founders to workshop, refine, and polish their pitches for both VC pitches and on stage presentations. So if you’re a founder prepping to jump on stage at an upcoming startup competitions or demo day, I thought it might be beneficial for you if I shared a little advice that any number of founders have found valuable as they developed the stories of their startups to tell in front of a live studio audience…

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It’s like March Madness. But for startups.

Rick Turoczy on January 13, 2022

I always knew that the Portland Business Journal had an ongoing case of the brackets. But to date, those brackets have really only handled a local beer competition. But now it’s time for startups to compete, tournament bracket style, as part of the Inno Madness competition.

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Westside Pitch: Giving Washington County startups the limelight

Rick Turoczy on January 13, 2022

Not to date myself, but for the first decade or so I worked in startups, my commute — and the commute of the vast majority of my peers — consisted of heading out to Beaverton and Hillsboro. Because at a time when startups needed a room full of servers and room full of engineers, Washington County had both the floor plates and the cost per square foot to make it manageable.

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Blackbird singing in the… err improving coding in the classroom

Rick Turoczy on January 12, 2022

On the downside, education has been disrupted — or completely upended — by the impact of the pandemic. But the silver lining is that many educational institutions are rethinking how they teach and deliver curriculum. Which is an opportunity. Portland startup Blackbird offers a way to capitalize on that opportunity by improving coding education for middle and high schoolers.

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Looking to engage — or re-engage — with the Portland startup community? Here are a few tips and tricks, pandemic or no

Rick Turoczy on January 6, 2022

One of the most confusing things about the Portland startup community is how quiet it is. It’s not because there’s nothing happening. Far from it. And it’s not because people aren’t interested in including new and amazing people like you in their groups or meetups. Honestly, the quiet nature of the community comes from a very positive place: folks around here tend to be aggressively humble. They’re not ones to toot their own proverbial horns or be making a lot of noise about what they’re building.

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Out of an acquisition a Stellar new Portland startup appears

Rick Turoczy on January 5, 2022

Not many folks realized it but Goldstar, a live events ticketing platform, had a fairly significant Portland presences with nearly 40 local folks working at the company prior to the pandemic. Today, Goldstar announced they were being acquired by TodayTix Group. And with it, the Portland story would seem to come to an end. Except for the fact that the Portland folks get to work for a new startup spun out of Goldstar. Meet Stellar.

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Three Portland area startups set sail in Washington Maritime Blue Innovation Accelerator

Rick Turoczy on January 5, 2022

New year, new accelerator programs. And to kick things off, three Portland area startups have been selected to participate in the Washington Maritime Blue Innovation Accelerator, a nonprofit startup accelerator program focused on driving inclusive innovation in the “blue economy.”

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