Silicon Florist links arrangement for March 8, 2022 💐

Washington state Department of Commerce funds 4 new ‘innovation clusters’

Washington state’s Department of Commerce has awarded four $500,000 grants to public-private organizations building new “innovation” clusters in the state. The funding for the “Innovation Cluster Accelerator” program is provided through $15 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce, as part of the giant CARES economic stimulus act in 2020. The new awards build on funding for five other organizations announced in January and support a variety of industries.

TiE Pitch Club – March 9, 2022

TiE Pitch Club is an event where entrepreneurs learn the criteria and methods used by real investors to evaluate their venture as a potential investment. This is done by recreating a typical investor meeting where a few companies pitch and receive feedback from TiE Oregon Charter Members. These meetings follow the same basic agenda of an investor meeting with three sections: the pitch, Q&A, and investor discussion & decision.

10 cognitive biases every founder and marketer should be aware of

Over 95% of our purchasing decisions are emotional. Learn 10 cognitive biases that influence your customers’ decisions.

Tough Questions to Ask Co-founders

Therefore the first thing you must do is to take your potential co-founders through a careful vetting process. Don’t simply take skills, experience, and compatibility at face value. You need to dig deeper and ask tough questions.

Building Startups in a Bear Market

Many, like myself, who entered the workforce within the last 10 years, have been privileged enough to experience a predominantly bull market. Sure we’ve had our fair share of short-term selloffs, but nothing has felt quite as uncertain and potentially bearish as the state of the market now. The macro environment is heavily impacted by geopolitical uncertainty, from impending rate hikes to foreign conflicts, and the stock market is beginning to bleed in response.

Easing the fundraising farce at Seed & Series A: preparation

Fundraising sucks. It takes huge amount of time, effort and (often and ironically) money to raise money from venture capitalists and other start-up investors. And, even then, many fundraising processes end in failure.

These 4 Common Fundraising Misconceptions Could Be Stopping You From Raising Capital

The obvious problem with all the attention given to fundraising is that the purpose of building startups isn’t to raise money. But a secondary problem — and a more practical problem — is that inexperienced entrepreneurs develop lots of misunderstandings about how fundraising works. Should they actually need additional capital, these misunderstandings impact their abilities to effectively fundraise.

Robotic EV charging startup, new in Portland, lands a California project

Rocsys, which was founded in the Netherlands three years ago, makes a robotic system for automated charging that’s targeted at fleet uses — as at the Port of Oakland, where major marine terminal operator SSA Marine will use it to juice electric yard tractors that move containers.

PIGSquad Tabletop Jam 2022

“et’s Make Tabletop Games! The theme will be determined by our Patreon supporters. Join us in our Opening Stream on March 11th and Closing Showcase Stream on March 31st. This jam will be fully remote.

Set “Non-Goals” and Build a Product Strategy Stack — Lessons For Product Leaders

In this exclusive interview, Mehta dives exceptionally deep into product strategy, starting with the most common disconnect between the goals of a business and what product teams actually work on day-to-day. He outlines the “Product Strategy Stack,” which encapsulates the company mission, company strategy, product strategy, product roadmap, and product goals — bringing these amorphous ideas like “mission” or “vision” into sharper focus. He also shares his preferred alternative to OKRs, instead leaning on NCTs (narratives, commitments, and tasks) to stay on track with the product strategy.

Why We Need to Raise the Annual IRA Contribution Limit

The nature of work has been steadily changing over the past 20 years but our approach to retirement savings has not. The 401k was created in the 1970’s when people worked for big companies for decades and was meant to replace the pension system. It was never meant to be portable or easily changed. It was meant to be set up once and most of the control over investments remained with the employer.

Alpha Beta Launch: David Wolfenden, Eden