Overwatch raises $11M for airborne imaging systems with built-in artificial intelligence
Overwatch Imaging, an Oregon venture that makes airborne imaging systems for piloted aircraft and drones, has closed on an $11.15 million investment round led by Squadra Ventures and Shield Capital. Other participants in the round include the Portland Seed Fund and two strategic investors, L3Harris and Bridger Aerospace.
One of Oregon’s fastest-growing companies lands $11M
Overwatch Imaging, one of the region’s fastest-growing companies, raised $11.2 million from investors to boost its business even more. The Hood River-based company makes imaging systems for piloted and autonomous aircraft.
Reclaim.ai in Fast Company: 5 clever hacks to better defend your time
My startup, which builds a platform to help busy professionals manage their calendars more efficiently, recently published a trend report surveying over 2,000 professionals to analyze how they prioritize and defend time for focused work. We found that only 12.4% of individual contributors dedicate more than 6 hours a day to their task work, and only about half of that time is actually spent on “productive” work.
How to get the first 1000 users for your startup
Being a serial startup founder I find myself praying to the user acquisition gods more often than I would like to admit, because getting your first users is bloody hard work. However, over time I have learned that there is some sort of playbook of activities (not a formula, such things are nearly always snake-oil) that will do the job of getting the first users onto your product, regardless of what it is.
How to Find (And Hire) Community Managers
The best community leaders are motivated by connection and belonging, not by paychecks. Unfortunately, that’s a lot harder to find. So what’s a hiring manager supposed to do when they are looking to build out their community team?
The Tactical Guide to Making Better Decisions When Starting and Scaling Companies
Without a solid decision process in place, founders and poker players alike risk amplifying the cognitive biases that frustrate all of our decisions. One such bias is what Duke calls “resulting” — a human impulse to equate the quality of a decision with the quality of its outcome. “I have yet to come across someone who doesn’t identify their best and worst results rather than their best and worst decisions,” she wrote in her bestselling book, “Thinking in Bets.”
OEN April PubTalk: Workplace Transformation
The Coronavirus pandemic helped many of us re-order our life’s priorities and spawned The Great Resignation. As a startup founder, how do you build a team, a culture, and a workplace that gives your company the best chance for long-term success? Productive Flourishing founder Charlie Gilkey will moderate a conversation with The Wild Founder/CEO Gabe Paez, Radious Founder/CEO Amina Moreau, and Cinder Staffing’s Director of Social Equity, Marcus Carter II at the April 2022 OEN PubTalk on workplace transformations.
New bill establishes group to recommend policies for blockchain tech in Washington state
The group will recommend policies to “make Washington a favorable place to do business” and that “facilitate the development of blockchain applications and the sector overall in Washington.”
Xplore acquires assets of Kubos flight software company as it ramps up for first space mission
Financial terms of the acquisition were not released — but Xplore is taking on key Kubos employees, including co-founder and ex-CEO Tyler Browder, as part of the deal. “I’m delighted to join the Xplore team as business development director for mission operations,” Browder said. “In my new role I will continue to build and grow the Major Tom platform into an expanded service offering.”
Portland-area space software maker acquired by Washington startup
Kubos — which moved from Texas to Oregon in 2020 — makes cloud-based mission control software that allows satellite operators to control and receive data from spacecraft in low-earth orbit. The company works with several satellites types, allowing it to collect weather, imaging, communications and telemetry data.
