The time is 2019. PIE, the early-stage startup accelerator, is celebrating 10 years of helping promising founders who are building amazing companies in Portland — and sometimes elsewhere. They hold their demo day at the Aladin Theater to a packed crowd. And that’s the last time that PIE held an in-person event. Until now. PIE Demo Day 2023 will be an in-person event. With a twist.
Because this time around, the startup accelerator will be moving away from staged presentations to a tradeshow environment.
“We would rather have members of the community stop by demo day for a few minutes to meet specific founders — or to wander the trade show floor — than require them to sit through all of the presentations before getting access to the startups that interest them,” said Rick Turoczy, cofounder and general manager of PIE. “We tested a virtual trade show format during the pandemic that provided this a more interactive environment for attendees than previous demo days — and the feedback from both attendees and founders was extremely positive. This year, we’re excited to test that more interactive format in person for the benefit of the entire Portland startup community.”
Still wanting to see startup pitches? No worries. Those will be available on the PIE YouTube channel. Just like they were during the pandemic. And if you want even more startup pitches, every PIE company to ever take the stage at a demo day is available there, too. Watch pitches to your heart’s content.
Not interested in talking to startups? Come anyway. PIE demo days have always been a community celebration and, as such, have consistently been great ways to connect with other folks in the Portland startup community, en masse. Given that everyone has been fairly out of circulation over the past three years, this could be an amazing opportunity to connect — or reconnect — with other folks in the Portland startup, tech, and investor communities.
This is just the latest in a long line of experiments. Which, as the Portland Business Journal highlights, is both in the organization’s name — and clearly permeates the organization’s ethos.
The group has always leaned heavily on the “experiment” portion of its name. The group has evolved since it started in 2009 as a coworking space. Over the years it has launched related accelerators that focus on other types of companies: PIE Shop works with companies making hardware or physical products and the Built Accelerator, which is in partnership with the nonprofit Built Oregon and focuses on consumer products.
PIE Demo Day 2023 will be held at The Redd on Salmon Street, August 10, 2023, beginning at 4:00PM. It is free and open to the public. There is no need to be an accredited investor to attend.
For more information or to RSVP, visit PIE Demo Day 2023.
[Full disclosure: I am the cofounder and general manager of PIE. So I’m really interested in seeing you show up at the event.]
