[Editor: I’m so happy to have the opportunity to share this amazing example of giving back on Giving Tuesday.] What if an award-winning, Portland-based creative agency — with a global client roster of companies like Google, Nike, Oura, and Uber, among others — found a way to get their employees more engaged in the Portland startup community by directly supporting startup founders…? Better yet, what if that support was completely free of charge…? (Because as every long-time Portlander knows, “Free is a very good price.”) That’s exactly the question that Instrument asked themselves. The answer…? Build Week.
“Build Week isn’t just an event – it’s a launchpad for progress,” said Leon Anderson, President of Instrument. “Whether perfecting a brand’s voice or engineering the next must-have product, the purpose of Build Week was to hold a creative sprint where innovative ideas meet practical solutions, turning vision into reality.”
In honor of Giving Tuesday, Instrument is relaunching its pro bono program, Build, Grow, Serve to help shape a better future for Portland communities. In partnership with Vanport Studio, Instrument held Build Week, a new hackathon-style event designed to elevate local businesses through collaboration and innovation in just 3 days.
To help transform visions into reality, Instrument worked alongside three Portland BIPOC-owned businesses: Camp Yoshi, Hot Mama Salsa, and Pacmodo. Instrument applied their expertise in branding, marketing, and product development to deliver creative solutions and drive meaningful growth.
If the name Vanport Studio isn’t familiar to you, don’t worry. Apart from a few announcements here and there, they’ve kept a fairly low profile in 2024. But don’t count on Jelani Memory and Stephen Green — cofounders of the studio — to keep to that same sort of behavior in 2025. It’s going to be a big year. They’ve got plans. A strategy to get there. And a partner like Instrument to help in bringing those plans to fruition.
Build Week is just an amazing first step in that growing collaboration.
“Being able to provide best-in-class creative and strategy work to Black and brown founders is crucial,” said Jelani. “There are too many programs and services that offer guidance, mentorship, or ‘networking opportunities’ but nothing substantial. Instrument’s Build, Grow, Serve program has helped Vanport offer these small businesses and entrepreneurs what they really need and at the highest level of quality.”
So clearly Vanport Studio understands the impact. And Instrument is feeling the benefit. But how do the founders who participated in Build Week feel about the experience…?
“This experience has impacted my personal growth,” said Nikki Guerrero, founder of Hot Mama Salsa. “I have been running a small business for so long and wearing all of the hats that I don’t often get the opportunity to see the results that are possible when you work with a professional team and skilled collaborators.”
David Ngene, Jr., cofounder and CEO of Pacmodo — which recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and landed a spot in the Beaverton Startup Challenge — had a similar experience.
“The Build Week experience was incredible,” he said. “In two days, we identified and built out a brand platform, created a robust campaign strategy, and solidified key activations — with an extended deep dive into our recommence platform. The project outcome more than exceeded our expectations and we enjoyed working with the Instrument team.”
All of which goes to show that it doesn’t take a lot to move the needle for startup founders. All it takes is some talented folks, a few hours, and the willingness to roll up their sleeves.
I’m already looking forward to the next Build Week.
A nostalgic aside
In full disclosure, I am the cofounder and general manager of PIE. And I have to admit that being along for the journey with this collaboration makes me super nostalgic for the early days of PIE. Which, as you may or may not know, began in a very similar fashion as a collaboration between the Portland startup community and an amazing local creative agency.
Because of my experience with that experiment, I had the opportunity to chat with Jelani and Stephen — both of whom are long-time mentors for PIE — as they were concepting and creating Vanport Studio. In those conversations, I was able to share the things I wish I had known about engaging with a creative agency in this kind of work. To share the places I had clearly failed. And to highlight potential opportunities to explore.
I’ll continue to be here to provide that feedback throughout their journey, as needed.
Likewise, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with leadership at Instrument. To share the things that worked well in the PIE collaboration. To provide gentle reminders about the challenges of being a startup founder — and how those challenges greatly differ from those of a global creative agency and multinational corporations. And to highlight the wealth of opportunities — likely a collection of seemingly insignificant efforts on their part — that could very much change the trajectory of the Portland startup community for the better.
I look forward to continuing to watch this collaboration. And I will be forever thankful that these two amazing entities — Instrument and Vanport Studio — have chosen to collaborate. There’s successful precedent, to be sure. As well as a history of demonstrable impact from these sorts of things. And I’ve no doubt this collaboration will be equally impactful. But most of all, I know — full well — that our community will only be better for it.
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Super cool. And definitely some PIE nostalgia with those wooden steps and all that startuping. Glad to see instrument staying awesome.