Month: March 2025

I had the opportunity to join an intimate conversation last night with a variety of folks from the startup community, both Portland and otherwise. It was very much a “Chatham House Rule” sort of vibe to the event, so in keeping with that, I’ll reveal neither who was there nor who said what. But suffice it to say that it was a well rounded group of founders, investors, and support organizations.

Just stumbled across a little drama in the startup-o-sphere that impacts local company ZoomInfo. Apparently, well-funded startup 11x was sharing that ZoomInfo was one of their customers — including a logo on their site. Problem is ZoomInfo wasn’t a customer. And now they’re taking legal action.

In my recent rant on pitch competitions, you may have noticed one caveat: I directly referenced models like Pitch Black and Pitch Latino as events we should all be seeking to emulate. And now — which I’ve been eagerly awaiting after hearing rumblings that this was in the works — I’m happy to announce that we have a new pitch competition that does exactly that. Meet I Hope You Get Rich.

Yet another opportunity to raise the question, “In a world of remote first companies, what even is a Portland company anymore…?” Regardless of where companies are “headquartered,” I’ve always tried to track companies that have regional offices here, because we happen to have regional offices that have significant impact on our community. (Intel, for example, has more employees here than anywhere else, even though it’s a regional office.) So I’ve been tracking on Mercury — a banking service designed to be startup friendly — ever since I caught wind that it had a Portland presence. That’s why I’m sharing today’s news: Mercury just raised $300 million at a $3.5 billion valuation.

If you run in tech circles, I’m sure you’re already well aware of the Department of Government Efficiency’s sudden shuttering of 18F, an innovative digital services agency at the federal level that helped other government agencies — wait for it — improve public service and efficiency through technology. Yes. As stupid as that is, luckily, we have some of those amazing 18F folks right here in our own Portlandy midst. And now, they’ve found a new outlet for their expertise. Meet the Portland Digital Corps.