Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Portland added people last year for the first time since 2020, population estimates show – OPB
Portland added 1,435 people between July 2023 and July 2024, for an estimated population of nearly 635,750, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the city is still about 17,000 people short of where it was in July 2020.Portland added people last year for the first time since 2020, population estimates show – OPB
Portland added 1,435 people between July 2023 and July 2024, for an estimated population of nearly 635,750, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the city is still about 17,000 people short of where it was in July 2020.
GitHub’s CEO On Getting 15 Million Developers To Trust AI With Their Code
After Thomas Dohmke and his team first watched GPT-3 write code in June of 2020, they got straight to work. The product they built, GitHub Copilot, brought AI into workflows that developers already used—and it’s now the biggest player in the coding agent market.
The AI Eval Process for Figma’s AI Product
AI tools are changing the entire process of product-building, where people of all skill levels can turn an idea into something that actually works — something they can see, feel, interact with and iterate on. As Apple engineering leader Michael Lopp says, democratization is a good thing because it makes this capability available to anyone, but it also makes for an extremely crowded market.
Washington’s Commerce Director brings tech tools and AI to government reform
With Washington state facing a $16 billion budget shortfall, and tech leaders sounding the alarm over new taxes and economic competitiveness, Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyen says he’s committed to a hard reset.
Uber, Lyft drivers win more benefits, protections despite industry pushback • Washington State Standard
Smith, who’s part of the rideshare drivers advocacy group Drivers Union Oregon, hopes pending legislation will help bring drivers like him a livable wage. “There are a lot of people here in the Eugene area that don’t own a car, and once the buses or the public transportation shuts down, we’re who they call,” Smith said. “So we are an essential part of the workforce here.”
Silicon Forest Partnership grant opportunity
The Silicon Forest Partnership (SFP) is excited to announce a flexible small grant funding opportunity for startup companies in the semiconductor sector. A total of at least $60,000 is available in this initial round and will be distributed among several awardees. This program is made possible with the support of Business Oregon.
Startup Conversations in the Couve – Jun 2025, Wed, Jun 11, 2025, 9:30 AM | Meetup
Slumberkins is refreshing the plush toy industry and resonating with parents that find community on social media platforms and seek out modern, new, and intentional products to bring into their homes.
AI jobs danger: Sleepwalking into a white-collar bloodbath
Dario Amodei — CEO of Anthropic, one of the world’s most powerful creators of artificial intelligence — has a blunt, scary warning for the U.S. government and all of us
DOGE Days – Sahil Lavingia
In the end, I learned a lot, and got to write some code for the federal government. For that, I’m grateful.
Kevin Systrom explains how he made Instagram go viral
“The gospel of virality has convinced some marketers that the only way that things become popular these days is by buzz and viral spread. But these marketers vastly overestimate the reliable power of word of mouth. Much of what outsiders call virality is really a function of what one might call ‘dark broadcasters’—people or companies distributing information to many viewers at once, but whose influence isn’t always visible to people outside of the network.”
AI Share Of Startup Funding Fluctuates Sharply By Stage
U.S. artificial intelligence startups are gobbling up a large share of funding at all stages. However, the biggest slice of investment is coming at late stage.
A decade in, bootstrapped Thinkst Canary reaches $20M in ARR without VC funding | TechCrunch
Over the past decade, the company has grown to around 40 employees, mostly developers and engineers; hasn’t taken on any outside funding; and is on track this year to make a healthy profit on $20 million in annual recurring revenue, almost double from 2021, Thinkst founder Haroon Meer told TechCrunch.
New email newsletter helps Portlanders slash food bills – Axios Portland
After getting laid off in April, Bryan Vance turned his personal grocery expense spreadsheet into Stumptown Savings, a free weekly newsletter to help Portlanders save money.
The Who Cares Era | dansinker.com
The writer didn’t care. The supplement’s editors didn’t care. The biz people on both sides of the sale of the supplement didn’t care. The production people didn’t care. And, the fact that it took two days for anyone to discover this epic fuckup in print means that, ultimately, the reader didn’t care either. It’s so emblematic of the moment we’re in, the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore.
More Portland startup news
