I can still remember the excitement back in the day when New Zealand founded AskNicely took up residence in Portland. It was one of those rare instances when a company picked Portland as a place to be — in a community that is often filled with companies founded by locals. Even better, that regional office eventually became the AskNicely HQ. Now, Portland is once again proving that it has something special to offer. AskNicely’s founder has picked Portland for his next company, as well.
Meet Huckleberry.
The idea is to replace the long process of surveys and reports used in 360-degree employee performance reviews with a quicker process that can happen regularly and feels like “a personal AI executive coach.” These quick bursts of feedback can occur more than the traditional once-a-year performance review.…
Ward and co-founder Diogo Böhm have raised a pre-seed round of $1.2 million led by Oregon Venture Fund. Also involved was Archangel Ventures and tech founders/angel investors from the U.S. and New Zealand.
We envision Huckleberry becoming the go-to of professional reputation and growth, much like LinkedIn is the go-to for professional connections. Huckleberry would be defining a new category at the intersection of performance management, coaching, and recruiting
I’m psyched about this for any number of reasons, not the least being that — fun fact — the first startup I founded was based on the concept of simplifying 360 reviews and making them portable. What’s more, that startup was also named after a fruit.
For more, visit Huckleberry.
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