Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Glow & Gather: A Holiday Happy Hour for Portland’s Women in Tech, Wed, Dec 17, 2025, 4:30 PM | Meetup
We’re closing out the year in style with Glow & Gather — a festive happy hour that brings together Portland’s vibrant women-in-tech community to celebrate confidence, community, and another year of accomplishments. Come ready to shine and sparkle in your festive attire.
Elon Musk says building his own ‘TeraFab’ chip fab may be the only answer to Tesla’s colossal AI semiconductor demand — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warns against ‘extremely hard’ challenge | Tom’s Hardware
Elon Musk is thinking about outsourcing some of Tesla’s chip production to Intel Foundry and even establishing the company’s own chip production operation, he said at the company’s Annual Shareholder Meeting event.
Study identifies weaknesses in how AI systems are evaluated
A new study led by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford and involving a team of 42 researchers from leading global institutions including EPFL, Stanford University, the Technical University of Munich, UC Berkeley, the UK AI Security Institute, the Weizenbaum Institute, and Yale University, has found that many of the tests used to measure the capabilities and safety of large language models (LLMs) lack scientific rigour.
You Should Write An Agent · The Fly Blog
Agents are the most surprising programming experience I’ve had in my career. Not because I’m awed by the magnitude of their powers — I like them, but I don’t like-like them. It’s because of how easy it was to get one up on its legs, and how much I learned doing that.
Job cuts in October hit highest level for the month in 22 years, Challenger says
Job cuts for October totaled 153,074, a 183% surge from September and 175% higher than the same month a year ago. It was the highest level for any October since 2003 and has been the worst year for layoffs since 2009.
Forecasts of AI & Economic Growth | Tom Cunningham – Tom Cunningham
Some of the forecasts are of growth in GDP, some GWP (gross world product), some TFP, some labor productivity. I’m also mixing forecasts for the US, EU, and World. Some forecasts aren’t explicitly over 2025-2035, but most are roughly that range.
Venture Capital is Not Competitive – Credistick
While this is problematic in a few obvious ways (the failure of fiduciary duty to LPs, the failure to founders), there is one critical issue: it completely undermines the positive-sum attitude that has been central to venture capital’s success.
The $100B Question: How SaaS Giants Are Rewriting the Rules of Value with AI in 2025
For two decades, SaaS pricing has run on rails. Flat-rate plans and seat-based tiers that make up for a predictable monthly recurring revenue (MRR). But in 2025, things are looking quite different. And you can probably guess why.
Influencers have fractured reality in Portland | The Verge
As the Oregon National Guard lawsuit proceeds, it’s become clear that right-wing content creators have a direct line to the federal government and are shaping national policy itself.
Startup AMA » Calagator: Portland’s Tech Calendar
Got questions…? I’ve got answers. Probably. Or maybe an “I don’t know. But let’s find out.” Either way, I’ll be holding a live AMA session to help you navigate the startup world, prepare for 2026, or simply get some insights on Portland, Oregon.
More Portland startup stories
