Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
What I Learned from Turning Myself Into an AI Chatbot | Jane Friedman
Soqratic took care of creating a simple interface so my potential clients could easily sign up. As it turned out, one of the biggest challenges was to make sure that the virtual coach’s answers were limited to my content. I didn’t want it pulling writing and publishing advice from Anne Lamott or Jane Friedman and passing it off as my own. The solution to this is a technique called RAG (retrieval augmented generation), which limits answers to content from a bounded data set (in this case, my books and blog posts).
Intel invests in AI startup SambaNova instead of buying it – oregonlive.com
Intel said Tuesday that it is participating in a $350 million investment round in Silicon Valley startup SambaNova, taking a different approach after previous reports indicated Intel planned to buy the company.
How Teens Use and View AI | Pew Research Center
Just over half of U.S. teens say they have used chatbots for help with schoolwork, and 12% say they’ve gotten emotional support. More teens think AI will be positive for them than negative
Reimagine Oregon Economic Opportunity Investment Fund Grant | Prosper Portland
Prosper Portland is proud to announce the launch of the Reimagine Oregon Economic Opportunity Investment Fund in accordance with City Code allowing funding support for neighborhood small businesses, including women-owned and minority-owned businesses, such as business incubator programs, management training and job training opportunities, and providing economic opportunity and education to communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition.
Kilo launches KiloClaw, allowing anyone to deploy hosted OpenClaw agents into production in 60 seconds | VentureBeat
Kilo, the AI infrastructure startup backed by GitLab co-founder Sid Sijbrandij, has announced the general availability of KiloClaw, a fully managed service designed to deploy a production-ready OpenClaw agent in under 60 seconds.
IPOs Are Holding Up In 2026, But SaaS Debuts Aren’t Happening
Per Crunchbase data, 11 venture- or seed-backed U.S. companies went public on major exchanges so far this year, raising just over $3 billion. Comparatively, that’s a fairly robust showing for the first couple months of the year, which tends to be a reasonably active period for IPOs.
How AI-Enabled Startups Are Moving Faster — and Rewriting the VC Playbook | Andy Budd
Artificial intelligence is quietly reshaping the relationship between founders and venture capital. On the surface, the AI boom still looks familiar: huge rounds, soaring valuations, and a sense that you need billions just to stay in the race. But beneath that headline narrative, a very different kind of startup is emerging—what Anu Atluru calls the Silicon Valley Small Business.
Tech Firms Aren’t Just Encouraging Their Workers to Use AI. They’re Enforcing It. – WSJ
From startups to giants including Meta and Google, companies are factoring AI use into performance reviews and trying to track productivity gains
Tapping Into the Serendipity of Silicon Valley — Chris Neumann
Silicon Valley is a fast-moving ecosystem, but relationships still take time to develop. Many founders come to San Francisco for a weekend or a week, hoping to “tap into the magic.” But a week isn’t long enough. Because San Francisco serendipity works in hops.
Waymo is coming. Will Portland be ready? – by Mattt Zmuda
Portland has roughly a year to build the regulatory framework it will need before the next bill lands. That work requires elected officials willing to engage with the technology. Not all of them are.
PubTalks: Fireside Chat with Rick Turoczy
Rick will share candid insights on building strong startup ecosystems, lessons from decades of supporting founders, the evolution of Oregon’s innovation economy, and what’s coming next.
PDX Code & Coffee @ DeadStock Beaverton, Mon, Mar 2, 2026, 9:00 AM | Meetup
Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks.
More Oregon startup news
