Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Taylor Soper named director of Seattle’s AI House after remarkable run at GeekWire – GeekWire
After more than 13 years as a GeekWire reporter and editor, Taylor Soper is preparing for his next big assignment: he’ll soon join AI2 Incubator as director of AI House, the Seattle startup hub that has quickly become a gathering place for AI founders, practitioners, and researchers.
Oregon Is Choosing Who Wins.
Right now, the answer is: big companies with lobbyists get exemptions, and everyone else gets a rate hike. Or in the case of SB 1507, everyone else gets a federal benefit taken away.
The billionaires made a promise — now some want out | TechCrunch
The numbers are no longer shocking to anyone paying attention. The top 1% of American households now hold roughly as much wealth as the bottom 90% combined — the highest concentration the Federal Reserve has recorded since it began tracking wealth distribution in 1989. Globally, billionaire wealth has grown 81% since 2020, reaching a whopping $18.3 trillion, while one in four people worldwide don’t regularly have enough to eat.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others sign accord to stop scammers
Eight major technology companies — including Google, Amazon and OpenAI — have signed a new pledge promising to share threat intelligence about how scammers are abusing their services, the companies first shared with Axios.
AI job losses: Look up which workers are most vulnerable – Washington Post
The findings suggest that the majority of workers whose jobs may be transformed by or lost to AI can bounce back. But a smaller share of workers may have a harder time finding new jobs.
Oregon’s senior U.S. senator, secretary of state warn of fed voter suppression under SAVE Act • Oregon Capital Chronicle
At a news conference Friday, Sen. Ron Wyden and Secretary of State Tobias Read said they would defend mail-in voting and the state’s election integrity
The first modern rocket launched 100 years ago, beginning a century of both innovations and challenges for spaceflight
Exactly 100 years ago, on March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket.
Small And Mid-Sized Startup Purchases Are Still Well Below The 2021 Peak
These in-between exits don’t generate a lot of buzz, but collectively they add up to a tidy sum. Last year, for instance, U.S. startup purchases under $300 million brought in about $8.7 billion altogether, Crunchbase data shows.
AI Won’t Replace Innovation
Our view is simple: AI will reshape work, but it will not eliminate opportunity, and the large labs will not own it all. Step-function technologies tend to expand the surface area for innovation, and AI will likely do the same.
Venture Capital Doesn’t Exist – by Kyle Harrison
And here was my answer: venture capital doesn’t exist. At least, not in the way we all keep talking about it. This catch-all for every private company raising capital. And continuing to pretend that it does exist in that form does a disservice to everyone involved.
Weekly Review: Inside the Agent – by Sam Keen
This week, the conversation shifts from whether to adopt agents to what’s actually inside them. You’ll find practitioners dissecting harness architecture, reimagining tool interfaces with Unix CLI, and building isolation infrastructure for production agent teams.
Night Shift Agentic Workflow – Jamon Holmgren
My current agentic workflow is about 5x faster, better quality, I understand the system better, and I’m having fun again.
What Comes After LinkedIn
We’re entering a period where knowledge workers build portfolios the way creative professionals have for years—not on Dribbble or Behance, but through a growing ecosystem of formats that let you show how you think.
Oregon has lost thousands of taxpaying commuters from Clark County – oregonlive.com
Clark County residents, in fact, pay more income taxes to Oregon than the residents of 31 of Oregon’s own 36 counties. Since the pandemic, though, the number of Oregon taxpayers who live in Clark County is down by about 8%.
Economic Development Chair Nguyen on short session wins – Portland Business Journal
“It’s good to get people thinking about economic development, but another to have them propose economic development bills,” Nguyen said. “Pick a policy — education, climate, wildfires — all these other topics, people seem to have ideas. But when it comes to economic development, people haven’t done it a long time, so we need practice.”
Show Up For Small Business Tickets, Wednesday, Mar 18 from 5 pm to 7 pm | Eventbrite
This month we are headed to SE Portland and meeting at Bar Carlo on Foster. And while in the Foster area, you can also visit Bar Maven, Da’ Hui Hawaiian Bar & Grill, 5 and Dime, Atlas Pizza, Fern & Wolf, Red Castle Games, Starday Tavern, Pizzeria Otto, and Rose & Dagger Tattoo in case you need to get some new ink while in community.
More Oregon startup news
