--- title: 'Silicon Florist links arrangement for May 18, 2026' date: '2026-05-18T11:58:03-07:00' type: post word_count: 1453 char_count: 13877 tokens: 1889 categories: - Portland --- # Silicon Florist links arrangement for May 18, 2026 Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today: [Series A is the new Series C](https://www.ned.space/editorial/ff45ac1f-a26b-4c41-9345-d588c89a7da7) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A candid look at why early-stage funding now demands late-stage traction — and what founders (and community builders) should do instead: stop iterating in private and start selling in public. A view from the other side of the table. [Networking Night @ Migration Brewing, Thu, May 28, 2026, 6:00 PM | Meetup](https://www.meetup.com/portland-women-in-technology/events/314094244/?recId=29248b11-9804-47af-97be-0f66bb3fc962&recSource=ml-popular-events-nearby-offline&searchId=6aff7e51-6a1b-4d3a-ba10-10f57a5bca20&eventOrigin=find_page%24all) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PDXWIT is bringing the Portland tech community together for an evening of good conversation, great company, and yes, excellent beer. Whether you’re a longtime member or just discovering PDXWIT for the first time, this is your chance to meet fellow technologists, share what you’re working on, and build the kind of connections that actually matter. [The Cognitive Sport of Building Startups | Feld Thoughts](https://feld.com/archives/2026/05/the-cognitive-sport-of-building-startups/) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most founders treat themselves worse than their company treats its infrastructure. Just build things as fast as possible. Don’t worry about what’s going to break until it falls apart. There’s no time. The phrase “tech debt” is a cliché because it is everywhere. “Founder physiological debt” is the same. [One Member of Kotek’s Prosperity Council Wanted Recommendations to Push Harder for Tax Cuts — Oregon Journalism Project](https://www.oregonjournalismproject.org/one-member-of-koteks-prosperity-council-wanted-recommendations-to-push-harder-for-tax-cuts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “We cannot help Gov. Kotek accomplish her goals without facing this stark reality that Oregon’s high tax rates—and of course the Legislature adopts higher taxes and fees every time it convenes—is driving away business owners,” Schnitzer wrote. “When there are fewer taxpayers and less profitable companies, state and local government budgets suffer.” [Newport High student wins $2,500 at 2026 “pitch night” for young entrepreneurs • Lincoln Chronicle](https://lincolnchronicle.org/newport-high-student-wins-2500-at-2026-pitch-night-for-young-entrepreneurs/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The youth entrepreneurship program provides high school students with hands-on instruction in entrepreneurship, business planning, marketing, and public presentation skills. The program culminates each spring with “Pitch Night,” where students present their ideas before judges and community members. [LKML: Linus Torvalds: Linux 7.1-rc4](https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/5/17/896) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- AI tools are great, but only if they actually help, rather than cause unnecessary pain and pointless make-believe work. Feel free to use them, but use them in a way that is productive and makes for a better experience. [Meet the Sad Wives of AI | WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-sad-wives-of-ai/) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If I had to listen to another minute of my husband talking about Claude Code, I might have actually died. It was 11 pm in Berkeley, California, where I was home alone with our 10-month-old daughter, and 2 am in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was visiting for his newish job in AI. “JUST LOOK AT THIS!” he shouted. The FaceTime camera zoomed toward a laptop sitting on a hotel bed. “SEE?!” [Pope Leo launches AI commission – POLITICO](https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-leo-launches-ai-commission-ahead-of-first-encyclical/) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pope Leo XIV is creating a commission on artificial intelligence, a new Vatican body aimed at coordinating the Catholic Church’s response to AI. [The seven new job titles that AI created, from Claude Evangelist to Chief AI Officer](https://thenextweb.com/news/new-ai-jobs-evangelist-philosopher-vibecoder-fde) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The range is striking. Companies are looking for everything from one of the oldest intellectual pursuits, philosophy, to an entirely new category of work spawned by generative AI coding tools, the professional vibe coder. Between those poles sit forward deployed engineers, AI accelerators, evangelists, gig workers training models, and a growing class of C-suite officers whose entire job is to make sure the rest of the company uses AI. [Tokenomics: the 62.5-minute rule for Claude’s cache | Ryan Skidmore](https://skids.dev/blog/anthropic-cache-tokenomics/?utm_source=tldrai) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This got me thinking, if a prompt cache is about to expire and I don’t have a real request to send, is it cheaper to ping it with a keep-alive, or let it die and rewrite it later? [Companies are hyping AI the same way they talked up sustainability, but there are ways to fix that](https://theconversation.com/companies-are-hyping-ai-the-same-way-they-talked-up-sustainability-but-there-are-ways-to-fix-that-282013?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2018%202026%20-%203773138640&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2018%202026%20-%203773138640+CID_4c884d19c7787465d46d0105003a2b33&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Companies%20are%20hyping%20AI%20the%20same%20way%20they%20talked%20up%20sustainability%20but%20there%20are%20ways%20to%20fix%20that) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Across corporate earnings calls, investor presentations and marketing pitches, “artificial intelligence” has become the buzzword of choice. Yet a troubling pattern lies under the hype. Many claims vastly overstate actual AI sophistication, misleading people about true capabilities, future outcomes and potential harms. [Products are out, brains are in | Mr. Market](https://mrmarket.bearblog.dev/products-are-out-brains-are-in-new/?utm_source=tldrfounders) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The primary reason people buy software will change. Rather than buying it because they can’t build it themselves, they may buy it because they don’t want to build it or they don’t have the time to spin it up or maintain it. And when they’re deciding which tool to go with, most will base their decision on one thing and one thing only: the judgement of the people running the software. [0x01f – AI and Startup Moats](https://unzip.dev/0x01f-ai-and-startup-moats/?utm_source=ryanhoover.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=our-new-25m-fund&_bhlid=9151de85ae254ae60ebc0ee4bb3e6b03ae985a36) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Try to see what moats your business has and how you can fortify your castle, because we need some lava shit instead of water with what’s coming up. [Portland Python User Group Meetup](https://www.meetup.com/pdxpython/events/314847754/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze_canvas&utm_campaign=mmrk_alleng_event_announcement_prod_unfiltered_v7_en&utm_term=promo&utm_content=lp_meetup&dispatch_id=6a0b3d0984dd11af7412c30c427544e3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using a web server access log as a running example, this talk covers the core mental model, Series, DataFrames, dtypes, and the index, then moves through useful operations: loading data, selecting and filtering rows and columns, sorting, conditional logic, and aggregation with groupby. The second half covers time series basics, method chaining, handling missing values, and merging DataFrames. No statistics or data science background required. [Happy Hour with Tech Professionals, Wed, May 20, 2026, 5:30 PM | Meetup](https://www.meetup.com/what-the-tech-bend/events/314661798/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let’s make the most of this time by connecting over a beer or your favorite brewery drink. Whether you’re a tech veteran or just tech-curious, you’re welcome here. Bring a coworker, bring a friend, or show up solo—either way, you’ll leave knowing people worth knowing. No presentations, no sales pitches. Just good people and good conversation. [Founders Better World Coffee: Tuesday 7/7, Tue, Jul 7, 2026, 8:00 AM | Meetup](https://www.meetup.com/positivesocialimpact/events/314794121/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze_canvas&utm_campaign=mmrk_alleng_event_announcement_prod_unfiltered_v7_en&utm_term=promo&utm_content=lp_meetup&dispatch_id=6a0b4be63392ac69b16fc1afea97e282) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What might happen, in our community and around the world, if once a month—on 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, 10/10 etc.—we encouraged each other to do one thing to make our corner of the world a bit better? [‘Lean Startup’ author reveals one regret about his bestselling book — and how his new one fixes it – GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2026/lean-startup-author-reveals-his-one-regret-about-his-bestselling-book-and-how-his-new-one-fixes-it/?utm_source=GeekWire+Newsletters&utm_campaign=76a4573a3b-daily-digest-email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4e93fc7dfd-76a4573a3b-234294513&mc_cid=76a4573a3b&mc_eid=7a726da317) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At its core, “Incorruptible” argues that the standard definition of profit (revenue minus expenses) is fundamentally broken. Ries has developed a new definition: profit is the maximization of human flourishing. More specifically, he defines profit as the surplus of human flourishing that an organization creates: what remains after accounting for all of its impacts on human lives, not just the ones that show up on a balance sheet. [NextWave Startup Lab Climate Edition Tickets, Friday, May 29-Sunday, May 31 • 5:30 PM-7 PM | Eventbrite](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nextwave-startup-lab-climate-edition-tickets-1988608097351?aff=ebemoffollowpublishemail&ref=eemail&utm_campaign=following_published_event&utm_content=follow_notification&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Wave Climate Edition gives early-stage climate founders a hands-on crash course in how to build a high-impact venture. Over three days you’ll move from idea to action through interactive workshops, real-time mentor feedback, and peer collaboration — grounded in real customer insight, market realities, and community impact.