There was a time when I was convinced that Intel was a font of potential startup activity. Unfortunately, facts flew in the face of that. And my confidence waned over time. But recently, hope has been rekindled. With the efforts of Intel alums like AheadComputing. And now, Mueon.

Well, there were multiple pitch events happening Tuesday, until there weren’t. OEN Pitch Please in Vancouver and Demolicious are still taking place, but Founders Live Portland — another reboot of an event has had a Portland startup community presence in the past — has been forced to cancel its event.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

The Last Days Of Social Media

Social media promised connection, but it has delivered exhaustion.

Remember last week when I mentioned that Jon Maroney was stepping away from day-to-day work at Oregon Venture Fund…? Well, things move fast in the venture capital world. Because that position has already been filled, according to the Portland Business Journal. OVF’s Deepthi Madhava is stepping into that role.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Why We Spiral

Negative spirals or feedback loops like these aren’t inevitable. In fact, there are small things we can do both for ourselves and for others to nip them in the bud—and prevent catastrophic outcomes months and years into the future. Better yet, there are ways we can launch positive spirals—dramatically increasing our chances of future happiness, success, and flourishing. The very same processes can either propel us upward or pull us down.

So much of the startup world is focused on “traction.” And ways to demonstrate that traction. Well, last week, Portland startup Vooks hit one of those major milestones in terms of traction: Vooks has 1 million subscribers on YouTube.

It’s a busy week with three pitch events happening on Thursday. But there’s a wide variety of events from which to choose, so hopefully you’re able to get out and about to meet with folks from the community.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Google Chrome at 17 – A history of our browser

In this write-up, I’ll walk through Chrome’s origins and evolution across these pillars (as best I know them), highlight key milestones (from multi-process architecture to AI-powered features), and share a few behind-the-scenes tidbits along the way. It’s been an incredible journey – one driven by relentless performance improvements, cutting-edge security efforts, and an uncompromising focus on user experience. Let’s dive in!