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All posts by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy

Portland startups: Get a paid intern for free, help some kids at the same time

“If I only had more time to do [x].” It’s a phrase the confounds many a startup. And truly, every once in a while, that confounding problem is something terribly technical that requires a specific level of expertise. But most of the time, it’s simply something that needs to get done. Yet something for which it is impossible to find the time. And that makes it all the more aggravating.

All it would take is someone to help you do it. But that—especially for bootstrapped companies and side projects—can make the problem even more insurmountable. The idea of paying someone to do the job? Usually, not an option.

You know what would be perfect for completing these tasks? An intern. Even better? A paid intern. Someone who was getting reimbursed to help you with your project. And someone who had some skin in the game to perform at a level that would help your startup improve. Read More

WebVisions Lunch 2.0 is Next Week

WebVisions is quickly approaching. It’s coming up next week already, May 20-22 at the OCC.

Time to stop procrastinating and register. Better yet, take advantage of the package deal WebVisions and Open Source Bridge are offering, i.e. full access passes to both events for $300. Jump on that deal before May 18, and you’ll save $200.

Look at it this way. If you have an interest in either conference, you’ll get the other for a song, i.e. $50. Or maybe you’re a Web designer who wants to attend WebVisions who has a Web developer buddy who wants to attend Open Source Bridge. That’s a pretty sweet split cost. (Hint, hint)

Have you seen the speaker lineup for WebVisions? It’s jam-packed with local and international talent, assembling to talk about the future of the Web design, business strategy and user experience.

Oh, and Silicon Florist is a sponsor so the turoczybot commands that you attend.

Read More

Change your workspace to Nedspace by June 1, change someone’s life

You became an entrepreneur—or went out on your own—to help change people’s lives. To build something incredible. To give your life purpose. To do that, maybe you’re working out of your house. Or a coffee shop. Or maybe you’re looking for somewhere to work.

What if you could do some of that life-changing work simply by choosing to park yourself and your machine at a particular coworking space in town? To put it another way, what if you could help people simply by doing what you’re already doing?

Now you can. Read More

BIG Omaha: The big reason I’m sitting on the Silicon Prairie right now

Every time I’ve mentioned the trip I had planned for this week—“I’m going to Omaha”—I got the same quizzical look and a one answer response: “Why?”

Well, let me tell you. I’m sitting in Nebraska, right now, because there are a couple of guys in Omaha—Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson—who write Silicon Prairie News, which is like the TechCrunch of their region. And they’re helping pull together a ton of events like they’re the Legion of Tech for the region. And they’re talking about opening a creative coworking space like they’re the Citizen Space of Omaha. Read More

Awards night in the Pacific Northwest means nods for GadgetTrak, Jive

I’m unofficially dubbing tonight “awards night” for the Pacific Northwest tech scene, given that we had two competing awards shows—Oregon Tech Awards and the Seattle 2.0 Awards—handing out statuettes to impressive tech companies all up and down the Pacific coast.

For the Oregon Tech Awards, two Silicon Florist regulars managed to walk away with top honors. Jive Software was named the Emerging Company of the Year and GadgetTrak was named Cool Product of the Year. The only downside was that Ontier—another one on whom I try to keep an eye—was also in the running for Cool Product. Read More

Zapproved vies for Willamette Angel Conference crown as lone Web startup finalist

When it comes to Oregon companies competing for Angel funding, I’m always going to pull for the Web-based apps. It’s just kind of how I am. And those folks are definitely starting to turn heads, whether it’s at speed pitching events like the Big Idea Bash or through competitions like Angel Oregon.

In 2009, Portland-based WeoGeo has come closest to winning top prize at these competitions. Earlier this year, they were robbed walked away as the runner up for the Angel Oregon event.

Now, another Portland startup, Zapproved, is looking to claim the prize at the first Willamette Angel Conference. Read More

BrowserMob’s cloud-based load testing hammers your site without hammering your wallet

When it comes to building Web apps and sites, making sure that those sites respond to a wide variety of browsers and can effectively support a heavy loads of concurrent users can be the difference between succeed and sucking.

But finding the resources to perform—or purchase—that load testing and performance testing has, to date, been an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. And that has left many startups in a Catch-22 situation.

Until now. Read More

REMINDER: Rumblefish at Portland Web Innovators tonight

Sorry for the tardy reminder, but I’m hoping it still motivates some folks to attend tonight’s Portland Web Innovators featuring Paul Anthony of Rumblefish.

Portland Web Innovators was founded because we don’t just like the technology or the design. Yes, those are a big part of our craft. We also want to work on fulfilling projects, for companies that do good stuff. For many of us, we want to start our own companies. In fact, many Web Innovators already have.

Read More

Calling all Silicon Forest startups: Chat with The Oregonian at noon today

It’s no secret that one of the many reasons I started Silicon Florist was to get more people interested in what you’re doing.

Yes you, you silly goose.

You’re inventing incredibly cool stuff. You’re bending Web and mobile technology to your will. You’re taking risks. And you’re trying to build companies that will help Oregon and the Silicon Forest thrive.

Now, The Oregonian wants to hear from you. Read More

If you want to pay for WebVisions, that’s cool, but you can still get in for free

Now, rest assured, I love WebVisions as much as the next guy or gal. Heck, the WebVisions + Open Source Bridge deal is so good, I’m not sure how anyone can pass it up.

But see, here’s the thing: I’d like to see you get something for nothing. Because I like you.

So, don’t tell anyone, but there are still a few hours left for you to submit a response to the WebVisions survey. Read More