Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
I’m always encouraging founders to celebrate small wins. And to take pride in the progress they’re making. So for once, I’m going to follow my own advice and take a moment to celebrate. PIE, the startup accelerator that I helped cofound and continue to run as general manager, is turning 10 years old in August. So let’s celebrate.
If you’ve been thinking about an accelerator for your startup, you likely have a few questions. One of those questions might be “Which accelerator is right for me?” If Brandery and/or gener8tor is on your list, you can get those questions answered in person, this week.
I know, I know. You’re still trying to get back into the groove after having a weird Thanksgiving in the summer sort of vacation vibe. I get it. But best to hit the ground running because there are two deadlines approaching this week that you won’t want to miss.
Here in Oregon, we’ve got more than our fair share of amazing consumer product companies. I mean there’s Benchmade, Columbia, Deschutes, Keen, LaCrosse, Nike, Resers, and Tillamook, just to name a few. And there have been exits from companies like 10 Barrel, Brazi Bites, Dakine, Hydroflask, Pacific Foods, Schmidt Naturals, and Stumptown that rival any tech exit. So why in the world don’t isn’t there an accelerator program to connect all of this knowledge and experience with the next generation of consumer products companies?
Working on a Blockchain startup? Curious as to how the Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio is going to work? Wondering if your company is a good fit? Well, you can get all of those questions and more answered this week. Because R/GA is hosting an information session on the Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio.
I always say that the “P” in “PDX” stands for “procrastination.” It’s all but a definitive cultural trait around these parts. But sometimes, we all miss out on something really special due to that dragging of the proverbial feet. That’s why I’m really happy to announce that — instead of closing today — the XXcelerate Fund’s startup accelerator, XXcelerator, is giving you another week to get your application completed.
Being in the startup acceleration and mentoring business, I do love me some status reports and updates. Even if that startup happens to be an accelerator itself. And that’s why I was happy to see this latest update from Mitch Daugherty on the Built Oregon consumer product accelerator project.
It wasn’t that long ago that global coworking giant WeWork announced that Portland — specifically the Custom House — would be a WeWork Labs instance. And like all startuppy things, changes are already afoot. In the past few months, WeWork Labs has been experimenting with its Portland presence and going through some iterations. And now, there’s a new person heading up the Portland efforts, Josh Carter.
Accelerators are nothing new. They’ve become a quintessential part of many startup ecosystems. But more often than not, they’re rather one note. Because the vast majority of those accelerators are only accelerating one thing: tech. But there’s more to startups than just tech. Especially around here. That’s why Built Oregon is rethinking the accelerator model to support consumer products companies.
You may have heard of a little company called WeWork. (Actually, the company is called We Company, now, but bear with me…) They’ve got a few spaces where folks can, you know, work. They even have a few of those spaces here in Portland. But what you may not know is that they’ve recently launched an accelerator program for startups called WeWork Labs. And we’re getting one of those here, too.