Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community
Portland startup and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Interested in starting a startup but not quite sure how hard the leap will be? Nothing beats a crash course for steeling your courage.
That’s why OTBC is offering a one-day intensive workshop on how to build a successful startup. But you’ve got to hurry. It’s tomorrow. Read More
It’s always nice to wake up to another nail in the “it’s hard to find funding in Portland” coffin. And this time, not only is it funding for a cloud-based company in the Portland area, it’s funding for a company that sits outside the Old Town/Pearl region of town that has been a recent magnet for capital. Way outside. Like Beaverton.
Act-On software has secured $10 million in C round funding, led by Trinity Ventures. Why does Trinity sound familiar? Oh, because Trinity also just sunk some cash into ShopIgniter. Read More
Now, OTBC is launching a new initiative with one focus in mind: getting funding for every startup that goes through the program. Introducing Oregon TechLaunch Boot Camp, their new technology startup training.
For many startups, finding funding is the only thing standing between them and realizing their dream. But it’s not easy. And there are any number of ways to screw up an opportunity.
Now, OTBC is launching a new initiative with one focus in mind: getting funding for every startup that goes through the program. Introducing Oregon TechLaunch Boot Camp, their new technology startup training program. Read More
Did you know that the OTBC (@otbc) wants to invite you over to their place in Beaverton for cocktails on Wednesday?
Just wondering, since the RSVP list is pretty short right now. Maybe you missed the announcement, or you got busy and forgot. It happens.
Let’s not get into the whole, it’s too far debate. The OTBC can be reached by MAX and bus, and for many of you, it’s on the way home.
So, enough with the excuses.
On the heels of a wildly successful event on Wednesday, get ready for a Portland Lunch 2.0 first and second.
First, the second. You may recall the OTBC (@otbc) and Steve Morris (@stevemorris) hosted Lunch 2.0 back in early 2009 to open their offices in the Beaverton Round.
Well, they’ve recently moved again, not very far, and Steve has more he wants to tell you about what the OTBC has been doing, including at least a couple juicy announcements.
Now, for the first.
Because heading out to Beaverton for lunch isn’t spectacularly convenient for people who work in Portland and with a hat tip to those of you who rarely or never make it to Beer and Blog (@beerandblog) on Fridays due to westerly commute, we’re trying something new, a happy hour.
So, if you’re driving near Beaverton on February 23 in the evening, between say 4:30 and 7:30-ish, why not stop by and take the edge off with some networking?
Yes, I know. 11 steps. Yes, most of these things are supposed to be 12 step programs, but this one—11 Steps for Getting Investor Ready—goes to 11. Besides, we’re looking to feed your addiction to startups. Not curtail it. Oh wait. I think step 12 may be “Profit!”
In any case, our friends over at OTBC in Beaverton are offering to coach entrepreneurs on pitching their ideas and companies to would be investors. All it takes is an hour, beginning at 4:30 PM on November 16. Read More
Let’s be honest. There are only so many hours in the day. And if you’re on the Internets, a lot of those hours are spent reading. And reading. And reading. So much content. So little time.
But what if you could ingest that content faster? And get through more reading in less time? Well, it’s possible that you could, if you take a spin with Beaverton-based QuickReader, an iPhone and iPad app that helps you improve your reading speed and comprehension. Read More
This Saturday the folks at the OTBC will be hosting another round of cofounder speed dating. Starting at 1:00 PM, the session is designed to help like minded startup types find one another in hopes of making their startup dreams a reality.
Are you looking for that special someone? Someone to help fill those lonely hours? Someone who complements your personality and skills? Someone who can help you get that startup from vision to reality?
Well, get ready to meet Mr. and/or Mrs. Right Entrepreneur, my friend. OTBC startup speed dating is back. Read More
Yesterday, about 40 or so people gathered at TechShop Portland in Beaverton for our second venture into the wild and wooly suburbs.
Unfortunately, we conflicted with the opening day of InnoTech so many of the usual suspects weren’t able to make it.
I did see a lot of new faces, just like at Lunch 2.0 at the OTBC in January, which is a good thing. It’s always nice to meet new people or people you follow on Twitter but never see IRL because they live way far off in the ‘burbs.
TechShop is almost complete and ready for its official opening this coming Saturday, April 25. The warehouse area seems to be done, with only a few finishing touches and furniture remaining in the front office area.
To get us started, Denney Cole, our host, gave a quick intro about what is TechShop. The short version is it’s like a health club, for DIY people. You sign up to be a member, then you bring your projects.
What projects you ask?
Pretty much anything from soft goods (sewing, embroidery, upholstery) to wood-working (cutting, gluing, planing, sanding) to metal-working (melting, welding, grinding, cutting) to painting to robotics and electronics in any combination.
You could conceivably construct a couch from scratch, including the woodwork and finishing work at TechShop, or as Denney says, cut up the aluminum wheels on a junker, melt them down, and resurrect them as door handles and cabinet knobs.
Did I mention they have a laser etching machine too? That, apparently is the crown jewel of the original TechShop, in Menlo Park. I saw one of those in action at Web 2.0 Expo 2008, and that’s a fun toy to have at your disposal. The urge to etch can be strong.
Beyond providing tools and space to store your stuff, TechShop has classes. So you don’t kill, maim or embarrass yourself.
Wm Leler also talked about Open Tech Space, which is housed within TechShop.
Open Tech Space is a freely available gathering place for anyone interesting in creating prototypes, sharing and mentoring, and promoting business development in the technology and art communities. Even if you’re not a TechShop member, you can go to Open Tech Space and hang out with like-minded people. The goal is to put people with ideas together and encourage them to grow those ideas.
That’s really TechShop’s goal too.
After the talking, came the tour.
It’s probably best that we didn’t get a full crowd, since even with 40 people, it was a bit tough to hear Denney in the warehouse.
As we walked around, you could see the wheels turning in people’s heads. We like to build things, take them apart, improve them, and TechShop is full of the tools you need for that kind of learning. I overhead a few ideas flying around, and that’s the great thing about TechShop. It removes the sunk cost of buying and storing tools.
It also removes the spousal reminders to clean up your mess and finish the project already.
While in the wood shop, we saw this mold for a harp switch, which would have made Aaron very happy. Sadly, he didn’t make it.
When we went outside to check out the furnaces, we got a sweet demonstration. One of the furnaces got a bit cranky and decided to shoot flames about ten feet in the air. Not as dangerous as it sounds and very cool. Don Park took some video of a different furnace that gives you an idea.
As the tour wrapped up at the laser etcher, Amye pointed out this friendly reminder on one of the large cutting devices, a Pexto Jump Shear, used to cut large pieces of sheet metal.
Did I mention the safety classes?
After the tour ended, the lunch wound down as people wandered around more to soak in the awesome collection of toys, erm tools.
Thanks to Denney for having us. TechShop Portland officially opens on Saturday, April 25, and there will be an open house at 3 PM complete with demonstrations and ideally, fewer geysers of fire. Although, I enjoyed that.
Don’t forget these Lunch 2.0s, coming soon:
If you’re wondering about the WebVisions’ lunch, it will be open to anyone, attending the conference or not. There’s also a rumor that Open Source Bridge may be hosting a lunch before the conference (June 17-19) sometime. Any ideas on venue? Drop a comment.
Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.
Our friends over at the Beaverton-based OTBC are always trying to help startups and entrepreneurs in the Portland area—like by hosting entrepreneurial speed dating sessions and sponsoring events like Portland Lunch 2.0 and Open Source Bridge.
Now, the OTBC could use a little bit of our help. In the form of feedback:
We get input at our lunches, and through our Meetup.com site, but we’d like to round that out with input from a larger sample of the Portland area tech entrepreneur community. So please take three minutes to let us know what kinds of programs you’d like to attend. These are mostly ratings of 1-to-5 to show interest level in a topic. Lots of ideas are listed, but it goes fast. Really! Three minutes. (OK, maybe four minutes at the outside.) Thanks!
I know you can help, because everyone has an opinion. They’re like… well, everyone has one.
So take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and click some buttons. The OTBC—and our entire startup community—will be better for it.
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