Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community
Portland startup and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
I shared a piece I read the other day that postulated that incubators and accelerators are “out” and that startup studios are “in.” But what, exactly, is a startup studio? Luckily, we have one of the most prominent startup studios — Pioneer Square Labs — right here in the Pacific Northwest. And as PSL is now five years old, GeekWire recently took the time to assess its impact.
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“Risk averse. Conservative.… Out of touch.” They’re all complaints I’ve heard from Portland startup founders when describing the earliest stages of raising capital around these parts. But I always assumed that Seattle — with its extensive tech presence of major headquarters and massive regional offices — was a better environment. Apparently, it’s not. Those quoted comments are Seattle startup founders describing their Angel investment community.
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As you’ve likely seen, I’ve been covering this Portland technology and startup community beat for a dozen years. GeekWire has been covering the Pacific Northwest technology scene for equally long. Malia Spencer has been focused on the broader Portland startup community for more than five years. So it’s great to get a new voice on the scene. Meet Daniel Li, who writes The DL.
Call it the Pacific Northwest. Call it Cascadia. Call it… um… uh… oh yeah, the I-5 corridor. Call it even more things. Call it whatever you want. But if you want to work at a WeWork in our backyard? Well, things just got a whole lot easier. With the WeWork Cascadia Passport.
As much as I love our Portland companies, I’m even happier when they can expand their markets by exporting their goods and services to other communities. It doesn’t matter if they’re tech, creative, food & beverage… you name it. Being part of the “traded sector” helps Portland. So you can only imagine how happy I was when I heard PitchBlack was being shared with other communities as well. They’ll be in Seattle on Wednesday night as part of Techstars Startup Week Seattle.
It’s pretty common practice to have folks from the north and south visit Oregon. And in recent years, it’s even become common for capital to flow into the state from investors in those neighboring states. But it’s still rare to see Oregon investors expand to other regions. But that’s exactly what Seven Peaks Ventures is doing.
It’s no secret that a lot of the capital powering the Portland startup scene comes from outside of town. And one of the earliest supporters—both in terms of this generation of startups and when they invest—has been Seattle’s Founders Co-op. And now, they’ve got another investor joining their ranks: former Facebook general counsel Rudy Gadre is now a general partner. Read More
I know, I know. It’s only Monday morning. Which seems a little early to be talking about Friday afternoon happy hour. Or maybe it’s the ideal time. Either way. Read More
You can’t swing a dead term sheet without hitting a startup accelerator or two, these days. So it’s good to see some diversification in the market. Take 9Mile Labs out of Seattle, for example. Read More
It’s always nice to take a look at what’s happening in other startup scenes. Yesterday, I was up north at the—deep breath—Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, powered by TechStars Demo Day on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. All told, 10 new companies came out of the Accelerator, the first based on Azure. Read More
