Silicon Florist

That’s right. The very last PIE Demo Day will be taking place tomorrow, Thursday, August 10, 2023. Why is this the last one, you ask? Reasons. Lots of reasons. But before PIE turns out the lights on its SaaS accelerator program, they wanted to throw one last get-together to celebrate the current PIE startups, PIE mentors, PIE alums, and the broader Portland startup community. You should come.

At a time when securing funding is more challenging than it was a year ago, it’s always nice to see Portland startups securing the capital that they need for growth. It’s even nicer when those numbers are as impressive as ConductorOne’s Series A, which is now at $27 million.

Congressional Startup Day is an annual occurrence that seeks to put founders in direct contact with elected officials to open lines of communication and share thoughts. This year on August 16, 2023, UpStart Collective will be hosting a morning of conversations with electeds including Oregon Representative Janelle Bynum, Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, and Senator Ron Wyden.

It’s become a tradition for me. Each year, I mark another passing year of Silicon Florist with a post about, well, Silicon Florist. How meta. Conceptually, I mean. Not the company. (If you’re curious about those previous birthday missives, feel free to jump to the bottom of this post to revel in the nostalgia of years gone by.) So, here on the sweet 16 of Silicon Florist, I’m just going to do what I’ve done the in the past. And vomit thoughts and words onto the Internet in a rambling and loosely intelligible way. Let’s get into it.

After posting an official company perspective about the end of the original PIE early-stage startup accelerator concept — the one focused on SaaS, mobile, and other software-specific products — and revealing that PIE Demo Day 2023 will be our last demo day ever, I got a ton of feedback from folks. The majority of that feedback was, in a word, humbling. I took it all to heart. And I believe the kind things that folks have said about that program and its impact on our community to be largely true. 

I’ve been following Business for a Better Portland since the inception of its predecessor, the Portland Independent Chamber of Commerce. So I’m not going to stop now. Especially when one of the community leaders in our midst has stepped into a full-time role with the organization. That’s right, Stephen Green is no longer the interim executive director for the organization, he’s now the Executive Director of Business for a Better Portland.

So much of the tech startup news is awash with stories of venture capital funding — and all of the drama that comes with it. But what if you’re building a solid SaaS business by bootstrapping it…? You know, like investing your own blood, sweat, and tears and then (gasp) generating revenue and stuff. Where do you go then? One answer is MicroConf. And if you’re interested in experiencing it, you don’t have to go far. It’s coming to Portland in September.

Raising money is one thing. Raising more money from the folks who have already invested in your company is quite another. And a clear sign that you’re building something meaningful. That’s why it was nice to see that Portland startup Source has closed an $8.5 million Series A, featuring investors that were already on the cap table.

Even with the improved weather, in-person events still seem to be struggling to come back. But there are a few bright spots here and there that give me hope. One of those events in Magnet, a different kind of networking event.

New Relic has had a significant presence in the Portland tech community for years. And was among the tech companies to make it out of the gates with an IPO during more positive macroeconomic times. Now, New Relic is going back to being a private entity, with Francisco Partners and TPG paying $6.5 billion for the company.