Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Invest in Tender Loving Empire — Scalable Retail With a Positive Community Impact | Tender Loving Empire

Investing in TLE means having a stake in a successful retail business that supports local communities rather than extracting from them AND is poised to be the next breakout Portland brick and mortar brand.  We’re inviting our customers, artists, and supporters to join us — not just to back our business, but to make an impact on hundreds of other small businesses as well.

As part of my ongoing internal conflict of “What even is an Oregon or Portland company, these days…?” I’ve continued to expand my definition — and beat — of the companies I’m tracking as part of my 18-year hobby. And two of those companies that I’ve talked about from time time time are Nvidia — whose founder went to Aloha High and Oregon State — and Intel — which has its largest concentration of employees in Oregon. Now, those two organizations are collaborating.

I always love watching the earliest stages of startups. But it’s also great when they start to hit their stride. And that’s exactly what seems to be happening with Vibes DIY, an implementation that shows the power of Fireproof.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: We love our anecdotal evidence around here. And our “de facto capital of…” sort of qualifiers. (Which I guess would be — in and of itself — would be anecdotal. So you can check “Encounter unintended irony” off your list for today.) But wouldn’t it be nice to have some decisions and strategies based in, oh I don’t know, reality…?

When your blog is old enough to vote, sometimes you could use a little level set. To help you readjust your perspective. Because what seems like a recent occurence to you may, in fact, be ancient history to someone else. I got a reminder about that today.

Startup naming is a fine art. Often, a dark art. But sometimes you start one place and then realize you need to be in another. Both as a business and as what you call that business. So while I loved the memorable nature of “Finnegan the Dragon,” I totally get why they would need to shift. Meet Prelude Early Learning.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Things You Don’t Have to Do – Quarter Mile

This page is almost the inverse. It’s a list of things you are allowed to not do. I’m writing it because I sometimes hear people tell me that they “have to” do some of the things on the list below, and I’m skeptical whether that’s true. And because, in my view, it’s quite helpful to know what you don’t need to do.

There was a time when I was convinced that Intel was a font of potential startup activity. Unfortunately, facts flew in the face of that. And my confidence waned over time. But recently, hope has been rekindled. With the efforts of Intel alums like AheadComputing. And now, Mueon.

Well, there were multiple pitch events happening Tuesday, until there weren’t. OEN Pitch Please in Vancouver and Demolicious are still taking place, but Founders Live Portland — another reboot of an event has had a Portland startup community presence in the past — has been forced to cancel its event.