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Awards night in the Pacific Northwest means nods for GadgetTrak, Jive

Rick Turoczy on May 7, 2009

I’m unofficially dubbing tonight “awards night” for the Pacific Northwest tech scene, given that we had two competing awards shows—Oregon Tech Awards and the Seattle 2.0 Awards—handing out statuettes to impressive tech companies all up and down the Pacific coast.

For the Oregon Tech Awards, two Silicon Florist regulars managed to walk away with top honors. Jive Software was named the Emerging Company of the Year and GadgetTrak was named Cool Product of the Year. The only downside was that Ontier—another one on whom I try to keep an eye—was also in the running for Cool Product. Read More

Zapproved vies for Willamette Angel Conference crown as lone Web startup finalist

Rick Turoczy on May 7, 2009

When it comes to Oregon companies competing for Angel funding, I’m always going to pull for the Web-based apps. It’s just kind of how I am. And those folks are definitely starting to turn heads, whether it’s at speed pitching events like the Big Idea Bash or through competitions like Angel Oregon.

In 2009, Portland-based WeoGeo has come closest to winning top prize at these competitions. Earlier this year, they were robbed walked away as the runner up for the Angel Oregon event.

Now, another Portland startup, Zapproved, is looking to claim the prize at the first Willamette Angel Conference. Read More

BrowserMob’s cloud-based load testing hammers your site without hammering your wallet

Rick Turoczy on May 6, 2009

When it comes to building Web apps and sites, making sure that those sites respond to a wide variety of browsers and can effectively support a heavy loads of concurrent users can be the difference between succeed and sucking.

But finding the resources to perform—or purchase—that load testing and performance testing has, to date, been an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. And that has left many startups in a Catch-22 situation.

Until now. Read More

REMINDER: Rumblefish at Portland Web Innovators tonight

Rick Turoczy on May 6, 2009

Sorry for the tardy reminder, but I’m hoping it still motivates some folks to attend tonight’s Portland Web Innovators featuring Paul Anthony of Rumblefish.

Portland Web Innovators was founded because we don’t just like the technology or the design. Yes, those are a big part of our craft. We also want to work on fulfilling projects, for companies that do good stuff. For many of us, we want to start our own companies. In fact, many Web Innovators already have.

Read More

Calling all Silicon Forest startups: Chat with The Oregonian at noon today

Rick Turoczy on May 5, 2009

It’s no secret that one of the many reasons I started Silicon Florist was to get more people interested in what you’re doing.

Yes you, you silly goose.

You’re inventing incredibly cool stuff. You’re bending Web and mobile technology to your will. You’re taking risks. And you’re trying to build companies that will help Oregon and the Silicon Forest thrive.

Now, The Oregonian wants to hear from you. Read More

If you want to pay for WebVisions, that’s cool, but you can still get in for free

Rick Turoczy on May 5, 2009

Now, rest assured, I love WebVisions as much as the next guy or gal. Heck, the WebVisions + Open Source Bridge deal is so good, I’m not sure how anyone can pass it up.

But see, here’s the thing: I’d like to see you get something for nothing. Because I like you.

So, don’t tell anyone, but there are still a few hours left for you to submit a response to the WebVisions survey. Read More

LUNARR in retrograde: After several beta products, startup decides to close up shop

Rick Turoczy on May 4, 2009

I always hate to report on this stuff, but sometimes you just have to. Portland-based LUNARR, one of the first companies to come out of stealth mode after I started Silicon Florist, has decided to close its doors.

Last Thursday, users of LUNARR’s Elements and Themes products received the following notice: Read More

Forecast for Jive Social Business Software? Cloudy (and that’s a good thing)

Rick Turoczy on May 4, 2009

A little over a year ago, Portland-based Jive Software announced that they were relocating to the Federal Reserve building. The decision was both a testament to their success and a signal that they were planning to continue to grow.

But for me, one of the most interesting aspects of their chosen location was their new proximity to a big Internet pipe running through the middle of Portland. Maybe, I mentioned to a few other folks, there was a reason they wanted to be sitting on that pipe. Maybe Jive is looking to deliver their product over the Web. The response? Maybe. Read More

The Oregonian features a number of small Portland startups in “Tech Entrepreneurs Defy Recession”

Rick Turoczy on May 2, 2009

Recently, Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian has been working on a piece about the small Web and mobile startups here in town and the community that has grown up around them. The article—entitled “Tech Entrepreneurs Defy the Recession“—has been posted to the Web and should be in the print edition on Saturday.

It’s an expansive piece that manages to bring together views from a number of different folks from the Portland Web startup scene. Among them, David Abramowski, Ward Cunningham, Dave Hersh, Harvey Mathews, Kevin Tate, Raven Zachary, and Josh Bancroft. Read More

Movin’ on up: Digital Trends takes up residence in Big Pink

Rick Turoczy on May 1, 2009

As I mention from time to time, I’ve got this list of “I didn’t know they were in Portland” companies. Great startups and blogs that are super good, but that—for whatever reason—don’t really get the recognition they deserve as hometown efforts.

One of my favorite blogs that falls into this category is Digital Trends, an incredibly popular blog that looks at gadgets and gizmos. Super well known—but not always recognized as Silicon Forest startup. Read More

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