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

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

Hating AI is good, actually

Lately I’ve felt myself rapidly radicalizing into what I can only call an anti-AI evangelist. I’ve never been quiet about my feelings on the subject—I even wrote a screed about it last month—but as more and more examples show how easily it can be used unethically, I’m not just skeptical. I’m against it.

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

The third wave of American philanthropy – by Nan Ransohoff

This piece aims to directionally sketch the scale of what’s coming, the gap in operational capacity needed to absorb it, and what we can do to fill it.

You’ve probably noticed that the tooling around your engineering team has gotten really good at the building part of building software. The IDEs. The code agents. Vibe coding. But now there’s a brand new yet old as hell bottleneck: everything that’s supposed to happen before any of that. Until now. Meet Alder.

You’ve heard that AI can help you generate content. But your experience tells you that most all AI content sounds exactly like that. AI content. Where is the personal touch…? Or personality at all…? That’s the problem Meet Sona is working to solve with a voice-first AI content platform that turns 10-minute guided interviews into LinkedIn posts, newsletters, and blogs in your actual voice.

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

New tech employment report shows growth in Portland metro – Portland Business Journal

Portland ranks No. 6 for metros where the tech industry makes up the largest percentage of the local economy at 14%. The top three are San Jose, at 51%, Seattle at 31% and San Francisco at 20%.

Oregon has always been at the forefront of exploring electrification of vehicles. From Arcimoto to Photon Marine, we’re no strangers to figuring out cleaner ways to get around. Bend’s Dust Moto is no different. Well, a little different — especially given that their vehicles have two wheels and are made for offroad. And now, they’ve got more resources with which to work. They were just acquired by LiveWire.

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

Series A is the new Series C

A candid look at why early-stage funding now demands late-stage traction — and what founders (and community builders) should do instead: stop iterating in private and start selling in public. A view from the other side of the table.