Happy hours. They’re a thing. For real. And not so long ago, there was a community happy hour that grew into a really, really big thing. And an important and formative thing. But it didn’t start that way.
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Community doesn’t just happen. Ecosystems aren’t just built. In fact, some might say that building community is artificial. It takes effort. And consistency. And communication. And collaboration.
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Back in the early days of this generation of the Portland startup community, we used to have a weekly happy hour every Friday. Its origins stemmed from a small group of folks providing peer support for their self hosted WordPress installations in local watering holes. So it was called “Beer and Blog.”
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There was a time, not so long ago, when the Portland startup community used to gather on a regular basis at a happy hour called Beer and Blog. It was a time to catch up with friends. A time to make new connections. A place to send folks when they were looking to get better connected to the community. And it’s how many folks who are still involved in the Portland startup community met one another, originally.
If you were part of the Portland startup or open source community a decade ago—or if you were a startup type who visited Portland during that time period—you probably had the chance to attend Beer and Blog once or twice. If you weren’t around Portland then, you’ve no doubt heard me wax nostalgic dozens of times about the event, a weekly happy hour that served as the point of connection for our fledgling community.
In what now seems like ancient history, the Portland startup community used to have a gathering called Beer and Blog. Back when the community was smaller. And when people actually used to blog more regularly. Back then, it was the way to meet folks from our online community, offline.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: one of my favorite things about Portland Startup Week is getting the chance to revisit some of the classic events that made the Portland startup community, well, the Portland startup community. And while I knew Portland Lunch 2.0 and Beer and Blog were on the docket, I got an awesome surprise blast from the past today. Read More
The folklore is true. There used to be an event—back in the day—that would draw hundreds of folks from the Portland startup and tech scene together, every Friday. It was how many of us met one another, shared ideas, schemed, and discovered ways to connect and build the amazing community we have today. Read More
When Oregon native Andrew Hyde and I originally started chatting about Portland having its very own Startup Week—the concept that he, the Startup Weekend creator, had dreamed up to help towns celebrate their startup scenes—I was already toying with a few ideas. When he suggested that the launch date should be Groundhog Day, it was settled. Read More
If you blog in Portland, chances are you’re using WordPress—the blogging and content management platform built by Automattic. And there’s good reason. WordPress has played a defining role in our little tech community. Read More
