Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
It’s hard to believe but I’ve now been writing Silicon Florist for 15 years. That’s weird. I mean, really. I’ve somehow managed to write consistently from one downturn right into another. For nearly a third of my life. So at least that’s something. And now, I’ve got this celebratory tweet to show for it.
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Usually around this time of year, I take a moment to look back and reminisce on everything that’s happened in the Portland startup community over the past 365 days. But this year, I’m just not really feeling it. We’ve all been through a lot. We’ve all felt like we’ve lost months. Or years. And we still don’t seem to be any closer to any semblance of normalcy.
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I always like seeing startups celebrate milestones. I truly believe that there’s so much hard work, stress, anxiety, and difficulty in building a company, that we owe it to ourselves to celebrate the bright spots. No matter how seemingly insignificant. Which is why — contrary to their stance on the newsworthiness of anniversaries — I am incredibly happy to see GeekWire celebrating a decade of covering the Pacific Northwest technology community.
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Part of my inspiration to start documenting what I saw happening in the Portland startup community more than 13 years ago were those companies that were doing amazing things that no one was talking about. Like Discogs. Which was definitely one of those inspiration points for me. And so it’s with a great deal of nostalgia that I share that Discogs has now turned 20. In 2020, at that.
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In some ways, what’s happening right now is somewhat familiar. The economic downturn. Companies going through layoffs. New forms of inspiration that have folks with creative and entrepreneurial minds pondering new ideas and solutions. Making the best of a bad situation.
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It seems like just yesterday that we were hearing about a new accelerator in town, WeWork Labs. Hard to believe that it’s already been a year. But even in that short amount of time the program has already impacted more than 60 founders. That alone is a reason to celebrate. And so they’re doing just that.
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This is just weird. And every year it just gets more so. There’s no other way to put it. I literally had no idea that the night I scrambled out of bed and to my computer — inspired to register a new domain name, discovering that name was taken, and then tongue-firmly-in-cheek registering one that was available — would result in this. How could I? And yet, here we are. Twelve years later. And this side project just keeps going. And going. Yep, it’s still here. It’s still Silicon Florist.
It’s hard to believe, but Business for a Better Portland is turning two already. And like any milestone, it calls for a bit of celebrating. That’s why the organization — now more than 300 companies strong — is gathering the community for the BBPDX 2nd Birthday.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: OTRADI has built the best incubator in the city, the Oregon Bioscience Incubator. Likely the best incubator in the state. Potentially in the northwest. And incubators are hard. Really hard. (That’s part of the reason PIE chose to morph into an accelerator.) So when there comes a chance to celebrate their accomplishments? I’m all over it.
I’m tired, Portland. For any number of reasons. But mostly because — after more than a decade of writing this blog on a weekly basis — this community still feels like it needs a ton of work. You must be tired, too. Because you have all made a ridiculous amount of progress against any number of odds. And you’ve created and innovated and persevered. But there’s still so much more to do. And not a lot of help to do it.