Startup and tech news, jobs, and events in Portland and Oregon
Accelerators are nothing new. They’ve become a quintessential part of many startup ecosystems. But more often than not, they’re rather one note. Because the vast majority of those accelerators are only accelerating one thing: tech. But there’s more to startups than just tech. Especially around here. That’s why Built Oregon is rethinking the accelerator model to support consumer products companies.
Taking inspiration from Stephen Green’s annual Black History Month celebration of black businesses in Portland, Built Oregon will be featuring women led consumer product companies from around the state during the month of March, Women’s History Month. If you’re interested in meeting some new companies and awesome founders, you should tune in.
While the Portland startup community does its best to be incredibly collaborative and welcoming, we’re not always so good with communicating how best to engage with the community. And that can be a tad bit frustrating for folks who are looking to help — and even more frustrating for those who are looking for help.
Granted, Portland shops local year round. But there’s no more important time to put your hard earned dollars into the local economy than the holiday season. Because so many products and retailers rely on holiday traffic. Luckily, Portland also makes that easier. With things like My People’s Market and Little Boxes.
PitchBlack is the premier local pitch event for black and brown founders. Built Oregon is striving to be the voice for consumer products in Oregon. So when you put the two together, you get an interesting night of pitches on consumer products from some of the most promising entrepreneurs in the state. And it’s all happening as part of the Built Up Festival.
For all of the hype around tech and tech startups, we seem to be sorely lacking in events that celebrate all of the amazing consumer products that call Oregon home. That was the motivation behind last year’s Built Up Festival. And it seems to have gone pretty well. So well, in fact, that it’s happening again, September 28-October 5, 2018.
When it comes to outdoor product startups, the nexus of that activity in Oregon is the Bend Outdoor Worx accelerator and their annual pitch competition BOW BreakOut. So if you’re building an outdoor product company, you’ll want to showcase your efforts there. And here’s your chance.
Way back when, I started Silicon Florist as an attempt to raise the visibility of a bunch of amazing activity I was seeing Portland tech startup community. Then, I helped start PIE—and continue to run it—because I felt that we needed to do more than talk about the community, we needed to help it grow through mentorship and connections. My motivations to help start Built Oregon came from similar desire to help the consumer product industries in Oregon. And now, I’m bullish on a new effort designed to enhance collaboration and innovation across all of those industries—and more—in Portland. Meet the Portland IQ.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Portland had an embarrassment of riches on the startup incubator and accelerator front. But as the pendulum swung from early stage to growth stage—and as regional offices and bigger players promised increasingly attractive wages and benefits—the once crowded incubator and accelerator community thinned. But all of that may be changing in 2018.
