Startup and tech news, jobs, and events in Portland and Oregon
Being in the startup acceleration and mentoring business, I do love me some status reports and updates. Even if that startup happens to be an accelerator itself. And that’s why I was happy to see this latest update from Mitch Daugherty on the Built Oregon consumer product accelerator project.
While startup accelerators have become part of the parlance of early stage technology companies, the format may not be as familiar to other industries. That’s why Built Oregon is holding a question and answer session about their new startup accelerator for interested applicants and potential future applicants who are building consumer products in Oregon.
I love when folks take the time to highlight awesome Oregon companies. But sometimes, it’s hard to keep up. That’s why I’m taking the opportunity to capture Built Oregon’s Women History Month tweets so that you don’t miss out on these amazing entrepreneurs.
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.