For those of you early risers who are looking to get back to in-person events featuring interesting startup content, look no further than the upcoming Portland Business Journal Power Breakfast featuring Jelani Memory, founder and CEO of Portland’s A Kids Company About.
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One of the most confusing things about the Portland startup community is how quiet it is. It’s not because there’s nothing happening. Far from it. And it’s not because people aren’t interested in including new and amazing people like you in their groups or meetups. Honestly, the quiet nature of the community comes from a very positive place: folks around here tend to be aggressively humble. They’re not ones to toot their own proverbial horns or be making a lot of noise about what they’re building.
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Ask anybody. Portland can always use more folks talking about what’s being built here. And what founders are starting here. And that’s why it’s always great to see other publications focusing time and energy on telling the story of those startups in town. Especially, when they bring real journalists to bear on that storytelling.
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Throughout my career, I’ve been incredibly lucky to be surrounded by amazing founders, mentors, and peers. Many of whom happened to be women. And all of whom rarely received the recognition or accolades they deserve. That’s why it’s always nice to see efforts to raise the visibility of businesswomen. Like the Portland Business Journal’s Women of Influence awards.
It’s no secret that Portland likes its shiny new technology. We’re among the earliest of adopters and the most curious of hobbyists with all sorts of newfangled stuff. And that means that once a technology enters the popular lexicon, we tend to be fairly well phrased in its applications and potential. So when it comes to technology like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence, folks in Portland have a great deal to say. And they’ll be doing exactly that during the next Portland Business Journal Power Breakfast.
You’ve done your homework. You’ve thumbed through “How to Portland startup scene.” You scan Calagator on a regular basis. You attend any number of events. You pop into the Portland Startup Slack every now and again. And you’ve both asked and offered on Portland Startups Switchboard. But still. You’ve still got a few questions about the Portland startup community. Read More
Every year, the Portland Business Journal releases a list of “40 under Forty,” the most notable business people who have managed to accomplish a great deal of business and civic good prior to hitting the big four oh. And every year, I anxiously thumb through the awards, hoping to see all of the awesome Portland entrepreneurs who are doing cool things every day.
Every year, the Portland Business Journal releases a list of “40 under Forty,” the most notable Portland people who have managed to accomplish a great deal of business and civic good prior to hitting the “big four oh.” And every year, I anxiously thumb through the awards, hoping to see all of the awesome Portland entrepreneurs who are doing cool things around here.
Unfortunately, I’m usually disappointed. I mean, there are a bunch of great lawyers and CPAs and such. But startup types? Not so much.
So this year, I thought I’d see if we could stack the deck a bit. You see, nominations for the Portland Business Journal 40 under Forty are open. Read More
When you name business publications in the Portland area, the Portland Business Journal is likely right up there at the top. It tends to be the go-to resource for small businesses here in town. And, for the past 8 years, Aliza Earnshaw has been working the local beat, writing about what’s happening in Portland.
Well, you write about enough small tech businesses and startups long enough and suddenly you want to join them.
Which is exactly what happened with Aliza. She’s announced that she is joining AboutUs as the Editor-in-Chief for the burgeoning “Wikipedia of Web sites.”
I’ve had the opportunity to work with Aliza over the years in my various corporate communications roles—like MedicaLogic and ProSight. I’m looking forward to seeing how she leverages her impressive journalistic chops in this new role.
Aliza’s last day at PBJ will be tomorrow. She begins at AboutUs, next month.
Your first writing job at the new gig, Aliza? Building out your AboutUs page, of course.
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Portland has been named the 10th best place in the United States to start a small business. Unfortunately for us, that Business Journal ranking is for Portland, Maine. We here in Portland, Oregon, just missed the top 10, landing at #11.
The survey and resulting list is compiled by American City Business Journals—the parent company of all of the regional Business Journals. To arrive at the ranking, the survey compared the number of small businesses in the area to metropolitan population and job growth.
Of course, you can’t read the article, unless you’re a paid subscriber. But here’s a snippet:
Portland [Ore.] had 61,244 businesses with 99 or fewer employees, or 28.7 per 1,000 residents in 2006, according to Census data used in the formulation. The 11th place showing is the best by Portland since the first list arrived in 2005. Back then, with the economy in full swing, Portland ranked 39th.
So what were the top 10?
All in all, garnering the 11th spot is good news for Portland, Oregon, especially when it comes to those outside of the Silicon Forest looking in. From a “closer to home” perspective, the metrics are likely too broad to provide much insight into the comparisons between the Web and Mobile startups here in town and their peers in other metropolitan areas.
Big news today for Portland and the world of wiki. Portland-based AboutUs has secured $5 million in Series A funding led by Voyager Capital. And in equally good news, the company plans to use the infusion of cash to expand their staff.
It’s always impressive when a Portland company lands funding, but given the current economic conditions, this is especially welcome news.
Quoting heavily from my post on ReadWriteWeb:
How does a small startup secure capital in such turbulent economic times? Being profitable helps – something AboutUs achieved by mid-year 2008. The company is forecasting continued growth, this year. Ray King, CEO, said the company is targeting $5 million in revenue for 2009. The primary source remains advertising, but the online marketing services AboutUs sells – including content creation and custom page development – continue to gain traction.
Another reason for investor confidence? The staff. AboutUs holds a special place in the world of wiki as the employer of Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the wiki, and they continue to attract new talent. They recently hired a number of new employees, including CFO Jack Williamson. King hopes to use the new funding to increase the size of the company to around 50 employees by the end of 2009, up from its current staff of 32.
The company also received a nice write-up in the Portland Business Journal today. But, of course, the Business Journal being what it is, you won’t be able to read it unless you’re a subscriber.
For more on the news, see Mike Rogoway’s post on the Silicon Forest blog.
Other good news? The celebration for this announcement has already been set. Don’t forget, AboutUs is buying us lunch—or rather Lunch 2.0—next month.
