Startup and tech news, jobs, and events in Portland and Oregon
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.
Since its inception, Portland Startup Week has been all about supporting a variety of self organized events that celebrate the Portland startup community. But in the four years of organizing the event, we’ve never had something quite the scope of Finnovation PDX, an absolutely free — food, drink, and swag — half day celebration of the FinTech community in the Rose City.
Remember in the early days of this startup community when someone would release a new app and we’d all jump at the chance to download and use it as a sign of support and buying local? (Shizzow, anyone?) I’d like to see if we can get back in the mode of doing that. As a community. And I think I’ve found a really good opportunity to do that.
When you’re working on your startup, sometimes it’s difficult to carve out time to attend events. Even though you realize that they’re important. That’s why I’m always glad that we regularly have workshops as part of Portland Startup Week.
Portland has no shortage of coworking spaces. And there are more opening every day. Providers from outside town — like WeWork and Industrious — recognize the market potential around here. But we have homegrown coworking spaces, too. And if you want to test drive a couple of them, Portland Startup Week is the perfect time to do so.
If you’ve had the feeling that it’s getting even more startuppy around these parts as of late, it’s no wonder. Last week was PIE Demo Day 2019, Built Oregon has launched a new accelerator program, and the Startup Champions Network just wrapped up a three day event, here in town. April promises to be just as awesome thanks to Portland Startup Week with concludes with TechfestNW.
I get it. No. Seriously. I do. We all understand that the “P” in “Portland” stands for “procrastination.” It’s cool. But there comes a time when procrastination turns into actually having to do something. And that time is nigh. Because Portland Startup Week starts in a matter of hours. I know right? Kinda snuck up on us.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: Portland has an incredibly promising AR/VR/Mixed Reality community. From folks who create content to companies that are building the infrastructure and tools to deliver it, we’ve got a wealth of interesting startups and creatives in this still nascent market. And it’s always good to get all of those folks together. Which is what’s happening during Portland Startup Week with Immersive Startups.
A couple of years ago, Stephen Green put together an amazing Reverse Pitch event that I got the chance to attend. (If you’re not familiar with the format, a “reverse pitch” is where investors get on stage to describe the types of startups they’re seeking.) During the event, I had the pleasure of hanging out in the audience with a newcomer to the venture capital world who was visiting Portland. Her name? Arlan Hamilton.
It’s starting to get exciting now. As we draw closer to the beginning of Portland Startup Week, I always get a bunch of inbound requests from amazing Portland folks who are interested in doing something. Which is awesome. What’s not awesome is when folks are stressed about what to do. Sometimes they’re struggling to come up with a concept or event that works. Sometimes they believe that it’s more difficult to participate than it is. Sometimes they’re not even clear on what the options are. With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to provide some examples of what other folks are doing.