Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community
Portland startup and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
While it may seem like the Portland startup community is growing in population, I’m not sure that it’s growing in the number of startup companies we’re seeing. And even if that anecdotal assumption is somewhat misplaced locally, broader demographics across the US tend to indicate that it’s probably more true than false. Entrepreneurship has never recovered from the days of the mortgage crisis.
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A few years back, I started Portland Startup Week. And as the starter, I became its de facto lead organizer. Despite the fact that I wasn’t terribly good at it. And I kept doing it because I wanted Portland Startup Week to be a thing. Over time, a number folks have pitched in to help pull it together making it an incredible celebration of the Portland startup community with nearly 100 events, from free coworking to panels to hackathons.
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Now, you likely know I’m not the biggest fan of pitch competitions. But every once in a while, an opportunity comes along for a Portland startup founder that involves a pitch competition. And it just makes sense. Like AllGo getting the opportunity to pitch at Lesbians Who Tech. There’s only one problem: It’s in New York. And that’s across the country.
The Portland startup community got the chance to hear from Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, this morning. Thanks to WeWork Labs Portland and its Manager Josh Carter — who also is the founder and lead organizer of Coffee w/ Co-Founders.
This Wednesday marks the fifth installment of PitchBlack, an event created by Stephen Green to showcase Black Portland founders that has grown into a national happening. Wednesday’s event will be the biggest PitchBlack Portland ever, held at Wieden+Kennedy’s headquarters in the Pearl. By all accounts, this is a big deal — and probably a little stressful for participants. That’s why Stephen reached out to former PitchBlack presenters to get some last minute words of advice and a bit of a pep talk.
Sorry, this one kinda snuck up on me. Portland Seed Fund regularly takes the opportunity to invite a bunch of startups to come hang out and practice their pitches to the PSF partners. This time, it’s taking place at the Portland State Business Accelerator.
Not really feeling the current job? Looking for something new? Or maybe you’re not even in Portland currently, but you’d really like an excuse to move here? Well, whatever the case, you’re in luck. Because folks are hiring. And they might be interested in hiring you.
In some industries, the idea of “closing” can be the worst possible outcome. But in the world of startups, closing is often a very good thing. And the latest news from the Portland Seed Fund is no different. The Portland Business Journal just revealed that PSF has just closed their third fund to the tune of $13.9 million.
Portland rarely sees things occur in rapid succession. Funding tends to be sporadic. Exits tend to be blips here and there. But that may be changing. Because it feels like we are starting to see a growing trend of well known Portland startup founders moving on to their next thing. The latest? Nat Parker is leaving moovel, a journey which started with his startup GlobeSherpa.
Portland is always said to be an incredibly collaborative place. With all kinds of organizations designed to foster that collaboration. But until recently, we didn’t really seem to have an organization that facilitated collaboration among startups and government. Until Business for a Better Portland came along.
