Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
It’s always nice to see successful Portland founders moving from being one-time entrepreneurs to serial entrepreneurs. And so I’ve been watching with interest as Luke Kanies, the founder of Portland’s Puppet, chase his next pursuit, Clickety.
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When folks are building new things, they have a tendency to build them from their own perspective. And with that, comes the danger of building something that is inaccessible for part — if not all — of the target market they’re looking to serve. That’s why it’s never too early to think about accessibility, so that products are available to and usable by the broadest user base possible.
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Origin stories. They tend to be the thing of myth. Glossed over and hazy. Usurped by unnecessarily hyperbolic embellishment. All to accentuate the drama. But leave it to Luke Kanies, founder of the company that would eventually become Portland’s Puppet, to take a different direction. To share a borderline gonzo origin story.
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Earlier this week, Puppet announced that they would be serving as the workspace for more than two dozen early stage Portland startups. For some, this might seem like a surprising move. But in actuality, it’s core to the culture of the company. And has been a hallmark of its existence, ever since Reductive Labs relocated to Portland.
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There used to be a time when the Portland startup community was awash in unconferences. Unconference here, unconference there. On a variety of interesting topics. And while those heady halcyon days of unconferencing may have passed, an interesting one rears its head every now and again. Like this weekend. When it’s the AI/ML Unconference.
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I’m always a fan of events that highlight more voices in our community. So it will come as no surprise that I’m psyched to see Black Women in STEM 2.0 being held in Portland, next week.
One of my concerns about the Portland startup community is that it often takes a significant amount of time for companies to find their way to an exit. And for venture funded companies, it’s all about the exit. So it was a pleasant surprise to see two Portland companies involved in an acquisition—especially when one of those companies was still on the earlier stages of growth. Puppet has acquired Reflect.
In the world of equity financing and startups, it’s not rare to see folks adding new board members when they announce funding rounds. Because it’s usually VCs who have invested who are getting those seats. So when Portland startup Sensu announced a new round of funding and new board members, it was a pleasant surprise to see that one of them was an independent, Luke Kanies, founder of Puppet.
In the startup world, there are some prevailing assumptions about venture capital and building companies. But just because those assumptions are prevailing doesn’t mean they’re correct. That’s why I always like resources that help demystify the world of venture capital and its impact on companies. Like Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson.
Not so long ago, banks were a viable means of financing business. But as the terms of that financing became more inaccessible and onerous, we saw new models arise. One of those models was venture capital. Now—thanks in part to efforts like the Zebra movement—the VC model is beginning to show its own imperfections, inadequacies, and inaccessibility. So it only makes sense that folks would start thinking about new models for financing. One of those folks is Portland’s Luke Kanies, founder and former CEO of Puppet.