Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
I’m not going to lie: I love that the increasing accessibility—both in terms of costs and programmability—of hardware is inspiring new and creative pursuits. Sometimes, they create new business concepts. Sometimes they’re just cool. And when folks give you an inside look at how they made it? That’s even cooler. Which is why I loved this LEGO Saturn V project writeup from Portland’s Asa Miller.
As more and more startup darlings and unicorns flirt with going public or take the opportunity to IPO, earnings calls are coming back into vogue. During the dotcom days, tuning into these sorts of things took all sorts of effort. Tracking down numbers. Tuning in at the right time. Finding the corresponding Webinar. It was a hassle. Read More
Most of your favorite super heroes are actually side projects. Most super heroes don’t do that whole super hero thing as their full-time gig. In fact, most of them have got a day job.
I know you’re busting your ass, Mr. and/or Mrs. Startup type. I know you’re working hard on a side project or idea while continuing to slave away at the day job. All in the hopes that someday—someday—you might get to turn that side project into a full-time gig. But it can be taxing. I know it.
So every once in awhile, I like to try to give you a little motivation. A little help. A little something that makes staying up that extra four hours a little easier. And that little something today is this: Most of your favorite super heroes are actually side projects. Read More
When Shizzow announced that the startup—the foray into becoming a full-fledged company—is returning to the realm of side project
One of my favorite things about having worked on Silicon Florist for more than two years is watching the progress people are making. And watching how things change. I’ve been lucky enough to watch ideas, events, and companies come and go—and I’ve had the chance to document their stories. It’s never something I intended to do. It just kind of happened.
Sometimes those stories are happy. Sometimes they’re not. But they’re always good stories. The latest story I’ve had the pleasure of documenting as it went full circle? The story of Shizzow. Read More
So, there are you are. Sitting there banging away on some code. Or working out your strategy for how you’re going to move that side project along just a little bit more. Or just trying to tweak that one blog post a little more.
And everyone’s bitching about the economy. Or how this is a bad time to do anything “risky.” Or about the time you’re wasting. Or how you should be doing something else.
But you know this is the right thing to do. And you know what? You’re right. And you will get there. Read More
So just how do you take a passion project and make it your full-time startup gig? It’s a common question. And a question any number of us have struggled to answer at some point.
And on September 12 and 13 at CubeSpace, a bunch of us are going to get together to try and figure it out with From Side Project to Startup.
The event will be a continuation of the discussion we started earlier this year at BarCamp Portland.
The seeds for ‘From Side Project to Startup’ were sown at a session of early May’s Bar Camp Portland. The conference generated a good amount of buzz, and brought up more questions than the time could answer.
And besides, I’d love to have you there as part of the discussion. So join us, won’t you?
You’ll notice the schedule includes a lot of ‘schmooze,’ snack, break and party time. With this as well as the unconference time to meet and discuss with people, it’s a goal of ‘From Side Project to Startup’ that a network of interested startups will form to provide each other with peer support and accountability. You can do it, keep going!
For more information, visit From Side Project to Startup. Or, if you’re already as excited about this as I am, go ahead and RSVP on Upcoming.