Portland Oregon Startup and Tech News
I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately about broadening the spectrum of Silicon Florist coverage. To cover more than just tech. Because there is all kinds of interesting stuff going on around here. And some recent news seemed like the perfect excuse to start doing that. You see, Portland Seed Fund and Starve Ups alum Sightbox has been acquired by Johnson & Johnson.
Part of the challenge of running a startup is making sure that people — potential customer, mentors, employees — now about it. And there’s no better way to put your company on the map than to win an award. Even if you nominate yourself. So why not take a few minutes to throw your hat in the ring for the Portland Business Journal Small Business Innovation Awards 2017?
In the world of startups, it’s common for founders to seek out the path that promises the most opportunity with the least resistance — even if that means leaving their hometown to find help. Startup accelerators are often one of these helpful resources. And no outside accelerator program has helped Portland startups more than Techstars. And that’s why it’s always nice when Techstars Seattle is in town looking for more folks to help.
Just one last reminder to chime in on the survey about the Portland startup community if you haven’t already. It will be closing soon — and then I’ll share the results.
Every single one of you has made this community what it is and still has the potential to make our community even more awesome. That’s why your participation and feedback are incredibly important to me. And I want to make sure that your voice is in the mix. So please take a moment to respond.
After 10 years, I’m doubling down on my efforts to help make the Portland startup community even better and more awesome than it already is. But let’s be honest. I’m not really the most creative person. So rather than me try to guess what all of the problems or opportunities with our community are, I thought it would be wise to get your input and insights. And so did Built Oregon and PIE.
There’s this weird thing about milestones: they make you super reflective. Like “rethink the whole world order” reflective. And other things affecting the world order only tend to exacerbate that. So after a decade of blogging about the Portland startup community, I hope you’ll forgive my few moments of introspection. The topic this time? Patreon.
For the past three years, I’ve organized Portland Startup Week at the beginning of each year. While it’s regularly attracted nearly a hundred events and hundreds of attendees, it still put folks in a bit of a crunch as they were recovering from the holidays. This year, we want to make the event even bigger and better, so we’re shifting some things up.
Like email, I’ve used digital calendars for decades. And yet, I’ve never quite managed to master them. In fact, more often than not, they’re just a swirling mess of missed opportunities and days filled with back and forth emails about a time and location that seems to work for both of us. There has to be a better way. And Portland startup Appointlet is working to build it.
It’s summer. Which means good speakers are hard to come by. Luckily, there are still plenty of crappy speakers to go around. Like me. So I’ll be stepping up to say a few words before the cards are dealt and the chips fly at the next Portland Startup Poker 2.0.
Every October, any number of investors descend upon Bend to take part in the largest cash prize startup competition in the Pacific Northwest, the Bend Venture Conference. It’s arguably the most valuable investor gathering in the state. But you know what? It’s only truly valuable if there are awesome startups there. That’s where you come in.
