Portland Oregon Startup and Tech News
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.
There was a time in the Portland startup community, not so long ago, when we had any number of interesting events that brought the whole community together. Granted, we were a much smaller community then. But those opportunities to gather were meaningful—even beyond the event itself—and formed the connective tissue that made our community, well, a community. Read More
It’s Friday. It’s Portland. And it’s about that time. It’s been a long week. You’re super interested in supporting the local economy. And what better way to blow of some steam and support your fellow entrepreneurs than partaking in the tasting of local beverage or two? It’s like the perfect win-win situation. And luckily, you’ve got Barrel Bound to help.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Get your product into your customers’ hands as soon as possible. Sometimes, those users help define product. Sometimes, they reveal significant flaws. And sometimes, they help you realize the product that customers actually want to use.
Ever since I promised Bill Lynch that I would stop publishing pure “we got funded” sorts of stories, I’ve had a challenge. You see, people tend to drop press releases when they raise money. So it’s a good time to cover them. But if I chose to act on those releases, my posts couldn’t just be about the funding, I promised Bill. There had to be another angle.
Dearest Portland startups, As much as I understand and sympathize with the rampant aggressive humility around here, I also recognize that you’re working on some incredibly cool stuff. And like it or not, you’re going to have find the wherewithal to tell other people about the amazing stuff you’re doing.
Rebooting. It’s not just for devices and computers anymore. In fact, a couple of Portland events are in the midst or rebooting and changing their format, in the hopes of addressing some of the gaps in our community. And since they’ve both got events coming up in the near future, I thought I’d highlight them.
Last time Portland hosted the 1776 Challenge Cup, local startup NoAppFee.com won here in town, which led to a win at the regional competition in the Bay Area, and culminated in the company being named the People’s Choice at the global finale.
Startups already have a ton of things to juggle. But you have to go with what your customers want. So even though Portland startup Sensu is only a few months old, they’re already planning their first gathering of users and partners. Why? Because folks asked Sensu to do it.
