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Tag: Startups

Tracking pandemic induced layoffs at Portland startups

Rick Turoczy on July 20, 2020

It’s practically inevitable. During a downturn, startups are often forced to freeze hiring and reduce headcount. It happens time and time again. And it’s a grim situation for anyone who has to live through it. But from a purely objective viewpoint, having a better understanding of the actual metrics can be an important part of understanding and projecting the potential for recovery from a downturn. So I’m sharing this layoff tracker so folks can keep an eye on it.

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What is Madrona Venture Group — which regularly invests in Portland startups — looking for in 2020?

Rick Turoczy on July 20, 2020

There are any number of venture capital firms outside of Oregon that regularly invest in the Portland startup community. One of those firms — which also boasts a few Portland exits — is Madrona Venture Group out of Seattle. Since they’ve already exhibited a willingness to invest in Portland, I thought it might be valuable for Portland startups to have a better understanding of Madrona’s investment themes for 2020.

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Meet some new Portland startups: PIE Demo Day 2020 is roughly six weeks away

Rick Turoczy on February 7, 2020

Six weeks. In the world of startups, that might as well be an eternity. But, in reality, it will be here sooner than you think. And so, in many ways, PIE Demo Day 2020 is practically here. So if you’re even remotely interested in seeing some of the newest startups in Portland, it’s probably best that you grab a ticket soon. Like right now.

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Two Techstars take three Portland startups

Rick Turoczy on January 28, 2020

Okay okay okay. Maybe I’m still a bit sore that Techstars passed Portland up to make Seattle its Northwest presence. (Admittedly, they made the right decision.) Or maybe it’s the fact that we were only home to a Techstars for a brief shining three months thanks to the inaugural “powered by” program.

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What is the current state of the startup world? Early stage venture capital firm First Round shares findings

Rick Turoczy on December 19, 2019

While I spend the vast majority of my time heads down focused inwardly on the Portland startup community, I do realize that, from time to time, it makes sense to pick my head up and see what’s going on elsewhere. That’s why I was happy to see the First Round State of Startups 2019 making the, ahem, rounds.

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Puppet now has an active hand in supporting the next wave of Portland startups

Rick Turoczy on November 22, 2019

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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Three takes on behavioral and mental health in startups

Rick Turoczy on September 24, 2019

It’s still difficult to talk about. Even with the growing conversation around the stresses of being a startup founder. There’s still a stigma. About talking about founder struggles. Or revealing things that have been historically categorized as a weakness. But I sincerely hope that being more open about founder behavioral and mental health is better for all of us. And that’s why I wanted to share these three pieces that wound up crossing my desk at roughly the same time.

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It’s like Portland startups Slack IRL: Sip and Slack

Rick Turoczy on September 13, 2019

Back in the early days of this generation of the Portland startup community, we used to have a weekly happy hour every Friday. Its origins stemmed from a small group of folks providing peer support for their self hosted WordPress installations in local watering holes. So it was called “Beer and Blog.”

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Despite a seemingly growing community, Portland needs more startups. So does the US.

Rick Turoczy on September 9, 2019

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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