Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Every other Friday, we’ve been gathering founders here in our space to informally chat and network. I love learning about all the cool things Portland area founders are working on. It gets my mind racing – trying to figure out ways we can help them. The best thing, though, is seeing founders connecting and helping each other. Its definitely a startup thing to want to help other founders — but Portlanders take offering to help to the next level.
Portland’s innovation landscape is fertile ground for founders who are ready to dig in, show up, and grow stronger through challenges. So whatever stage you’re in—idea, scale-up, or rebuilding after a pivot—you don’t have to do it alone.
This post outlines a playbook for building three AI flywheels and using them to scale beyond your initial wedge. If you’re building an AI-native company, this is the framework for long-term advantage.
Shareholders of vacation rental management platform Vacasa (Nasdaq: VCSA) have approved the company’s proposed acquisition by Phoenix-based Casago. The vote was held Tuesday, and the deal is expected to close at 11:59 p.m., eastern time, on April 30, according to a news release from the Portland company.
In this article, I want to share how the idea came about, the mistakes I made, how I found my first customers, and how I gradually grew to a steady income of $250,000 a year over five years. All of this — without investors, a 20-person team, or a “Series A” round.
If you can set the right guidelines, agents can deliver better results. Everything than can be done wrong, I’ve done wrong and learned from it. It should be no surprise that agents write software this way. Humans do, too, and that’s where agents get their ideas.
Join us for AI Portland’s inaugural Zero to One Build Challenge in partnership with AI Startup Week! This isn’t just for coders and developers—we’re bringing together thinkers, designers, strategists, builders, marketers, and the AI-curious from all backgrounds to collaborate and create.
Senate Bill 686 would compel the dominant players in internet search, Google and Facebook, to compensate local news organizations for the content they provide. Currently, internet searches yield results that are often generated by local news organizations. But Google and Facebook earn the digital advertising dollars from that content.
In coastal flood hazard analysis, local factors like land subsidence from great earthquakes (>M8) are often overlooked. Along the Cascadia subduction zone (Washington to northern California), the next great earthquake will likely cause 0.5 to 2 m of sudden subsidence and associated sea-level rise, dramatically expanding coastal floodplains. Earthquake deformation modeling and geospatial analysis show that subsidence from a great earthquake at Cascadia today could double the flood exposure of residents, structures, and roads. By 2100, earthquake subsidence amplified by projected climate-driven sea-level rise could more than triple the flood exposure of residents, structures, and roads. This study underscores the need to consider combined earthquake and climate impacts in planning for coastal resilience at the Cascadia subduction zone and globally.
I was personally hands-on with a half-dozen founders in my portfolio who were fundraising in Q1 and many more through mentorship programs like Creative Destruction Lab. Almost all of these companies successfully closed their funding rounds — and they should have, because they all had strong, high-potential businesses. But not all of them got the valuation they wanted.
More Portland startup news
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