Portland's Tech Startup Scene

Portland has the potential to be a leading tech startup hub, on par with much larger metropolitan areas. Our city has embraced a culture of "attention to craft and workmanship" that has customers yearning for Portland's products, employees clamoring to be part of a burgeoning new startup scene, and entrepreneurs from around the world considering Portland as the home from their startups. 

On June 15, Skip Newberry and Rick Turoczy will explain the unique advantages that Portland offers to startups, and will assert that if the tech community isn’t connected to the broader community, we’re losing the opportunity to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs and developers. They will offer example of successful startups that have positively impacted the Portland community and will explain how Portland can support the tech industry financially, politically and educationally.

Skip Newberry is the President of the Software Association of Oregon, the state’s only trade association dedicated solely to supporting Oregon’s software and technology industries.  Previously, Skip served as an economic development policy advisor to Portland Mayor Sam Adams, where he helped create Portland’s first comprehensive economic development strategy in 16 years, recognizing software as a key industry cluster. 

Rick Turoczy has been working in high-tech marketing communications jobs in the Portland area for more than 17 years. In 2007, he started the Silicon Florist, a blog about Portland startups in the Web, Mobile, and Open Source scenes. Since then, he’s appeared on local television and radio, made an appearance on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, garnered bylines in The New York Times, and been named to the Portland Business Journal’s “40 under 40.”