SAO: PDX11 Mentor Meeting: Tues. 11/8: 3:30-5pm

SAO Events Calendar: http://www.sao.org/events/event_details.asp?id=188714

PDX11 Website: http://www.pdx11.org

Venue & Details:

When: TU Nov 8th 3:30-5pm

Where: SAO, 111 SW 5th Ave., Suite 120, Portland, OR 97204 (Burnside Conf Rm)

Contact: Tamsen Galloway ([email protected])

EVENT DESCRIPTION: Join us for a recap of all of the progress we've been making! Hear about our latest milestones on the Mentor Matching Software, the LinkedIn Group, & Roundtable Series. Find out what's on the agenda for the Software Summit, & maybe you'll meet the mentor you've been looking for! Find out more by joining our LinkedIn Group or look on ePDX

RSVP: on Plancast

http://plancast.com/p/7yyx/pdx11-mentor-network-general-meeting

A two-hour mentorship workshop for girls that starts with an overview of the speed mentoring process by Ivo Lukas, Chief Innovation Officer of Girls in Tech.

After the introduction, we'll start the Speed Mentoring Rounds. Each mentee will meet one-on-one with up to four Mentors for 15 minutes.

Bring the following:

Your elevator pitch
2-3 questions you would like help in answering
Business cards to give to each Mentor

The purpose of speed mentoring is to get feedback on your strengths and professional challenges from an industry expert - it's an efficient and effective way to learn, connect and network.

When you arrive, sign up for time slots so you can meet and learn from the Mentors. First come first served!

ABOUT GIT: The Girls in Tech MENTORSHIP Program was developed to provide integrated, engaging and educational high-touch workshops for young girls ages K-12, women in colleges/universities and working professionals. In an effort to encourage girls to enjoy, embrace and understand the importance of math, tech and science at a young age, we are building the curriculum which will enable girls to learn the basic skills, software programs and gain entrepreneurial exposure to become leaders within their communities, academia and in their future careers in the tech space.

To learn more about girls in tech mentorship please contact [email protected]

Or connect with her @MsSonicFlare Use hashtag #GITm

(from the Meetup description):

Welcome to Portland Haskell Office Hours! Bring your projects, or just your excitement for learning.

We will still be taking feedback on the format of the meetup, the scheduling, and anything else that will help make this a valuable resource for you. If you are not able to attend, let us know if there's anything we can do to help make it work in the future.

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About Haskell Office Hours:

Show up with a project you'd like to share or a problem that you're stuck on, and we'll learn together in small, supportive groups! An "Office Hours" meetup is an opportunity for people of all skill levels to come together, learn, and have fun. Our goal is to focus on inclusion and active participation through teaching and mentorship.

The meetup is hosted at Galois, which uses Haskell extensively in industry, and is well-attended by Galwegians who are eager to share their excitement for Haskell and functional programming. This group is very new, so you still have an opportunity to shape how we do things. If the schedule doesn't work for you, or if we can do anything to help you feel more safe and welcome, let us know!

13th Annual PSU Business Accelerator Company Showcase Stories of Launch & Growth

• Meet innovative entrepreneurs, engineers, students and scientists
• Companies pitch on the BIG stage
• Interactive product demos
• Tour PSU’s 40,000 SF business incubator & wet labs
• ~30 technology, bioscience and cleantech companies

Hard to believe, but it's been a decade of experimentation around how established organizations — like corporations, government, and educational institutions — can better collaborate with the Portland startup community for mutual benefit.

That's right. PIE is turning 10 years old in August 2019. So it seemed like a good time for a party. And our generous sponsors Autodesk (https://autodesk.com/) and SKB (https://skbcos.com/) volunteered to help us make it happen.

Join PIE, PIE Shop, our alums, our mentors, and the entire Portland startup community to celebrate this milestone. As part of the celebration, we'll be happy to feed you and provide you with a beverage or two. And there will likely be some PIE giveaways, as well.

NOTE: This is a family friendly event, so feel free to bring the kids.

Join cofounder and general manager of PIE, Rick Turoczy, for an "ask me anything" session on the Portland startup community. He's looking forward to answering your questions about startups, startup accelerators, and Portland, in general.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/piepdx-turoczy-ama-20200407

Kasey is a startup growth strategist, community builder, event organizer, and people connecter. She is founder of A Better Jones a demand generation marketing agency that helps startups accelerate growth, sales teams fill pipeline, and leaders expand their influence as industry thought leaders. And co-founder and co-host of The Other Side of Sales, a podcast, Bravado community, and resource on a mission to make B2B sales culture more inclusive by celebrating the stories of underrepresented sales professionals.

Her latest endeavor is Our Galaxy, a community, resource, and coaching platform designed to diversify thought leadership, by helping founders, leaders, and business pros on the rise build authentic personal brands and expand their industry influence.

Stephen Green is a an economist, speaker, startup advisor and “recovering” venture capitalist. By day he is the director of operations for Pensole, the world’s only footwear design and development school based in Portland, Oregon. He has spent his career helping founders start, grow and prosper. His tireless advocacy for Black & Latinx founders has landed him on stages across the country speaking about the power of entrepreneurship.

One of his projects “PitchBlack” is a national pitch event that connects ecosystems with talented black founders in cities across the country. Since 2015, competitors in the Portland event have gone on to raise over $32MM for their ideas.

He is a husband to a brilliant wife and father to 3 wonderful children. Spreadsheets are his super power and sneakers are his kryptonite.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/piepdx-stephen-green-ama-20200413

Cami lives, works, and parents in the rainy city of Portland, Oregon. She’s had a love of WordPress and WordCamps since the last century, when she happened to stumble upon the first WordCamp Portland.

Since 2013, she has worked at Automattic, as a community organizer for the WordPress open source project. In that role, she gets to work with WordCamps and their organizers from around the world, every day. She continues to write on an irregular basis at camikaos.com where she explores concepts from the plight of modern parents to mental health to marveling at the seemingly mundane.

Cami is active on a number of social platforms but can be most readily found as @camikaos on Twitter.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/piepdx-cami-kaos-community-management-20200414/

We all rely on the bonds of our community in order for our businesses to thrive. We seek intros to VCs, backchannels to clients, advice from our peers and mentors. In normal times, these bonds heavily rely on in-person interactions — coffees, lunches, beers, and 1:1's.

Reading body language is a critical component to reinforcement of those bonds. In our most vulnerable moments, we want to ensure that the other party is present, listening, and empathizing. And beyond the 1:1 interactions, in social places like our coffee shops and coworking spaces, we create room for serendipity — that chance encounter that leads to something new and unexpected, whether it's a new business idea or a solution to an existing problem facing a member of our community.

During this pandemic, we've been stripped of the ability to interact as normal. Sure, we have all these video chat tools — but it's not a replacement of our in-person interactions, just a digital proxy. And while those proxies may suffice for our 1:1 meetings, they certainly aren't helping with serendipity.

So how do we form community in a time of crisis? How do we create space for chance? And how can we come together to listen, to engage, to be present, when many of us are already at our wits end staring at a video on a computer screen all day long?

Join us for a mentor Q&A with Marcelino Alvarez, Chief Product Officer at Fresh Consulting. He was formerly CEO of Uncorked Studios, which co-founded Safecast during the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and ensuing nuclear disaster. He'll share perspectives from then and now as he undertakes other efforts to maintain his community and pursue digital serendipity.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/piepdx-marcelino-alvarez-community-projects-20200416

Please join us with a former founder who has seen the ups and downs of the economy for insights on what to suspect — and some guidance that may help you navigate this new normal.

Elia Freedman was founder and CEO of Infinity Softworks, which he started in 1997 as a senior in college, leveraging both his business training and programming ability. The company has helped more than 20 million professionals and students in real estate, financial services, math and science who use calculation every day to solve problems and generate proposals, both in the field and at their desk.

The company's primary app, PowerOne, has been in existence as apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Windows computers for more 20 years, Infinity Softworks re-launched PowerOne as a web and mobile service in 2018.

As a founder, Elia weathered both the dotcom bust and the mortgage crisis. Which is sure to inform a unique vantage on our current state of existence within a pandemic ravaged economy.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/founder-ama-elia-freedman-powerone

Join PIE as we talk with Leah Noble Davidson, Chief Experience Officer at Because Human.

Leah has consulted within Portland’s startup tech industry for 10 years, working with larger teams from Jive and Puppet to startups like Torch and BeyondPulse.

Having newly ventured into the role of a founder, she’ll be asking questions from the perspective of a female design professional who can speak the language — but is only now really learning how to juggle the risks and rewards firsthand.

Finding answers is one thing. Knowing the questions to ask is entirely another. Leah — a professional asker of questions — will help us hone in on the right questions, provide the necessary reality checks, and share ideas about leveraging the startup community to find the help you need as your startup grows from a concept into being a real business.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/leah-noble-davidson-because-human-ama

We're excited to have the chance to sit down with Kate Ertmann for a question and answer session.

Her life's work has been focusing on building from scratch — or rebuilding and reorganizing — the operational infrastructure for sustainable businesses. That includes everything from the elements of a business plan, the importance of Mission and Purpose and Values, the how-to of defining Roles and Responsibilities, and when to hire and how to best structure that management org chart — as well as the finance that runs in parallel with all of that.

Her distinct rallying cry through all of that work is the necessity of embedding equity and inclusion in all processes, procedures, and culture of an organization, and as a guiding principle in all leaders with whom she works — especially when it is "hard" or if there are uncomfortable conversations to be had.

Kate constantly seeks to leverage her privilege and position: applying constant pressure to the systemic structure of 20th century practices so there can be systemic changes that will define 21st century practices.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/kate-ertmann-ama

Ensuring that new employees are properly onboarded can always be a challenge. And in our new all remote, all of the time world, it can be even more difficult. That's why we're excited to get the chance to catch up with PIE alum Kristen Gallagher.

Kristen is the founder and CEO of Edify. She brings over a decade of learning and development and business partnership experience to Edify and has architected and delivered onboarding programs for companies such as AWS Elemental, Puppet, OpenSky Alibaba, Cirium (FlightGlobal), Cloudability, and more. She is a frequent speaker and instructor for O’Reilly, DevOpsDays, and other conferences.

If you have questions about employee onboarding, she has answers. Please join us to get those questions answered.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/kristen-gallagher-edify-employee-onboarding-ama

Join cofounder and general manager of PIE, Rick Turoczy, for an "ask me anything" session on the Portland startup community. He's looking forward to answering your questions about startups, startup accelerators, and Portland, in general.

A little background on our guest…

Rick Turoczy has worked in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup ecosystem for more than 25 years. Throughout that time, he's worked for venture funded startups, founded failed companies, consulted, mentored, and worked to connect dots within and outside the community.

More than a dozen years ago, he started Silicon Florist, a blog designed to capture what he saw happening in the Portland startup community. That work led to the opportunity to start PIE, the Portland Incubator Experiment, an organization he continues to manage.

At its very most basic, PIE is an ongoing experiment designed to explore ways that established organizations — like corporations, governments, and educational institutions — can effectively collaborate with startup communities in mutually beneficial ways, thereby strengthening the entire ecosystem.

PIE currently exists as an early stage startup accelerator with three separate areas of focus: Software as a Service (in partnership with Puppet), manufactured products (in partnership with Autodesk), and traditional consumer products like food, beverage, and apparel (in partnership with Built Oregon).

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/portland-startup-community-ama-rick-turoczy-20200505

Join us for a conversation with Mitch Daugherty, cofounder and director of Built Oregon, an organization focused on championing the consumer product industry in Oregon.

The greatest joy Mitch has found is meeting with everyone in the statewide ecosystem. Listening to entrepreneurial challenges. Looking for opportunities to connect them to a resource that could help them get one step further down the road. Engaging in conversations about breaking down the silos and echo chambers.

He listened to stories and realized each one formed a piece of this tapestry that makes up Oregon.

As he looked back on his journey, he noticed the common theme in all his adventures and career choices has been the effort to bridge gaps through interaction and dialogue.

He cofounded Built Oregon as a way to build on a simple belief: that stories can raise awareness of companies and regions and help drive economic development.

Throughout that process, he's constantly reminded of what he has learned over his journey: Conversations matter. And the most important conversations take place with those outside of your sphere of influence, and with people who possess opposing views.

The value of a given dialogue hinges on conversations that are inclusive, honest and transparent.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/consumer-products-startup-ecosystem-mitch-daugherty-ama

As part of our celebration of Mental Health Month we'll be spending time with Anthony Ware who champions mental wealth.

Mental wealth is the collection of intentional thoughts, behaviors, and experiences—mental wealth deposits—someone uses to make a positive impact on their mental health. These deposits have a cumulative positive impact, especially during times when you’re challenged with mental illnesses and external events.

Mental wealth deposits include working with a therapist, spending time by large bodies of water to connect with nature, going on a vacation, or making time for friends and family.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/founder-mental-wealth-anthony-ware-AMA

Join PIE alum and longtime PIE mentor Mat Ellis, founder of Cloudability, for a conversation about his experience as a founder growing a startup from an idea to a successful exit, all of the lessons learned along the way, effectively engaging with and supporting the Portland startup community, and maybe just maybe, what's next.

According to The Oregonian, "Cloudability was among the most prominent of a generation of startups that emerged in Portland in the aftermath of the Great Recession. It helped clients such as BP, Sony and Siemens manage what they spent hosting their data in third-party data centers.

"Before its sale, Cloudability said it managed more than $9 billion in spending at Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud."

RSVP / Submit questions: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/founder-story-mat-ellis-cloudability

Please join PIE for a conversation with Juan Barraza from the Portland State University Center for Entrepreneurship, Invent Oregon (InventOR), and Pitch Latino.

At the PSU Center for Entrepreneurship, Juan works to propel students innovators to solve big problems that benefit our community. Through an exciting learning environment and program of events, students find the creative energy to expand their impact, explore new ideas, and bring their future into focus.

Invent Oregon is an exciting competition for college and university students with ideas for inventions to address today’s most pressing problems.

Inspired by PitchBlack, Pitch Latino is designed to give Latinx startup entrepreneurs a platform to connect with the regions growing startup ecosystem.

RSVP / Submit questions: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/juan-barraza-psu-center-entrepreneurship-inventor-pitch-latino

Join PIE for a conversation with Karthy Chandra, founder of Goalden Hour, for guidance on how to establish and maintain healthy habits and goals, even in the most challenging of times.

Goalden Hour is the first productivity app that connects the realms of task management, scheduling, and self-improvement to encourage you to make goals & habits an integral part of your planning process. We provide meaningful insight into the different areas of life and nudge you to reflect often, build better habits, and discover new ways to grow and improve. Our mission is to help people manage and master their lives.

Interested in learning more? Watch Karthy's presentation from PIE Demo Day 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RiIxNcC4HY

RSVP / Submit questions: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/karthy-chandra-goalden-hour-healthy-habits

Join us for a conversation with PIE alum and Techstars alum Julia Niiro, founder of MilkRun.

See Julia's story about MilkRun at PIE Demo Day 2019 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbaIO9XltRg), her views on small local farms from TEDxPortland 2019, and the explosive growth MilkRun has seen due to the pandemic shared during Techstars Anywhere Demo Day 2020.

MilkRun works with farmers and producers in Oregon & Southern Washington to break down the access barriers to local food. The national average for how far food travels to get from the farm to your house is 1,500 miles. That’s wild! We’ve cut down our average to 35 miles and have designed a system that leapfrogs the industrialized food system. Less travel = less pollution. More access to food = fresher, healthier foods!

It’s not just about ditching the grocery store lines, it’s about keeping money in the community and supporting local producers. For farmers, we’re able to provide 6-7x what they’d make from a normal grocery store. It should be as easy (if not easier) to buy from local farmers as it is to order a cab or book a stay in someone’s house, right?

90% of the small farms in America right now are at risk of extinction. If mega-industrialized farming becomes our only option for food, we’ll have no more farmer’s markets, no more CSAs, no more farmers who are stewards to the land. Without radical new systems like MilkRun, the only options for food will be from huge corporations pushing profit over people, and we just don’t want to live in that kind of a world. We can do this, together!

RSVP / Submit questions: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/pie-founder-story-julia-niiro-milkrun

Join PIE for a conversation with McKenna Dempsey, cofounder and CEO of current PIE company Kamber.

At least 20 million teenagers are living with a mental health disorder in the United States and 70% of them aren’t getting the treatment they need. Kamber’s mission is to change that by providing easily accessible tools and resources that empower teens to prioritize their mental health and make space for self acceptance.

By creating a mobile app that provides exercises for difficult moments, coping techniques and education, teens will be equipped with the tools they need to begin managing their mental health and find ways to ground themselves.

For more, see McKenna's presentation from PIE Demo Day 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_vrmHAI4MQ).

RSVP / Submit questions: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/founder-story-mckenna-dempsey-kamber

Join PIE for a very special conversation with consummate ecosystem builder Anika Horn of Social Venturers.

Anika Horn is on a mission to support changemakers build purpose-driven careers, organizations and ecosystems without losing themselves

Rooted at the intersection of systems thinking, social impact and storytelling, she helps changemakers lead impact-driven careers and meaningful lives by equipping them with thought-provoking insights, field-tested resources and a strong peer community at Social Venturers. Through her advisory services, Anika works closely with selected purpose-driven entrepreneurs in the areas of strategy, communications, personal and professional growth. She leverages her global network to raise the profile of ecosystem building for social change as a contributing editor for Impact Boom (where she covers Europe and the U.S.) and Ecosystem Builder Hub (where she heads up the national campaign Unsung Ecosystem of Ecosystem Building) as well as co-lead of storytelling at the ESHIP Storytelling Initiative.

Previously, Anika co-founded Unreasonable Lab VA (Virginia’s first mini-accelerator for social entrepreneurs), CO.STARTERS VA (a startup program for idea-stage founders) and Rebelle Con (a boutique conference for entrepreneurial women). At the same time, she worked with high-growth startups at nationally ranked accelerator program Lighthouse Labs and spearheaded the B Corp movement in Virginia as the state’s official B Keeper.

Prior to her work in North America, Anika earned a Bachelor of European Studies and Masters of Sustainability Sciences in Germany, France and Australia where she spent a decade working in journalism, non-profits, government and the private sector.

RSVP: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ecosystem-builder-anika-horn/register

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Feel free to submit (and upvote) questions ahead of time on Crowdcast

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Running a startup is hard enough as it is, but with a worldwide pandemic, it became a lot more difficult. And it forced any number of founders and teams to consider pivoting their product and market to survive.

If you're working through similar thoughts with your startup, hearing from folks who have already turned that corner might be helpful. So we're inviting you to join us for a conversation about pivots with Alisia Ford, founder and CEO of PIE and XXcelerate alum Glory Skincare, and Jonathan Minori, founder and Chief Product Officer for PIE and Techstars alum Caravel.

We'll talk through their experiences, their recommendations for founders who are considering a pivot, and how to communicate your intentions and reasoning to your team.

And as always, we'll also spend most of the conversation answering your questions. So if you've got questions or concerns, please share them so that we can get you the information you need.

By participating in this event, you agree to abide by the PIE Code of Conduct (http://www.piepdx.com/code-of-conduct)

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Feel free to submit (and upvote) questions ahead of time on Crowdcast

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Thinking about applying to PIE? Have questions about the program? Curious as to what an accelerator even does? Wondering if the format is right for you? Cool. Let's talk about that. All of that.

Please join PIE online for a question and answer session to get more information on our programs and the benefits for early stage startups.

Questions about the differences among the programs we offer causing you to second guess whether you should even show up? Well, let's get that one answered first. Yes. The answer is yes. If you're a founder of an early stage startup, you should show up.

And in terms of the differences? PIE is an accelerator designed to support startups building digital products. PIE Shop is an incubator/accelerator designed to support startups manufacturing physical products. PIE Consumer is focused on traditional consumer products like food, beverage, apparel, footwear, beauty, pet products… you get the gist.

By participating in this event, you agree to abide by the PIE Code of Conduct (http://www.piepdx.com/code-of-conduct)

Join us as PIE mentor Stephen Green talks with Ian Hathaway, coauthor of The Startup Community Way: Evolving an entrepreneurial ecosystem, the follow up to Startup Communities: Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in your city by Brad Feld.

If you have questions about startup communities — or what Portland could be doing to become a better startup community — you won't want to miss this conversation.

"The Startup Community Way is an explanatory guide for startup communities. Rooted in the theory of complex systems, this book establishes the systemic properties of entrepreneurial ecosystems and explains why their complex nature leads people to make predictable mistakes. As complex systems, value creation occurs in startup communities primarily through the interaction of the parts—the people, organizations, resources, and conditions involved—not the parts themselves. This continual process of bottom-up interactions unfolds naturally, producing value in novel and unexpected ways. Through these complex, emergent processes, the whole becomes greater and substantially different than what the parts alone could produce.

"Although we are living in a booming age for startups, we need to think about the future. When the boom times slow, what will happen to our startup communities, and how will we ensure that entrepreneurial success is still within reach for everyone? This book provides a framework for answering these questions, looking at startup communities as complex systems that—given the right resources and support—can help entrepreneurs succeed and benefit society as a whole.

"If you have been involved in any way in building a startup community or entrepreneurial ecosystem in your city, The Startup Community Way is key to helping you understand the next phase of your journey."

The book releases on July 28, 2020. Preorder your copy: https://amzn.to/2WKt4Qe

Please join PIE for a conversation with Steve Axthelm, Principal Software Engineer at Puppet, to discuss product accessibility and how that applies to startups and engineering teams.

During this session, we'll cover topics like

• Why you should care about accessibility
• The legal history of accessibility
• Accessibility standards like Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Composing a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
• Questions you should ask your developers about accessibility
• Where to find more information

… plus answering any questions you might have.

Please join PIE for a conversation with Steve Axthelm, Principal Software Engineer at Puppet, to discuss product accessibility and how that applies to startups and engineering teams.

During this session, we'll cover topics like

• Why you should care about accessibility
• The legal history of accessibility
• Accessibility standards like Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Composing a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
• Questions you should ask your developers about accessibility
• Where to find more information

… plus answering any questions you might have

RSVP https://www.crowdcast.io/e/accessibility-for-startups/

Thank you for your interest in PIE, an early stage startup accelerator focused on SaaS offerings; PIE Consumer, an accelerator focused on growth stage consumer products; and PIE Shop, an advanced manufacturing and prototyping incubator to support the next generation of product companies. These programs are each designed to connect participants with peers, mentors, investors, and other critical connections, all in an effort to build better founders and to encourage companies to go further and faster than they would be able to go on their own.

Selected startups will join us virtually to work with their peers, PIE alums, and the world-class PIE mentor network. We'll provide you with advice, connections, discounts, support, and other benefits.

Interested? Cool.

Most responses are optional. But more complete applications help us with our decision. All information submitted to PIE via this form will be considered completely confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone outside the PIE selection committee.

If you would prefer to upload a presentation or one pager instead, please visit https://piepdx.com/apply-deck

APPLICATIONS CLOSE Aug 9, 2020, 11:59PM PT

Need to think about your answers? We highly recommend that you begin formulating your responses using our cheat sheet https://piepdx.com/prep

Questions? Contact Marquita Jaramillo, Program Manager, PIE, at [email protected].

Want to stay in the loop? https://piepdx.com/newsletter

StartOut is excited to present the 2nd Annual StartOut Equity Summit, a virtual event that will focus on ways for underrepresented entrepreneurs to thrive across geographies and industries regardless of their background.

The Summit is envisioned as an environment for dialogue and action where every participant is prepared to share insights, reflect on experiences, and be prepared to pose new questions and reframe old answers. This Summit aspires to be dynamic, exploratory, and honest. We work to understand lived experiences, while shifting the conversations forward towards actionable initiatives.

The Equality Summit's programming will begin at 11:00am EDT / 8:00am PDT and will end by 4:00pm EDT / 1:00pm PDT, with networking opportunities immediately following.

Agenda 11:00AM ET - 11:30AM ET..............Welcome

11:30AM ET....................................Keynote Speaker

12:00PM ET....................................Break

12:15PM ET - 1:00PM ET................Session Group 1

1:00PM ET 1:30PM ET....................Break/Lunch

1:30PM ET - 2:15PM ET..................Session Group 2

2:15PM ET......................................Break

2:30PM ET - 3:15PM ET..................Session Group 3

3:15PM ET......................................Closing Session

4:00PM ET......................................Networking

Tracks & Sessions We will have 3 Session Groups during the event. Each Session Group will consist of 4 Tracks broadcasting simultaneously. You can view Track descriptions below.

Founder- How To Track How to Navigate a Tech Startup as a Non-Technical Founder - Session Group 1

Starting any company is an uphill battle, but starting a tech company as a non-technical founder can feel insurmountable. How to find a developer? What are the right questions to ask? How do I navigate moving from a prototype, to an MVP to beta testing. In this conversation we'll hear from founders who answered these questions and how their company evolved along the way. Moderator: Jules Allen Speakers: Hillary Lin, Evita Grant, Arthur Woods

Ageism in Entrepreneurship (Sponsored by AARP) - Session Group 2

If you were to be asked what an entrepreneur looks like, most people would imagine a young 20 something year old ready to shake things up. In this session, we welcome you to join various founders that are showing that entrepreneurship isn't a "young person's game". They will share their experiences launching later in life and how their journey has been. Moderator: Nii-Quartelai Quartey Speakers: Chip Conley, Jeff Tidwell, Betty Wong

Raising Intimacy: How SexTech Companies Raised Venture Capital - Session Group 3

Sextech is estimated to become a $37 billion dollar industry by 2023. Despite this, it's a challenge to find investors that are open to attaching their name to a historically taboo topic. Hear from founders that have successfully raised investment for their startups, what pitfalls to avoid when pitching and what challenges they still face. Moderator: Adrianna Samaniego Speakers: Lora DiCarlo, Brianna Rader, Rebecca Alvarez Story

Access To Capital Track Pitching your Authentic Self to Investors (Sponsored by SAP.io) - Session Group 1

Pitching your startup is arguably one of the most important parts of your launch! In this session, learn about what investors look for in a pitch, how to present your business model at every stage and how to maintain your authentic self every step of the way. Moderator: Max Kahn Speakers: Kelly McDonald, AJ DeLeon, Alicia Castillo Holley, PhD

The Unusual Suspects: Alternative Avenues for Funding - Session Group 2

Venture Capital is often the primary method of funding that founders focus on but it's not the only one. There have been an increasing number of options for funding startups from grants, to revenue based investment and equity crowdfunding and each one has its own formula for success. In this session we'll hear from industry experts on how to find these opportunities and what qualifications a company needs to successfully secure the capital. Moderator: Jessica Chin-Foo Speakers: Liz Skalla, Cheryl Campos, Dr. Roshawnna Novellus

Beyond the Check: A Fireside Chat with Elizabeth Gore and Navid Shahrestani (Sponsored by JPMC) - Session Group 3

Investor and Founder relationships can be complex but once you find the right groove, they can be very rewarding and successful. Join Elizabeth and Navid as they share their journey "beyond the check". They will share initial impressions, lessons learned and how to maximize your relationship with your investor.

Investors Track Journey to Becoming an Angel Investor - Session Group 1

According to recent research, angel investing has seen about $3 billion invested each year since 2014. More and more people are taking the plunge and investing in a broad range of ventures. But when is the right time? How do you get started and how do you source deals? This session will cover everything you need to know to get started! Speakers: Silvia Mah, Pocket Sun, Lorine Pendleton

Diversify Your Fund: How to Create Inclusive Space for Founders - Session Group 2

As Venture Capital continues to grow, there is a responsibility to create diverse funds free from bias. In recent years we have seen efforts from some funds to be accountable and take actions with pledges and accelerator programs targeting diverse founders. Join these panelists as they share how they are investing in diversity. Speakers: Elizabeth McCluskey, Jasmine Edwards

The Blueprint for Growth for Diverse VC's - Session Group 3

Underrepresented fund managers are emerging all over the country and have invested in overlooked companies that have yielded positive returns. Expertise comes from experience but gaining that experience is often a barrier for first time fund managers or someone just starting out in Venture Capital. This session will focus on how to find the resources and people in your network to aid in your growth and development as a VC. Speakers: Vincent Diallo, Christine Tsai, Monique Woddard

Economy Track LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs/ Community are Reshaping the Economy/ Landscape - Session Group 1

LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs often have an outsized impact on the economy relative to the funding they receive. In this session we'll dive into the impact that these entrepreneurs have and make the case for more investment in LGBTQ+ led companies. Speakers: Dr. Vivienne Ming

The Corporate Social Investor: How Companies are Supporting Underserved Founders (Sponsored by Vistaprint) - Session Group 2

Startups can innovate and pivot on various market opportunities faster than larger more established companies but lack the same level of capital to accelerate their ideas. Corporate leaders have become increasingly focused on Social Responsibility and have responded by creating new models for investment and partnership. Hear from organizations that have supported emerging businesses and why it often has zero to do with their personal financial bottom line.

Emerging Trends and the Future of LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurship (Sponsored by AWS) - Session Group 3

The pandemic exposed various inequities, the lack of efficiency of some industries and in some cases, completely reshaped the way that industries do business. In a post-COVID world how do these industries need to pivot to meet the needs of their customers and what trends are on the horizon. Hear from LGBTQ+ founders on how they met the moment and what new challenges await them. Moderator: Nii-Quartelai Quartey

Thinking about applying to PIE (http://www.piepdx.com)? Have questions about the program? Curious as to what an accelerator even does? Wondering if the format is right for you? Cool. Let's talk about that. All of that.

Please join PIE for a question and answer session to get more information on our programs and the benefits for early stage startups.

Questions about the programs we offer causing you to second guess whether you should even show up? Well, let's get that one answered first. Yes. The answer is yes. If you're the founder of an early stage startup that has a product of some sort, you should show up. Whether you're building a SaaS product, a hardware product, or a typical consumer product, PIE has a program to support you along your journey.

By participating in this event, you agree to abide by the PIE Code of Conduct: http://www.piepdx.com/code-of-conduct

Register for the event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqd-6uqT8oGd3HGq3rFxqg4mThN_aL9YOq

Get ready for PDXWIT Happy Hour with event host PixelSpoke!

This month’s Lightning Speakers will explore wellness and mental health as a social justice issue, as well as ways companies can better support their employees’ wellness. We will have ASL interpretation and closed captioning throughout.

Companies with open roles on the PDXWIT job board will share their open positions (local and remote) during our Recruiter Roll Call. You’ll have a chance to chat with them in breakout rooms after the presentation, so bring your questions, your professional statements, and be ready to share your brilliant skills and qualifications.

Please get in touch at [email protected] with any additional accessibility needs you may have.

Hope to see you there!

Join our Slack channel to continue the conversation: http://pdxwit.org/slack

Get in touch: [email protected]

Agenda:

12:00 p.m. - Event opens

12:03 p.m. - Introductions + Announcements

12:10 p.m. - Guest speakers + Women in Tech History

12:35 p.m. - Face-to-face/on-camera networking

1:00 p.m. - Event ends

We are building a better tech industry by creating access, dismantling barriers and fueling belonging.

Register for this event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pathways-to-leadership-the-power-of-mentorship-registration-297097746357

Two Portland powerhouses are joining forces to humanize tech, create access and connect awesome people! PDXWIT + Cinder presents a panel discussion, moderated by Katy Byrtus, focused on tech leaders who come from backgrounds that have been systematically excluded from positions of power.

We believe anyone who identifies as a leader is a leader. Your title doesn't define you and we will unpack some of these beliefs while discussing how community and mentorship (or lack thereof) have shaped career pathways for leaders.

Our panel will feature professionals with intersecting identities who are changing the industry. We will get real, get vulnerable, and share authentically as we reflect on some difficult questions.

There will be ASL interpretation and closed captioning throughout.

Panelists include:

Cinthia Manuel (she/her), CEO + Founder, Autentica Consulting Himalaya Rao (she/her), GP + Managing Director @ Black Founders Matter Trip Longworth (they/he), Developer Relations @ Garden Hope to see you there and please help us spread the word!

Join PDXWIT's Slack channel to continue the conversation: http://pdxwit.org/slack

Get in touch: [email protected] Agenda:

12:00 p.m. - Event opens 12:03 p.m. - Introductions + Announcements 12:10 p.m. - Leadership Panel 1:00 p.m. - Event ends We are building a better tech industry by creating access, dismantling barriers, and fueling belonging.

We are committed to providing universal access to all of our events. Please contact [email protected] to request any additional accessibility accommodations. If you are having trouble registering for this event please let us know and we will be glad to assist you. At our event, we will automatically provide ASL interpretation, live captioning, and relevant materials in pdf format in advance, and we are helping our presenters be more inclusive in their materials and presentations.

Thinking about applying to PIE? Have questions about the program? Curious as to what a startup accelerator even does? Wondering if the format is right for you? Cool. Let's talk about that. All of that.

Please join PIE for a question and answer session to get more information on our program, startup accelerators in general, and the potential benefits for early-stage startups.

REGISTER: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/apply-to-pie-q-and-a-20230306

Please feel free to submit questions ahead of time. Even if you cannot attend the event.

By participating in this event, you agree to abide by the PIE Code of Conduct

Thinking about applying to PIE? Have questions about the program? Curious as to what a startup accelerator even does? Wondering if the format is right for you? Cool. Let's talk about that. All of that.

Please join PIE for a question and answer session to get more information on our program, startup accelerators in general, and the potential benefits for early-stage startups.

REGISTER: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/apply-to-pie-q-and-a-20230313

By participating in this event, you agree to abide by the PIE Code of Conduct