OtherWhy Portland is a Great City for Startups

Five tech founders share their thoughts on what makes Portland so special for entrepreneurs

As a kickoff to the PDX Startup Crawl through more than 20 technology companies on Sept. 6, the Portland Digital eXperience conference asked five local startup founders to talk about why they chose to locate their companies and grow in Portland. Here’s what they had to say…

“We love Portland because everyone is so helpful. Other startups made it possible for us to meet investors, raise money and grow our business in Portland. The community here is full of really smart people who care about what they do and about making an impact, not just about making money.” Mat Ellis, Founder & CEO, Cloudability

“We are really building something special here in Portland! The collaboration between artists, developers and scientists is amazing. And although we exited in June through the sale of our company, our new owners see us as their center of excellence for mobile.” Dave Shanley, Co-Founder & CTO, CrowdCompass

“Out of school, I got a part-time job at the PSU Business Accelerator and was fascinated by all of these small, strange companies doing things that had never been done before. Portland is resource-constrained but still has so many small, craft businesses for beer and food. We asked ourselves, why not for mobile, too? We’re in Portland and glad to be here.” Amber Case, Co-Founder and CEO, Geoloqi

“The extraordinary thing about Portland is that the experiences are special and unique and handcrafted. People here are makers, whether physical or digital. Portland is one of the most fertile places I’ve been.” Todd Silverstein, Co-Founder & CEO, Vizify