Startup Exchange – the best two hours of the year

March 18, 2009 at 4:54 pm | Posted in Sofware Startup | 1 Comment
Tags: Portland, SAO, SAOPDX, startup, startupnow, stimulus, web 2.0

Last night I attended my first Startup Exchange meetup organized by the Software Association of Oregon.  The meeting was held at the offices of Chime Software hidden away in Portland’s East side warehouse district.  The Startup Exchange is for entrepreneurs only, no service providers allowed.  It’s a chance for peers to get together, ask questions and share their knowledge.  The group consisted of both technical and business folks representing start ups ranging from one man ventures to several year old thriving multi-million dollar businesses.

The format of the meeting is loose.  We started out enjoying an adult beverage in a green glass (well it was St. Patrick’s day!!) while meeting and networking. The organizers made a few announcements and clued us into an event on Thursday 3/19/2009 at 5pm called STARTUP NOW: What would you do with $250,000.

Then after a round of introductions we split off into two groups, one focused on business issues and one focused on technical issues.  Mentors split themselves between the groups and off we went.  I went with the business group since my start up MioWorks.com is just about to enter beta phase and we have most of our technical aspects covered.

For the next hour we went around the room.  Each entrepreneur had the opportunity to ask the group a question, or ask for advice on any topic.  It was really good to see how so many others are challenged every day with identical issues.  As the discussion progressed and the group offered advice it was clear to see how valuable this session was starting to become.  Even though I only asked one question, the issues plaguing the other entrepreneurs were issues that I deal with too.  As a matter of fact, it was a reminder of the old adage “you don’t know what you don’t know”.   For me, this was one of the best meetings of the year for one simple reason.  It made me challenge my existing assumptions on a few topics and apply a new filter to my logic.

After the session there was a little more time for networking and then out the door to get to the next meeting on my agenda.   If you are an entrepreneur in Portland building a business, you should put the Startup Exchange on your calendar.  Without giving up any of your stock or hard saved money you will have an opportunity to gain insight from people who have already been down your path.

To join the Startup Exchange group you don’t need to be a member of SAO.  You can request access to the online networking group or contact Bryce Yonker of SAO with any questions.