PDX11

We Are

What is PDX11?

PDX11 is a grassroots initiative led by the software and technology community of Portland, Oregon, and supported by resources from both the PDC and the mayor’s office. We aim to put Portland on the global map as the place to go when looking for software talent and investment opportunities.

We are a community of software industry professionals, local government leaders and interested citizens eager to make this goal a reality. If you are passionate about software and the future of Portland, please join us. There’s more than enough room at the table for you!

We’re All About Networking

PDX11 consists of three interconnecting and collaborative networks. They are:

The Financing Network strives to ensure that companies have all the talent, funding and guidance they need in order to thrive. This network creates a conduit to help software companies gain access to financial capital and expertise along with the additional resources needed for industry growth.

The Mentoring Network connects people to peers and seasoned experts in the Portland area software community. By enabling access to relevant local resources, it works to build a networked and sustainable software industry here in Portland.

Lastly, a Knowledge Network brings cohesion and connection to software user groups. These unsung heroes make critical contributions to the thriving open source community, lending technical expertise and community building as Portland establishes itself as a vibrant place to write software.

Get Involved

PDX11 is a community project formed by the community for the community, so if you're passionate about the sustainable growth of the software industry, we want to hear from you! Check out upcoming meetings on calagator or email us here for more info. Also, sign up here to join our community email list. It's one of the quickest ways to stay current in the PDX11 community!

Financing

The PDX11 Finance Network provides the roadmap for software companies to educate themselves and prepare to seek proper funding at various stages of their various company lifecycles. We also seek to increase awareness of the local software industry to potential local and national investors in both early stage and high-trajectory companies.

Goals & Objectives

We need to identify and educate the different types of stakeholders (i.e. seed, angel, revenue, venture, debt, etc.). We need to identify the financial needs of companies at different stages of their financing life cycles. We need to find or create ways to introduce software companies to funders.

We need to overcome the misconception that there are limited funding resources in the Portland area. We need to identify and close any funding gaps Portland may have.

We want to actively raise Portland's profile so we become attractive to out-of-state financiers. We need to identify, examine and evaluate finance, legal, marketing/sales and HR functions that funders will examine/require for potential investment (Team with Mentoring Network). Subjects include: industry standards / legal documents / Due diligence, providing interactive resources, teaming with other organizations such as the Portland State Business Accelerator (PSBA), Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN), the Oregon Technology Business Center (OTBC), and the Indus Entrepreneurs in Oregon (TIE). We want to collaborate with our Mentoring Network and reach out to other groups, encouraging and promoting the participation of companies and funders, teaming with each subgroup of PDX11 to ensure cross pollination in a mutually supportive environment, and finding / developing financial resources to ensure the viability of the PDX11 effort.

Plans

We are developing a network of capital advisors willing to mentor entrepreneurs.

We are evaluating a number of web-based platforms that can connect local entrepreneurs to angel investors. We are developing a reference tool that will help entrepreneurs target appropriate financial resources and startup assistance for their companies.

We are working with existing crowd-funding websites to showcase new commercial projects in the region. We are encouraging state, local, and federal governments to organize Vendor Day which will introduce local companies to public contractors.

We strive to develop a program that provides great support in human resources, legal, accounting, tax, etc. to select high-growth companies seeking to exit.

Progress

Our Finance Network members are currently evaluating AngelList and other platforms to connect local entrepreneurs to angel investors. We have collected and organized content for a Startup Reference document. This document is now available on epdx.org and pdx.org, and can be accessed via link from a number of community sites (pdx4biz, portlandalliance.com, etc.). We are continuing conversations with Kickstarter.com and other crowd-funding websites. The City of Portland is planning a Vendor Day for later this year with Regional SBA office and possibly the State of Oregon. We presented the Portland 100 concept at PDX11 meetup on April 6, 2011. We drafted the Software Initiative Finance Network Charter. We are helping to create a business plan for Portland 100.

Measuring Success

Turnout at events
Participation of software companies in the program
Participation of funders in the program
Amount of referrals to network resources
Investor feedback regarding the quality of pitches seen from mentored business leaders of Portland software organizations
Total overall growth of revenue of local software companies
Total overall growth of investments in local software companies
Higher amount of finance-ready software companies
Total overall growth of local software businesses
Increase software's segments piece of the overall investment pie in Portland
Satisfaction of local software companies at end of program

Head Wrangler

The Financing Network is chaired by Skip Newberry, Economic Development Policy Advisor for the Office of Mayor Sam Adams, City of Portland.
Email • Twitter

Mentorship

The PDX11 Mentoring Network serves as a resource to help software organization business leaders plan, form, staff, fund, operate, grow and sell their businesses. Our mentors provide guidance and coaching in areas such as, but not limited to, entity selection and formation, organizational structure and governance, business planning, fundraising, team and culture building, business operations, sales and marketing, growing and scaling, and the road to liquidity.

Goals & Objectives

We strive to create strong mentoring relationships for business leaders in the Portland software community. We seek to increase high-wage employment in the Portland software community. We wish to challenge the perception that Portland has an insufficient number of experienced software executives. We will improve the sustainability of our software community. We want to increase the number of company exits (acquisistions, IPOs) that facilitate continued growth in the Portland software community.

We asked the software community to tell us about any potential obstacles that mentees might face when seeking mentorship In the Portland software community, and here's what they told us. Survey results revealed the following perceptions on obstacles to establishing a successful mentoring relationship:

Lack of mentors to choose from	30.0%
Lack of mechanism to find a mentor	66.7%
Hard to find the right mentor	63.3%
Some mentoring programs charge fees	20.0%
Not ready to share new company/idea	20.0%

Plans

We plan to coordinate with exisiting mentoring groups already active in the area—both encouraging the further growth of those groups, and filling any needs not addressed by those goups

We are developing open-source mentor-matching software to in coordination with the PDX11 Knowledge Network.

We plan to kick off a series of topic-specific roundtables as a response to the survey results for the pilot program.

Progress

We launched our pilot mentor-matching program. General network meetings are held monthly at the SAO offices. We started a series of Code Sprints, or Hack-a-thons, hosted by Puppet Labs. Our representatives speak on a panels at industry events such as OSCON. We have established networking communities on both Linkedin and Teambox.

Measuring Success

Turnout at events
Participation of software companies in the program
Participation of funders in the program
Amount of referrals to network resources
Investor feedback regarding the quality of pitches seen from mentored business leaders of Portland software organizations
Total overall growth of revenue of local software companies
Total overall growth of investments in local software companies
Higher amount of finance-ready software companies
Total overall growth of local software businesses
Increase software's segments piece of the overall investment pie in Portland
Satisfaction of local software companies at end of program

Head Wrangler

The Mentoring Network is chaired by Tamsen Galloway, Solutions Sales Executive at ViaWest.
Email • Twitter

Knowledge

The PDX11 Knowledge Network works to bring cohesion and connection to Portland-area software user groups. By nature, user groups tend to be informal gatherings of like-minded individuals passionate about a particular technology or activity. User groups are truly grassroots organizations, with informal, floating membership and paired-down resource needs like a donated meeting space, free Wi-Fi, a projector, and sometimes if they're lucky, some cold beer.

Goals & Objectives

Currently, over 50 user groups are active within the Portland city limits with another 50 groups active within the entire metropolitan area. User groups make critical contributions to City's economic development, lending technical expertise and community building to make Portland known as a great place to write software. The Knowledge network hopes to identify how the City of Portland and the entire tech ecosystem can better support the needs of the rich user-group community.

Plans

We plan continue to host regularly scheduled Hack-a-thons.

We strive to be a great entry point into the PDX software community for newcomers.

Progress

We hosted a User-group Leader Summit where we established a user-group attendance census and assessed the needs of our community. We gained commitment from the City of Portland to support user group needs. We began hosting regular Hack-a-thons at PSU.