OEN Blog : September 2007

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OTBC TV

Posted by Administrator Sep 26, 2007

The Open Tech Business Center (OTBC) recently launched OTBC TV - televised recordings of their popular and fun Lunch & Learn Series. You can check it out by clicking here: http://www.opentechcenter.com/drupal/?q=node/166 Over the next several weeks OTBC will continue with their Lunch & Learn Series. The topic for the next several sessions is Angel investing (all you entrepreneurs and budding angels, take note!). You can check out the dates/times by visiting their event calendar.

 

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Three cheers to all the winners of the 2007 Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Tom Holce Awards for Entrepreneurship. This was a fun evening to network and to recognize the vibrant entrepreneurial community in Portland. The night started off in grand fashion honoring the new namesake of the event, Tom Holce. Nearly 10 years ago, Tom was the first winner of the OEN Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the quintessential entrepreneur and angel investor who has built, and helped others to build, many successful companies in the Pacific Northwest over the last 50 years. He has founded or been the CEO of such companies as Kentrox, Sentrol and Mikros, and held senior positions at Electro Scientific Industries Inc. and Plantronics. We then proceeded to honor President and Executive Dinner, Linda Weston who was named by the Northwest Women's Journal as one of the Top 100 most powerful women in town. She is in good company too, take a look at the list. Then came the main event, an evening to award the best and brightest companies and entrepreneurs in Portland. We had five categories that we presented awards for at the ceremony. 2007 Award for Entrepreneurship for Individual Achievement went to Nicole Vogel of Portland Monthly Magazine 2007 Development Stage Company of the year went to Innovation Asset Group. 2007 Working Stage Company of the year went to Auctionpay, Inc. 2007 Growth Stage Company of the year went to Jive Software. 2007 Entrepreneurship Award for Nonprofit Organizations went to Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette It was a fun and inspirational evening. We look forward to seeing you all next year. For more full coverage you'll want to check out the Portland Business Journal for focus stories on each of the finalists or visit the OEN Tom Holce Awards for Entrepreneurship winners press release.

 

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What is RSS? (Really Simple Syndication) This is the question I pondered about eight months ago. And then not having any extra time, (you know how life can be), I pondered the question again six months ago and I finally took the time to do some research. Is there an easy answer to this question? But of course! RSS is an efficient and easy way to access information on the Internet by signing up to have information sent to you instead of you having to search for it directly. While this is an overly simple explanation it pretty much sums it up. Through my research, I found a great resource on the Internet that breaks down the nuts and bolts of RSS in a clear and easy to understand explanation. We placed a video on the OEN  Splashcast player titled "RSS In Plain English". You can watch the video by accessing OEN's "Resource" page or to make it really simple Click on this link. (the player is towards the bottom of the page). A perfect example of RSS in action The video was produced by Common Craft Productions, uploaded onto Youtube and is syndicated on a Splashcast player via, you guessed it, RSS. By copying the embed code of the Splashcast player you can play the exact video, in fact all of the video's, on your own blog or website. Pretty handy for syndicating content, don’t you think? Additionally if I add content to the player in the form of a new show or a different channel, your player automatically updates too. RSS is a great tool to for promoting the content on your website because it alerts subscribers easily and it pulls readership onto your webpage. News content, trade publications, industry focused blogs and any other RSS feeds of interest can be aggregated and updated automatically. How do I use RSS in my business? Not sure where to start or have very little time and an overburdened tech staff to boot? Consider bringing in a consultant. As if stars have aligned Marshall Kirkpatrick, the former Director of Content at Portland-based, Splashcast media offers just that type of service. Marshall, who just announced his departure from Splashcast, has taken a lead blogging post at Read/Write Web and is available for consultation. Of mention he is offering a Social Media Starter kit that will enable you to take control of the information that you need to be more successful in your job, business, and industry.

 

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END// Outdoor is on a winning streak in the Northwest. The Portland-based company that makes outdoor gear using environmentally neutral design, won the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Seed Oregon competition last night. Seed Oregon is a unique business plan competition for Oregon and Southwest Washington seed-stage companies who are seeking capital within the range of $100,000 to $2,000,000. This puts them on the road to Angel Oregon, a business plan competition where they compete for $200,000+ investment prize from the Angel Oregon Investment committee. END//Outdoor also recently won the prestigious Zino Zillionaire Investment Forum (ZZIF) and were awarded $100,000 in Angel investment from the Zino Society for winning in two categories.That is good news for sustainability-minded companies emerging in Oregon's economy. The other companies that presented last night in the Seed Oregon competition were American Clean Coal Fuels, a coal to liquid fuel company and Trek-Technologies, producer of the unique portable monopod/tripod camera accessory. There also were two five-minute pitch companies, Steady Bevvy and Portland Family Adventures.

 

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Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is supporting a research effort at Portland State University and would like to encourage Silicon Forest entrepreneurs and executives to complete an online survey. The survey data will help to update the Silicon Forest Universe poster. Even if your firm is already on the poster, you are encouraged to respond to the online survey.

Please take a few minutes and answer ALL the questions in the online survey at this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=zXN0mEPWvPVQpNNjhTij5w_3d_3d

In return for your time, you will be sent a copy of the new Silicon Forest Universe poster.

The goal is to capture the genealogy of the following types of firms located in the Silicon Forest:

  • High-technology businesses (high-tech manufacturing, R&D, software, e-commerce, etc.)
  • Service providers (venture capital, public relations, consulting, human resources, etc.)
  • Emerging technology firms (biotech, nanotechnology, etc.)
  • Startups and spinoffs (also outside of high-technology) from Tektronix, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, etc.

Questions?

Please don’t hesitate to contact Heike Mayer ( heikem@vt.edu) or Sheila Martin ( sheilam@pdx.edu).

Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey!

Heike Mayer, Assistant Professor in Urban Planning at Virginia Tech

Sheila Martin, Director, Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University

You can download the 2003 Silicon Forest Universe Poster here: http://uap.ncr.vt.edu/docs/HeikePublications/Silicon_Forest.pdf

 

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The first round of presenting companies have been selected for the Seed Oregon tournament. They are as follows: END//outdoor Trek-Tech American Clean Coal Fuels Want to learn more about these companies? Then come to the PubTalk on September 12th, where the companies will present in the first round of Seed Oregon 2007.

 

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OEN's Seed Oregon Madness begins on September 14th - a mere matter of days. Excited? You should be! It's a great opportunity to preview up-and-coming companies and for companies to strut their stuff and, possibly, win a spot to present at Angel Oregon 2008.

The format is straightforward - the presenting company has 10 minutes to deliver a presentation, then followed up by a 10 minute Q&A session. You can check out a few of the presentations from last year by visiting the OEN Resources Page and listen to the presentations on our SplashCast player.

Who will be presenting next week? Stay tuned to find out...

 

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