Entrepreneurship Resources

Another way we help our students develop and execute their ideas is by introducing them to and integrating them with a ready network. We created this list so our students can find resources that fit their specific interests and needs as their ideas develop. In many cases, we have contacts at these organizations and can provide introductions. 

Note: This curated list is designed as a convenient student resource. We do not represent it as complete and we are not promoting any product, person, service, ethic or opinion by listing them here.

Some links are career related. For a robust list of career sites, please visit the Career Center website, including this link for Helpful Career Resources.

Students: When any outside money involved is via a grant, please email Kelly DelFatti in the Sponsored Research Office.

We are continuously adding to this list. If you would like to suggest a link be added or amended, please email Chryshutchings@lclark.edu

Give us a problem to solve and/or subscribe to our newsletter.

 

  1. Competitions/Incubators/Accelerators
  2. Funding Sources/Angel Groups/Entrepreneurial Resources/Support
  3. Tools, Blogs, Podcasts, Resources and Classes for Entrepreneurs
  4. Training for Public Service/Community Impact
  5. Networking, Gigs and Jobs (including skills workshops)
  6. Diversity
  7. Articles/Sites of Interest

 

1. Competitions/Incubators/Accelerators

OEN

ASES Summit

Dempsey Startup Competition

Lemelson-MIT Prize

Portland Mini Maker Fair - venue for showing off your project 

Oregon Startup Center 

Global Innovation Challenge (WMGIC)

Schwarzman Scholars

Spark xyz

Tech Coast Angles

TiE XL Bootcamp

TechStars Seattle  *also come to Portland!

List of largest business Incubators and Accelerators in Oregon & S.W. Washington

Y Combinator (tons of info!)

Chobani Incubator - Better food for more people 

Collegiate Inventors Competition

Oregon Technology Business Center and the West Side Startup Challenge

Food Innovation Center

Elemental Excelerator - Nonprofit Social Impact Accelerator

OBI - Oregon Biosciences Incubator

(Note that many funders and support groups provide funding, competitions, mentor programs, incubators, accelerators, training programs, etc. so look at the links below as well.)

 

2. Funding Sources/Angel Groups/Entrepreneurial Resources/Support

OVF - Oregon Venture Fund (formerly called Oregon Angel Fund)

OEN

Angel Oregon Bio - BioScience Startup

Portland Seed Fund

Pioneer Square Labs - Seattle-Based Accelerator 

Database of Funding Sources for Underserved Entrepreneurs 

Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI)

The Redd on Salmon

Cascade Seed Fund

VertueLab - Helping Oregon tech start-ups obtain federal grants

Seven Peaks Ventures

Oregon Capital Scan 2020 - a report and analysis of capital flows and availability in Oregon 2018-20

Kauffman Foundation - Entrepreneur support

Venture for America

The Silicon Forest - Find jobs, research companies, and stay up to date with Oregon tech news 

Capital pathways for entrepreneurs in different sectors *good article 

Comprehensive list of sources of capital in Oregon

State of Oregon’s list of financing and resources

Oregon BEST - List of funding and resources

Guide for Entrepreneurs or Graduates with a Disability

The investing network for Founders, VCs, Scouts, and Angels

Pitch Book - Research and analyze 

Crunchbase - Discover innovative companies and the people behind them 

Overseas Private Investment Corp

PayPal, Square and Kabbage

One Million Cups-Portland - Weekly community coffee and talk about startups

Founder University - Two day curriculum for growth, fundraising and pitch strategies

OEN tradeshow

Watzek Guide to Entrepreneurial Resources

4 Legal Leads - Resources for women owned businesses 

XXCELERATE Fund for Women

The Tech Crunch List - a directory of the most active and engaged investors in the VC world today

Rogue Venture Partners

Willamette Angel Conference

Madrona Venture Group

Providence Ventures

SVB-Silicon Valley Bank

Bendventure

Tie-Oregon

Keiretsu Forum

Alliance of Angels

Ten X

Oregon RAIN

Patagonia-Tin Shed: Funding the Next Generation of Responsible Businesses

Patagonia Action Works-connecting environmentally responsible people with grantees

Social Capital - Philanthropists, technologists, and capitalists utilizing venture capital as a force to create value and change on a global scale 

Red Bull Launch Institute

Scaling Pathways - Resources to scale social impact 

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding

Circle Up - Venture Capital for Consumer Brand Innovation 

HP Tech Ventures

Business Xpress (State of Oregon) including Start Up Toolkit and Start a Business video series

Portland Apparel Lab - Create prototypes, small runs

Craft3 - Loans for those without access to traditional financing

Elevate Capital - Venture capital for underserved communities

Portland Business Alliance

Slavin Family Foundation - Support, mentorship & scholarship to select students

VertueLab - Helping tech startups win Federal Grants 

How to Choose the Right Funding Option for Your Small Business

How To Create a Startup Budget + Free Template

Westly Prize for Social Innovation * For California residents

Voyager Capital *Seattle

Flying Fish *Seattle

Food, beverage, and related tech-focused funding (2017 food/bev start-up report) (angel investors):

3. Tools, Blogs, Podcasts, Resources and Classes for Entrepreneurs

AI Learning for Design 

Startup Equity Simulation Tool

Glossary of Business Terms for Entrepreneurs

Start Up Acronyms and Jargon Defined

Canvanizer - Free online startup business plan tool 

Model/Spreadsheet to Simplify Execution of a Business Idea

Startup Software Guide

My First Million - Podcast with Anand Sanwal laying out parameters of good companies to create

Complexity and Community Change - A free book about Social Entrepreneurship ventures 

Entrepreneurial Learning by the Kauffman Foundation 

Venture Capitalist’s Advice for Entrepreneurs

Writing Social Venture Business Plans

Calagator - Portland’s Tech Calendar 

Technical Training for Liberal Arts Students  

PickFu - Consumer insight

1Q - Mobile research platform

Suzy - Market research platform 

Worldpositive.com - The-world-positive-term-sheet 

Portland Business Journal

Great resource for EShip tools/blogs

Ten Podcasts for Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders

Medium - Find insightful and dynamic thinking *subscription

A Guide To Venture Capital Financings For Startups

Free Udacity class: How to Build a Startup

2.5 day program for teaching Lean

B Corporation Resources

Rubric for evaluating idea/opportunity-UMich

24 EShip podcasts

Which Start-Up To Work For

Pricing a product

Rick Turoczy’s blog - The pulse of the Portland tech/creative community 

How to start a blog

Bloks - Build and test your applications 

Creative Mornings

Take a class from a master - $95 Masterclass.com 

Social Impact Financing article

Samples of ideas for ventures

Sirius XM channel 111 *Wharton 

Impact Entrepreneurs

Best HQ

Fertilab Thinkubator

KitchenCru

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Starve Ups

OTBC

Newtech Pdx

Technology Association of Oregon TAO

SCORE-Portland

Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon

The Business Outreach Program at Portland State University

Small Business Administration *Portland 

VentureWell’s E-Team

Oregon Community Foundation

Business Oregon

Lemelson Foundation

Northwest Health Foundation

Oregon Small Business Development Network

VentureWell

ASPIRE

E-Team Grants

Faculty Grants

Venturewell Open 2018 Conference

ISAM 2018 - International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces 

Portland Business Alliance

The World Factbook - CIA’s site for history, people, gov’t, economy, community, transportation, and transnational issues for 267 world entities

Quick entrepreneurship tips - Stanford

Quick entrepreneurship tips - *Stanford

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders, Workplace Friction and Innovation podcasts

VentureWell Innovator Insight Series

Donuts and tech talk in Portland

Unified Calendar of all tech events in Portland

Health Care Problem Solving WTF Conference (What’s the Fix?)

Portland StartUp Community Events

OEN Events

OEN Community Event *Calendar

Portland Business Alliance Small Business Scholarship Program

Built Oregon- A not-for-profit organization supporting the OR consumer goods industry

Meet the Startup - A series of video interviews with local founders

Open Source Bridge an annual event for open-source citizens

Oregon Story Board - A not-for-profit dedicated to furthering digital storytelling in Oregon, which has now focused on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

PIE - An ongoing experiment exploring the potential for mutually beneficial collaboration between the Portland startup community and more well-established entities like corporations, government, and educational institutions

PIE Cookbook - An open-source framework for creating a startup accelerator

Portland Startups Switchboard - A 4000+ members helping one another

Portland Startup Week

1776 Challenge Cup Portland - Showcases Portland’s startups on a global stage

Silicon Florist job board - Connecting awesome people with awesome companies

TechfestNW - The premier tech and startup conference in Oregon

Business for a Better Portland

Design Week Portland

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network

PDX Maker Week

Portland Lunch 2.0

Portland Startup Weekend

WordCamp Portland

CB Insights

L2

Fast Company 

Center for Humane Technology - Realigning tech with humanity’s best interests

Life Cycle of Material

How to Create a Pitch Deck

Life-Cycle Assessment

Mary Meeker - Internet Trends Report 

Value Proposition Canvas (additional article)(YouTube)

Business Model Canvas (Strategyzer)(YouTube)

Patent Search

North Bank Innovations

Portland Upstart Collective

 

4. Training for Public Service/Community Impact

Social Venture Partners

Training by Portland Alliance for public service

Venture for America

Mercy Corps

Grantmakers - The Guidestar of Nonprofits 

Building a Culture of Entrepreneurship in a Nonprofit Organization

Social Impact Careers

Apolitical - Platform for innovation in the public sector 

High Impact Job Board

 

5. Networking, Gigs and Jobs (including skills workshops)

Lewis & Clark Career Center

Mac’s List *Workshops and events too

Jobs with Venture-backed Organizations 

Oregon Venture Fund Job Board

Pdx Mindshare *Workshops and events too

Tech job postings

Portland Start-Up Switchboard

Resume Optimizer

How to research your next employer

Industry Specific Job Boards & Search Engines

Four questions you may be asked as an applicant

International focus - jobs as well as notices are in here - Globalpdx

Advice for International Students Seeking to Work in US

Negotiating job pay/parameters-and negotiating in general

Best networking groups in Portland

App that helps you speak well *no “ums”

Why Networking is bad

Sites for short term work:

 

6. Diversity

Oregon business assistant providers who seek to help underrepresented entrepreneurs:

Venture Funds that Invest in Women - including Portland’s WVCF

Women’s Business Center at Mercy Corps NW

Portland Women in Tech *article

TechTown

ELI

Partners in Diversity *resources and jobs 

OAME - Oregon Assn of Minority Entrepreneurs

The Human Rights of Women Entrepreneurs - Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

Female VC’s advice to women entrepreneurs

Fund/Accelerator for Women and/or POC B-Corps

Career advancement platform for Black, Latino/Hispanic and Native American students and professionals

Meyer Memorial Trust

List of black women in VC

List of black men in VC

PSU Center for Women’s Leadership

Backstage Capital

Emerge - Training women to run for Democratic public office 

Seven Ways to Reduce Bias in the Hiring Process

Chasing Grace - Documentary about Portland women in Tech 

Most entrepreneurial women investors of 2018

Walker’s Legacy 

Inclusive Business Resource Network - Prosper Portland’s arm to leverage the network for underrepresented

Mercatuspdx - Online directory for entrepreneurs of color

Pitch Black

Backstage Capital - Supporting Underrepresented Founders

Purdue University Global - Contains links for funding, organizations, and programs for women

42 Resources for Women in Leadership and Business 

Additional list of resources for women in business

Inclusive Entrepreneurship Resources

Black Founders Matter

 

7. Articles/Sites of Interest

 

Anatomy of a Term Sheet - What is a Term Sheet?

Career/Life Advice by Sam Altman

How Will You Measure Your Life

This is more important than what college you attend

Importance of liberal arts in a rapidly changing world 

Liberal Arts Majors are the Future of the Tech Industry

The Value of Acquiring Entrepreneurial Training in College

Liberal Arts vs Skills Training

End of College? Or Is Liberal Arts is More Important Than Ever?

Why Liberal Arts entrepreneurship classes differ from traditional business classes

Ten CEO’s and the value of their Liberal Arts degree

Liberal Arts + Entrepreneurship - Turning ambition into action 

Innovation/Entrepreneurship and the Liberal Arts are both about good ideas

Adam Grant’s Corner Office page in NYT

Does your major matter or just your liberal arts education?

Why Liberal Arts Students Succeed in Business

“It’s our choices that define us, not our gifts.” - Article about Jeff Bezos

The value of failure - Work not to lose, or play to win 

How Start-Up CEO’s Spend Their Time

Seven Deadly Sins of Storytelling

Why entrepreneurship in college helps diversity + innovation

Start with Why - Simon Sinek 

Go to a Liberal Arts College if You Want to Succeed

Articles one, two, and three about the issues with venture capital

When to Break Up with Your Venture

Decision-Making and Poker

Unwritten Rules of the Workplace

Top Career Podcasts

Be the Leader For Whom You Would Want to Work

Entrepreneurs and depression and/or anxiety 

The Algebra of Happiness

Don’t Follow Your Passions (and a second article)

How to Get the Most out of College

How Smart People Deal With Uncertainty

Humans Need Liberal Arts

Finding Your Passion: The Role of Fixed Versus Growth Mindset

Three Industries Primed for Disruption

How to Get a Deal on Shark Tank

The Ultimate Guide to Glassdoor for Small Business Owners

How a Start-Up Can Get a Credit Card

Advice From Insanely Interesting People

Become an Entrepreneur for the Right Reasons

Top Skills Companies Need in 2019

Why ‘worthless’ humanities degrees might set you up for life

There’s More to College Than Getting Into College 

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