Portland Business Journal - July 29, 2009 - "The magazine’s look at startup-friendly cities addresses issues such as government incentives, population growth, affordability of commercial rents, and openness to new ideas.
Entrepreneur calls Portland “The Cooperator” among the top 10 cities.
“Portland and Oregon are the only places I’ve seen where constituency groups that normally fight come together,” Gerry Langeler of Portland’s OVP Venture Partners told the magazine. “They’ve decided that the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is the engine where entrepreneurs can go for guidance, training, networking and being introduced to venture capitalists. We just decided that the town is too small to have competing ventures.”
That kind of cooperation, according to the magazine, is a boon in a city that doesn’t draw the type of capital investments found in Silicon Valley or Seattle. But Portland has made do with the great resources it does have, creating vibrant electronics, clean-tech, health sciences and apparel sectors, and one of the largest and most innovative open source software communities in the world. Plus, the quality of life — Portland is a perennial favorite on most livable and most sustainable cities lists — means a high retention rate for workers. There’s only one downside: Portland may be too genial.
“For good or ill, the collaborative mind-set tends to diffuse that killer instinct,” said Langler. “We don’t have too many people obsessed with dominating the world market.”
The top 10 cities in order are Las Vegas, Portland, Orlando, Fla., San Diego, Phoenix, Chapel Hill, N.C., Atlanta, Madison, Wis., Youngstown, Ohio and Austin, Texas.
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James E. says:
I'd have to agree that Portland is a great place to start a company. I seriously considered starting my company there, but decided for personal reasons to choose SF. What I liked about Portland: educated population, cheap real estate and start-up costs, and a sustainability mind-set (important to my business success). SustainLane also ranks Portland the most sustainable city in the US..two years running now:
http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/cities/portland
One of the main reasons that the city ranks high perennially is because their city departments, such as public transit, waste management, land use, and purchasing, all work together in a "systemic" approach to running their great city. It's very well managed in other words, and they take the long-term perspective on planning, while considering the 360 views.
Moderate weather, very nice people, and just a hop to SF or Seattle. Portland will in time become a mecca for start-ups...once it is "discovered" and begins to draw the capital that is necessary for start-ups to thrive.