Oregon Software Community Moving on Up
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Last night, I gave a speech at the Annual Member Dinner of the Software Association of Oregon (SAO) and I must say how good it feels to be part of an organization that has such positive momentum – the feeling in the air was palpable and is really encouraging given the challenging economy. Portland has always prided itself on a collaborative business community, but often at a surface level. At this event, there were software companies from across the state, top government leaders, and some clear innovators in clean technology. The keynote speaker was Google’s Green Energy Czar, Bill Weihl, and the crowd of 300 people was overflowing. Here was my SAO Board address to the audience (in semi-shortened format):
“For some of you, this might be the first SAO event you’ve been to in a while. For many of the rest of you who have been to a recent event, you have likely felt the buzz – that positive momentum – that SAO is fueling in the software community in Oregon. There are some awesome new opportunities for you to get involved:
- With SAO’s goal of drawing more CTOs and CIOs from tech and non-tech organizations into the mix, we are especially pleased to be attracting great speakers like tonight’s Bill Weihl, Czar of Google.
- We’ve also rolled out a Leadership Exchange program where leaders and managers across each department of your software organization are gaining insights and perspective that are simply not possible within the walls of your own company. I know it’s had a game-changing effect on my company saving me from some pretty huge mistakes that our execs or I would have made or we would have missed some major opportunities that I would have never known about had it not been for these monthly roundtable discussions and follow-on discussions.
- Police Chief Sizer has already touched on the value of SAO and the tech community reaching out to the public sector through our Fireside chats. Other gatherings have included also included Portland’s Mayor.
- Finally, the social gatherings and networking opportunities have gained critical mass. The last SAO Blazer game I attended was double the size from a year ago.
One thing that hasn’t been talked about tonight, but it’s been bugging me for the past 6 months. In conversations with some software folks about how to grow the software community in Oregon, I often hear complaints that Portland and Oregon as a whole does NOT have 2 things: CAPITAL and TALENT. It’s been the same complaint for the past 20 years and I’m getting tired of it. I think we do have the talent – a lot of it is right here in this room. IT’S UP TO US to grow our own companies here, start new ones, and invest and mentor promising Oregon start ups. No one is going to save us. WE ARE THE ANSWER. SAO is part of that answer. If we’re making the same excuses and complaints 20 years from now, we’ve failed. Together, we can create a stronger, growing tech community in Oregon. I firmly believe this!
I really encourage you to get involved – it will likely be the most valuable and even selfish thing you do this year – to help your career and your company. Thank you.”
