Join Better Portland members for a lunchtime panel with local leaders focused on a single issue.

November: Who’s Helping Businesses Scale?

Portland has a lot of resources for starting a business. But what about scaling a business from solo endeavor to economic impact? Join us to discuss what we need, what’s missing, and how Portland can get better when it comes to resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Panelists
Melanie Strong, Next Ventures
Rick Turoczy, PIE

12:00 - Interview with Guests
12:30 - Q&A
12:45 - Small Group Discussion Breakouts

Panelists

Mel Strong started her career as a first grade teacher and journalist. A chance meeting at the Boston Marathon led to an interview for an entry level job at Nike. She spent 17 years there, where she led businesses including Nike Women and Nike Skateboarding, and worked on the launch of the Nike Running and Training Club apps. In 2019 she left Nike to co-found venture capital firm NEXT VENTURES, focused on early stage investments across health and wellness in companies like Oura ring and Outside. She serves on the boards of Cofertility, Ramble Campgrounds, Sage Hospitality, University of Oregon’s Knight Campus, Outdoor Afro and USA Cycling.

Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for roughly 30 years. He is the cofounder and general manager of PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment), a 15 year experiment exploring how established entities — like corporations, educational institutions, and government — can collaborate with startup communities for mutual benefit. Partners in that experiment have included Autodesk, Coca-Cola, Daimler, Google, Intel, Nike, Prosper Portland, Puppet, the State of Oregon, Stoel Rives, Target, and Wieden+Kennedy, among others. Over the years, Rick has also helped start Built Oregon, Portland Startup Week, Oregon Story Board, Silicon Florist, and TechfestNW. For more on his perspective on building community, see his TEDxPortland talk.