At Bplans, we’re proud of our home state of Oregon. We’re known in this part of the country for our casual way of life, great microbrew beers, and endless recreational opportunities. But there’s another way we’re unique, and that’s our abundance of business plan competitions and angel investment groups.
Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software (Bplans parent company) recently wrote about Oregon’s unique startup culture on her blog MommyCEO at ForbesWoman:
“What is exciting for Oregon companies is that these conferences and angel groups have given Oregon high-growth companies an avenue to get funded, and stay in Oregon. For the first time ever, start-ups in Oregon have many, many places they can go for help, compete for funding, and feel like they get mentoring, advice, and support — without having to relocate to the Silicon Valley or Seattle.”
In the last five years, angel groups in Oregon have funded 35 companies to the tun of $17.5 million. In her blog post, Sabrina poses the question – if it’s being done so well here in Oregon, why aren’t other states doing the same. So what do you think? Are there angel groups, business plan competitions, business incubators and accelerators where you live? Are you making use of them?
-photo by flickr user Smabs Sputzer/Creative Commons
