[pdxlover]

To be honest the OEN ( Oregon Entrepreneur Network ) is one of the worst things for startups in Portland. The people who actually run it are great, they work really hard and have the best intentions, but the problem is the "volunteers" who serve on the boards and run the various committees. Most of these people are service providers, a lot of them are "money finders" who claim to broker deals between startups and investors. I know of a number of companies who have been ripped off by these people simply because they thought it is what everyone else is doing and the only way to get funding, the problem is they rarely deliver. The people who serve on the OEN committees for Angel Oregon etc are the same people that sit on the panels for PAN, Oregon Angel Fund and WIN ( Women's Investment Network ).There is a lot of crap that goes on behind closed doors in these committees that makes me sick.

The OEN has the best of intentions, but the committees comprised of service providers makes it impossible for startups to get a fair shake really, the people on these committees who are supposed to help startups are actually preying on them. Startups are asked to pay a lot of money for competitions, where they are told they will be pitching to investors, I don't know a single company in the past few years who has received money from any of these people.

There are actually a lot of investors in Portland, but the "super angels" are not part of any of these groups for a number of reasons.

Again I love the people who run the OEN, the folks that actually work there day-to-day, the problem is their board and the committees using their volunteer position for self enrichment.

If you look at the companies getting funding in Portland, most have stayed away from the traditional angel funding routes like the OEN events and instead focused on getting investment outside of that network and outside of the state.