Dear Fellow Entrepreneurs,

The entrepreneurial environment is changing rapidly. Can you believe it’s almost as though we are returning to the hay days of funding ?

After speaking with some of our members, we will change our format. Before the meeting, I’ll announce a topic to get us started with the conversations and then we can get into the swing of meeting and networking. Have a burning issue that you’d like to share, drop me a line.

We trust that your business is thriving and you’re keeping up with the tsunami of change in everyone’s digital environment. Not unlike last month’s updates the AI front is still the key news item. Some interesting takes on who’s jobs are already in the crosshairs.

Are you ready to meet and network at the Marriott downtown on Wednesday the 10th of this month ? Our in-person meetings bring new people often. If we have not seen you for some time know that you’re missed…..Consider putting this meeting on your calendar, at 6:30 pm. and get networking.

Please RSVP at the meetup site. People need to know that you’re attending. Have you thought about bringing a friend or colleague ?

Meet us in the lounge (Facing del Alma) and enjoy some food or drink and get ready for some great conversations. We will be in the corner area, and not hard to find.

Is there some specific information you want or need to assist your business ? Drop us a line and let’s focus our monthly newsletter.

For this month’s updates we have;

Ready to help your community with better skills ?
Need serious accounting muscle ?
Want some funding and expertise ?
Weighing in on AI, with some bennies ?
Are you trying to go from PhD to CEO ?
Looking for funding, from any source and with free access as a founder ?

Quote of the day:

Once you realize that you can do something, it would be difficult to live with yourself if you didn’t do it.

James Baldwin

Human Centered Design

Imagine this: you have a great idea to solve a pressing issue in your community, but don’t know how to turn it into something real. How do you get started?

Discover Human-Centered Design 201: Prototyping

This course will help you:

Turn your idea into a tangible product or service
Learn from the people you’re designing for and improve your idea based on their input
Use a simple cycle of prototyping, feedback, and tweaking to perfect your idea
Prototype products, services, interactions, and environments

Take a sneak peak…

This Facilitator’s Guide has everything you need to run a one-day, human-centered design problem-solving session with a group or team.

Enroll now and transform your ideas into reality

Ready for accounting muscle ?

Why would three finance professionals with highly sought-after jobs in the tech industry leave the corporate world and start their own business ?

While we felt fortunate to have spent the last two decades in the corporate world, benefiting from its many well-known perks, we realized something crucial when we took a step back. The daily grind was causing us to lose sight of why we entered this profession in the first place. There was little time to reflect on what we genuinely enjoyed doing. We thrive on problem-solving and helping businesses overcome their daily operational challenges. We missed the hands-on excitement of building and expanding businesses and teams.

We longed to experience again the energy of being part of something meaningful, the thrill of growth, the joy of early successes, first wins, and the camaraderie as we worked towards a common goal, such as company success and an IPO. Among these high fives there were lessons that we learned and things we realized we could do better. We wanted to leverage our knowledge and operational knowhow to support early-stage founders and leaders on their exciting journeys.

Since launching our services over six months ago, we have helped founders, CFOs, and business owners establish solid financial foundations, including accrual-based bookkeeping and efficient payroll process. We’ve improved and optimized existing processes and systems to better prepare them for the future, including audit readiness and securing next round of funding

Let us help you. As a new business ourselves, we understand that budgets can be tight. However, that doesn’t mean you should settle for less-than-ideal services or compromise your peace of mind. Our starter package costs as little as $1,500 per month and provides great value. We offer a wide range of services that can grow with your business, starting with basic bookkeeping using top-tier accounting systems, extending to fractional Controller/CFO services, and reaching all the way to M&A support and IPO readiness.

Want some funding and expertise ?

Beaverton Startup Challenge

For the 10th year the Oregon Startup Center and our main sponsor, the City of Beaverton, are offering early-stage startups an opportunity to receive $25,000 ($21,000 cash and $4,000 in unlimited coaching and mentoring services) in the Beaverton Startup Challenge.

The Westside Investors Fund 10, managed by the Oregon Startup Center, will award up to 5 companies $25,000 each as a convertible note investment in your startup.

The application period is open until 5 PM, October 2, 2024. There will be an informational session on August 27th, you can find details below and you can apply here:

Apply for the Beaverton Startup Challenge

Want to weigh in on AI ?

What’s the foundation of a successful AI strategy?

Welcome to Aberdeen’s AI Blueprint study! 2024 is the year of adopting and exploring AI to improve business value. We’re on a mission to uncover the core technologies crucial for a successful AI strategy, and we’d love to hear your valuable insights! Tell us about the best practices, infrastructure, tools, services, and budget needed to drive these groundbreaking initiatives. We’d also like to know about any concerns you have about AI and its potential impact on work in the future.

The best part? By sparing just 10 minutes to share your thoughts, you’ll gain exclusive access to the survey results.

In case you’re wondering “What do I get out of it?” let us explain…

Get an exclusive look at the results.
See if your feedback lines up with your peers!

Influence the tech industry.
Tell tech companies what matters to YOU!

Help support Spiceworks.
Every survey you take helps keep Spiceworks free.

Take the VoIT survey »

Share Your Opinion

Canvas — Simplicity, Meet Power

Stepping into the world of AI doesn’t have to be daunting. With Canvas, users get the best of both worlds. Imagine using a simple drag-and-drop builder interface, much like assembling a simple puzzle. But here’s the twist: while the interface is simple, it doesn’t hold back on depth and versatility. Those who wish can seamlessly transition into complete code design, ensuring that both novices and experts find their comfort zone.

Simple without lacking depth Navigator touts no-code and full-code capabilities.

Create your own AI

One of the core strengths of Navigator is its flexibility. Whether you are setting up a system for sentiment analysis, image recognition, or any other AI-driven task, Navigator is equipped with webAI’s proprietary model training methods. With tools like Attention Steering and DeepDetection, you aren’t just getting off-the-shelf solutions; you’re getting models tailored to your needs, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.

Training AI models on personal devices has never been more efficient.

Leveraging webAI’s Proprietary Techniques

Navigating beyond mere adaptability, what truly sets Navigator apart is its integration of webAI’s specialized model training methodologies. The Attention Steering technique is central to this, which ensures the AI dives deeper than merely glossing over extensive datasets; it hones in on crucial details.

Attention Steering is not just another training method; it’s a transformative approach to efficient machine learning. By incorporating a unique form of reinforcement learning combined with proprietary techniques, it excels at pinpointing areas of consensus and disagreement. This data then becomes instrumental in optimizing the training process.

The efficiency of Attention Steering is unparalleled. Notably, Attention Steering, when trained on merely a quarter of the dataset, achieved a precision comparable to that of a model trained on the entire dataset. This was accomplished while maintaining a significantly (78%) smaller model size. Regarding accuracy, the Attention Steering Model achieved an impressive 98.00% on validation. This is nearly on par with the fine-tuned model, which reached 98.03% accuracy after training on the complete dataset before validation. This significant footprint reduction means the model can comfortably reside on a user’s device.

The implication? AI operations can be executed locally, eliminating the need for cloud dependency and addressing potential data privacy concerns.

The overview:

Large corporate laboratories generated some of the most important innovations of the 20th century. These days, funding for those organizations has faded, and some young chemists are trying to fill the gap by starting companies based on their PhD or postdoctoral research. But jumping from academia to the C-suite of a start-up is hard. Researchers have to learn how to manage a team, pitch their idea to investors, and steer their company through a maze of unforeseeable obstacles. Launching a chemistry company can take years of grueling work, and the odds of striking it rich are slim. Still, some founders are taking on the challenge. They’re creating the technologies that may keep Earth habitable through the 21st century and beyond.

For the full article see:

The rocky path from PhD to CEO

Looking for Funding or are you still doing Due Diligence manually ?

Need funding or are you a funder looking to reduce your due diligence overhead, find new deal flow and LP’s or reduce your inbox overload with aligned founders exclusively ?

InvestorMatch.ai is an excellent resource that matches funders to founders, using AI. The platform is the ideal way to find funding sources and is available to founders, at no charge.

Unlike other platforms, the software eliminates 2-3 meetings and gives all parties the whole picture of who and what you’re doing allowing for alignment, from the start.

When there’s alignment all parties have the comprehensive details needed for an actionable meeting. Think of this process as a warm introduction with both parties ready to get into gear immediately.

The funders are international in scope, from private, public, and commercial sources, and it’s industry agnostic. A real opportunity for any founder to find the right people, in your industry who are interested in seeing you succeed, with funding. InvestorMatch.ai, Finding alignment with AI

August Newsletter for Startup Corvallis