After two years of cancelled, scheduled, and virtual events, Sean Wakeley is looking forward to having a live Hackfort again.“It’s the most work I’ve ever put in one of these events,” Wakeley said, who’s been running Hackfort since 2018. Noting that this year marks the tenth year of Treefort, “All the Forts have been, ‘let’s go for it,’” he said.
READ MORE‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ and ‘designing for delight’: the 2022 develop.idaho conference. Now in its 11th year, the develop.idaho conference from the Idaho Technology Council (ITC) is usually thought of as referring to software development. But this year’s hybrid conference seemed focused on development in a larger sense – the development of Idaho startups, the Idaho tech ecosystem, and even the development of individual Idaho entrepreneurs as people themselves.
READ MOREBetween the Great Resignation, the work-from-anywhere world brought to us by COVID-19, the housing bubble, and the booming economy, Idaho companies are facing sticker shock when it comes to hiring new employees.
READ MOREWhether it’s a lemonade stand or putting on a circus, kids have traditionally dreamed of being entrepreneurs. Now, three programs are underway in Idaho to help high school and college students make their entrepreneurial dreams come true and give them a solid foundation of skills for the future.
READ MOREWhen should Idaho startups look to ‘adjacent ecosystems’?Idaho-based startups looking for support don’t have to stick to state boundaries. A number of recent deals have featured Idaho startups getting funding from Utah and Washington.It makes sense that cities like Boise, Denver, and Salt Lake City have similarities, said Alison Johnson, a partner with Palo Alto, California-based Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. “They have a unique profile, but they’re all experiencing significant growth and have a lot of resources,” she said. “They are similar ecosystems of people and companies moving to those markets and expanding their presence.”
READ MOREIn the seminal book The Soul of a New Machine, about the development of a then-groundbreaking Data General minicomputer in the 1970s, one of the developers resigns, leaving a note that reads, “I’m going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter than a season.” That’s sort of what Matt Rissell did, except in his case, his units of time are hunting seasons. “I’m an avid bowhunter,” Rissell said, though he admitted that this year he got skunked out of an elk by one of his children. “I also hunt pheasants, quail, chukar, geese, ducks – that’s what I was doing this morning. I’ll travel to different states to hunt different things. I’m heading to Mexico next week to hunt Coues deer. It’s like a white-tailed deer.”
READ MOREIn what could be the biggest funding raise of the year, Boise startup Tackle.io announced on Dec. 21 that it had received a $100 million Series C funding round, which brought its valuation to $1.25 billion. So let’s put that into context. Where does this funding round, and this valuation, fit into Idaho’s tech ecosystem?
READ MOREA Boise startup has created an app, Cauze, that makes generosity a social experience.“What Cauze has done is create a social network for good,” said Jason Hausske, founder and CEO of the company. “It democratizes philanthropy and removes the friction of giving at any moment of inspiration, for any charity and any dollar amount. It should be a social experience. You give with friends, it’s amplified, and you make it a part of your daily life.”
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