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Startup growth focus of PubTalk

Consultant will talk about creating positive community culture

By Gordon Oliver, Columbian Business Editor
Published: January 17, 2011, 12:00am

Pamela Jones is in the business of assisting companies, large and small, with attracting and recruiting skilled executives who can help them grow. As an angel investor and entrepreneur, as well as a consultant, Jones will share her expertise Wednesday at this year’s kickoff of Southwest Washington PubTalk.

o What: Southwest Washington PubTalk, a networking event for entrepreneurs, investors, and other professionals

o When: 5-8 p.m. Wednesday

o Where: AHA!, 415 W Sixth St., Suite 605, Vancouver

o Cost: $15 for member sof Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN); $25 for non-members

o Information: Advance registration through noon Wednesday is encouraged at http://www.SWWDC.org

Jones, who heads Vancouver-based Jones Partners, said she’s eager to share her insights about building a supportive community culture for startup businesses. She’ll offer lessons from Pittsburgh, a city she’s come to know through her work with Vocollect, a developer and manufacturer of speech recognition software that has been one of her clients.

o What: Southwest Washington PubTalk, a networking event for entrepreneurs, investors, and other professionals

o When: 5-8 p.m. Wednesday

o Where: AHA!, 415 W Sixth St., Suite 605, Vancouver

o Cost: $15 for member sof Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN); $25 for non-members

o Information: Advance registration through noon Wednesday is encouraged at http://www.SWWDC.org

When the steel industry that was the foundation of Pittsburgh’s economy was declining, the city’s business and political leaders were galvanized to support the emerging high-technology industry. The city now has a strong and vibrant technology sector that over time became a part of its economic strength and identity, Jones said.

“What you have in Pittsburgh to this day is an informal structure of technologists,” Jones said. “They are very supportive of each other even if they’re competing.”

Pittsburgh can offer Vancouver lessons on the importance of businesses’ cooperation in creating a strong, mutually supportive business climate. Vancouver’s emerging businesses should work to help each other, Jones believes. “Vancouver is reinventing itself, but at the end of the day it’s about building effective teams,” she said.

Southwest Washington PubTalk, launched in December 2009, is designed as a high-energy networking event to connect entrepreneurs, investors, and other professionals for the purpose of helping new southwest Washington companies grow and prosper. Its target audience members are professionals who are launching startups and who are working to expand to the next level. The events begin and end with networking. Presentations include business pitches from local startups, panel discussions, and talks by business experts such as Jones. At this Wednesday’s PubTalk, Seattle-based Hydrovolts will describe the portable hydrokinetic turbines it has developed to generate renewable energy from water currents in irrigation canals and other waterways.

PubTalk, developed by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, is held bi-monthly in Vancouver on the third Wednesday of odd-numbered months. It is staffed by the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council and the Columbia River Economic Development Council. This week’s event is sponsored by the Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt law firm.

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Columbian Business Editor