We are bringing together the brightest minds in business, marketing, and technology to create the most interesting and engaging startups imaginable.
Join us. And make it.
What is PIE?
The Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) is a partnership among leading brands, technology innovators, and Wieden+Kennedy — the largest privately held advertising and communications company in the world. It serves as a hub for community, entrepreneurship, and creative thinking.
It’s a collaborative center where brands, tech, and culture meet to explore and redefine brand experiences. And another example of how Wieden+Kennedy and its brand partners are continuously innovating on the edges of tech, culture, and brand experiences
What's in it for me?
We’ll give you cash and office space to spend three months with us in beautiful Portland, Oregon. You and other promising co-founders will learn from our startups-in-residence, successful alumni, Wieden+Kennedy, and our mentor network. Not to mention we'll connect you with thought leaders from some of the world’s most successful brands.
What's more, you’ll meet some of the most thoughtful investors in the startup scene and gain valuable exposure to Portland’s thriving mobile and open source development communities.
Sound good? Consider applying to be part of the next class at PIE. Applications are currently open for our next class.
Mentors who have been there
In addition to mentors and thought leaders from leading brands, PIE has attracted some of the most inspiring thinkers in technology today. Our mentors are veterans of all flavors and stages of business from incubating, accelerating, fund raising, growing, sustaining, exiting — to crashing and burning. You can’t succeed without risking failure. Our mentors have scratches and lessons to share with you so that you're taking new risks — not repeating mistakes.
PIE helps accelerate companies
PIE has helped host, accelerate, and mentor a number of successful startups:
- AppFog (funded)
- Athletepath (funded)
- Cloudability (funded)
- COLOURlovers (funded)
- Geoloqi (funded)
- Simple (funded)
- Urban Airship (funded)
- VendScreen (funded)
- Bac'n (acquired)
- Bass Masta (acquired)
- VodPod (acquired)
- DailyPath
- Dovie
- Epipheo
- Gorlochs
- Here File, File
- Kickball
- LucentPDX
- Maurerville
- MoPix
- Mugasha
- Paleo Plan
- Refresh Media
- Revisu
- Showyou
- Silicon Florist
- Stayhound
- spotsi
- Subscription Tools
- Uncorked Studios
PIE helps make connections
During the first 18 months of PIE, three of our companies were funded, two of our companies were acquired, and one company published a book on launching startups. Our first formal accelerator class garnered more than $13 million in funding.
In that time period, we also hosted events for:
- Django/Python community
- WhereCampPDX
- Mobile Portland
- Portland Web Innovators
- RefreshPDX
- Pitch Club
- Portland Seed Fund
- GeoIQ
- RedHat
- Kickstarter
- True Ventures
- City of Portland
- Portland Development Commission
About Portland
Portland, Oregon, boasts more microbreweries, restaurants, food carts, batch distilleries, mobile startups, and open source user groups per capita than any city in the world. Some call it the most entrepreneurial city, ever. It's determined to be the most green, friendly, sustainable, bike commutable, soccer loving, and livable town you'll ever encounter. And if that's not good enough for you, it's 90 minutes from the ocean and 90 minutes from skiing and snowboarding, year round.
But most importantly, it's the best place in the world for you to build your startup dream into a reality. To make your startup work. To make it.