PIE is retooling our demo day format
We put “experiment” in our name for a reason
As an early-stage startup accelerator focused on providing mentorship, guidance, and community connections for Software-as-a-Service and application-based companies, PIE is more than familiar with the traditional demo day format: the music plays; the founder strides confidently onto the stage to present a riveting examination of the problem, a unique solution, and a compelling opportunity followed by a simple ask of the audience; the audience applauds; and the music swells as the founder exits the stage. Then the next founder gets up. Lather, rinse, repeat. Often for hours.
It’s a great experience for the founders. But it’s not always a great experience for the audience. Which is why we’ve decided to retool our format for PIE Demo Day 2023, taking learnings from both previous in-person and online events and munging them into something new.
Our first in-person demo day in three years—August 10, 2023, at 4:00PM—will be a new experiment, foregoing that stereotypical “dog & pony, staged presentation” demo day format in favor of a more engaging, interactive, and efficient tradeshow format for the Portland startup community.
Unlike traditional demo days focused solely on securing investments, PIE Demo Day has served as a more approachable — and varied — platform for celebrating the activity in the Portland startup community, often featuring nonprofits, supporting organizations, and other members of the community in addition to the startups on the demo day stage. The 2023 revision of the format is the latest in a long line of experiments for the accelerator as PIE works to provide access for the broadest range of attendees in the most efficient way possible, all with the hopes of enabling more diverse and broad-reaching interactions for the benefit of the entire Portland startup community.
The pitches? Oh, we’ll still have pitches. They’ll just be recorded and shared prior to the show at https://youtube.com/@piepdx.
“We would rather have members of the community stop by demo day for a few minutes to meet specific founders — or to wander the trade show floor — than require them to sit through all of the presentations before getting access to the startups that interest them,” said Rick Turoczy, cofounder and general manager of PIE. “We tested a virtual trade show format during the pandemic that provided this a more interactive environment for attendees than previous demo days — and the feedback from both attendees and founders was extremely positive. This year, we’re excited to test that more interactive format in person for the benefit of the entire Portland startup community.”
Funded by a grant from Prosper Portland, the current class of PIE began in May 2023 with 18 startups, featuring a variety of products ranging from AI-enabled applications to new social networks to different takes on XR (extended reality). Participating startups will be given the opportunity to exhibit on the PIE Demo Day trade show floor and share a recorded presentation if they choose to do so.
About PIE
For nearly 15 years, PIE has continually engaged in experiments designed to enable established organizations — like corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions, among others — to collaborate with the Portland, Oregon, startup community in mutually beneficial ways. Throughout its history, PIE has served as a curated coworking space, a community event space, a startup accelerator, a flashpoint for corporate innovation, an accelerator for accelerators, and a home-away-from-home for startup types — and the startup curious — from around the world. PIE is part of Built Oregon, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. For more information, visit https://piepdx.com/.
