Harry Herzberg is a programmer and accessibility advocate who created Transcribbit, an innovative classroom tool inspired by his own experience navigating school with muscular dystrophy. Transcribbit helps make learning more inclusive by offering live transcription, translation, and tools that support students in asking questions and staying engaged.

Congratulations to Harry for winning the recent Demolicious contest from the Upstart Collective!

Tyson Trejo is the CEO & Founder of E.N.G. Media, a company that partners with technology and software businesses to scale their revenue with done-for-you solutions.

Kate Woods is an operational strategist specializing in empowering womxn and BIPOC-owned small businesses. She transforms chaotic operations into streamlined systems, freeing up executive time for focused growth. Her mission is to cultivate thriving businesses by pruning inefficiencies and planting the seeds for lasting success.

Dr. Melissa Bird is a descendant of the Shivwits Band of Paiutes. She is a nationally recognized lay preacher, author, public speaker, and podcaster. Together with her husband, Army Veteran James Kelly, she founded the start up farm The Mermaid's Garden, with a mission of connecting people to the land, their bodies, and their food. A place for people of all abilities, The Mermaid's Garden hopes to become a premiere retreat space and recirculating aquaculture farm in the heart of Oregon.

Justin Gravett and David Ashton tell us about their startup Canopii -- a small but burgeoning Oregon company developing fully automated greenhouse farms. Our farms use custom cost-effective automaton to perform all processes for leafy greens and herb production, from seed to harvest. Canopii is determined to support local and resilient agricultural production that is accessible to all.

Olivier Egli is a work educator and guide who supports new founders in building the businesses they are naturally meant to build by bringing together universal principles of nature, leadership, neuroscience, and biology. His company has helped transform hundreds of entrepreneurs into what 'intupreneurs' who use their intuition instead of traditional approaches to build human value the world desperately needs. He is also engaged in the realm of business education and startup programs with the long-term vision to shift the perception on work on a global scale.

Johnny “Doc” Hudson Jr., U.S. Army veteran, entrepreneur, and co-founder of ODIN Materials, innovating advanced materials for aerospace, robotics, and supercomputing. Passionate about driving technology advancements through material science. Dedicated to pushing the boundaries of innovation and engineering.

Tim Armstrong is the co-founder and CEO of Pour Soul Systems. His company has a unique value proposition in the beverage industry -- they've developed an loT platform to track, classify, analyze, and report on every beverage pour for the $50 billion on-premise draft beverage industry.

Joey Repice is the founder and chief chef for Joey's Hot Sauce, based in southern Oregon. The product Joey has created has a spectrum of unique taste profiles -- it's an all roasted pepper all organic ingredient small batch Hot Sauce produced exclusively in southern Oregon -- and it's already in many stores throughout the Pacific Northwest!

Calvin Gower is the CEO and Founder of Stiira, a Portland-based SaaS company revolutionizing how businesses manage government-regulated leaves of absence. With a career devoted to developing and marketing digital HR solutions that simplify complex problems, Calvin launched Stiira with his co-founders in February 2023 to deliver the first leave management software tailored for the unique needs of third-party administrators and in-house teams alike. Just two years since its launch, Stiira has emerged as a trusted, cost-effective solution for leave administrators nationwide.