BendTECH Blog

Celebrate BendTECH unConference’s Tenth Anniversary with Cash Prizes, Free Beer and Kombucha, Cowbells and More BendTECH’s unconference is turning 10! Come celebrate our fun startup pitchfest on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m, at BendTECH’s HQ at 1001 SW Emkay in Bend, Oregon.   The unConference gives startup founders a chance…

When Kevin Hoffman was 13 years old, his mother suddenly and unexpectedly suffered a cardiac arrest while on a family ski trip. She survived and largely recovered, and to prevent further cardiac events, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was surgically inserted into her chest to regulate her heartbeat. But a minor car accident caused unseen…

Before the days of cooperative working, shared offices and the “24-hour coworking space”, as they’re now widely known, there was one place—or collection of places—where a budding entrepreneur, self-employed freelancer or remote worker could find relative peace and quiet, reliable internet access and unlimited cups of coffee: the neighborhood coffee shop. We’ve all had our…

The Summit High School Robotics Team, Chaos Theory, will be unveiling their 2019 competition robot at the BendTECH Coworking space on February 27 from 4-6pm. Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. “I always compare it to basketball,” says Kei Dallas, a Senior at Bend’s Summit High School. “But the rules change every year.”…

About a week ago, The New York Times ran a piece titled “Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?” The piece not only dives into what the Times refers to as “exploitative burnout culture” — a culture “obsessed with striving, relentlessly positive, devoid of humor, and — once you notice it — impossible to…

One year ago, Gabe Ayers was the sole employee of his software and electrical engineering consulting firm Apricity. Today, Apricity has seven full-time employees and a handful of part-time workers. And Ayers is not stopping there. “Our goal continues to be 20 employees by the end of 2019,” he says. “We’re building an 1,800-square foot…

Jamie Bianchini’s laptop screen is cracked. His keyboard is worn, half the keys polished to illegibility by years of tapping fingers. Maybe it’s time for a new computer. Nope, Jamie tells me. This one’s worth $200,000. “I went bankrupt in my twenties,” he says. “I was trying to get the fast cars, the fancy houses,…