First City Foundry
Portland's startup foundry — helping founders build AI-native products, scale operations, and create businesses that run without them.
Part of The Foundry Collective global network
Portland's startup foundry — helping founders build AI-native products, scale operations, and create businesses that run without them.
Part of The Foundry Collective global network
Most founders are stuck — building alone, scaling manually, and trapped inside the very businesses they created.
Solo founders wear every hat. Without structured handoff and tooling, growth stalls at the first hire — or the first burnout.
You built the company, now the company owns you. Without operational architecture, there's no exit — only execution.
Sprints, stand-ups, and story points don't ship products — AI-native workflows and modular architecture do.
First City Foundry is Portland's chapter of The Foundry Collective — a global network that helps founders build AI-native products, scale operations, and achieve true independence from their own companies.
We connect Portland founders with specialised partners across the full startup lifecycle: product development, operational architecture, community events, developer training, and investor readiness.
Through our flagship Portland Operations & AI Index, we measure how local companies adopt AI, manage operations, and pursue founder independence across three dimensions: Visibility, Margin, and Independence.
The Collective is a curated network of partners — not an accelerator, not an incubator — where each organisation owns a stage of the founder lifecycle. Portland is the flagship chapter, with expansion planned to Medellín, Nairobi, and Lisbon.
Data-Driven
A living survey measuring how Portland-area companies adopt AI, manage operations, and pursue founder independence. Scores across three dimensions:
How well do stakeholders see what's happening — dashboards, KPIs, real-time data.
Operational efficiency — automation, AI leverage, and the ratio of output to effort.
Can the business run without the founder? SOPs, delegation, and decision autonomy.
Free · 5 minutes · Get your personalised score
Now Streaming
Real conversations with founders, operators, and builders about visibility, margin, and independence. Hosted from Portland, heard everywhere.
Latest Episode — Coming Soon
The Foundry Collective is launching city-by-city — each chapter adapts the model to its local ecosystem while staying connected to the global network.
Three journeys, one collective. Find the path that fits where you are right now.
You have an idea or early product. Get AI-powered product development, mentorship, and your first users through the Foundry network.
Apply now →Revenue is growing but you're stuck in the day-to-day. Kurent builds operational architecture so the business runs without you.
Learn about Kurent →Level up your skills, join open-source projects, and connect with teams building real products on the CollabHub marketplace.
Explore Open.Build →Join Portland founders in the First City Foundry — the flagship chapter of The Foundry Collective.
Join the Index — It's Free