The Words of the Prophets are Written on the Airport Walls
June 2025
Eric Rosenfeld
Stroll through any airport and you’ll see what matters to that city – reflected in the ads and who’s behind them.
In San Jose, you’re greeted by a towering AMD display touting the superior performance and security features of its EPYC processors. At SFO, a bold declaration from Artisan AI shouts across the concourse: “Stop Hiring Humans.” In Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Coca-Cola reminds us, reassuringly, that “Thirst knows no season.” And in Newark? “Take a Break from the Ordinary – Join Our Air Traffic Control Team.”
But if you’re flying through PDX this month, you’ll see something different – a large, Nike-style tribute to a local hero: Colin Nederkoorn, founder of Customer.io. There’s no pitch, no product specs, no QR code, no call to action, no “measurability.” It’s not selling anything. It’s celebrating someone. And it’s about time.
Colin and team have quietly built a $100M+ ARR AI-powered customer engagement platform. They're growing north of 35% a year, employ over 350 people, and are on track to become Oregon’s next unicorn. And they did it right here – not in the Bay Area, not in Austin – in Portland.
Last month, it was Mac Lavier of GearUP Sports. Next month, it’ll be Claudia Jaffe, founder of Lumencor. After that: Yuriy Bulygin, founder of Eclypsium.
This isn’t intended to be a feel-good marketing campaign. It’s a civic statement.
Oregon Venture Fund partnered with creative agency The Program and the Port of Portland to honor some of the most visionary, relentless, under-slept individuals in our region – founders. The people grinding day and night to build real businesses, who are generating local wealth, and creating the industries and jobs of the future.
Is the work of a founder any less grueling than that of a Thorns forward? Are their wins any less inspiring than a Blazers buzzer-beater? Shouldn’t our entrepreneurial stars be as visible and as celebrated as the athletes we admire?
In Portland, we plaster our buildings and billboards with Trailblazers, Timbers, and Thorns. Nike spends billions reminding us of the greatness of Sabrina Ionescu and LeBron James. That’s awesome – but incomplete. Our culture shines a spotlight on athletes and actors while most founders toil in near-invisibility. That’s a miss. Their work is arguably just as daring and just as high stakes. And what they’re accomplishing is essential to our region’s economic future.
That’s why we’re turning the most visited building in Oregon – Portland International Airport – into a stage for a few of our unsung entrepreneur-heroes. PDX has long been a symbol of civic pride, design excellence, and local soul. Now it’s also a billboard for belief – in homegrown ingenuity, resilience, ambition, and business success.
So next time you're flying in or out of PDX, look up. You might see not just where we're going, but who's getting us there.
If you find yourself in Concourse C over the summer, please snap a photo of yourself with a founder billboard, post it on LinkedIn (tag Oregon Venture Fund) or email it to Gloria@OregonVentureFund.com. You’ll be entered into a drawing for an Alaska Airlines gift card good for anywhere they fly - submissions must be received by September 21, 2025 to be eligible. Let’s make founders famous.