Building & evolving the next platform for Oregon consumer products

Over the years, Built Oregon has embarked on any number of ideas, concepts, and programs.

We began our journey with the simple idea of telling the story of Oregon entrepreneurship. By talking to founders around the state, who were kind enough to share the stories of the products they loved and the businesses that they built.

Those conversations convinced us — beyond a doubt — that Oregon is the Silicon Valley for consumer products. To celebrate that and the amazing founders in our midst, we launched the Built Festival and through that, began to bring the community into the conversations we were having.

Those conversations led to additional learnings of the barriers Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) led product companies face. The result? A collaborative program called Bridges to help connect those upcoming BIPOC led consumer brands to retail opportunities through partners like Green Zebra, Market of Choice, MilkRun, New Seasons, Tender Loving Empire, and World Foods. And the launch of a nonprofit consumer product accelerator to support emerging brands to connect them with the consumer products knowledge of hundreds of mentors throughout Oregon. (And we’re doing it again. New class announcement soon!)

And through it all the thing that has always made us smile — and kept us pushing to support in any way we can — was the drive and passion we saw in each founder, for the products they had created, the company they were building, and the customers who were validating their visions.

We have always believed there is a tapestry that weaves together Oregon product companies. One that is built around a commitment to craft and a sense of community, both from an industry and geographical perspective. And that belief — coupled with our learnings from previous efforts — has resulted in the launch of our latest project, the Built Oregon Marketplace.

Through a collective effort, our hope is that the Built Oregon Marketplace will become the consumer’s guide to discovering Oregon products — a celebration of Oregon products and the places these products call home, how the regions shape these products, and, most importantly, the people and communities behind them. We think — and we hope you’ll agree — that this could not come at a more critical time, for both our state and for the entrepreneurs who call it home.

This new platform is designed to help brands gain exposure, amplify product stories, and ultimately connect with consumers and trade with minimal costs. It will regularly feature pop-up shops from regional, retail, and community collaborators. In support of our state’s incredible yet underrepresented leaders, The Marketplace will have a dedicated space for Prosper Portland’s My People’s Market, an annual event that will now be open online year-round, featuring premium made products from across the state’s seven regions with focused and ongoing support for BIPOC, Women, LGBTQIA+, and rural founders. In addition, the site will feature Built Oregon branded gear for purchase, with a percentage of the profits from every sale going to the Built Together fund and organizational support.

And with the holiday shopping season fast approaching, we are looking to promote giving the gift of Oregon through driving not only awareness, but sales to companies around the state through a 4 day campaign (November 19th — 22nd) we are calling “Built Together Shopping Days.” This will be an integrated campaign and call to action to shop locally and give the gift of Oregon this holiday season.

What’s Built Together Shopping Days?

• Daily company and founder highlights to drive more direct sales and support.
• Support for Pop Ups + Other Markets that are supporting local companies.
• A week before Black Friday with the message that the holiday shopping blitz should not be focused simply on deals. Support buying local by purchasing things at full price so that instead of aiming to get 10 things at 60% off, be mindful, and maybe look to get 4–5 gifts at full price in order to create the most impact.
• Promote setting a percentage of your purchases to not only be local, but companies and products you’ve never bought from in the past. Maybe set a goal of 20% of gifts bought will be from a company you’ve never purchased from in the past. Broaden the reach and share a more diverse group of Oregon companies with friends and family.
• Buy gift cards to the Marketplace to share as gifts or for corporate and employee giving so others can shop a collection of amazing companies and products.

We are also working to make it as easy as possible to join the Marketplace. There is no cost to be on it. As a product company you can sign up here , review onboarding documentation here, and peruse a fact sheet here.

While we know there is a need to support companies more than ever at this time — and the holidays are always a time to push and support buying local — we are also very aware that this is just the first iteration of what promises to be an ever changing and evolving platform. Built Oregon and the Built Marketplace will be there to support our state’s founders, post holidays, post COVID, and beyond in the following ways:

• Trade: The Marketplace will be a place to learn about product companies from across the state. And while the term “traded sector” tends to lean into how to access markets outside of Oregon, we also see the Marketplace long term being a place where trade can happen within the state by bringing awareness to new companies and bridging opportunities to wholesale channels.
• Collaboration: From the outset, we have known this idea will not be successful if it does not openly encourage collaboration. There are so many amazing organizations, people, and groups who tirelessly support product companies and founders day in and day out. We know that we will need to work together with them in order to create true and lasting impact.
• Awareness and Discovery: We, just like a lot of other people in Oregon, support local companies on an ongoing basis. But like many others, we sometimes tend to
• Community: We’ve realized that the more advanced we seem to get with technology, the further away from the community we tend to feel. Our goal is to work hard over time to use this Marketplace as a hub for the consumer product community as well, even if it’s a small role.
• Storytelling with Commerce: We have always been passionate about the human aspect of entrepreneurship. So we will continue to share the stories behind the products and the communities these founders live in.

But in the end, we realize that this is just the beginning. We are an open book and look forward to any and all ideas around how this platform can be used to help statewide companies. As with everything we do, we will first and foremost listen to the companies and community leaders who have been working with us to ramp up the Built Marketplace and we will continue to improve and evolve as we go.

Together.