"Welcome to The Shire" - Snaktak ORIGINS part 2

Shortly after moving to Eugene, I discovered exactly why it's called "The Silicon Shire."

The tech community here, even in a medium-sized town like Eugene, is thriving.

There are lots of startup-focused organizations and accelerators, such as RAIN, whose sole purpose is to help build up the tech community.

About two weeks after I moved in, there was an event called Barcamp, where I led a largely impromptu talk about the proper role of technology in politics. It was a lot of fun, and I connected instantly with the weirdos and techies of Lane county.

But the ethos here is so different from what I left behind in Silicon Valley. The responses and ideas that people chimed in with during my talk were all about preserving humanity and using tech as a tool for social justice.

In Silicon Valley it's easy to get bogged down in the Uber mindset of profit at all costs. These northwest people seemed genuinely interested in transforming tech into a tool for good in society.

Now, it might seem weird to be talking about all of this tech stuff when we're a snack food company.

Any modern company needs to understand technology and how to properly use it, though.

I connected very quickly with the tech community here, and made a lot of friends.

The next big event after Barcamp was called Startup Weekend, and everyone wss telling me I should sign up and take part.

So I went online, bought my ticket, and started preparing for what would be a pivotal weekend for Snaktak.