Entrepreneurs Shine at 2025 Westside Pitch

The entrepreneurial spirit of Washington County was on full display at the Annual Westside Pitch Competition, held on May 8, 2025, at Hidden Creek Community Center in Hillsboro.

With more than 100 people in attendance, the event celebrated local innovation by spotlighting five early-stage entrepreneurs and showcasing the strength of the region's startup ecosystem.

Now in its fourth year, Westside Pitch offers Washington County entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their emerging business ventures.

This year's finalists were chosen by a Selection Committee and received personalized coaching from TiE Oregon - the host of the event.

During the event, each finalist pitched their business idea to a panel of local investors for a chance to win seed funding to help bring their unique product or service to market.

2025 Winners

Sez Us - Best Overall ($25,000)

Sez Us is a new pro-democracy social media platform built on a reputation engine prioritizing respectful communication in a bot-free environment, where consumers own their data, can eventually move seamlessly through platforms, and facilitate a new transparent, healthy reputation-based economic model for creators and advertisers.

Lac to Love - 1^st Runner Up ($5,000)

Hillsboro's own Lac to Love aims to empower mothers to breastfeed with confidence by addressing the challenges and lack of support many experience. Lac to Love delivers AI-powered breastfeeding support through a virtual lactation coach, seamlessly integrating licensed consultants and physicians to give new mothers the care they deserve-anytime, anywhere.

BLKBOOK - Audience Choice ($500)

BLKBOOK is a virtual speed networking platform optimized in real-time by AI to address the problem of time-consuming and ineffective professional networking and sales outreach. This solution allows users to uncover hidden career and business opportunities through 1-to-1 video chats with targeted prospects to instantly assess relevance and build stronger relationships faster.

Congratulations to the other 2025 Westside Pitch Finalists:

• Tortis Sportswear - this Hillsboro company provides women with the best swim, cycling, and run apparel all in one place. Tortis focuses on addressing the frustration female endurance athletes face when trying to find suitable gear, as the endurance sports industry has traditionally focused on men's needs, often overlooking women's shopping behaviors and specific apparel needs.
  
  
• Surgivance - is a medical technology company specializing in advanced surgical visualization and navigation solutions. Their flagship products use cutting-edge imaging and augmented reality technologies to help surgeons see critical anatomical details in real time during complex procedures.

Support for Entrepreneurs

The City supports the startup business community through coaching, mentoring, and connections to people, programs, and capital to help fuel their success.

The City provides services to scalable startup companies at the:

• Enterprise Level: Providing direct services to entrepreneurs and connecting them to specific people and programs based on their needs.
  
  
• Ecosystem Level: Helping to fill resource gaps in the region, including educational programming, the creation of seed/angel capital, and other infrastructure necessary to support the overall ecosystem.
  
  
• Strategic Level: Raising awareness about entrepreneurship and helping to coordinate resources among economic development groups, local governments, higher education, and industry.

Hillsboro residents can request entrepreneurial assistance free of charge! We will put you in touch with the right resources to grow your business. Visit our Support for Entrepreneurs webpage to get started.