2024 Bridges Accelerator
The 2024 Bridges Accelerator program included Chio, My Daddy’s Sauces, La Oveja Negra Salsa, Indigenize, Sao Noi, Mildres’s Sweet Treats, The Barreled Bee and Nour’s Pita Chips.
Our Accelerator Approach
We started Built Oregon with the simple vision – to make Oregon the leader in consumer product innovation and development. But becoming a leader requires laying the foundations of support, knowledge and resources upon which companies can engage. Built Oregon launched the country’s first not for profit (no cost + no equity taken) consumer product accelerator in June of 2019.
The accelerator is a collaboration with our sister organization, PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment). The program focuses on breaking down the startup mythology concept and working with founders to define how they envision success and connecting them to mentorship, resources, peer to peer connections, and mental health support to help them achieve it.
Cohort
Lee Hedgmon, a trailblazer in the world of honey alchemy, is the founder of The Barreled Bee, LLC, where she transforms honey into a liquid narrative of time and place. With a philosophy reminiscent of wine appreciation, Lee sees honey as a snapshot of a moment, a testament to terroir, capturing the essence of blooming flora and the journey of industrious bees. The inception of The Barreled Bee was inspired by a transformative moment: a taste of honey that had been artfully barrel-aged by a distillery. Intrigued by the potential marriage of different barrels and honey varietals, Lee embarked on a flavorful exploration that has since yielded an impressive array of artisanal honeys.
Born in the heart of the Columbia Gorge, Sao Noi quickly became a household name. Literally translating to “little girl” in Laotian, our founder, and mom, Marnie is the youngest of her eight siblings. Mom began making her chili oils from her little, cozy restaurant kitchen in Hood River. The exotic flavors in Sao Noi‘s chili oils reflect our Southeast Asian roots, evoking nostalgia for our family’s traditional Lao and Thai culinary recipes.
Our company was born out of a passion for delicious, flavorful salsas that could not be found in mainstream stores. We knew that we had a unique combination of southern and Mexican flavors that could create truly amazing salsas. With that in mind, we set out on a mission to create the best salsas in the market.
My Daddy’s Sauce was created to share good food and good flavor with as many people as we can. Everyone deserves to have enjoyable food, to experience restaurant-quality richness in their home meals, and that’s where we come in. You can add our sauce to a dish you’re already making, you can marinate meat or veggies in it before you cook them, or as part of a salad. You can dip food in the sauce or add it to a sandwich. The possibilities are endless, and will keep you coming back for more.
Born out of a food cart in Portland, Oregon, our Sweet Pistachio Cream was originally created as a dessert topping option for waffles and gourmet toasts found on the cart’s menu. Time and time again we watched in delight as our customers’ eyes lit up in astonishment upon taking their first bite. We felt honored to witness them taste something they’d never experienced before and declare it downright delicious! Like clockwork, the smiling faces would return for more and began requesting to purchase just the pistachio butter on its own.
Lee Hedgmon, a trailblazer in the world of honey alchemy, is the founder of The Barreled Bee, LLC, where she transforms honey into a liquid narrative of time and place. With a philosophy reminiscent of wine appreciation, Lee sees honey as a snapshot of a moment, a testament to terroir, capturing the essence of blooming flora and the journey of industrious bees. The inception of The Barreled Bee was inspired by a transformative moment: a taste of honey that had been artfully barrel-aged by a distillery. Intrigued by the potential marriage of different barrels and honey varietals, Lee embarked on a flavorful exploration that has since yielded an impressive array of artisanal honeys.
Born in the heart of the Columbia Gorge, Sao Noi quickly became a household name. Literally translating to “little girl” in Laotian, our founder, and mom, Marnie is the youngest of her eight siblings. Mom began making her chili oils from her little, cozy restaurant kitchen in Hood River. The exotic flavors in Sao Noi‘s chili oils reflect our Southeast Asian roots, evoking nostalgia for our family’s traditional Lao and Thai culinary recipes.
Our company was born out of a passion for delicious, flavorful salsas that could not be found in mainstream stores. We knew that we had a unique combination of southern and Mexican flavors that could create truly amazing salsas. With that in mind, we set out on a mission to create the best salsas in the market.
Roxanne
My purpose is to help as many people as I can. I’m on my journey to figure out the best way to do that. Portfolio | Craft Happens | LinkedIn