We’ve been receiving comments about Rick Turoczy having a conflict of interest between his new job as general manager of PIE, and his work on Silicon Florist. Certainly, it seems reasonable that local startups who don’t participate in the new incubator would be nervous that they won’t still receive the same publicity and attention. On the other hand, Turoczy has never claimed that the Florist’s role was to be anything but a cheerleader, so his lack of interest in criticism may help keep things fair.

This concern also highlights the continued shortage of people stepping into leadership roles—how is it, four years after Silicon Florist started, that there still isn’t another news source for the local startup scene that comes anywhere near providing the same level of attention and discussion? Why isn’t PDX11 actively working to fix that? It’s a little hard to ask Turoczy to step down from his first project when we can’t point to anyone who might step up and replace him.

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