Our Founder’s Lunch for August was with Bill Lynch and Matt Tucker, co-founders of Jive Software. They met us at NedSpace to give an overview of starting the company back in 2001, how they’ve grown over the past 8 years, and some of the lessons learned about business management & entrepreneurship.

Afterward, we went out for an informal lunch where the Portland Ten crew asked questions and discussed their projects, and got some great feedback from Bill and Matt. The perspective of interacting with other founders who are further down the path in building a company, and been there, done that, was invaluable for the team.

We dropped by Jive’s new offices in downtown Portland– it’s helpful for young companies to hear the story of how things got started, and then see tangibly where the company has grown to– helps give a clear vision of something tangible to keep in mind, as they turn the idea into a reality, and grow from a 1-man band or a few founders on a team, to becoming a viable company.