The Problem
Portland's local businesses are invisible.
Not because they aren't great. Because the tools built to help them were built for corporations, not communities.
Pay-to-play platforms extract value
Google, Yelp, and paid ads drain money from small businesses and send it to Silicon Valley. Nothing stays in Portland. Nothing builds community.
Directories list. They don't connect.
Traditional directories publish your name and phone number and call it done. No neighborhood context, no events, no community — just data points in a database.
Neighborhoods lose their identity
When local businesses can't be found, the chains move in. Alberta Art District, Mississippi Ave, Hawthorne — Portland's neighborhoods are their local businesses. We intend to keep them that way.
Our Mission
Make Portland's best businesses easier to find than the chains.
We exist to ensure that the neighborhood coffee shop, the family-owned auto shop, the queer bookstore — the businesses that make Portland, Portland — are always front and center.
The Impact
What happens when we get the support we need.
The directory is already live. The mission is already moving. But with full community backing, here's what becomes possible.
Neighborhoods Stay Local
Visibility keeps local businesses competitive against chains. Every member business that gets discovered instead of bypassed is a vote for neighborhood character over corporate homogeneity. Portland's identity lives in its blocks — we intend to protect them.
Events Grow Into Institutions
Enough support means we co-produce neighborhood events, not just list them. Markets, art walks, and block parties — planned, promoted, and tied to the businesses in each hood. Foot traffic for the businesses in each block, not for a national feed.
Local Media That Serves Portland
The newsletter becomes a real editorial voice — business spotlights, neighborhood deep-dives, small business owner profiles. Portland has always had a fierce independent streak. We give it a community-owned platform.
A Business Support Network
Members share customers, co-market together, and build genuine business relationships. The coffee shop and the bookstore two blocks apart aren't competing — they're feeding each other. PDX.Directory becomes the connective tissue between them.
Money That Stays in Portland
Membership fees don't leave the region. They fund local operations, pay Portland-based staff, sponsor neighborhood events, and support the very community that pays them. Circular local economy — not extraction.
Data That Empowers, Not Exploits
View counts, call clicks, direction requests — member businesses see real engagement data for their listing. The analytics belong to the business owner. Insights that help operators improve and grow.
Your Investment
How membership works.
Every tier is both a benefit to your business and a contribution to the community it serves.
Community Member
$500 / YEARYour membership funds the directory, sponsors events, and powers the community infrastructure. In return, you get priority placement in your neighborhood, a verified badge, analytics, newsletter features, and a seat at the table as we grow.
Neighborhood Sponsor
$1,000 / SLOT / YRMembers who want to invest more in Portland can add sponsorship slots — each slot deepens your community influence and increases your visibility across the directory. Sponsor slots are the upgrade path for businesses that want to be the face of their neighborhood.
Founding rates locked at signup forever · Annual billing · No long-term contracts
Who We Are
Portland people, Portland mission.
PDX.Directory is built and operated by 1vsM — a Portland-rooted digital network that believes the internet should serve communities, not extract from them. We've been building local digital infrastructure for years. This is the piece we always believed was missing.
We don't have investors to answer to. We have Portland to answer to. Every decision about this directory — what to build, what to charge, how to run it — is made with the question: "Does this serve Portland?"
FAQ
