Are you moving to Portland to found a startup or to look for a job? Your experiences would be very different depending on which one it is.<p>If you're looking for a job, going to tech events and networking meetups is great idea. If you're building a startup, all you need to do is go head down and work on a product/prototype, which you can do anywhere, at least until you get to the stage where you're actively fundraising.<p>Finding a cofounder will be a lot easier if you already have a prototype/early version to show that you're not just an "idea guy".
I didn't see taxes mentioned. Portland is a fantastic place for technology, but you're looking at very high taxation and the city government is rather anti-business. Great place to live, otherwise, though. Especially if episodes of Portlandia don't turn you off (because after 30 years, I can tell you that they're not far off from the truth).
Agree on the taxes and anit-business attitude of city/county govt (but then again, who elects these people?). Advice I heard once: Start the business in Oregon when profits are nil, move to Washington when you start making serious money as an individual.