Editor's Note: Rick Turoczy, publisher of the Silicon Florist blog, is covering the OEN Venture Northwest conference in Portland. Here's one of his reports from the front lines.

There's always something about gathering a room full of potential investors together to listen to pitches from promising young startups. Especially in this economy. And especially when it's a tech heavy event.

That's what's happening today in Portland, Oregon, during OEN Venture Northwest, the premier opportunity for Oregon companies to pitch potential investors. And a few Washington companies made the trip, too.

This year, the Venture Northwest theme was all about "mythbusting." What kind of myths?

Well, the myths that masquerade as deeply held truths around these parts. And those selfsame myths that keep a great number of us from pursuing our startup dreams. Myths like you can't grow a company here, it's impossible to raise VC, there are no major ventures in town, and no liquidity events.

And all of the entrepreneurs who took the stage seemed hellbent on busting all of those myths at once. At least, by way of their projections.

It wasn't all pitching, though. Attendees were treated to a who's who of Oregon entrepreneurs and investors---Gerry Langeler of OVP, Dave Moffenbeier of Zeba, and Jim Johnson of Tripwire---gave their insights on the current market and the challenges of startups. But enough about the pomp and circumstance.

Let's take a look at the companies who took the stage to pitch in the morning.

Wicked Quick

You know me, I don't tend to get too excited about the "non-tech" startups, let alone apparel companies. But there's something about Portland-based Wicked Quick that I like. In part, no doubt, because they're the only company that pitched in the morning who seemed to grasp the concept of social media. But that makes sense considering their demographic.

Currently a high-end t-shirt company with "really soft shirts," Wicked Quick focuses on speed, rebellion, and attitude. They're making both performance racing gear for NHRA types and consumer focused clothing that the Hollywood types seem to like. Wicked Quick is looking to broaden its offering with knit shirts and---wait for it---polo shirts. They've doubled their sales year over year. And they're working off of a $1.2 million Series A led by Oregon Angel Fund.

Giftango

It was interesting jumping from major brands and Hollywood stars to Portland-based Giftango, which didn't have the glitz and glam but they did have a solid model and some well-known local customers in their own right. But that's not downplaying it.

Remember, Giftango is no slouch. They're in the midst of filling out a first round. And they're already planning series B. And they're looking forward to exit by being acquired.

Giftango helps companies offer gift cards---or "stored value" in the parlance. But they're not handing physical cards. They're delivering those "cards" via SMS Like Portland-based Urban Airship, Giftango is an infrastructure play, providing the plumbing that allows this stuff to work---by helping folks get up and running quickly and easily.

Lucid Commerce

Seattle-based Lucid Commerce is using technology to help folks make better ad buys. They're helping folks know which channels to pursue to reach their audiences and, perhaps more importantly, understanding how much they should be paying for those ads. Is it effective? It would seem so.

They shared one story of a Lucid customer who was convinced to double their ad buy---and that resulted in a 400% increase in sales. That's pretty impressive. And no matter how bad the market for advertising gets, it's still going to be there. What's more, using it effectively could be the key to survival for many of today's companies.

Most impressive to me? Tyson Roberts spent a good chunk of time describing the people behind the company. And given you always hear, "we don't invest in companies, we invest in people" it will be interesting to see if that pays off. Finally, I don't know if they're awarding bonus points or extra credit, but if they are Lucid gets bonus points for the Snuggie reference.

Elemental Technologies

Portland-based Elemental Technologies---the company that's developing both software and hardware to help folks encode video for the Web more quickly and easily---kicked off the second group of pitches. Sam Blackman was very comfortable with the crowd. More like a keynote than a presenter.

Elemental has been around for awhile. And has pitched a number of these folks before. Successfully, at that. They have raised $7.1 million to date with about $5 million in cash in the bank. The talk tended to oscillate between highly technical talk littered with acronyms and practical applications of that technology. Personally, I found it incredibly interesting, but I couldn't get a good take on how the crowd.

Shorepower Technologies

Now, there's nothing that wins over a Portland crowd more than a technology company that's using its powers for green. So I was surprised that Portland-based Shorepower Technologies didn't get a little more fanfare. What are they doing? Well, they're dealing with those long-haul truckers you see parked on off-ramps, idling as they take their required breaks, and mucking up the environment with their exhaust.

You see, they keep the trucks running because they need power. So what if you gave them another source of power? That's where Shorepower sits. They provide stations that allow truckers to plugin and keep the truck powered up---without having to leave it idling.

But that's not all. While plugged in, they can tap into wifi and get cable television. All while saving a bunch of money on fuel and being kind to the environment. The station charges $1 per hour. And 90% of the truckers they surveyed said they'd be interested in using the service.

Prolifiq

Beaverton-based Prolifiq is all about getting sales teams and marketing teams on the same page. And making marketing materials accessible to sales types no matter where they are. Long story short, it gives marketing a place to put materials and sales a place to get them---with mobile devices.

Having worked in marketing for longer than I care to remember, I can honestly say that this seemingly simple problem is ridiculously hard to fix. And Prolifiq seems to have found a way to do it. It's a product that any number of companies could use. Don't believe me? Well what about Forbes? They selected Prolifiq as one of the most promising companies for 2009.

Conclusions:

While there is no "grand prize," there is a crowd favorite. So participants voted for participants by sending SMS messages.

Results were tabulated in real-time on the screen which brought about a few "oohs" and "ahs."

For round 1, Wicked Quick was the clear favorite. For round 2, Prolifiq squeaked ahead in a tight heat.

That's what happened, this morning. I'll be back to let you know about the afternoon. And to tell you who came away the crowd favorite.

If I had to put my money on anyone, right now, I'd have to say Wicked Quick.

Rick Turoczy is the publisher of Silicon Florist. Follow him on Twitter @turoczy. Guest posts are the opinions of their authors and don't necessarily reflect those of TechFlash or its staff. Have an idea for a guest post of your own? Tell us about it at techflashtips@bizjournals.com