April 20, 2015 The Honorable Charlie Hales, Mayor 1221 SW Fourth Ave Portland, OR 97204 Dear Mayor Hales and Members of the City Council: Portland is an innovative, progressive and forward-thinking city. An independent, entrepreneurial spirit infuses our economy and a sense of civic engagement energizes our community. We write you today to ask that the city finish the great work that it has started and allow Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) to operate in our great city. According to research by CTIA-The Wireless Association, Oregon has the fourth highest proportion of app development jobs in the entire country - primarily driven by Portland. Yet, we are the last major city in the West where app-based rideshare platforms like Uber and Lyft are unable to operate. As a city that prides itself on progressive policy and innovation, this is disconcerting.

Its time to bring Portlands for-hire transportation code into the 21st century by creating the framework for TNCs to operate.

Adding another option to our existing transportation infrastructure is a good thing: It means our customers have another means to access our businesses besides driving themselves, paying high rates to park, hailing cabs, and walking long distances to their destinations. Our business colleagues - as well as many of us when we travel to other large cities - enjoy riding with Uber, Lyft, and others around the world.

Portlands embrace of innovation has allowed us to recruit some of the best and brightest minds from around the world. As Portlands tech-hub reputation continues to grow, the investments in our city are spurring economic activity across all other sectors - allowing restaurants, shops, and many other businesses to grow. TNCs are the safest for-hire model around. They promote safety by ingraining real-time accountability into their technology like never before. Their successful track record in dozens of other cities is evidence of that, which is why theyve earned such a loyal following. Uber conducts extensive criminal background checks on each new driver before theyre allowed on the system, and every customer is given the opportunity to provide immediate, anonymous feedback on the quality of their driver. This goes beyond what Portland requires. Additionally, Uber has volunteered to offer wheelchair accessible services through their platform-- partnering with First Transit to start-- so that all Portlanders have access to rides. We urge city leaders to open up the city to continued growth and innovation. Move our city forward and adopt the framework that brings these opportunities to riders here in Portland.

Sincerely, Dylan Boyd Director, R/GA Ventures Eric Rosenfeld Co-Founder, Manager, Oregon Angel Fund Mike Golub President of Business Operations at Portland Timbers Joe Stump Angel Investor/Advisor Angela Jackson Managing Director, Portland Seed Fund Joshua Reich CEO, Simple Ethan Smith-Gillespie Founder & President, The Program Tom O'Keefe President / CEO, AkLex Mat Ellis Co-Founder & CEO, Cloudability J.R. Storment Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer, Cloudability Tore C. Steen CEO, Co-Founder, CrowdStreet Wade T. Brooks Executive Director, Willamette University Angel Investment Fund Chris Teso Founder & CEO, Chirpify

Skip Newberry President, Technology Association of Oregon Kevin Hurst VP/GM eBay Portland Office Nitin Khanna CEO, MergerTech Lucas Carlson Chief Innovation Officer, CenturyLink Colin Nederkoorn CEO, Customer.io Lauren Goldstein VP, Strategy & Partnerships at Babcock & Jenkins Ryan Fink CEO, Founder at ONtheGO Platforms Genevieve Morganstern Co-Founder and CEO, Sadie Kent Lewis President and Founder, Anvil Media, Inc. Joshua Blank Co-Founder & Senior Vice President of Operations Ryan Hildebrand Co-founder of Seed.co Gino Zahnd CEO & Co-founder at Cozy Josh Friedman CEO, Incredible Corporation

Luke Kanies Founder & CEO, Puppet Labs, Inc. Jay Berberick Group Director, R/GA PDX Vidya Spandana Founder, Neppalli Strategy Rebecca M. Armstrong Principal and Managing Director at NORTH, Inc. Jim Fletcher Owner at opus creative Kathrine Giacchino Director, Rubicon International Jayson Bosteder Partner at Juliet Zulu Brandon Schoessler Founder / CEO Sportland Tea Company Jerry Ketel Creative Director, Leopold Ketel & Partners Dan Walsh Managing Director, Roundhouse Kelly Dachtler President & Co-founder, TheClymb.com Paul Wille President, Chief Performance Officer Swift, A POSSIBLE AGENCY

Liz Valentine CEO, Swift, A POSSIBLE AGENCY Sce Y. Pike CEO, President at IOTAS, Inc. Chief Experience Officer, Citizen Inc. Toby Barnes Product Strategy Director, AKQA PDX Diane Fraiman Partner, Voyagercapital.com Kyle Banuelos Founder, Stublisher George Huff CEO & Co-Founder, Opal Labs Inc Steve Giannini President & Co-founder at Opal Labs Inc James McDermott CEO, Lytics Brent Hieggelke Chief Mobile Evangelist, Urban Airship Lynn Le Founder, Society Nine Marcelino Alvarez CEO, Uncorked Studios Erik Onnen Co-founder, CTO at RipFog, Inc. Tom Turnbull Co-Founder, OpenSesame Justin Garrity President Postano / TigerLogic

Cc: Commissioner Nick Fish Commissioner Amanda Fritz Commissioner Steve Novick Commissioner Dan Saltzman