The Friction Gap
Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 12:00 PM PDT – 12:45 PM PDT
Metro Region Innovation Hub · 2130 SW 5th Ave, Portland, OR 97201, USA
Hosted by Portland Startup Week
The Friction Gap Why Good Values Aren't Enough (And What AI Can Do About It) We've spent decades making it effortless to buy. One click. Same-day delivery. Infinite scroll. The experience of acquiring something new is seamless, fast, and honestly kind of delightful. What hasn't kept pace is everything that comes after: knowing what we have, finding it, sharing it, feeling settled in it. That's the friction gap. When AI builds on top of existing systems, it can widen that gap. More personalization, more recommendations, more frictionless consumption… the problem compounds. But what if we flipped the focus? What if AI helped us get more out of what we already own…made it easier to share with neighbors, to feel satisfied rather than restless, to actually live according to the values most of us already hold? In this session we’ll share lessons from building a computer vision startup that is helping people get more out of what they already own. We’ll dig into: The friction gap: Why values-based behavior change fails (and what behavioral science tells us about the moment of decision) Avoiding manipulation: The ethics of persuasive AI. How do we nudge toward humane values without crossing into coercion? Business model tensions: When your success metric is "people bought less," how do you build a sustainable company? Speaker Background: Neha Neelwarne is COO of Siftr, an AI-powered platform using image recognition to help people manage what they own and reduce unnecessary consumption. She brings expertise in designing loyalty and gamification systems from her work with pro sports teams, where she built engagement programs that drove fan behavior and connection. Previously, she was in leadership at Airbnb and is co-owner of Samsara PDX yoga studio in Tigard. Neha works at the intersection of AI, behavioral science, and conscious consumption, helping people close the gap between their values and their actions.