START-UP CONUNDRUM.

Byline: Courtney Sherwood

Mar. 4--When a new software company is getting started in the greater Portland-Vancouver metro area, it has access to venture capital investors, a community of similar tech companies, and sometimes offers of free office space and high-speed Internet access.

But only if the company's owners decide to grow in Oregon.

Clark County does not offer the same opportunities.

While some help may be available from the Small Business Development Center and the Columbia River Economic Development Council, fledgling software businesses typically find less support here than their Oregon peers across the river, say their owners.

That's starting to change. The growing computer science program at Washington State University Vancouver spun off its first software startup earlier this year, and local businesses are eager to hire the university's interns and recent graduates to fill their staffing needs.

Still, the area's high-tech economic development efforts continue to place greater focus on the semiconductor …