Mike Fridgen
Mike Fridgen is Venture Partner at Madrona, Founder and CEO at a stealth startup, Advisory Board Member for the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at University of Washington, and Chief Operating Officer at Rover. He previously served as Director of Interactive Marketing at Alaska Airlines, President & CEO at Decide, General Manager at eBay, Partnerships Manager at Expedia Group, and VP Marketing & Product at Farecast.com. He founded Decide.com and Farecast, both acquired, Madrona Venture Labs, TripHub, and his current stealth startup. His expertise is in consumer travel startups and building technology products in the travel industry.
Live show: Amazon, Meta and the fight over the future of AI; Plus, is Seattle still the place to build?
This week: Amazon is blocking Meta's new Muse AI assistant from shopping on Amazon.com, saying the agent doesn't identify itself and violates the site's conditions of use. We explain why the standoff is an early sign of a much bigger fight over whether AI agents can use websites and apps on people's behalf, and why Amazon has so much riding on the answer. For the definitive word on the issue, we ask Muse what it has to say for itself, and get an impressively sophisticated and evenhanded answer. We recorded this week's show live at Daniel's Broiler in downtown Seattle…
Seattle’s Madrona Venture Firm Absorbs Madrona Venture Labs After 10 Years, Following $770M Fundraise
Seattle’s Madrona venture firm has absorbed its startup studio Madrona Venture Labs after over 10 years of independent operation and 30 incubated startups. This restructuring aligns with Madrona’s recent $770 million fundraise to consolidate efforts under one organization amid Seattle’s growing startup ecosystem.
Otto Startup, Led by Expedia Veteran and Madrona Chairman, Raises $6M to Develop AI Assistant for Business Travel Booking
Seattle-based startup Otto, led by Expedia veteran Michael Gulmann and chaired by Steve Singh of Madrona Ventures, is developing an AI virtual assistant using GPT-4 to simplify business travel booking. The company raised $6 million in a seed round led by Madrona and aims to offer its product for free while earning revenue through booking facilitation.
Organizations
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Madrona Venture Partner 2025–present · current -
Stealth startup Founder and CEO 2025–present · current
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University of Washington Advisory Board Member for Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship 2014–present · current
Education
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Harvard Business School MBA · 2001–2003
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Foster School of Business Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies · 1993–1997
