Podcasts in Seattle
Shows
From Microsoft Exit to Building the NFL Draft for AI Talent
Send us Fan Mail Serial entrepreneur Nikesh (Niki) Parekh joins us to share lessons from building Suplari, an AI-powered procurement intelligence company acquired by Microsoft in 2021, and his newest venture, Provn. Niki takes us behind the scenes of Suplari—from validating the idea with customers and finding product-market fit to scaling enterprise sales, navigating setbacks, and ultimately selling the company to Microsoft. He also shares what he would do differently and offers practical lessons for founders building enterprise software. We then explore Provn, which Niki describes as the “NFL Draft for AI talent.” Instead of relying on resumes, prestigious universities…
GGowri Shankar
SShirish Nadkarni
EEzhilarasan (Ez) Natarajan
Tushar Garg - Co-Founder and CEO of Flyhomes
Tushar Garg is the Co-Founder and CEO of Flyhomes, a next-generation residential real estate financial solutions company that empowers agents and loan officers with exclusive buy-before-you-sell solutions, enabling buyers to move before they sell with less stress and more certainty. He has led Flyhomes through multiple funding rounds to Series D, evolved the company from a D2C model to a B2B2C platform, and expanded into innovative financial products and nationwide wholesale lending. Prior to founding Flyhomes, Tushar held roles at Microsoft and McKinsey. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SShauna Swirland
TTushar Garg
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…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
EP12: Kirby Winfield - Founders first VC
## Key Points ### Keywords venture capital, investment strategies, AI technology, founder insights, decision-making frameworks, early stage investing, capital allocation, startup funding, Overland AI, Kirby Winfield ### Summary In this conversation, Martin Tobias interviews Kirby Winfield, a seasoned venture capitalist and founder, discussing his journey in venture capital, particularly focusing on his investment in Overland AI. Kirby shares insights into his decision-making frameworks, the importance of founder evaluation, and the evolution of his investment strategies over the years. He emphasizes the need for confidence in capital allocation and highlights common pitfalls that investors face in early-stage ventures. The discussion culminates…
KKirby Winfield
Prem Kumar - Co-Founder and CEO of Humanly
Prem Kumar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Humanly, a Bellevue-based hiring technology company built to fix something he saw up close: two people interviewing for the exact same job with the exact same panel getting treated completely differently. Before Humanly, Prem spent about a decade at Microsoft and led product and design at TinyPulse. Humanly went through Y Combinator and has raised roughly $52 million to date—most recently a $25 million Series B. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SShauna Swerland
PPrem Kumar
Francois Ajenstat - Founder and CEO of Golden Analytics
Francois Ajenstat is the Founder and CEO of Golden Analytics, an AI-native business intelligence platform. He launched the company from stealth in April 2026 after nearly three decades building other people's analytics products. He was CPO at Tableau from the early startup days through its IPO and Salesforce acquisition, then CPO at Amplitude. Now he's founder and CEO of Golden Analytics. Francois believes the best products are love letters to the people who use them. He's been in the industry long enough to know what's broken, and Golden is his answer. Visit https://www.goldenanalytics.com/ to learn more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
SShana Squarland
FFrancois Ajenstat
Foundation Models Go Vertical with leaders from Open AI, Mistral, Clarify and Oumi
In this episode of Shift AI, Manos, CEO of Umi, Patrick Thompson, CEO of Clarify, Brian Hall, CMO of Mistral AI, and Ben Gaffney, Deputy General Counsel at OpenAI, join host Boaz Ashkenazy for a live panel recorded at Seattle Tech Week on who actually owns intelligence in the enterprise AI era. One panelist argues that any enterprise still treating a frontier model as its core intelligence layer is renting something it should own, and predicts that in two years we'll look back at CTOs defending that approach the way we look back at driving a Ferrari to the grocery…
MManos Koutsoubelis
PPatrick Thompson
BBrian Hall
BBen Gaffney
Amazon's drones finally take off, inside Anduril's Seattle-area buildup, and an AirTag leads to a secret Amazon facility
This week: Amazon's Prime Air drones are finally going national, nearly 13 years after Jeff Bezos unveiled the idea on 60 Minutes. GeekWire's John Cook goes inside Anduril's unmarked Bellevue office as the defense company builds toward 1,000 Seattle-area engineers. Plus: a reporter hides an AirTag in a rare book and tracks it to a secret Amazon book-scanning facility in Las Vegas. With John Cook and Todd Bishop; edited by Curt Milton. Related stories and links Mentioned at the top Want to know what Jeff Bezos brings to Liverpool FC? Study Amazon's Leadership Principles Amazon drone delivery Amazon drone delivery…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
Ep6: Ihar Mahaniok - the Immigrant VC
Summary In this episode of The First Bet, Martin Tobias interviews Ihar Mahaniok, a seasoned investor and managing partner at Geek Ventures. Ihar shares his journey from coding in Belarus to investing in over a hundred startups, including notable successes like Instacart and Pandadoc. The conversation delves into Ihar's evolving decision frameworks, the importance of immigrant founders, and the unique challenges and opportunities in early-stage investing. Ihar emphasizes the significance of tenacity, the role of technical expertise, and the value of authentic connections in the startup ecosystem. Takeaways Investing in startups requires a strong decision framework that evolves over time…
IIhar Mahaniok
Bezos and Liverpool FC, a Meta vet's AI startup, Auger's Dallas move, and the demise of Microsoft's AI blob
This week: What should Liverpool FC fans expect from Jeff Bezos as a member of the storied club's new minority ownership group? We consult the Amazon leadership principles for the answer. Plus, a tip and an SEC filing lead to a scoop on a former Meta AI director's new startup, the GeekWire Editorial Board convenes to decide whether Dave Clark's Auger stays on the GeekWire 200 after moving its HQ to Dallas, and Microsoft quietly semi-retires its AI blob. Bezos and Liverpool FC Group including Jeff Bezos buys minority stake in Liverpool FC, with option to become controlling owner —…
Is AI a Bubble? What PitchBook's Head of Research Sees in the Data
Recorded live at Seattle Tech Week, this episode of Founded & Funded brings together two people who track the AI capital markets from different vantage points: Pitchbook EVP of Research & Market Intelligence Nizar Tarhuni, and Madrona Partner Sabrina Albert. These two dig into where AI venture capital is actually landing across the model, infrastructure, and application layers, why AI "harnesses" are becoming a winner-takes-most category, and where vertical AI applications may hold an edge that horizontal platforms can't match. They also cover PitchBook's VC Exit Predictor, the new normal for AI seed valuations, and the tranche-financing structures Nizar says…
SSabrina Albert
NNizar Tarhuni
Elon Musk's Starlink swagger, SpaceX vs. the cloud giants, and Seattle’s tech universe revisited
This week: SpaceX reports its first quarter as a public company, and Elon Musk says Starlink could deliver a majority of the world's internet within a decade, leveraging production facilities in Redmond. Musk also explains the company's data center ambitions, calling terrestrial infrastructure a trivial problem next to reusable rockets. Plus: we bring two Washington tech universe posters into the studio, 17 years apart. The 2009 original turns up gems including Boeing's unlikely connection to Classmates.com, a 1990s forerunner to Facebook. The 2009 poster also brings back memories of Teledesic, the Craig McCaw venture backed by Bill Gates that tried…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
Mike Kropp - Founder & CEO of Iridius
Mike Kropp is the Founder and CEO of Iridius, a Seattle-based company building compliance-ready AI infrastructure for highly regulated industries like pharma and biotech. A technology executive with over 25 years of leading engineering teams at Microsoft and AWS, Mike has played a crucial role in developing innovative products and expanding their global business adoption. Mike uses a collaborative, working backward approach to deliver products that help customers innovate and create high-impact solutions for their companies. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SShauna Swerlin
MMike Kropp
Amazon's next big business, Satya Nadella's DIY app, and a VC's rallying cry for Seattle tech
This week: Microsoft and Amazon both reported quarterly numbers, and both stocks rose on cloud results that beat expectations. Is AI spending is paying off in real business? And in related news, Microsoft sees a rare annual headcount decline, hitting product R&D hardest. Plus: Satya Nadella builds a Power BI dashboard out of an analyst's research report, and touts it on the earnings call to make a bigger point. Jeff Bezos names Amazon's chips business as the long-awaited fourth pillar. And AI House managing director Jacob Colker delivers a much-needed pep talk for Seattle tech, calling on the region to…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
What's going on with Seattle startup funding, a Kalshi setback, Impinj's long game, and a smartphone detox
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Seattle startup funding drops 40% in the first half of the year while AI money floods everywhere else. We dig into the numbers and the implications for the region. Plus: a Seattle judge deals Kalshi a setback, Impinj marks a decade on the Nasdaq after a 26-year climb, and nearly 40 Seattleites trade their smartphones for flip phones for five weeks. Related Stories Venture funding drops in Seattle area as AI boom reshapes startup world Helion raises $465M at $15.5B valuation as it aims to commercialize fusion UK data center startup Nscale bets big…
Why AI Made Your Buyers Harder to Sell To
After leaving a long sales career, David Rubenstein spent a year meeting more than 300 founders across 41 countries and turned what he heard into a framework for how companies sell now. In this episode of Founded & Funded, David sits down with Madrona's Anna Baird and Eric Wong to dig into why AI left buyers with more information and less clarity, why deals stall out of fear rather than disinterest, and how founders can cut through. The conversation covers selling against build-it-yourself AI objections, the return of in-person selling, and why the founder's own brand is more important to…
AAnna Baird
EEric Wong
DDavid Rubenstein
Kavian Mojabe - Founder and CEO of MediScan AI
Kavian Mojabe is the Founder and CEO of MediScan AI, the AI back office for independent medical evaluators. These are the licensed physicians whose opinions decide the outcome of workers' compensation, personal injury, and disability cases. MediScan's best-in-class record review engine does in minutes what used to take weeks, helping physicians optimize chart reviews to help patients faster and more effectively. Before MediScan, Kavian was a founding engineer at two startups acquired by Amazon and Adobe. But this one is personal—his father is an independent medical evaluator in Southern California, and Kavian grew up watching the toll the busy work…
SShauna Squirlund
KKavian Mojabe
TiE Seattle
TiE Global Award Ceremony 2026
𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗧𝗶𝗘 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 (𝗧𝗬𝗘) 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 The TYE Globals 2026 brought together some of the world's brightest high school entrepreneurs, showcasing innovation, creativity, and problem-solving on a global stage. 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟭–𝟭𝟯, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝟯𝟱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟮𝟳 𝗧𝗶𝗘 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘃𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲, 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 (𝗨𝗦𝗔) 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗞𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗞𝗦𝗨𝗠), 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮. For over 18 years, TYE has empowered students in Grades 9–12 to build startups through mentorship, hands-on learning, and real-world entrepreneurial experience. 𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘴 40+ 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘪𝘌 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴…
Microsoft's reset, a new era for Seattle startups, and how AI is changing everything for founders
On this week's show, we're out on the GeekWire deck for our annual founder open house, where we dig into Microsoft's latest round of layoffs — including a major Xbox shakeup — and the surprising rise of hardware companies on the GeekWire 200. Then we sit down with four guests to talk about how AI is reshaping how they build: Jana Schuster of StackIQ, whose AI-native platform helps companies find redundancy in their software spending — like Rocket Money, but for business — with a small team. Blake Resnick and David Benowitz of Brinc Drones, whose mechanical engineers are now…
Ian Wong - Co-Founder and CEO of Summation
Ian Wong is the Co-Founder and CEO of Summation, where he's building AI analysts for finance and operations teams. Ian previously co-founded Opendoor and served as CTO, and before that was the first data scientist at Square. His career has centered on one question: How can technologists use data and AI to create meaningful change in the real world? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SShauna Squirlund
IIan Wong
Fusion energy: Wishing upon a star in a jar — Introducing 'Positive Charge' from GeekWire
This week on the show, we're sharing the debut of Positive Charge, a new GeekWire podcast from reporter Lisa Stiffler and producer Laura Scott about the innovations that could help save the planet. In this episode, they dig into the high-stakes race to harness the power of the sun and make fusion energy real, visiting two Seattle-area startups chasing this dream, and asking whether limitless clean power is finally within reach. Also out this week: their debut episode on the "forever chemicals" in our water and the companies figuring out how to destroy them. Follow Positive Charge wherever you get…
LLisa Stiffler
LLaura Scott
TTodd Bishop
Investing in Mavericks with Jordan Baker, Athenaeum Ventures
Ed Barker sits down with Jordan Baker, founding general partner of Seattle's Athenaeum Ventures, whose path to running a fund looks nothing like the standard resume. He left home at 14, passed through three high schools, dropped out at 16, skipped college, and built a career across music, streaming, and gaming, most prominently the brand agency Moonrock, before raising his first fund. Baker argues that venture has drifted from its original job, backing insane people with insane ideas, into what he calls consensus capital, where investors crowd the same credentialed founders and price out everyone else. His edge, he says…
Following through in Cleveland: A GeekWire trip report, plus data center ‘theater’ and the SpaceX IPO
In February, Seattle angel investor Charles Fitzgerald warned the region not to become the next Cleveland, prompting Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to join the podcast and make the case for his city's comeback. This week we close the loop: Fitzgerald and GeekWire co-founder John Cook call in from an abandoned Westinghouse factory in Cleveland, where days of meeting entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine left them struck by a city hustling and aligned around jobs in ways Seattle no longer is. Back home, we dig into Seattle's unanimous one-year moratorium on new large data centers, which Fitzgerald calls…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
CCharles Fitzgerald
The Best Infrastructure Moment Since Cloud
Joe Beda and Craig McLuckie co-created Kubernetes, the infrastructure standard that became the default for cloud native computing. Now running Stacklok, they're watching enterprises hit the same identity, permissions, and security problems with AI agents that took the container ecosystem years to resolve, and they're building tools to compress that timeline. In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona's Tim Porter sits down with Joe and Craig to talk through what AI adoption actually requires: why MCP is the Docker moment for AI-native applications, how the LLM gateway is becoming a strategic chokepoint for cost, safety, and model flexibility, and…
TTim Porter
CCraig McLuckie
JJoe Beda
