Podcasts in Seattle
Shows
Dan Levitan
Co-founder of Maveron, Dan Levitan, discusses his extensive careers in both investment banking and venture capital. At age 40, Dan pivoted his career by uprooting his life in New York City, moving to Seattle, and starting Maveron with former Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz. Through his venture capital firm, Dan is focused on helping build and monetize consumer brands. Some of the companies in his portfolio include Zulily, Potbelly, eBay, and Allbirds. In this episode, Dan shares his love for Duke University, what influenced his decision to quit his successful career and move across the country, and his appreciation for his…
DDan Levitan
Heather Redman
Heather Redman, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Flying Fish Ventures, shares her expertise on early stage startups and investing. Heather admittedly has been affected by imposter syndrome and is inherently an introvert. She reflects on growing up in communes, how her childhood has influenced her to be an out of the box thinker, and her experience attending Reed College and Stanford Law School. Heather has incredible insight on being a VC, advice for entrepreneurs, and thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence and machine learning. In addition to being busy with Flying Fish Ventures, she stays busy as an active…
HHeather Redman
Dan Shapiro
Four-time Founder, CEO and investor, Dan Shapiro, shares the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey thus far. Though he humbly attributes much of his success to privilege, Dan has worked hard, taken risks and followed an unconventional career path that has led him to become a board game inventor, author and record holder for the most backed 30-day crowdfunding campaign. Today, Dan is focused on building Glowforge, the iconic 3D laser printer company founded in 2014. The idea originated while he was creating Robot Turtles, the board game that teaches programming to kids. Now, his company is nearing 100…
DDan Shapiro
Secret Startup Ingredient: Microsoft
Would you have guessed that nearly 25 percent of the Seattle region's top tech startups are led by CEOs with backgrounds at Microsoft? That was the surprising result of our analysis of the GeekWire 200, our index of the top privately held tech companies in the Pacific Northwest. And fundings for the region's startups bucked the national trend, as reflected in data from our new startup deal tracker. Nintendo unveiled a new iteration of its Switch game console; former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pulled off what might be his greatest deal ever; and an Amazon employee showed the potential of…
TTodd Bishop
TTaylor Soper
Sharelle Klaus
Sharelle Klaus founded DRY Soda Co. in 2005 from her kitchen, noting she’s had an entrepreneurial curiosity from the time she was little. While nursing her fourth child, she was frustrated that there wasn’t a sophisticated non-alcoholic beverage that wasn’t overly sweet or made with artificial flavors, so she decided to create her own. DRY is now in over 9,000 stores and is one of the fastest-growing natural sparking beverage brands in the nation. In addition to her speaking about her experience as a female entrepreneur, Sharelle shares her belief that women should be able to go on and off…
Andy Liu
Andy Liu, Partner at Unlock Venture Partners, knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur from a young age. Andy started two companies with his Co-Founder David Niu, who he met while getting his MBA at Wharton. Always intrigued by angel investing, Andy decided to dip his toes in after both NetConversions and BuddyTV.com had successful exits. Today, Andy is an investor in nearly 100 companies. He started his current venture capital firm, Unlock Venture Partners, in late 2017, which focuses on early-stage technology investments in Seattle and Los Angeles. Andy shares helpful tips for entrepreneurs including what to consider when…
AAndy Liu
Rahul Sood
Rahul Sood started his first company when he was just 17 years old. VoodooPC went on to sell to HP in 2006, where he spent four years as their CTO. Rahul then spent a few years at Microsoft, where he says he “learned everything and got a crash course in how the best leaders are created.” In 2014, he started his current company, Unikrn, an esports betting and news company that’s backed by big names like Ashton Kutcher, Mark Cuban, Elisabeth Murdoch, Shari Redstone and many others. Unikrn has received over 10 million in funding and is on the front…
RRahul Sood
Slack CTO Cal Henderson
Workplace chat and collaboration technology company Slack is going public on Thursday, with implications for a wide variety of companies in the Seattle region and beyond. Microsoft is Slack’s primary competitor with its Teams service, and Slack is a big Amazon Web Services customer. And many companies that sell technologies to businesses will be watching Slack’s stock market debut closely to assess their own potential in the public markets. So how does Slack work behind the scenes? On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we’re featuring a conversation with a co-founder of Slack, Cal Henderson, the company’s chief technology officer…
TTodd Bishop
CCal Henderson
Liz Pearce
Liz Pearce and her daughter Lila join us for this episode of What Fuels You. Liz’s resume boasts impressive companies like Sony, Google, and Amazon, COO and CEO of LiquidPlanner, and even her own consulting company. Most recently, Liz was the Chief Revenue Officer at Streem. Since this recording, Liz has left Streem to start her new company, Fresh Chalk, which helps you find “local professionals with a little help from your friends.” Liz is a self-proclaimed “productivity nerd” and shares some of her hacks that will help transform your schedule. She also discusses her involvement as a mentor to…
LLiz Pearce
Inside the IPO: Adaptive Biotech
Chad Robins is a Cornell grad and Wharton School MBA who was working in real estate finance a decade ago when he was approached with a business idea by his brother, Harlan Robins, head of the Computational Biology Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. As Chad Robins recalled, "When he called me up in 2009 and said, 'Hey I want to start a business, I've figured out how to sequence T-cells at a high throughput,' I was like, 'Yes, I'm in!' and then I went to Wikipedia and I'm like, 'What the hell is he talking about?' I…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
JJames Thorne
Leslie Feinzaig
About two years ago, Leslie Feinzaig founded Female Founders Alliance (FFA) after a frustrating experience in the pitching circuit with her own startup, Venture Kits. What started out as a Facebook group for a few female CEOs has grown into a large online network with hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals in just two years. Last year, FFA launched a startup accelerator consciously designed for women and non-binary founders seeking their first round of venture financing. After a runaway success with its first cohort, applications for the 2019 Ready Set Raise program are now open! Leslie is focused on…
LLeslie Feinzaig
Matt Oppenheimer
The consistent theme in Matt Oppenheimer’s life has been people and relationships. When asked what he was ‘into’ in high school, he shares how he started a non-profit called the Youth Lobbying Organization to give people under the age of 18 a voice in the political process. Matt went on to attend Dartmouth and Harvard Business School. During his time working in banking, he lived in London and in Kenya and realized how important remittances are for giving people in developing countries more opportunity. As a result, Matt started Remitly in 2011, which is now the largest private digital remittance…
MMatt Oppenheimer
GeekWire Awards Winners Revealed
The strength and success of the people and companies across the Pacific Northwest tech ecosystem was on full display Thursday night at the GeekWire Awards. GeekWire's Jonathan Sposato, John Cook and Todd Bishop share highlights and clips from the night on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast. More highlights here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
JJonathan Sposato
JJesse Warren
Robbie Cape
If you asked anyone who grew up with Robbie Cape in Montreal, they would all say they knew he was going to run his own business someday. He was constantly learning as a child from the family business and from his parents, who believed he should grow up understanding the value of a single dollar. In 2014, Robbie sold his first company, Cozi, and now is building his second company, 98point6, which is revolutionizing primary care and making healthcare more affordable and accessible to everyone. Robbie shares how he always starts with the ‘who’ before the ‘what’ when building businesses…
RRobbie Cape
IPOs without profits
What do Pinterest, Lyft, Uber and Slack have in common? Yes, they're all newly public or about to make their initial public offerings. But they also share a common characteristic on the bottom line -- proceeding with their IPOs with lots of revenue and growth but, so far at least, without the consistent profits to show for it. And they're part of a trend. Eighty-three percent of IPOs in the first three quarters of 2018 were made by companies that hadn't posted profits in the prior 12 months. So what's the future of these companies? On this episode of the…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
BBen Gilbert
Why Arivale failed
Founded in 2015, Seattle startup Arivale aspired to pioneer a new sector called scientific wellness, combining genetic testing with personal coaching to improve the health of its members. Its founder, genomics legend Lee Hood, said the company "really stands a chance of being the Google or Microsoft of this whole arena." But four years later, Arivale abruptly closed its doors this week. We explain what happened with special guest, GeekWire chief business officer Daniel Rossi, an Arivale member whose experience in the program was chronicled in our 2017 series. Plus, Microsoft breaks the trillion-dollar mark, Bill Gates serves as a…
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
DDaniel Rossi
Nicole Maddox
Nicole Maddox shares her knowledge and expertise on scaling a startup on the What Fuels You podcast. Nicole stumbled into tech recruiting with her engineering background post-graduation, and since then has recruited for a range of companies. Most notably, Nicole was the Head of Talent Acquisition at high-growth startup, Convoy, until recently starting her own business to consult companies on all things hiring. This conversation has powerful insights for everyone from startup CEOs to candidates wanting to understand how to value stock. In this episode, Nicole and Shauna share an open dialogue on strategy for the first key hires, how…
NNicole Maddox
Unicorns, IPOs and the next tech giants
Seattle has a new unicorn, Outreach, the sales and marketing automation company that raised a $114 million funding round this week, pushing its valuation to $1.1 billion. The news sends John and Todd on a startup odyssey, exploring the hidden connections among the new wave of public companies and tech behemoths in Silicon Valley and Seattle, including Uber, Lyft, Convoy and others. Plus, Amazon and Microsoft are preparing to challenge Apple's AirPods,. And on the Random Channel, Melinda Gates has a message for the tech industry, and John is determined to be a "Never Throner." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
Kabir Shahani
Kabir Shahani, rightfully so, was recently recognized as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs. As a child, he got to travel the world playing violin and began attending summer college classes when he was only in sixth grade. Kabir co-founded his first company, Appature, at the age of 24 and successfully sold it in 2013. He is now the Co-founder and CEO of Amperity, which has received $37 million in funding in just three years. Kabir discusses Amperity’s values, how they hire, and the important role philanthropy plays in the company and his life. You’ll also…
Fran Dunaway
Fran Dunaway, Co-founder and CEO of TomboyX, is an incredible advocate for women and the LGBTQ community. She was raised in a military family from the deep south, and has had many unique pivots in her career. Fran started TomboyX as a clothing company with her wife, Naomi, in 2013. They quickly found success and transformed solely into an underwear company based off of feedback from their customers. In just a few years, they’ve received $6.3 million in funding and have an incredible presence on social media. Fran and her wife are making an astounding impact on their mission to…
Brent Frei
Brent Frei credits his success to hard work and dedication, which he learned from his parents and from growing up on his family’s farm in Idaho. Though he never felt the need to be in charge, his desire to be in an environment where everyone is sinking or swimming on their own merit, including himself, led him to become the founder of three companies. Brent’s first, Onyx, IPOed in 1999, and his second, Smartsheet, IPOed in 2018. Brent reflects on the early days at Smartsheet, including the time they were almost out of money and the business model they bet…
BBrent Frei
GeekWire Awards preview; brave Amazon employee quizzes Bezos
We're preparing for the GeekWire Awards, our annual event recognizing the best in Pacific Northwest tech and innovation, and on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast we provide an update on past Startup of the Year winners and preview this year's contest. Find out more, submit nominations, and buy tickets at geekwire.com/awards. Plus, a brave Amazon employee asks Jeff Bezos if his tumultuous personal life is distracting from his work, and Peter Sagal of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me offers his input on getting less input in our lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
TTodd Bishop
JJohn Cook
Ambika Singh
Ambika Singh is the Founder and CEO of Armoire, a high-end clothing rental service that’s evolving the way women shop and dress. The idea was born during her time getting an MBA at MIT and the company launched in 2016 after she spent time at impressive companies like Microsoft, The Boston Consulting Group and Rover. Ambika shares her thoughts on mentors, molding your definition of success as you progress in your career and the importance of family. She’s been recognized on the 40 Under 40 List and is extraordinarily humble and relatable. Listen to her discuss what it’s like to…
AAmbika Singh
Greg Gottesman
Greg Gottesman, a major influencer in the Seattle startup community, sits down and shares his knowledge about entrepreneurship, his passion for the early stage of building companies, and the story behind what sparked the idea for Rover, where Greg is a co-founder. Greg serves as a Managing Director and co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs, both its studio and fund. He was a partner of Madrona Venture Group for 20 years and founder of Madrona Venture Labs. In this episode, he also discusses the entrepreneurship class he teaches at the University of Washington, what he looks for in entrepreneurs’ pitches, and…
GGreg Gottesman
