Comments on: What’s wrong with the Seattle start-up scene anyway?

By: Jeff Walker

Jeff Walker — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:04:54 +0000

This may be a long-dead conversation, but I just stumbled on it. I’m curious about Glenn’s comment about investing in UW. I actually agree, and it has been proven to feed the region’s economic engine. My big question is how do we help investors, or even philanthropists, see the benefits of them putting their money there? And besides the capital, what’s in it for the UW?

By: Joseph Huang

Joseph Huang — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:41:44 +0000

Thanks for the discussion. I moved from Silicon Valley to Intel Portland 5 years ago, and now work for Boeing. None of the companies I currently work for are considered small (no duh!) but I was immersed in the Silicon Valley culture. Google got started as an internal Stanford campus-wide search engine before it was released to the rest of the world.

I, too, wonder about the Seattle start up scene. Paul Brown in the comment above lists “biotech, ‘green’/clean tech, post-PC consumer devices with accompanying services, etc.” as areas that Seattle VCs can concentrate on. I haven’t been impressed with the biotech industry here in the Northwest, but I do think green/clean tech is a good avenue. As a society, we are thinking more and more about clean sources of energy in particular, and there are a lot of opportunities in the Northwest.

Consider the Columbia River and its hydro power. Or the research on capturing ocean waves in Portland. Solar World, a solar panel manufacturer, has its factory in Hillsboro, OR next to Intel. There are opportunities for patient VCs here to invest in energy, and to distinguish the group here from Silicon Valley.

By: Big Paper Blog (Classics) » Blog Archive » NorthWest Startup Links

Big Paper Blog (Classics) » Blog Archive » NorthWest Startup Links — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:39:06 +0000

[...] What’s Wrong With the Seattle Startup Scene? Angel Group Invests in 35 Companies Founder’s Co-op Likes 2 and 3 Person Teams In Praise of Dual-Class Stock Structures for Public Companies Venture Hacks: Advice & Intros for Entrepreneurs Struggling to Monetize Web 2.0 A Business Model Is Not A Revenue Model 54 Ways You Can Help the Homeless What Is An Entrepreneur, Anyway? The Importance of Angels In Creating a Biotech Startup SNL: Don’t Buy Stuff You Can’t Afford How to Become a Venture Capitalist 20 Worst Venture Capital Investments of All Time [...]

By: the carolynn blog » Blog Archive » Northwest Update

the carolynn blog » Blog Archive » Northwest Update — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:42 +0000

[...] What’s Wrong With the Seattle Startup Scene? [...]

By: Paul Brown

Paul Brown — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:29:32 +0000

I’m not sure I understand the value of being the Second Valley, playing Chicago to the Bay Area’s New York. Capitalizing on the same forces and targeting the same markets that built the Valley would require a time machine, so the question for entrepreneurs in Seattle is where we place our bets: biotech, “green”/clean tech, post-PC consumer devices with accompanying services, etc.

As for lack of funding or resources, it’s the entrepreneur’s raison d’etre to jump higher, dig deeper, and slice thinner. Get a job at some big company if you want it easy (and can stomach the politics).

By: Administrator

Administrator — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:58:22 +0000

Todd thanks for this and I would love to meet you to discuss. I agree we have Microsoft and Amazon but the valley had Sun, PayPal, Oracle, Google, YouTube, etc. etc. etc. For every Microsoft and Amazon produced in Seattle there are 10 such companies in California. Microsoft and Amazon seem to be the exception and not the rule. That said, I think you hit the nail on the head with number 1. Entrepreneurs lack the capital and resources they need. And isn’t this the core question? WHY does this phenomenon exist? How do we make capital and resources more prevalent than it is today?

By: Todd Dean

Todd Dean — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:30:22 +0000

I have many comments on the topic “what’s wrong with the Seattle start-up scene.” First I would like to address that the Northwest is one of the most active areas if not the most active area in the country for entrepreneurship and companies being funded currently. We (Keiretsu Forum) have a very clear view on what is going on locally, nationally, and internationally regarding start up companies. So let me address a couple of the questions above. 1) Entrepreneurs lack the resources and capital they need. 2) Entrepreneurs have more access to capital and resources due to the climate of the communities in for example Silicon Valley. 3) As for the comparison of Facebook and YouTubes we do have Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks to name a few. 4) We do have many education resources but in my opinion we still have a ways to go in the area. I’m happy to elaborate further if you should have a meeting, forum, or get together to collaborate and share our points of view??

Todd Dean
President Keiretsu Forum NW

By: Glenn Kelman

Glenn Kelman — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:01:08 +0000

Kelly, in my opinion, the most important change Seattle could make is to invest more in the University of Washington’s computer science department so that it competes with Champagne-Urbana and Irvine if not Stanford, MIT and Berkeley. Most entrepreneurs here have been imported from elsewhere by Microsoft and Amazon, and many are not technical founders. The entire investment thesis of, say, a Sequoia Capital (fund computer scientists under 35 attacking large markets), is more difficult to implement here as a result.

See:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/06/how_to_kick_sil.html

And of course! http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2008/02/the_next_silicon_valley.html