Christian Chabot

Tableau Software CEO Christian Chabot bluntly told me in an interview seven years ago that his young 25-person software startup would be “the next billion-dollar company from Seattle.”

Bold words.

But fast forward to today, and Chabot is well on his way to fulfilling that promise. Tableau now employs more than 700 people worldwide who work on its visual analysis software, with bookings of $58 million during the first half of last year.

A rising star in Seattle’s tech community, we’re excited to announce today that Chabot will be the featured speaker at GeekWire’s first Meetup of 2013, taking place at the super cool HUB Seattle space in Pioneer Square on February 13th. Things will get rolling at 5:30 p.m. for some heavy-duty networking and snacks, followed by a 25-minute fireside chat with Chabot.

The February Meetup is the first in a slate of events that GeekWire has in store this year. In addition to the four Meetups, we’ll also be bringing back our must-attend signature events: The GeekWire Anniversary Bash & Ping Pong Tournament; GeekWire Seattle 2.0 Startup Awards; The GeekWire Summit; Startup Day; and the GeekWire Gala.

You can get VIP access to all of those events, along with plenty of other special perks, by signing up for our newly-launched Golden Geek annual membership program. (More details on that program here).

Meanwhile, we’re looking forward to catching up with Chabot to learn what’s new at Tableau in 2013, and maybe even ask him how he’s doing in terms of hitting that $1 billion valuation milestone. Tickets here:

We look forward to seeing everyone on February 13th. And a big thanks to our sponsors and community partners for our first Meetup of 2013: Microsoft User ResearchNorthwest Entrepreneur Network; and Startup Seattle.

Editor’s note: Tableau Software is an annual sponsor of GeekWire.

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