It was hard to not feel totally inspired by the time Startup Day wrapped up this past Friday.
Whether it was the governor touting Washington as the most innovative place in the world, or Dave Cotter sharing his near-death experience that changed his perspective on life, it was an action-packed day at the Showbox SoDo filled with powerful entrepreneurial insight and advice from CEOs, founders and industry leaders.
First class all the way! #gwstartupday perfect ending to an amazing week. Thanks @johnhcook & @toddbishop & your A+ team!
— Sheri Renner (@SheriRenner) October 26, 2013
Thank you @toddbishop and @johnhcook for one of the most valuable days in a long time at #gwstartupday. You guys crushed it.
— Bill Hankes (@bhankes) October 26, 2013
Insanely high standards, obsessively driven and amazing humility (with supportive family/spouse). Great themes at #gwstartupday
— Michele Mehl (@michelecmehl) October 25, 2013
In case you missed Startup Day — or the awesome Battle of the Geek Bands afterparty — we’ve got you covered here in the form of photos and tweets. We’ll also have videos of each talk coming on GeekWire later this week, so check back for that.
Also wanted to thank the 15 startups who participated in our new Startup Demo Zone, where companies had a chance to receive in-person feedback and conduct one-on-one presentations with event attendees throughout the event. Three startups were selected to pitch on-stage to our VC panel, who picked Atom Orbit as the winner.
Another congrats to AMPTAB for winning People’s Choice Award, given to the startup that accumulated the most “9Mile Bucks.” Each Startup Day attendee gave their “9Mile Buck” to the company they liked the most. AMPTAB walked away with two free tickets to our GeekWire Gala on Dec. 4.
A big thanks to our sponsors for helping to make Startup Day and the Battle of the Geek Bands after party possible: Wave Business Solutions, Moz, Knoll, Double Down Interactive, the Museum of History and Industry, Avalara, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Budweiser, Amazon Web Services, Hughes Media Law Group, Perkins Coie, Car2Go, Cobalt, 9Mile Labs, Ticketmaster and TechStars (which held its Demo Day the day before).
Also wanted to give a shout-out to our friend Eugene Hsu for snapping some of these shots. And of course, thanks to everyone for coming out and joining us Friday.
9 A.M. — Opening remarks from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee helped get the day started by talking about the importance of the region’s entrepreneurial work. He called Washington “the center of innovation,” and said that the state leads the world in innovative output as a ratio of investment and resources.
He coined this vale as “Innovation Per Dollar,” or IPD.
“I believe we lead the world in IPD right here in the state of Washington,” Inslee said. “It’s throughout our geekdom — it’s in aerospace, in energy, in transportation, in software, in the gaming industry.”
Governor @JayInslee is kicking off #gwstartupday with a plea to innovate in both the carbon and silicon space, great speech, solid points.
— Kevin Jonson (@kevinjonson) October 25, 2013
https://twitter.com/ksearsbooks/status/393775072034295808
"It's not the weak who will inherit the Earth, it's the #geek!" @GovInslee #gwstartupday
— Hakon Verespej (@HVerespej) October 25, 2013
Nice! @GovInslee shout-out for @simplymeasured @HasOffers @socrata @zulily at #gwstartupday
— Chris DeVore (@crashdev) October 25, 2013
9:25 A.M. — T.A. McCann on “Starting, Funding, Killing and Selling: The hard decisions that make a startup”
Next up was T.A. McCann, founder of successful startups such as RivalIQ and Gist, offering up some great big picture startup advice.
T.A. McCann gives advices at #gwstartupday. 1. Keep day job as much as possible. 2. Date cofounder for a long time.
— Ping Wang (@wangping25) October 25, 2013
Love @tamccann story on "Moments of truth, recommitment to the vision" – reframe what success is! #gwstartupday
— thinkspace (@thinkspace) October 25, 2013
@tamccann: It's likely your #startup will die. It's what you do with that failure that matters. #gwstartupday
— Tolis Dimopoulos (@TolisDimopoulos) October 25, 2013
Great @TAMcCann #GWstartupday quote on when things don't work: "It's what you do with all that failure..that will define you in the future"
— Frank Catalano (@FrankCatalano) October 25, 2013
9:50 A.M. — Vanessa Fox on “How To Avoid Being Eaten By a Bear: Vital Entrepreneurial Skills That You Can Learn Anywhere”
Fox, Chief Product Officer at RKG and founder of Nine By Blue, had the crowd chuckling after recounting the time she was followed by a bear. She tied that into the startup life and risk-taking, offering up insight from her own experiences.
Vanessa Fox, Founder of Nine by Blue shares how bear encounters are like starting a startup. True story. #gwstartupday
— Kim V (@kimmilyn) October 25, 2013
"When you're on fire it's really hard to make strategic decisions, because… you're on fire" – @vanessafox #gwstartupday
— Kevin Jonson (@kevinjonson) October 25, 2013
Every time you say yes to something, you are also saying no to something else. – @vanessafox Yes, time is a zero sum game. #gwstartupday
— Mark Briggs (@markbriggs) October 25, 2013
10:15 A.M. — Dawn Lepore on “How to Pick Your Board of Directors and Advisors”
Next up on stage was Dawn Lepore, former drugstore.com CEO and board member at AOL and RealNetworks who previously served on boards at eBay, Walmart and The New York Times. Lepore spoke about her experiences dealing with a Board of Directors, sharing her thoughts on what qualities make a good board member.
@DawnLepore Board should comprise the right people and right skills–it can be extension of, and mentor to, the exec team. #gwstartupday
— John Graham (@SynchronyLaw) October 25, 2013
.@dawnlepore talking about what makes a great board member. #gwstartupday 1. emotionally connected; 2. aligned on values. 3. courageous
— Amanda Hoffman (@hoffmandy) October 25, 2013
Great board members are "confident enough to not talk." Important advice from @DawnLepore via Rob Walton. #gwstartupday
— Greg Gottesman (@greggottesman) October 25, 2013
Startups: Be utterly honest and transparent with your board. More great advise from @DawnLepore at #Geekwire #StartupDay
— Bob Crimmins (@bcrimmins) October 25, 2013
11:10 A.M. — Rand Fishkin “The Pitfalls of Team Building: Painful lessons learned from hiring, firing, and losing people”
After a quick break, Moz CEO Rand Fishkin talked about perhaps the most important quality of startups: culture. Fishkin explained why Moz’s referral program ended up backfiring and spoke about the secrets to building a great team.
Recruiting gimmicks backfire, focus on finding people who are there for the right reasons via @randfish at #gwstartupday
— Greg Gottesman (@greggottesman) October 25, 2013
The values you use to prioritize when things are hard – that's what culture really is – @randfish #gwstartupday
— Emily Rapp (@emilyfrapp) October 25, 2013
"Startups just hate change a little less than most" – @randfish @Moz #gwstartupday
— WTIA (@WTIA) October 25, 2013
The best presentation I've seen on company culture by @randfish of @Moz #gwstartupday http://t.co/hx7TzMt1Cw
— Brian Adams ? (@adamsbj) October 25, 2013
11:35 A.M. — Dave Cotter on “Work-life Balance of a Startup Dad”
Cotter, co-founder and CEO of SquareHub and former GM at Amazon.com, changed up the pace by ditching his slides and notes, simply sitting on a barstool to share a very personal story. Cotter had built and sold a company, but at the same time, he felt alone and “out of whack.”
Dave Cotter talks work-life-balance at Geekwire Startup Day. The tech startup is "like a constant dose of dopamine." #GWStartupday
— Eric Wilkinson (@EricWilkinson) October 25, 2013
Create list of 15 people who really matter & why, why are you important to them. Reflect on it. YOU should be on it. #gwstartupday #selfcare
— Kim V (@kimmilyn) October 25, 2013
There's one more exit that will always exist. When you leave the earth. That matters. It can take losing vision to really see. #gwstartupday
— Emily Rapp (@emilyfrapp) October 25, 2013
Dave Cotter of @squarehub at #gwstartupday talking on stage about stuff most of us don't even have the guts to in private.
— Remote Insight (@RemoteInsight) October 25, 2013
1 p.m. — Elevator pitch session and VC Panel
After a quick lunch break, the afternoon session kicked off with an elevator pitch session featuring three up-and-coming startups. Our panel, made up local venture capitalists Frank Artale, Greg Gottesman, Rudy Gadre and Geoff Entress, decided that Atom Orbit was most impressive.
GeekWire’s John Cook then took the mic for a great Q&A with the VCs.
Hats off to VC panel 4 sharing time, expertise with #gwstartupday @greggottesman @geoffentress @frankartale @rudygadre
— Smartsheet (@Smartsheet) October 25, 2013
Fundraising entrepreneurs: worry about dilution is misguided. Worry about control is very important. #gwstartupday
— Berit Anderson (@berit_anderson) October 25, 2013
Next emerging trends? Sensors, big data, mobile markets, enterprise applications, cloud computing… #gwstartupday
— Kim V (@kimmilyn) October 25, 2013
What makes a good pitch? @geoffentress wants to easily understand what you're doing in 1-2 sentences. #gwstartupday
— Minh Le (@mqle) October 25, 2013
Looking for investment? VCs want to know: Can these people be best in the world at something? #gwstartupday
— Berit Anderson (@berit_anderson) October 25, 2013
2:10 p.m. — Boris Wertz on “There’s Only Two Ways to Build a $100 Million Company”
Up next was Version One Ventures founder Boris Wertz, telling us how to build a $100 million company.
Some VC math: $1.6B exit value needed off 20-25 investments. @VersionOneVC #gwstartupday
— Kirby Winfield (@kirbywinfield) October 25, 2013
"Most common mistake I see in start-ups is not having a distribution strategy from the start." @bwertz #gwstartupday @flipthemedia
— Donna Manders (@SmokeFreeLife) October 25, 2013
Think abt lifetime value, churn rate, cost of customer acquisition/distribution = key elements of VC funding model to consider #gwstartupday
— Kim V (@kimmilyn) October 25, 2013
2:35 p.m. — Brent Frei on “Resuscitating a Product on Life Support”
Brent Frei, co-founder of Smartsheet and Onyx Software, followed up with some advice on building and sustaining a successful product.
Brent Frei of Onyx "Don't compromise UX for technical design" #gwstartupday
— Hellie (@HellieWalter) October 25, 2013
"If you don't have a UX person on your team, you're already screwed" – Brent Frei of @smartsheet #gwstartupday
— Carol Schiller (@CarolSchiller) October 25, 2013
"Don't let engineers dilute design. Figure out what customer wants, then challenge engineers to deliver it"- Brent Frei #gwstartupday
— Smartsheet (@Smartsheet) October 25, 2013
3:30 p.m. — Marc Barros on “Dealing with failure: The ups and downs of a startup CEO”
Marc Barros, founder of camera-maker Contour, gave an energetic talk on the crazy roller coaster CEOs ride.
Tons of respect for @marcbarros founder of Contour. Excellent presentation today. Thanks for sharing your story! #gwstartupday
— Peter Chee (@pchee) October 25, 2013
Becoming a great CEO: Be willing to re-learn everything. – @marcbarros Founder of Contour #gwstartupday
— thinkspace (@thinkspace) October 25, 2013
Being a successful CEO you have to do and love entirely different things than as a founder @marcbarros #gwstartupday
— Avni Patel Thompson (@APatelThompson) October 25, 2013
3:55 p.m. — Bryan Trussel on “Advice on Taking Advice: Why didn’t anyone tell me this before I took the startup plunge?”
Taking the startup plunge is a huge decision and Glympse CEO Bryan Trussel shared some great advice for those thinking about the leap.
Advice on hiring from @bryantr: Know your needs. Measure twice and cut once vs hire fast, fire fast. #gwstartupday #svb
— Minh Le (@mqle) October 25, 2013
Loving Bryan Trussel's talk. Risk is good, don't pick (or be) an 8, fundraising is not about average perception, it's peak. #gwstartupday
— Kevin Jonson (@kevinjonson) October 25, 2013
"A ship in the port has nothing to fear, but is this the destiny of the ship?" – @glympse CEO #gwstartupday
— Irina Menn (@stempm) October 25, 2013
4:20 p.m. — Glenn Kelman on “The Poet and the Beast: How to manage yourself as startup CEO”
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman always seems to have something interesting to say about the startup life, and Friday was no different. The Plumtree co-founder ended the day by sharing his own personal stories about how he ended up as a CEO and what it took to get there.
entrepreneurs must choose something they can work on for a very long time @glennkelman #gwstartupday
— MadronaVentureGroup (@MadronaVentures) October 25, 2013
What a beautifully honest and vulnerable talk by @glennkelman #gwstartupday
— Avni Patel Thompson (@APatelThompson) October 25, 2013
Beautiful way to end the day w/ @glennkelman. Incredibly authentic, vunerable, honest. Speaks his truth and it rocks. My hero! #gwstartupday
— Kim V (@kimmilyn) October 25, 2013
5:30 P.M. — Battle of the Geek Bands and Costume Party
After a long but fulfilling day of entrepreneurial insight, we had lots of fun partying with everyone at our first-ever Battle of the Geek Bands.
“The Tax Authorities,” out of Bainbridge Island-based Avalara, wow’d the crowd with some good ol’ blues and our celebrity judge panel awarded the band with a first place prize of five suite tickets to the Anheuser Busch suite for the Seahawks game against Tampa Bay next month. Be sure to check out this video to hear from The Tax Authorities and the three other geeky bands that performed at the Showbox SoDo Friday evening.
We were also impressed by the creativity of our Costume Contest participants. Though Neo and Trinity from the Matrix looked awesome, it was Breaking Bad’s Walter White walking away with the first place prize.
Here are a few pictures from the party:
Meanwhile, here’s a look at a short video that a film crew shot of ExtraHop’s performance.