Startup Spotlight: Monchilla looks to take on Quickbooks with new accounting service

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If you’ve ever taken an accounting course or have run your own business, you know that accounting is a huge pain.  Sadly, it’s a necessary evil for every business.  But Monchilla is looking to make it a a little more tolerable. The self-funded team of eleven has spent the past 2.5 years building an accounting platform… Read More…

Wireless vet Mary Jesse: ‘Concentrate on company culture from the beginning’

Mary Jesse

Mary Jesse, the founder and CEO of group messaging startup Ivy Corp., is an electrical engineer and veteran startup leader who was instrumental in developing and deploying the first large scale wireless data systems in the U.S. A veteran of McCaw Cellular, she was inspired by the way the wireless pioneer fostered a sense of… Read More…

Decide CEO Mike Fridgen: ‘Branding, startup style’

Mike Fridgen, CEO of Decide.com

Mike Fridgen has learned a few things about branding in his life as a serial entrepreneur. The CEO of Decide.com was co-founder and CEO of TripHub before going on to work for companies including Farecast and Microsoft. He shared some of his branding lessons learned at Seattle 2.0 Startup Day, presented by GeekWire this past weekend…. Read More…

Startup Spotlight: eVenues takes the headache out of finding event space

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Planning and organizing events can be extremely difficult.  There are so many details, from tickets to food to location.  eVenues is here to help by matching up a perfect venue for your needs.  They provide a simple online directory and marketplace where you can browse different venues, sort by different categories (price, location, capacity), and… Read More…

Brenda Spoonemore: ‘A biz dev playbook for startups’

Brenda Spoonemore talks to the Startup Day audience about business development.

Brenda Spoonemore is a serial entrepreneur, currently co-founder and CEO at vacation rentals and reviews startup Dwellable, but her experience includes a role as senior vice president of interactive services for the NBA, overseeing the league’s digital business, operations, licensing and strategy. In other words, she has been immersed in business development and partnerships on… Read More…

Jordan Weisman: ‘Warning: Startups may be dangerous to your health (and ego)’

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Jordan Weisman is a veteran game designer who made headlines this year for an epic Kickstarter campaign, raising $1.8 million for Shadowrun Returns, a revival of the franchise from his current company, Harebrained Schemes. The serial entrepreneur is known for startups including FASA, Virtual World Entertainment, Wizkids, 42 Entertainment, and Smith & Tinker. Weisman shared… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: SPARQ.me uncovers the mystery of mobile marketing for big brands

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As mobile continues to grow, companies are scrambling to keep up.  Some brands have adapted well (Nordstrom comes to mind) but most are still figuring out how to reach customers via this new channel.  Seattle mobile marketing upstartup SPARQ, which just moved to new offices in the University District, wants to build an inclusive platform to do… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Appetas wants to make restaurant sites absolutely delicious

Team Appetas after winning the Seattle AngelHack
Keller (left) and Curtis (right).

Restaurant Web sites have always been a pet peeve of mine.  For some reason they seem to use the same “artistic” font, make their address part of an image, and hide their menu away in a PDF deep in their site.  Appetas is here to make every restaurant Web site more beautiful and easy-to-use. Fresh… Read More…

Best of Startup Day: Twilio’s Jeff Lawson on how to make money with SAAS

Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio

Editor’s Note: We’ve got a fantastic lineup of speakers on tap for GeekWire’s Startup Day, taking place Saturday, Sept. 22nd at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. Among the entrepreneurs on the agenda are Box CEO Aaron Levie; Zulily CEO Darrell Cavens; and many others. It’s going to be an informative and high-energy day for those in the… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Flash Volunteer leverages the fun of flash mobs for social good

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Flash mobs have been around for a while (the term was coined in 2003, according to Wikipedia) and seemingly have been getting less and less cool ever since.  The base idea is still awesome, but the novelty wore off after it seems yet another mediocre flash mob occurred almost weekly.  Flash Volunteer utilizes the awesome… Read More…