Vanessa Fox sells search analytics startup Nine by Blue to RKG

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Seattle entrepreneur Vanessa Fox has been bootstrapping her search analytics business, Nine by Blue, for the past six years. Today, the former Google employee is cashing out, in part because she’s found the right partner in Charlottesville, Virginia-based search marketing firm RKG. “We’ve built up Blueprint as a robust enterprise-level search analytics platform and are… Read More…

These sensor-infused socks track your steps and ID injury-prone running styles

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In the past few years, you’ve heard of smartphones, smart-watches and most recently, smart-glasses. Now, courtesy of a Redmond-based startup, we have yet another ordinary product attached to your body that’s becoming more intelligent: smart socks. Meet Heapsylon, a company founded two years ago by three Microsofties that is developing what is essentially a pedometer… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Stride taps user feedback to build a CRM product with ‘love’

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It took just 24 hours for the self-described “startup junkies” at Stride to get their new customer relationship management service off the ground. But they didn’t stop there, and now just over a year after its formal launch, the team is still iterating and developing. The Stride app — created by Andrew Dumont, Nathan Carnes, Adrian… Read More…

Commencement speech showdown: Advice to recent grads from Redfin’s Kelman and Zillow’s Rascoff

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It’s that time of year when commencement speeches ring out across the nation, with everyone from President Barack Obama to philanthropist Melinda Gates to comedian Jimmy Kimmel offering words of wisdom to recent grads. Now, LinkedIn is taking a very special approach to the commencement speech tradition, asking several of its so-called “influencers” to write “Commencement… Read More…

5 things I learned while working on the original Xbox

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[Editor's Note: With Microsoft preparing to unveil the third generation of the Xbox on Tuesday, we asked GeekWire Chairman Jonathan Sposato to share his lessons learned while working on the original Xbox games effort, in this installment of his Startup Jedi column.] Before Xbox was an entire division of hundreds, it started out as a… Read More…

Fast-growing HasOffers raises $9.4M, promises to keep ‘bootstrapper spirit’ alive

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HasOffers built a pretty impressive business over the past four years, using the company’s revenue to fuel expansion as it grew to 79 employees and added profits to the bottom line. Now, after bootstrapping their way to success, the team is looking to supercharge efforts. HasOffers, which helps companies manage affiliate advertising programs, just scored… Read More…

How Silicon Valley VCs would react to a pitch from the greatest geek ever, Nikola Tesla

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GeekWire’s Greatest Geek of All Time is making headlines again, and this time it relates directly to the startup world. Palo Alto-based Northern Imagination produced the parody video above to help promote its Kickstarter campaign for a Wi-Fi-enabled Nikola Tesla statue in Silicon Valley. It’s a comical clip that sheds light on the short-attention span of impatient, distracted Valley… Read More…

Nike Accelerator Spotlight: FitDeck turns exercise into a card game

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Editor’s note: Nike Accelerator Spotlight takes a look at the ten startups participating in the Nike+ Accelerator, a three-month startup program based in Portland, Ore. and put on by Nike and TechStars. GeekWire is featuring each company leading up to the June 10 demo day.  Many bad ideas percolate inside college dorm rooms. Phil Black and his… Read More…

You did what? Why we chose debt over venture capital

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If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a good chance that many of your conversations — and a good chunk of your inner dialogue — are consumed by thoughts of fundraising. You can’t open a web browser or email or Twitter without being bombarded by opinion pieces, research, case studies, and news on the topic. On this… Read More…

Digital marketing firm AudienceScience trims staff

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AudienceScience is cutting staff again. The Bellevue digital marketing company, formerly known as Revenue Science and digiMine, has laid off employees. “AudienceScience had a small strategic layoff to further align employee skillsets with its enterprise technology offering,” the company said in a statement. The company declined to say how many people were let go, though… Read More…