Startup Awards: Vote for Seattle’s Investor of the Year

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Even though it’s cheaper than ever to get a software or Internet company off the ground these days, money still matters. But the best investors bring more to the table than deep pockets, adding extra horsepower when startups need them the most. Today’s featured category in the Seattle 2.0 Startup Awards is Investor of the Year, recognizing some… Read More…

Angel investor Bill Bryant: Here’s what I look for in startup entrepreneurs

Seattle angel investor Bill Bryant was blown away upon seeing a demo of Swype for the first time

Seattle angel investor and venture capitalist Bill Bryant has been around the block a few times in the tech industry, estimating that he’s met some 5,000 entrepreneurs in the past 25 years. So what does Bryant — an investor in companies such as Isilon Systems, Swype and Z2Live and an early employee at startup companies… Read More…

The inside story of how a Seattle angel investor discovered Swype

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Guest commentary from Bill Bryant: I have been in the software business for more than 20 years now, spanning some 25 companies (including such notables as Netbot, Visio, Qpass, Isilon, Medio, and more recently Opscode, Winshuttle and Z2Live).  Across those companies, there have been exactly two times when I was completely awed by a technology… Read More…

Social media agency Banyan Branch takes root with $1.7M

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Banyan Branch, the Seattle-based social media marketing firm whose clients include Hartz, Porsche and Gilt Groupe, has raised $1.7 million from a prominent group of angel investors that includes former Qpass CEO Chase Franklin; Seattle angel investor Geoff Entress; KissMetrics founder Neil Patel; venture capitalist Bill Bryant and others. “Social media has become pervasive within… Read More…

Commentary: Why we had to leave Seattle to build Box.net

Photo via Razvan Orendovici

Just to start off, let me say that Seattle is an amazing city. I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better place to grow up, and everyone I know loves it up there. But it’s not so amazing for professional sports and early stage startups. Or at least that was the case in the summer… Read More…

Varolii lands $8 million, names Bill Bryant, Lee Roberts to the board

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Varolii, which helps airlines, utilities, banks and other companies send automated alerts to customers, has raised $8 million and named Seattle venture capitalist Bill Bryant and former FileNet CEO Lee Roberts to the board. The company’s existing investors — including BlueRun Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Institutional Venture Partners and InterWest Partners — participated in the round. Varolii… Read More…