Here’s a way to attract developers: Give away puppies

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Seattle startups have been pretty dang creative with how they hire talented developers. Two years ago, Cheezburger stood outside of an Amazon company meeting with free Dick’s cheeseburgers in hopes of luring talent away from the online giant. Then, now-defunct Giant Thinkwell tried giving away free cats in exchange for interviews. Scott Porad leads product development at dog sitting… Read More…

Haiku Deck’s Adam Tratt: ‘Startup storytelling for the win’

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Tech industry veteran Adam Tratt has told a story or two in his day, but more than that, he has experienced first-hand the value of “entrepreneurial storytelling” — the ability for startup founders to convey their vision in a compelling way, creating inspiration out of thin air. Tratt and the team at Seattle startup Giant… Read More…

Q&A: How this Seattle startup could take a bite out of Microsoft PowerPoint

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Giant Thinkwell’s latest product, Haiku Deck, has been getting quite a bit of attention over the last few weeks.  We covered the team of three — Adam Tratt, Kevin Leneway, and Marc Kamaka — and the launch of their iPad-based presentation tool earlier this month. They were also one of the few startups that Valley celeb Robert Scoble interviewed while… Read More…

Podcast: Haiku Deck basking in the App Store’s spotlight

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Right before going into the studio to record this week’s GeekWire radio show and podcast, I noticed one of our guests, Giant Thinkwell CEO Adam Tratt, leaning over his computer with one of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen. He had just found out that the company’s new iPad app, Haiku Deck, had scored a… Read More…

Our startup’s pivot: Three important lessons we learned

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More than any other word, pivot has come to define startup life. Without the pivot, YouTube would have been a dating site, Groupon an app for staging protests, and Instagram a location-based game. Framed in the context of billion-dollar valuations, it’s easy to gloss over just how tricky and uncomfortable it can be to shift… Read More…

Kyle Kesterson’s wacky tapeworm game wins top honors at Startup Weekend

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Kyle Kesterson made a name for himself as the creative force behind Giant Thinkwell, the Seattle celebrity gaming startup whose mascot is a lovable squid. But Kesterson, who left Giant Thinkwell last month, now appears to have tapeworms on the brain (or the intestine for that matter). The artist and designer emerged tonight as the… Read More…

Where are they now? Update on the TechStars Class of 2010

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Some have gone out of business. Several have changed course. And most are still hanging their shingle in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, looking to transform everything from the way we watch TV to how we manage airline miles. As TechStars Seattle gets ready to launch a new batch of hatchlings on Thursday (full list… Read More…

Done eating squid for now, Kyle Kesterson charts new course after Giant Thinkwell

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Kyle Kesterson, the co-founder and creative force behind Seattle startup Giant Thinkwell, is leaving the company in order to pursue new opportunities. What those are, Kesterson isn’t quite sure yet. “I have a vision and a passion for what I want to collaborate on and where I want to leave my mark and it is… Read More…

The 14 hottest startups in Seattle (at least in the view of Business Insider)

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We’ve been talking a lot about the lack of investment dollars flowing to entrepreneurial ventures in the Seattle area. But let’s not forget all of the good stuff going on. A post today from Business Insider and a comment on GeekWire from Founder’s Co-op director Andy Sack brought that message home. It has been a… Read More…

Video: Sir Mix-A-Lot makes the greatest PR pitch ever

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Technology reporters and bloggers get countless appeals for coverage every day — so much that it’s tough sometimes to sort it all out. But when Sir Mix-A-Lot makes his pitch in a personal video message, it’s difficult to ignore. See the video above to get a sense for how the rap legend and his partners… Read More…