After CEO departs for Yahoo, Lockerz raises more cash

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Seattle startup Lockerz lost its founder and CEO — retail and PR vet Kathy Savitt —  to an executive role at Yahoo in August. But that’s not slowing the company’s enormous appetite for capital. The social shopping service — in which teenagers and twenty-somethings earn points for sharing content or watching videos — has pulled in an additional $7.5… Read More…

Lockerz makes another buy, unlocks deal with Wishpot

Wishpot's Max Ciccotosto

Sometimes you run into stories in the strangest places. On an elevator ride in Pioneer Square this morning, I bumped into Wishpot founder Max Ciccotosto who let me in on a little piece of news. Ciccotosto’s six-year-old social commerce startup, which developed a service to make it easy to share gift lists with friends, has been acquired… Read More…

Yahoo’s new marketing chief an expert on Gen Z kids, says Facebook weirds them out

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Anyone trying to get a sense for where Marissa Mayer hopes to take Yahoo should take a look at the background of Kathy Savitt, the Seattle-area tech executive who was named the company’s next chief marketing officer yesterday, reporting directly to the new CEO. Savitt, who is stepping down as the CEO of social commerce… Read More…

Kathy Savitt goes to Yahoo, Lockerz names new CEO

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Marissa Mayer continues to put her mark on Yahoo, announcing today that Seattle public relations veteran and entrepreneur Kathy Savitt has joined the company as chief marketing officer. Savitt previously served as CEO of Lockerz, a heavily-funded social commerce startup backed by the likes of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others. “We are very… Read More…

Lockerz continues acquisition spree, buys travel site Off & Away

© Hayley Young Photography

In what could best be described as a “talent acquisition,” Seattle startup Off & Away has been purchased by fast-growing social networking company Lockerz, GeekWire has learned. Eleven of the 12 employees at Off & Away have joined Lockerz, which is also based in Seattle. Lockerz plans to shut down the Off & Away service,… Read More…

Newsmakers 2011: Lockerz CEO Kathy Savitt

© Hayley Young Photography

Some of the biggest names in venture capital are putting their faith in Lockerz, a Seattle upstart that came on the scene in a big way in 2011. The company, which is building a social networking service where teenagers and twenty somethings earn points for sharing content or watching videos, landed a massive $36 million… Read More…

Pittsburgh looks to attract entrepreneurial dreamers (over the age of 45)

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Last week, I moderated a panel discussion at the TechNW event in which panelists Andy Sack of TechStars, Glenn Kelman of Redfin and Kathy Savitt of Lockerz suggested that Seattle needs to do more to attract and retain young entrepreneurs. I agreed, citing the story of Box.net as a warning sign for the region and noting… Read More…

Let’s stop the Silicon Valley comparisons, and take a look at why NYC is kicking butt

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Overdone. Counterproductive. Tired. Whiny. Those are some of the words I’ve heard in the past few weeks as the Seattle startup community looks itself in the mirror, debating our standing as an innovation hub in relation to Silicon Valley. We’ve had a pretty active discussion on GeekWire about it, and there’s been no shortage of… Read More…