Tech Moves: Joanna Lord named CMO at BigDoor; Brian Arbogast joins the Gates Foundation; and more

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—Online marketing whiz Joanna Lord has left her VP job at SEOmoz to become chief marketing officer at BigDoor, the Seattle gamification startup. In her new role Lord will oversee branding, content, community and other functions for the Seattle-based company. Keith Smith-led BigDoor raised $5 million last year, bringing total funding to $13 million. “The first… Read More…

Free vacations, lift tickets and more: Perks escalate as tech startups battle for talent

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What does it take to attract and retain a high-quality workforce in the competitive tech industry? More than free beer and candy. That’s one of the takeaways from this piece by KING 5, based on the “Perk of the Year” category in last week’s GeekWire Awards. Check out the story by KING 5′s Mitch Pittman… Read More…

Tech Moves: Changes at SEOmoz; Polaris picks CEO-in-residence; Microvision names CFO; etc.

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Jamie Steven has stepped down as chief marketing officer at SEOmoz, taking on the same role at Speedtest.net operator Ookla. “I’ve been flabbergasted by the amount of data these guys have and I’m thrilled to begin sharing it,” said Steven, noting that Ookla’s Speedtest is running about five million tests per day. “Put simply, broadband and… Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote for Startup CEO of the Year

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We’re back for another round of voting in the GeekWire Awards, and today’s category is a big one: Startup CEO of the Year, presented by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. We kicked off voting for the GeekWire Awards last week, and we’ll continue tabulating the votes in each of the 14 categories in the coming days…. Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote for Perk of the Year

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It’s been a long week, so we’re ready to have a little fun. And today’s category in the GeekWire Awards voting should prove to be one of the more entertaining in the lineup. It’s a new category for us designed to showcase the amazing lengths that some companies will go to in order to keep… Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote for the ‘Next Tech Titan’

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Today’s featured category in the GeekWire Awards voting is a big one, literally. The Next Tech Titan — brought to you by Wave Business Solutions — will reward the company that’s moving from the tough trenches of startup land to the big leagues. The Pacific Northwest is loaded with those up-and-comer companies, and our judges… Read More…

‘Dream of the 90s’ is alive in Portland for SEOmoz: It just bought another Rose City startup

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In a recent episode of Portlandia, Fred and Carrie are sent on a mission to Seattle to evangelize the goodness of Portland. Maybe they knocked on the door of SEOmoz CEO Rand Fishkin. After all, Fishkin’s fast-growing Seattle software startup has made not one, not two, but three acquisitions in Portland in the past 12… Read More…

Newsmakers 2012: Rand Fishkin points the way at SEOmoz

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Rand Fishkin has put SEOmoz on a possible path to become one of the Seattle region’s next public companies. Succeed or fail, his other contribution to the community will be his brutal transparency as he shares his lessons learned. The $18 million raised by SEOmoz in May wasn’t the largest venture capital financing for a Seattle… Read More…

SEOmoz CEO Rand Fishkin ponders long-term prospects, sets sights on IPO

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What’s next for SEOmoz now that its big $18 million venture round is in the books? Well, as CEO Rand Fishkin explains in a blog post today titled IPOs, Acquisitions, and The Long Term for Moz, there are several options that may arise as the Seattle software maker enters its next chapter. In typical transparent form,… Read More…

Foundry Group adds $225M to its venture capital pool

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Foundry Group, the Colorado venture capital firm that’s backed Seattle area upstarts such as Big Door, SEOMoz and Cheezburger as well as Portland-based Cloudability, announced today the closing of their third fund — Foundry Venture Capital 2012 LP. The fund clocks in at $225 million, the same amount that it raised in its previous fund. Foundry Group invests in software and… Read More…