Startup Spotlight: GiftGiv looks to make gift giving to corporate clients a breeze

Kushal Shah, CEO, Product Management at Microsoft, MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business, startup experience.

2.      Sriram Subramanian, CTO, Developer at Microsoft, startup experience.

Want to send a small token of thanks to a client, customer or friend? GiftGiv, a new Seattle startup, makes sure you don’t miss a beat. As co-founder Kushal Shah sees it, the traditional way of sending gifts to folks is broken, especially as it relates to small tokens of appreciation in the business world…. Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Enliken helps consumers control personal data and market it to advertisers

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Advertisers are getting to know more about each and every one of us, especially as behavioral targeting technologies allow big brands to more directly target messages to individuals with specific interests and Internet browsing patterns. But what if the consumer had more control of that data? And what if you could earn value from marketing… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Online art classes look to inspire a new breed of innovators

Thrive founder Theresa Harris

Nearly every day we hear about the importance of STEM education — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. But what about the power of art? Theresa Harris, the 40-year-old founder of Thrive, wants to make sure that art isn’t forgotten when it comes to the educational system. After all, in her view, nothing better prepares a person… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: High school whiz kids create Q&A website Junglr

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For most teenagers, balancing homework and a social life is plenty of work. But for three Mercer Island High Schoolers, that wasn’t enough. Zack Elliott, Isaac Diamond, and Robert Sun have been working for over two years to develop the question-and-answer site Junglr. “Our goals were not lofty,” said 18-year-old CEO Elliott, who interned at Microsoft… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: This upstart wants to bring the 3D viewing experience to 2D TVs

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Many of us already watch television in 3D. But for those who are stuck in a 2D world, a new Seattle startup called 3D Digital wants to help. The company, led by former Microsoftie Raif Khassanov and entrepreneur Eugene Gershman, is working on a method for people to watch 3D programming on 2D screens. Still in the… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: GoToTags looks to be the one-stop shop for near field communication

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GoToTags founders Craig Tadlock and Keith Kegley saw an opportunity a few years ago when they realized that wireless sensor technology would become cheap enough for consumer use. Today, their startup is trying to fill in all of the key gaps around NFC, or near field communications, a technology that allows devices to communicate with… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Your Brandlive helps Internet retailers communicate with shoppers

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Portland-based startup Your Brandlive formally launched today, announcing a new video social commerce platform designed to help make the retailer-customer relationship more personal. Essentially, Your Brandlive is a project of Cascade Web Development, connecting online retailers with online shoppers through live video chat. One sales person is able to communicate with hundreds of customers at once. “The… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Germ-hating developers look to create mobile file sharing that’s better than Bump

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You’ve heard of Bump — the mobile application that allows two phone users to exchange contact information, photos or videos with a physical tap of the devices. With more than 100 million downloads, Bump provides a pretty seamless way for friends or new acquaintances to easily exchange files. But what if you don’t like the… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Pinterest rival Clipboard looks to make screenshotting a breeze

CEO Gary Flake

If you’re tired of taking those messy screenshots and arduously cropping them to the perfect size, the solution may be here. Clipboard is a Bellevue-based company that allows users to cleanly grab images or boxes of text from anywhere on the Internet and save them to folders on the site. The service often draws comparison to Pinterest, which was… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: This computer workstation allows you to sit, stand or recline

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Americans are spending an increasing amount of time stuck behind their computers, and that can take a toll on one’s health, from repetitive stress issues to obesity. Craig Dye wants to fix that problem, and the 53-year-old entrepreneur has invented a new computer workstation that adjusts on the fly, allowing users to move the desk… Read More…