Startup Spotlight: RockStar Motel aims to put the power in the hands of music fans

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Music is one of the scariest industries for startups. With giant record labels dominating, it’s hard to move quickly without running into roadblocks. RockStar Motel is working to take the power out of the record labels’ hands, putting it into fans’ hands. The Seattle startup allows fans to “sign” different artists, stream songs and buy tracks… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Ex-Boeing engineer matches serious gamers with Teamfind

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Like a tennis partner or golf buddy, finding a gaming companion who shares your goals and skill level can be hard.  Teamfind, with more than 21,000 members, is working to ease the pain by empowering players to find a perfect match.  Not only does this save players time that they might have spent playing with an incompatible team,… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: ChorePay offers parents an easier way to manage household tasks

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Getting kids to do chores is hard enough. But add in that parents have less time to spend around the house, and that makes for a messy house and undisciplined kids.  ChorePay is looking to help parents get back on track by offering a platform that assists in organizing the whole chore process, from assigning… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Spiral Genetics offers software to help scientists analyze DNA

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DNA analysis allows scientists to dig deep into one’s genetic makeup, discovering if an individual is predisposed to a certain disorder or disease.  While advances around DNA analysis have allowed scientists to more quickly analyze one’s DNA, a Seattle startup by the name of Spiral Genetics believes it can do it even faster and cheaper Scientists come… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Qoiza helps you share your favorite products with friends, and earn rewards along the way

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The recent explosion of sites dedicated to sharing products that you love (Pinterest, Fancy, Wanelo) has brought another trend to the startup world, analytics and rewards platforms.  Companies want to know who is sharing their goods and, and they want to reward them.  Services such as Klout play in this space with their “perks” feature,… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Gatherball looks to take the stress out of planning events and getaways

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We’ve all had to spearhead the planning of an event.  Whether it be your weekly trip to the movies with your friends, a bachelor party, or even that Ruby meetup, it’s always a pain in the rear. Seattle’s Gatherball is working to make planning events “less like herding cats and more like herding awesome.” Started by three… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: TalktUp saves you money for sharing business tips with friends

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These days, businesses are striving for ways to get their name out into your social circles.  TalktUp, a startup out of Bellevue, is looking to help with a platform that empowers businesses to reward customers with cash discounts. This space is heating up lately as companies see the power behind word-of-mouth advertising increase exponentially with… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Zooppa hosts online advertising contests for big brands

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Crowdsourcing is a growing trend in the startup world with established companies like Kickstarter and Indiegogo dominating the crowdsourced funding scene.  And now Zooppa, a startup based near Pioneer Square,  is bringing that model to the advertising world. The startup signs on companies and offers its members opportunities to create and submit advertisements on their behalf…. Read More…

Startup Spotlight: What’s In This Stuff identifies the gross stuff you’re eating

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Ever wonder what’s in your Frosted Flakes or Fritos? A new Seattle startup is looking to provide answers to those questions, allowing users to get the scoop on the ingredients that make up their food. The company — aptly dubbed What’s In This Stuff? — includes a directory of thousands of food products commonly found on your… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Votely helps you get answers to life’s most basic questions

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Ever wonder what you should wear to a party? What plants would grow best in your garden? Or the best blockbuster movies to see this summer? If those sorts of questions tie you up, Votely might have the answer. The iPhone and Facebook apps — developed by Shahzad Umar and Doug Gradt — taps into… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Therapy Exam Prep helps physical therapists master tests

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Miye Fonseca had been stewing on her entrepreneurial idea for more than five years when she finally made the leap. It didn’t take long for her to prove out the concept, either. Just a month after launching, the Redmond entrepreneur turned her first profit. Trained as a physical therapist, Fonseca is the founder of Therapy… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: FUNnerator helps parents find the best summer camps for their kids

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As a former venture capitalist with Trilogy Partners, Katie Thompson has seen her fair share of business plans over the years. But none resonated as much FUNnerator. That’s because it’s her business plan. The 42-year-old venture capitalist and former Microsoftie partnered earlier this year with former Onvia executive Kristen Hamilton to create a new marketplace that helps… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: DSD wants to transform the way you buy theater tickets

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Buying movie tickets has never been easier with services such as Fandango and MovieTickets.com.  But a tiny Seattle area startup by the name of DSD is looking to make its mark with a new online ticketing service dubbed MuveeTix. A developer of point-of-sale software, the company offers a full suite of products for entertainment and… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: DealScoopr scours your social network to find the cheapest airfares

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Nitesh Goyal spent seven years at Amazon.com, so it’s not a huge surprise that the 30-year-traces his entrepreneurial hunger to lessons at the online retailer. Goyal is putting the skills to work at DealScoopr, a new startup that’s attempting to tap into the power of social networks to track down cheap airfares. Seattle has a… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Kashoo’s iPad app looks to make accounting easy

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If you’ve ever gotten stuck, frustrated or bent out of shape using QuickBooks, the team at Kashoo wants to talk to you. The company is developing what they describe as super-simple cloud-based accounting software for small business owners. We chatted with Jim Secord, a Bellingham resident who commutes to B.C. three times per week, for the… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Founder of Personify looks to make the world a better place

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Chuks Onwuneme’s path to Seattle is a long and inspiring one. At the age of 16, he walked the streets of Lagos, Nigeria to raise funds to study computer science, later earning an engineering scholarship to the University of Texas at Arlington. After graduate school, he landed a gig at Nokia in Dallas, working there for a… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Saltbox looks to help sales forces stay on top

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Saltbox co-founder and CEO John Delano admits that his company isn’t building the “most sexy mobile-social-big data app.” But even so, they are attacking a big problem that needs solved, helping sales professionals participate in online training and education on their own terms and their own devices. We chatted with Delano to find out more about… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Game Collage makes kids’ apps to entertain, inspire, educate

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Kids love apps. But not everything found in the mobile app stores these days is suitable for young, impressionable minds. Luckily, some Seattle developers are taking it upon themselves to create mobile experiences that keep kids entertained and educated, and parents satisfied. A few weeks ago, we told you about Happly, a new iPad app… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: How an F-bomb led this parent to create an iPad app for kids

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As the father of two young boys, Daily Interactive Networks co-founder Brian Monnin knows how tough it can be to find quality content online. Between mind-numbing games and inappropriate videos, the 41-year-old Monnin simply got fed up and decided to do something about it. That’s why he created Happly, a free iPad app that’s designed… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: SkyFu helps restaurants stay on top of online reviews

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Restaurant owners live or die these days by the power of the almighty online review, with sites such as Yelp and Urbanspoon making or breaking new (and old) establishments. Todd Spaits, the 37-year-old founder and CEO of SkyFu, wants to help restaurant owners stay on top of the chatter. In addition to monitoring reviews, the… Read More…