BlueNile and Wetpaint co-founder Ben Elowitz is scratching his entrepreneurial itch again, this time with a new company called Zeitworks.
The Seattle-based startup is staying quiet for now, but its website reveals a glimpse at a potential product. The company is aiming to help customers maximize “people and time” within an organization. From the site:
“We spend a third of our lives at work, and many of us define a big part of our self-worth by the job we do and the contributions we make at work. We founded Zeitworks to help people get the most out of their lives. We are a team of data scientists, systems engineers, designers, and business analysts and we are building Zeitworks to help businesses leaders like yourself make informed choices about improving their business, empowering their organization and making their people happier by helping them focus on the things that matter the most.
As any experienced business leader will tell you, the two most valuable resources in any organization are the people and time, learn how Zeitworks can help you maximize both.”
Reached by GeekWire via email on Friday, Elowitz said he wasn’t ready to divulge other details yet.
Zeitworks is a spinout of Seattle-based Madrona Venture Labs, the startup studio within Madrona Venture Group which incubated the original idea and helped develop the product.
“The MVL team came up with the Zeitworks idea working closely with Madrona, as this concept hits directly on Madrona’s intelligent applications with ML & AI investment theme,” MVL Managing Director Mike Fridgen told GeekWire.
Elowitz joined MVL as managing director in June 2018. He has transitioned out of MVL and will now support the Zeitworks team, which is hiring for four roles.
Elowitz is a long-time Seattle entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded online jewelry retailer Blue Nile, which sold for $500 million in 2016. He also founded social TV company Wetpaint in 2005 and sold it to Viggle for $30 million. Elowitz is an investor and advisor to companies such as Dolly, Minted, Magnolia Medical, and others.
Elowitz is a co-founder and advisor for Zeitworks. Leading the company is co-founder and CEO Ryan Windham, the former CEO at Cedexis and AppViewX who joined MVL as an entrepreneur-in-residence this past March. Windham, a former F5 Networks exec, is still listed on the MVL website.
Matthew Holloway, a veteran of SAP, Shutterfly, Atlas Informatics, and Xinova, is head of product at Zeitworks. Holloway joined MVL as an entrepreneur-in-residence this past October.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with comments from MVL.