Articles by John Cook

John Cook is the co-founder of GeekWire, a national technology news site and community.

He started GeekWire in 2011 with veteran journalist Todd Bishop, building on more than two decades of combined experience covering the Pacific Northwest technology community.

As co-founder and publisher, John oversees business, event and community operations, bringing the GeekWire community together in creative, informative and fun ways.

A sought-after voice on startups, venture capital and the changing economics of the tech industry, John started covering the technology beat in the Seattle area in the 1990s as a tech reporter for The Eastside Journal before moving to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Puget Sound Business Journal.

A native of Wooster, Ohio, he started his journalism career in high school, with a part-time job compiling obituary and election information for The Akron Beacon Journal, where his mom was a correspondent. He graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in history, earning Phi Beta Kappa recognition and Academic All-American honors in soccer.

John’s interests include hiking, bicycling, microbreweries and watching English Premier League and Seattle Sounders FC soccer. He lives in Seattle with his wife Holly and son James. You can follow John on Twitter — @johnhcook — or catch him at one of GeekWire's upcoming events.

Seattle, we’ve got an image problem

Latest from John Cook

‘You cannot fund compassion from an empty treasury’: Seattle Chamber CEO frames economic growth as a civic imperative

Speaking at the Seattle Chamber’s 144th annual meeting, CEO Joe Nguyen framed local business growth as an essential prerequisite for progressive civic priorities—warning regional leaders that public services, housing, and transit cannot be funded without protecting the region’s $600 billion economic engine. Read More

Spotlight: Startup vet launches Latch to liberate humanity ‘from doing work that owns us’

Serial founder Stefan Kalb has launched Latch, an $8M FUSE-backed enterprise AI startup built alongside a PSL alum to map real-world workflows and liberate employees from the routine tasks that hold them back. Read More

Seattle biotech BrainChild Bio raises $116M to advance CAR T therapy for childhood brain cancer

Seattle biotech BrainChild Bio has raised $116 million to advance an experimental CAR T cell therapy for DIPG, a rare and deadly brain tumor that primarily affects young children. The company is building on technology developed at Seattle Children’s and is also developing CAR T therapies for other pediatric and adult brain tumors. Read More

Podcast

Bill Gates in his own words: How he’s using AI, and why he’s worried about the future

Bill Gates warned this week that the AI industry is crossing safety lines it set for itself, and that no one is preparing for what comes next. On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we play highlights from our interview with Gates about the essay, and debate his three proposals. Read More

As the influencer economy drives retail sales, Seattle startup raises $22M to play matchmaker

Seattle startup Levanta raised $22 million as brands increasingly turn to influencers to drive product sales, expanding its platform for connecting brands with influencers and managing affiliate partnerships across Amazon, Walmart and Shopify. Read More

Flipboard acquires Portland startup Graze in bid to ‘re-orient the attention economy’

Flipboard has acquired Portland-based startup Graze to integrate its customizable algorithm engine into Flipboard’s open social web platform. Read More

Seattle’s AI weed wars: One startup maps them, another zaps them

Two Seattle-area startups are taking different approaches to an age-old farming problem: using AI to find weeds — and then eliminate them. TerraClear is mapping individual weeds across entire fields, while Carbon Robotics is using AI-powered lasers to zap them. Now, increasingly sophisticated AI models are giving both approaches a bigger opportunity: teaching machines to understand the farm itself. Read More

University of Washington and Seattle biotech win $245M patent judgment against Guardant

A Seattle biotech built on University of Washington research has won a $245 million patent judgment against Guardant Health over DNA sequencing technology, with the court also ordering ongoing royalties through 2033. Read More

Podcast

Amazon drones go national, inside Anduril’s Seattle buildup, and AirTag leads to secret book-scanning site

Amazon’s Prime Air drones are set to reach nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns this year, 13 years after Jeff Bezos unveiled the idea on 60 Minutes. Also on this week’s episode: John Cook’s visit inside Anduril’s unmarked Bellevue office, and how a reporter’s AirTag led to a secret Amazon facility where old books are cut apart and scanned. Read More

Inside Anduril’s AI warfighting buildup: Defense giant sees a path to 1,000 Seattle-area engineers

GeekWire toured Anduril’s unmarked Bellevue office, where the defense company is building augmented reality glasses, digital night vision and edge computing hardware for the U.S. military. Senior vice president Tom Keane says the regional engineering workforce could easily grow from 560 people to 1,000 in the not-too-distant future. Read More

Anduril exits Seattle shipyard following canceled Navy program and omission from new warship list

After the U.S. Navy abruptly canceled a key unmanned warship program, defense giant Anduril quietly vacated its shipyard site on Seattle’s Lake Washington Ship Canal—even as its broader regional footprint continues to surge toward 1,000 local engineers. Read More

Want to know what Jeff Bezos brings to Liverpool FC? Study Amazon’s Leadership Principles

GeekWire co-founder John Cook talks with The Redmen TV about Jeff Bezos’ new ownership stake in Liverpool FC, his first major foray into global sports ownership, and what his business philosophy could mean for one of the world’s most storied soccer clubs. Read More

BuyWander moves HQ from Spokane to Seattle area as retail-returns startup grows team to 325 people

BuyWander, the Spokane-born retail returns marketplace, has moved its headquarters to the Seattle area and grown to 325 employees as it expands nationally, adding four executives including two former Amazon leaders. Read More

Adaptive Biotech co-founder raises $15M for new startup to rethink how AI trains on science

Harlan Robins spent years as the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Adaptive Biotechnologies, helping build massive datasets to decode the human immune system. Read More

Podcast

Bezos and Liverpool FC, a Meta vet’s AI startup, Auger’s Dallas move, and the demise of Microsoft’s AI blob

This week on the Geekwire Podcast: We break down Jeff Bezos joins the consortium taking a minority stake in Liverpool FC, discuss a former Meta AI research director’s stealth startup, and convene the GeekWire Editorial Board, to decide whether Dave Clark’s Auger stays on the GeekWire 200 after moving its headquarters to Dallas. Read More

Closed Pfizer biopharma facility in Everett gets a new owner and a mystery tenant

A biomanufacturing facility in Everett that Pfizer decided to shut down before it opened is getting a new lease on life, with a new owner and a 21-year lease to an unnamed global biopharmaceutical company. Read More

InduPro raises $77M, begins first human trial of cancer drug

Seattle biotech InduPro has raised $77 million and dosed its first patient in a Phase 1 trial of an experimental cancer drug, as the company advances its novel approach to targeting tumor cells. Read More

Self-flying air taxis and drones: Boeing sells key aviation technology businesses to Archer

Boeing is selling Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu to Archer in a major deal combining autonomous aircraft, drones, airspace technology and AI. Read More

Startup Spotlight: HitchPiggy wants to turn empty car seats into a new rideshare marketplace

Portland startup HitchPiggy is building a marketplace that connects drivers already traveling between cities with passengers headed the same way, using AI-powered development to tackle affordable regional ridesharing across the Pacific Northwest. Read More

Podcast

Amazon’s next big business, Satya Nadella’s DIY app, and a VC’s rallying cry for Seattle tech

Microsoft and Amazon both beat cloud expectations this week, and Microsoft’s headcount fell for the first time since 2016. Also on the show: Satya Nadella builds a dashboard out of a Morgan Stanley analyst’s own report, Jeff Bezos names Amazon’s fourth pillar and AI House’s Jacob Colker makes the case for Seattle tech. Read More

Startup Spotlight: This Seattle-area plumber wants to unclog retail with AI-powered delivery

A Seattle-area plumber and Navy veteran is taking on a new challenge: making local retail as convenient as ordering takeout. Meet Jeremy Bernier, the founder of MODRA, an AI-powered startup aiming to bring same-day delivery and personalized shopping to neighborhood stores. Read More

Watch: A venture capitalist’s passionate speech — a rallying cry, really — about Seattle

AI House co-founder and managing director Jacob Colker may be Seattle’s number one cheerleader. In posts on LinkedIn, panel discussions and recent news stories, Colker is reminding Seattleites that this is a pretty special place. Read More

Seattle lands another $1B startup: Here’s the latest arrival in the industrial AI boom

Los Angeles-based Nominal, whose software helps engineers build, test and validate complex hardware systems, is establishing a permanent Seattle office as it ramps up hiring and looks for a larger home in the region. Read More

Uncommon Thinkers 2026: Nominate Seattle area’s bold innovators driving positive change

It’s time to recognize the Seattle area’s boldest innovators. Nominations are now open for GeekWire’s 2026 Uncommon Thinkers Awards. Read More

Jeff Bezos says this business is becoming Amazon’s next ‘pillar’

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says the company’s custom AI chip business is poised to become its next “pillar,” joining Marketplace, Prime, and AWS as one of Amazon’s foundational businesses as the tech giant doubles down on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Read More

Jeff Bezos reportedly joining bid to buy stake in English soccer giant Liverpool FC

Jeff Bezos is reportedly part of an investment group seeking to buy a 30% stake in Liverpool FC, potentially giving the Amazon founder his first ownership interest in a major professional sports franchise. Read More

Podcast

What’s going on with Seattle startup funding, a Kalshi setback, Impinj’s long game, and a smartphone detox

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Seattle startup funding fell about 40% in the first half of 2026 as AI reshaped the venture market — plus a Kalshi court setback, Impinj’s 10 years on the Nasdaq, and could you go without your smartphone for five weeks? Read More

Defense tech giant Anduril eyes new funding at $100B valuation as Seattle expansion draws protests

Defense tech giant Anduril is reportedly seeking a new funding round that would value the company at about $100 billion, underscoring its meteoric rise as it rapidly expands its engineering and maritime operations in the Seattle region. Read More

Grammy-winning artist and entrepreneur Diplo invests in Seattle startup Copper

Seattle startup Copper is getting a high-profile boost from Grammy-winning artist and entrepreneur Diplo, who has invested in the company as it expands its consumer rewards platform. Copper, which says it has more than 4 million members, helps users earn money through shopping, mobile games and everyday digital activities. Read More

UK data center startup Nscale bets big on Bellevue for U.S. engineering hub amid AI boom

AI infrastructure company Nscale is expanding its presence in Bellevue with a new U.S. engineering headquarters, adding to the Eastside’s growing role as a hub for artificial intelligence talent and cloud computing infrastructure. Read More

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