Just a quick follow-up to Bob’s post. Yes, today marks the start of Xconomy’s coverage of the Seattle and Pacific Northwest tech-business scene. Our goal is to bring you “hyperlocal” reporting on the most compelling innovation news—the deals, entrepreneurs, investors, companies, and technology—on the ground as it happens. We want to help grow a community of readers and innovators who are keenly interested in local high-tech and life-sciences business and its global impact.
I’m joined in Seattle by veteran journalist Luke Timmerman, who’ll be covering biotech both here and in Boston, and distinguished sales and marketing executive David Caffey, our vice president and managing director of business development for the West Coast. You can read more about us, and our mission, here.
Xconomy has had a relatively smooth ride (for a startup, anyway) since its launch last summer in Boston. But for me, a newcomer to the Seattle area after 15+ years in Boston, things started out a little bumpy. One of the coldest and wettest early Junes on record… What might be the Mariners’ worst season in history… And local giants Starbucks and T-Mobile, which until now have monopolized my coffee and cellphone plans from afar, couldn’t even get along (come on guys, is free Wi-Fi that big a deal?)…
But things are turning around. The sun has come out, there’s still a lot of baseball to be played, and the coffee is fresher than ever (hello Espresso Vivace and Le Panier). As I’ve been going around talking to some of Seattle’s key innovators and investors, I’ve been reminded again just how fun and vibrant the innovation community here is—and why Xconomy chose Seattle as one of the first nodes in what we hope will soon be an extensive network of websites covering key high-tech clusters around the country. We believe that world-class journalism focused squarely on these innovation communities—which are key drivers of the economy—can only help make them stronger. And lead to some truly great stories.
So hello, Seattle. To the folks I’ve met already, thanks for being so welcoming to an East Coast transplant still fine-tuning his balance of sunshine and caffeine. And to the rest of you, we look forward to hearing what you think—about our site, about the business of technology, about the people and companies you think we should be covering, and about anything else that’s on your mind. Drop us a line any time at [email protected].
