a few things in my time here. One, the business community respects and rewards hard-working journalists who genuinely seek to understand their subjects and have integrity. Two, this community is truly special. It’s a tight-knit place, with a very strong cluster of talent in software, mobile, biotech, and, increasingly, cleantech. Unlike, say, New York (or even Boston), where people come and go all the time, it’s incredibly important here to build lasting personal relationships.
And I’ve really enjoyed that aspect of my job. I know who our supporters are here, and I will work extra hard to keep my Seattle connections strong. Being a far-flung national network of local sites, we already know something about forming strong relationships face to face, keeping them fresh through phone calls, e-mails, and occasional visits, and cross-pollinating ideas from different cities. (Also, I’m not actually moving until July, so I intend to get in as much happy hour mileage as possible before then.)
I am confident that the best is yet to come from the Seattle innovation community. Although the recession hit hard a few months after I arrived, things have already turned for the better in the Seattle tech scene. Back in June 2008, there was no TechStars here, no Founder’s Co-op, no Founder Institute, no FounderDating, no RevenueLoan, no UW Center for Commercialization—not to mention no Seattle 2.0, no TechFlash, and no Xconomy to report on all those developments (no local TechCrunch representation either). On the big company front, Amazon has gotten noticeably stronger, Microsoft continues to reinvent itself, Google keeps growing here, RealNetworks got a new boss, Facebook has a new Seattle office, and Twitter bought its first Seattle company (Cloudhopper).
So, in the end, this isn’t really farewell. It’s hello to a fresh new perspective for Xconomy Seattle from Thea and Luke, and a new perspective from me on how Seattle fits into the national technology picture. While I will be filing stories from the other side of the country, I certainly won’t forget the people here—especially those who have gone out of their way to help us, both personally and professionally. To all of our readers and supporters, I want to say thank you for an amazing couple of years. Now let’s keep it going.
