companies (complementary to VC). Founder’s Co-op is blazing trails at the low end of seed-stage funding deals, by following an angel-like structure and getting in before most VCs will. TechStars is looking to replicate in Seattle the model of mentorship and seed-stage investment that it pioneered in Boulder and Boston. RevenueLoan is a new company and fund, backed by lead investor Voyager Capital, that is looking to invest in startups and get returns as a percentage of their revenues, rather than taking equity. All in all, entrepreneurs have more diverse options than they did a year or two ago.
2. “Gamification” of the Web
Thanks in part to the success of Zynga and Foursquare (or at least buzz) in making money from social video-game mechanics—virtual currencies, reward points, leader boards, and the like—every Internet entrepreneur and his brother (not to mention VCs) are staking out new territory in this field. But Seattle has a leg up on most regions, because of its extraordinarily rich talent pool in the gaming industry. Some companies to watch closely: BigDoor Media in software platforms for Web publishers, Bobber Interactive in financial services, Mindbloom in health and wellness, BuddyTV in fan sites, and Seattle’s current Web darling, Cheezburger Network, in humor and entertainment blogs.
3. New kinds of e-commerce
This thing called Amazon.com keeps growing. They don’t talk to the press. They don’t talk about competitors. They don’t really talk to anyone. But they keep focusing on customers, selling more of other people’s products, shipping more Kindles, and doing it all quickly and reliably. The Amazon ecosystem, including its wealthy alums, is now poised to lead the next wave of startups. Meanwhile, a new generation of independent companies like Bonanzle (marketplace for niche items), Tippr (group buying platform), Zulily (private sales), and 1000Markets (handcrafted gifts) are out making their names in new territories.
4. “Boring” old enterprise software
Sometimes boring is good—like when you’re trying to make money, not lose it. Last I checked, Microsoft still dominates the engineering talent pool around Seattle. No surprise then that making software for big businesses continues to be a major strength of the region. Here are some small companies that are not necessarily sexy, but are helping businesses be more efficient in crucial areas of IT: Apptio, Winshuttle, Verdiem, Dexterra, Jetstream Software, Smartsheet, Napera Networks, and ExtraHop Networks (just to name a few). Meanwhile, don’t take your eye off of bigger companies like Isilon Systems, Concur Technologies, and F5 Networks—they seem to be killing it these days.
5. Wildcard technologies
These are the high-risk, high-reward companies that are trying to make technological breakthroughs in a number of fields outside of software. Here are just a few examples: Modumetal, MicroGreen Polymers, and EnerG2 in nanotech and advanced materials for applications ranging from construction and transportation to consumer markets and defense. LaserMotive in beaming power wirelessly to everything from unmanned aircraft to futuristic space elevators. Cray in pushing the state of the art in supercomputing. TerraPower in fundamentally reshaping the future of nuclear energy. And did I mention geo-engineering to combat climate change, hurricane stopping, and malaria interventions from Intellectual Ventures? Even if only one of these far-out projects succeeds, it will change society forever.
So it seems like the Seattle tech community is very much in the race to change the world. We’ll be watching closely to see which companies pan out, and which ones fade away.
