From the frontiers of modern multi-channel commerce to business intelligence deep inside networking infrastructure, another generation of Seattle innovators is pushing out boundaries to find new insights and opportunities.
But what does it take to build an innovative company on those first key insights and ideas? That’s the central question we will answer through a series of interactive conversations with the founders and early investors of three high-performing and diverse Seattle technology companies during our upcoming event, Xconomy Xchange: Beauty and the Data Beast—Seattle Innovation Stories, on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Impact Hub Seattle.
GraphLab Inc. has quickly amassed a squad of data science, machine learning, and distributed computing experts that any tech startup would salivate over. They’re flocking to a company with a very ambitious agenda of making scalable tools for building predictive applications that draw on enormous data sets. There’s a good story about how GraphLab ended up in Seattle, and it bodes well for the city as a leading center for data-centric applications and systems. There’s a better story about what GraphLab is poised to do with all that talent. We’ll hear from founder and CEO Carlos Guestrin, the Amazon Professor of Machine Learning at University of Washington, and Matt McIlwain, managing director at Madrona Venture Group, an early backer of GraphLab, and Seattle’s most -active venture firm across a diverse range of industries and companies. (In fact, Madrona has backed all three of the companies in our program.)
ExtraHop‘s technology helps businesses look at the petabytes of so-called wire data coursing through the various servers, switches, and other equipment and software that make up modern IT infrastructure. Hidden in the bedrock are insights into not only IT management and optimization, but new ways to measure and analyze core business functions. The company builds on Seattle’s enterprise IT infrastructure legacy from F5 Networks, where co-founders Raja Mukerji and Jesse Rothstein hail from, and Isilon Systems, founded by ExtraHop investor and board member Sujal Patel. We’ll hear from CEO Rothstein and Patel about the road ahead for this fast-growing company, which earlier this year attracted $41 million from investors including Technology Crossover Ventures, known to be a backer of tech firms headed for the public markets. We’ll also hear perspective from Patel on the new generation of IT infrastructure and enterprise data storage companies forming in Seattle.
Julep has attracted $56 million from leading venture capitalists to build out a modern consumer-facing company distinguished by its rapid development and delivery of new beauty products, informed by its social-media and real-world interactions with customers. We’ll hear the story of how Julep is taking a “full-stack approach” to upend the beauty industry from co-founder and CEO Jane Park, who founded the company in 2007 after heading new ventures at Starbucks. Joining her on stage will be Jason Stoffer, a partner at leading consumer venture firm Maveron—an early investor in Julep—to share his perspective on the company’s journey and broader trends in e-commerce and venture investing.
Each founder-investor pair will tell their story in a 25-minute fireside chat with time for audience questions. Join us for networking, drinks, and hors d’oeuvres afterwards.
Find more information about the speakers and logistics on our event page, and register now for your best deal on tickets to the event. We look forward to seeing you there!
