Decide Opens Shopping Site

Decide.com, a gadget-shopping site co-founded by University of Washington professor Oren Etzioni, is opening its doors to the public. Decide’s consumer pitch is taking the regret out of buying expensive electronics by trying to predict whether new models are coming out, or if prices might change in the near future—it’s no coincidence that Etzioni was founder of Farecast, an airfare prediction site that Microsoft bought for $115 million. Etzioni’s also a venture partner at Madrona Venture Group, which is among Decide’s investors. Other financial backers are Maveron and angel investors. Decide has raised some $8.5 million to date. Decide’s CEO is Mike Fridgen. Comparison shopping for consumer electronics is a pretty active area for entrepreneurs right now—Seattle’s Dan Shapiro recently sold his gadget-buying site Sparkbuy to Google, and sites like Shopobot and Retrevo are also based around helping consumers find the right prices for electronics.

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.