From Apptio to Zillow: Seattle 2.0 Announces Finalists for Startup Awards Bash

The Seattle area’s hippest celebration for local software and technology startups is gearing up for its big night. After receiving nearly 7,000 nominations for 11 “best of” categories in Seattle tech, media company Seattle 2.0 is announcing today the finalists for its annual awards show. (Disclosure: I am one of the 36 judges who helped select the finalists.)

Now you, the public, are invited to vote on the finalists starting today, to determine the winners. Community voting will be open until midnight on May 11; anyone can vote on the awards website.

The winners will be announced at the second annual Seattle 2.0 Awards event on May 19th at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle. Last year’s event was a smash hit and featured an inspirational talk by Glenn Kelman from Redfin. This year, the keynote speaker will be Jonathan Sposato, the former CEO of Seattle-based Picnik. Picnik, the popular Web-based photo editing startup, was acquired by Google last month in one of the biggest deals of the year. (You can read my interview with Sposato right after the acquisition here.)

Here is the complete list of categories and finalists (there are a lot of them). Good luck to all:

Best Startup: Apptio, BlueKai, BuddyTV, Cheezburger Network, Redfin.

Best Bootstrapped Startup: BigOven, Biznik, Bonanzle, HasOffers, Survey Analytics.

Best Nonprofit Startup: Jolkona, One Bus Away, Startup Weekend, TisBest, Vittana.

Best Startup CEO: Rich Barton (Zillow), Sunny Gupta (Apptio), Glenn Kelman (Redfin), Andy Liu (BuddyTV), Dave Schappell (TeachStreet).

Best Startup Technologist: Damon Cortesi (Untitled Startup), Joe Heitzeberg (WhitePages), Darrin Massena (Picnik/Google), Daryn Nakhuda (TeachStreet), Scott Porad (Cheezburger Network).

Best Startup Designer: Alex Berg (ex-Wetpaint), Greg Bowers (TeachStreet), Aviel Ginzburg (Untitled Startup), Jenny Lam (Jackson Fish Market), Matt Lerner (Front Seat).

Best Venture Capitalist: Geoff Entress (Voyager Capital), Michelle Goldberg (Ignition Partners), Greg Gottesman (Madrona Venture Group), Nick Hanauer (Second Avenue Partners), Andy Sack (Founder’s Co-Op).

Best Angel Investor: Bill Bryant, Clark Kokich, Andy Liu, Dan Rosen, Kelly Smith.

Best Service Provider to Startups: Pearl Chan (CFO Selections), Geir Hansen (Silicon Valley Bank), Eric Koester (Cooley Godward Kronish), Craig Sherman (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati), Joe Wallin (Davis Wright Tremaine).

Best Entrepreneur Blog: Inspired Startup by Andy Liu, Quick Sprout by Neil Patel, Redfin Blog by Glenn Kelman, Startup Front End by Tony Wright, Untitled Startup Blog by Damon Cortesi & Aviel Ginzburg.

Best Event for Startups: Hops & Chops by Dave Schappell & Daryn Nakhuda, STS Meetings by Chuck Groom & Gaurav Oberoi, TechFlash Live by John Cook, Todd Bishop & Eric Engleman, Ignite Seattle by Brady Forrest et al., Seattle Open Coffee by Andy Sack.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.