Category: Seattle

Cracking the Entrepreneur Code

[Editor’s Note: This article is a lightly edited transcript of a talk delivered by Ryan Howard, founder and CEO of Practice Fusion, at Morgenthaler Ventures’ DC to VC Healthcare IT Showcase on September 22, 2011.] At Practice Fusion, it took us three years to get to our first million dollars in revenue. Electronic health records … Continue reading “Cracking the Entrepreneur Code”

Five Lessons Immunex Taught Me

What happens when a biotech company disappears? We think that the Web remembers everything. Do a search on Wikipedia for Immunex and you get Amgen, with little mention of Immunex at all. The results of over 500 publications and several thousand employees over 20 years are pretty much invisible on the largest collection of facts … Continue reading “Five Lessons Immunex Taught Me”

Versant Ventures’ Partner Cuts Back on Biotech Work to Spend Time With Family. For Real

You learn early in journalism that when a business leader says he or she is resigning to “spend more time with family,” it’s usually baloney. Maybe they clashed with colleagues, got a better job somewhere else, or are bailing out from a sinking ship. The shades of gray are rarely discussed publicly. Yet Versant Ventures’ … Continue reading “Versant Ventures’ Partner Cuts Back on Biotech Work to Spend Time With Family. For Real”

Decide, Avalara, Brad Feld: Pre-Turkey Gems from the Seattle Tech Scene

In a remarkable test of will, I’m going to avoid any Thanksgiving-related puns and just dive straight into this wrapup of the past week in Xconomy Seattle’s tech headlines, covering everything from Black Friday shopping apps to the latest rumblings of possible doom from a local wireless company. —The crew at Seattle startup Decide made … Continue reading “Decide, Avalara, Brad Feld: Pre-Turkey Gems from the Seattle Tech Scene”

What Happens When a Herd of VCs Runs Away From Biotech? Highlights From Yesterday’s Tweetchat

[Corrected: 8:41 am ET] Turns out you can say a whole lot about the biotech venture capital crisis in 140 characters or less. Yesterday, Xconomy hosted a lively back-and-forth on the state of life sciences investing and innovation with guest Daphne Zohar (@daphnezohar), the founder and managing partner of Boston-based PureTech Ventures. I tried to … Continue reading “What Happens When a Herd of VCs Runs Away From Biotech? Highlights From Yesterday’s Tweetchat”

PBS NewsHour Features Xconomy in Report on Startup Accelerators

In a segment featured Tuesday night on the PBS NewsHour, correspondent Hari Sreenivasan brings an outsider’s curiosity to the strange, wonderful world of startup accelerators. The eight-minute report features Sreenivasan’s interviews with entrepreneurs and mentors at TechStars, AngelPad, and Y Combinator—archetypes of the venture incubator wave (or is it a bubble?) that we’ve been chronicling … Continue reading “PBS NewsHour Features Xconomy in Report on Startup Accelerators”

News Flash: Grass is Green, Sky is Blue, VCs are White Men

“Yeah, I love being famous. It’s almost like being white, y’know?”-Chris Rock On Monday, November 21, the National Venture Capital Association and Dow Jones VentureSource released the results of the 2011 Venture Census, which reported statistics about ethnicity, gender and other characteristics of the venture capital industry garnered from a poll that included 600 VC … Continue reading “News Flash: Grass is Green, Sky is Blue, VCs are White Men”

Cloud Vets Start PaperShare, Giving IT Pros a Better Place to Geek Out

What do you do with stuff that’s just too nerdy to discuss on Facebook? For some technical professionals, the answer still lies in sites that are very Web 1.0—long lists of links, few sharing functions, very basic design. Doug Brown knows this well. Since 1999 he’s been running the site DABCC, which focuses on a … Continue reading “Cloud Vets Start PaperShare, Giving IT Pros a Better Place to Geek Out”

7 Questions LPs Should Ask VCs (But Don’t)

It’s that time of year: annual investor meetings for limited partners (LPs). LPs are the people who fund venture firms and the general partners (GPs) are the people who lead them. At these meetings, LPs pour over general partners’ (GPs’) reports, calculate TVPI (total value: paid in)/ IRR (internal rate of return), digest confidential past … Continue reading “7 Questions LPs Should Ask VCs (But Don’t)”

Xconomist of the Week: Larry Smarr’s Quest for ‘Quantified Health’

A couple of months ago, the publisher and CEO of the weekly Strategic News Service Newsletter introduced an article by San Diego Xconomist Larry Smarr, saying, “This issue may be the most important Special Letter we have ever published.” Smarr’s 23-page article, which takes up the newsletter’s entire Sept. 26 issue, is part scientific paper … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Larry Smarr’s Quest for ‘Quantified Health’”

Join Us at Noon ET/9 am PT for a Tweetchat on the Biotech VC Crisis With Daphne Zohar

Just a quick reminder here to join us for the Tweetchat today with Daphne Zohar of PureTech Ventures. This chat, on the crisis in biotech venture capital, will be on Twitter today at Noon Eastern/9 am Pacific. I will be asking questions from @ldtimmerman and @xconomy while Zohar will be answering from her account (@daphnezohar).You … Continue reading “Join Us at Noon ET/9 am PT for a Tweetchat on the Biotech VC Crisis With Daphne Zohar”

Avalara Rockets Ahead with Sales Tax Software while Amazon, Big Retailers Battle

After a year of epic battles with politicians and brick-and-mortar competitors, Amazon.com has made sales-tax policy a relatively sexy topic in the business world. But another Seattle-area technology company has been working for years to navigate complex sales tax systems—and it’s growing like a weed. That company is Avalara. Started by an accountant/developer and based … Continue reading “Avalara Rockets Ahead with Sales Tax Software while Amazon, Big Retailers Battle”

Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter on Tackling the Pharmaceutical R&D Crisis (Part 2)

Yesterday, we ran the first installment of an interview with Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter, in which he says the pharmaceutical industry is breaking out of its current rut, and is beginning to get more productive at pumping out more innovative new drugs. Today, we follow up with the second half of the interview, which … Continue reading “Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter on Tackling the Pharmaceutical R&D Crisis (Part 2)”

Brad Feld’s Startup Advice: Your Company Is Your Product; Get People to Do the Right Thing

“You will have meltdowns on a regular basis. You will have those moments. Make sure you have people you can talk to when you have those moments.” That was Brad Feld, the tech entrepreneur-turned-venture-capitalist, on Friday afternoon, speaking to a room of Boston and New York entrepreneurs and angel investors, at an event organized by … Continue reading “Brad Feld’s Startup Advice: Your Company Is Your Product; Get People to Do the Right Thing”

Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter on Tackling the Pharmaceutical R&D Crisis (Part 1)

John Lechleiter has spent his entire 32-year career at Eli Lilly, and now he’s the CEO just as the company faces one of the bigger challenges in its history. Over a three-year stretch, Lilly will lose patent protection on five blockbuster drugs that generated $12.7 billion in sales last year—more than half of its revenues. … Continue reading “Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter on Tackling the Pharmaceutical R&D Crisis (Part 1)”

Melinda Moree Steps Down as CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health

Melinda Moree, the Seattle-based CEO of a group that serves as a liaison between for-profit biotech and nonprofit global health organizations, is moving on. Moree is stepping down as CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health, a nonprofit seeks to help develop biotech innovations like drugs, vaccines and diagnostics that can be applied in poor … Continue reading “Melinda Moree Steps Down as CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health”

Clearwire Debt, Artale’s Latest, Zoomingo Raises: Week-Ending Seattle News Tidbits

Three quick items from around the Seattle-area tech scene this week: —Clearwire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLWR]]) shares have fallen sharply again on word from new CEO Erik Prusch that the Kirkland, WA-based wireless provider could skip an upcoming debt payment. Prusch discussed that possible step in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The Associated Press and … Continue reading “Clearwire Debt, Artale’s Latest, Zoomingo Raises: Week-Ending Seattle News Tidbits”

How MiNeeds, a Local-Services Startup Run by Software Guys, Softened Up for Weddings

When the ex-Microsofties behind local services site MiNeeds thought about expanding their business, they got what seemed like weird advice. They had built their company as a resource to help people connect with service providers like plumbers, painters, accountants, and more. But when they looked to expand into wedding services, they found a niche that … Continue reading “How MiNeeds, a Local-Services Startup Run by Software Guys, Softened Up for Weddings”

My Immunex Remembrance: Getting Scooped on the Biggest Biotech Story of 2001

We’re less than two weeks away from our biggest Seattle biotech event of the year, “The Immunex Impact” on Dec. 1. As part of this event, I’ve enlisted a number of well-known veterans of Immunex—Dave Urdal, Stewart Parker, Steve Graham, Janis Wignall, Doug Williams and Patricia Beckmann—to share one of their favorite stories about the … Continue reading “My Immunex Remembrance: Getting Scooped on the Biggest Biotech Story of 2001”

Why Mint.com for Health Is a Terrible Idea, and How Keas Pivoted

If you’re a hammer, you just want to smash nails; if you’re a programmer, you just want to build features. But features do not a successful product make. This is the central myopia that eventually blinds even the most brilliant engineer-entrepreneurs, unless they’re smart enough to surround themselves with people who can check their bias. … Continue reading “Why Mint.com for Health Is a Terrible Idea, and How Keas Pivoted”

Eli Lilly Pumps $4M into IDRI to Continue Hunt for TB Drugs

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is increasing its bet on a small team of TB drug hunters in Seattle. Indianapolis-based Lilly (NYSE: [[ticker:LLY]]) said today it has agreed to provide $4.2 million over the next four and a half years to the Seattle-based Infectious Disease Research Institute to continue its efforts to discover drugs for tuberculosis. … Continue reading “Eli Lilly Pumps $4M into IDRI to Continue Hunt for TB Drugs”

Physio-Control Breaks Away From Medtronic, Via $487M Acquisition by Bain Capital

One of the venerable names of the Seattle life sciences cluster, Physio-Control, is going to stand on its own two legs once again with the help of some old friends from Bain Capital. Minneapolis-based Medtronic (NYSE: [[ticker:MDT]]) is announcing today an agreement to sell 100 percent of its ownership in Redmond, WA-based Physio-Control, the maker … Continue reading “Physio-Control Breaks Away From Medtronic, Via $487M Acquisition by Bain Capital”

Biopharmaceuticals: Nothing Compares to You

Are biotech and pharma companies doing well, or falling apart at the seams? People will have differences of opinion on this, but one thing is clear: it’s all relative. At a speech to a trade group in Philadelphia last month, James Greenwood, president of the biotechnology trade group BIO, asked the government to stop picking … Continue reading “Biopharmaceuticals: Nothing Compares to You”

Decide Debuts Price-Predicting iPhone App for Holiday Gadget Shoppers

You’ve really got to feel for people working in the retail trenches this time of year. Not only are they getting ready to deal with a blitz of savings-crazed shoppers, they now have to contend with smarty-pants consumers who can aim their smartphone at any piece of merchandise to see if that holiday deal really … Continue reading “Decide Debuts Price-Predicting iPhone App for Holiday Gadget Shoppers”

Predictions 2012

Which company will be next year’s big acquisition? Will the IPO market pick up? Find out the answers to these questions and more at the Washington Technology Industry Association’s annual predictions event. Frank Artale of Ignition Partners, Bruce Chizen of Voyager Capital, RealNetworks founder Rob Glaser, and Dan Rosen of the Alliance of Angels will … Continue reading “Predictions 2012”

Mobile Madness, Windows Phone, Clarisonic: Wrapping up Seattle Tech Headlines

This week’s wrapup of Xconomy Seattle tech headlines features two great entrepreneur/investors who will be featured at Mobile Madness Northwest, our action-packed half-day forum Dec. 6 at F5 Networks. We’re pairing up two people whose experiences span big-company products and proto-company startups: Wesley Chan of Google Ventures, and Charlie Kindel, formerly with Windows Phone (and a … Continue reading “Mobile Madness, Windows Phone, Clarisonic: Wrapping up Seattle Tech Headlines”

Join Us for a Live “Tweetchat” on the Biotech VC Crisis with Daphne Zohar of PureTech Ventures

The biotech VC world is in crisis. Just in the space of a few weeks, some venerable names have made some disturbing news. Prospect Venture Partners said it was unable to raise a new fund, Morgenthaler Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures said they are splitting off their life sciences teams to raise a new merged … Continue reading “Join Us for a Live “Tweetchat” on the Biotech VC Crisis with Daphne Zohar of PureTech Ventures”

A Look Ahead for Washington State’s Life Sciences Cluster

This Friday the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA) will release findings from its 2010 Economic Impact Report at their Governor’s Life Sciences Summit and WBBA Annual Meeting. With the sometimes volatile ups and downs of our industry, these findings have the potential to propel WBBA forward in both current and new initiatives and strategies … Continue reading “A Look Ahead for Washington State’s Life Sciences Cluster”

Intel Invests in Urban Airship, Inks Deal for Portable PC Apps

Those guys in Portland are pretty busy these days. Urban Airship, the Oregon-based supplier of push notifications and other services for mobile app developers, is being named today as one of the first two investments from a new $100 million mobile application-focused investment fund from the venture arm of tech giant Intel (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INTC]]). The … Continue reading “Intel Invests in Urban Airship, Inks Deal for Portable PC Apps”

TEDx Women: The Conversation Continues

Women in Bio, a biotech industry networking group for women, is helping organize the local version of TEDx Women on Dec. 1. For more information on the local event, and the international scope of what TEDx Women is working on that day, click here.

Windows Phone’s Good-Karma Strategy for Courting Developers

When it decided to attack the smartphone market with a new version of its mobile operating system, Microsoft did something that might sound a bit counterintuitive: Starting in last place, it dug the hole a little deeper. By tossing out the old version of Windows Mobile and starting anew, the company knew it would piss … Continue reading “Windows Phone’s Good-Karma Strategy for Courting Developers”

Google Ventures’ Wesley Chan: From Voice to VC, Speaking at Mobile Madness NW

As Wesley Chan puts it, he was working at Google when there were still doors for desks, dogs running wild, and tarps covering the computers to ward off leaks from the roof. These days, he’s working on scrappy startups again—but this time, it’s as a partner at Google Ventures, based at the company’s Seattle campus. … Continue reading “Google Ventures’ Wesley Chan: From Voice to VC, Speaking at Mobile Madness NW”

The Immunex Impact: A Trivia Quiz

Did you know that an Immunex employee once ended up swimming with the otters at the Seattle Aquarium during a company holiday party? Or that Immunex executives once mocked an uptight Big Pharma partner from Wayne, NJ by producing a video spoof on “Wayne’s World,” the comedy sketch from Saturday Night Live? Yes, these are … Continue reading “The Immunex Impact: A Trivia Quiz”

A Look Back on Three Years Of Life Sciences Growth, During an Economic Downturn

This week, The Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA) will host its Governor’s Life Sciences Summit and Annual Meeting. Nearly 1,000 leaders of Washington’s life sciences community are expected attend. The summit celebrates the importance of the life sciences industry to our state’s economic future, which is critical, as life sciences remains one of Washington’s … Continue reading “A Look Back on Three Years Of Life Sciences Growth, During an Economic Downturn”

Reinventing the Board Part II: The Role of the Chair in Increasing Board Effectiveness

Technology companies’ boards of directors need better leadership. I made a case last month about reinventing the board of directors by treating the board as a team and doing annual assessments against company needs. Boards that are structurally more aligned with their company’s operations are better able to help them achieve success-or at least reduce … Continue reading “Reinventing the Board Part II: The Role of the Chair in Increasing Board Effectiveness”

Zoomingo Lands $1,300,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5628478b-414f-4b47-8133-844a1b94e6bc&Preview=1 Date 11/15/2011 Company Name Zoomingo Mailing Address Undisclosed Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Zoomingo (which stands for “Zoom-in and go”) is a shopping discovery application that helps you find the best sales in local retail stores in town. Website http://www.zoomingo.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,300,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “Zoomingo Lands $1,300,000 New Funding”

PopCap Survey: Social Gamers Warming Up to Digital Goods

As more people turn to social networks for a video game fix, they’re also getting friendlier with the idea of forking over real cash for in-game virtual currency and items, according to a study commissioned by Seattle’s PopCap Games—the recent Electronic Arts acquisition that’s providing a lot of fuel for EA’s transition into more online … Continue reading “PopCap Survey: Social Gamers Warming Up to Digital Goods”

Hey, Where Is Everybody Going? The Flight from Healthcare Investing

If you are simply reading the paper or engaging in any random cocktail party conversation these days, it doesn’t take long before you are reading or talking about healthcare. Health and healthcare issues have been a dominant topic in the national media since the 2008 Presidential election and have been constantly in the news as … Continue reading “Hey, Where Is Everybody Going? The Flight from Healthcare Investing”

The Herman Cain-Inspired “1-100-0” Plan for Personalized Medicine?

You could feel Herman Cain’s presence last week on the biotech beat. And there was a lot of grousing about it. Cain, the Republican presidential candidate known for his simple 9-9-9 tax plan and some dubious extra-curricular activities, didn’t attend the Personalized Medicine Conference at Harvard Medical School. But a former advisor to President Obama, … Continue reading “The Herman Cain-Inspired “1-100-0” Plan for Personalized Medicine?”

Meridian Lands $1,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7f9db293-6772-4b09-a2e8-c5824eb4c821&Preview=1 Date 11/14/2011 Company Name Meridian Mailing Address 725 NW Flanders Street Portland, OR 97209 Company Description Meridian was developed by Spotlight Mobile, a leader in the next generation of location based apps. Founded in 2002 from the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at Cornell University, Spotlight Mobile has a passion for great user … Continue reading “Meridian Lands $1,000,000 New Financing”

VisibleBrands Obtains $2,544,312 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2557c243-9bd9-4263-a85c-d7fe713a879d&Preview=1 Date 11/14/2011 Company Name VisibleBrands Mailing Address Undisclosed Kirkland, WA 98083 Company Description Shoppers make purchase decisions while they are in the store, in the aisle. The Moment of Decision™ is what matters most, the moment where advertisers can have the most impact with their audience – and deliver the last … Continue reading “VisibleBrands Obtains $2,544,312 New Funding”

Klip: iPhone Video Sharing Refined to A High Art

Put high-quality cameras into devices with broadband wireless connections. Add powerful smartphone operating systems like iOS or Android and app-store ecosystems like iTunes and the Android Market. Mix in some sloth and disinterest on the part of established photo-sharing destinations like Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. Under these conditions, it was probably inevitable that entrepreneurs would … Continue reading “Klip: iPhone Video Sharing Refined to A High Art”

Startup Behind the Clarisonic Skin-Cleansing Brush Acquired by L’Oreal

The folks who put sonic wave technology in the Sonicare toothbrush have hit another homerun, and a major consumer brand couldn’t sit by and watch any longer. Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, the unassumingly named makers of the Clarisonic skin-cleansing brush, is being acquired by cosmetics powerhouse L’Oreal USA, the companies announced today. Terms were not disclosed, … Continue reading “Startup Behind the Clarisonic Skin-Cleansing Brush Acquired by L’Oreal”

Google Backs Startup Weekend, Tapping Nonprofit’s Global Network of Entrepreneurs

It’s already been a big year for Startup Weekend. Google wants to make sure the next two years are even more action-packed. The Seattle-based nonprofit, which helps entrepreneurs create prototype products through intense 54-hour hackathons, is announcing a new two-year sponsorship deal with Google today. The amount isn’t being disclosed, but Startup Weekend CEO Marc … Continue reading “Google Backs Startup Weekend, Tapping Nonprofit’s Global Network of Entrepreneurs”

Former Microsoftie Charlie Kindel Joins Mobile Madness NW—And Says Apps Are Dead

The first thing Charlie Kindel wants you to know about the buzzworthy mobile sector is that it’s actually “old, dead, and boring.” OK, so that’s kind of for shock value—Kindel, who recently left Microsoft after 21 years, will admit as much. After all, this comes from a guy whose last job was serving as a … Continue reading “Former Microsoftie Charlie Kindel Joins Mobile Madness NW—And Says Apps Are Dead”