Seattle 2.0 Blog

October 1, 2007

MON 1 OCT 2007

SSI: Seattle Startup Index (October/2007 edition) By Marcelo Calbucci

 

    Another time to a monthly Seattle Startup Index. I was publishing the list at the last day of each month and decided to publish it on the first instead. This means this list is called October/2007, while we didn't have a September/2007.

 

    The list grew significantly this month to 188 startups, up 15 from last month. We continue to use the combined Alexa and Compete ranking.

 

    Notable growth this month was Noonhat (up 42), FlowPlay (up 31), FinancialJoe (up 30) and Should Do This (up 30). On the downside the biggest movers were Positive Motion (down 52), Pheromone Trail (down 51) and Postacrime (down 45).

 

    This list is made of companies that meet the following criteria: Startup (less than years-old), not public companies, from the Puget Sound region and are on the Technology/Internet space.

 

    The average of the top 50 startups (SSI50) has dropped this month.

 

    SSI50: 44,538 (2,074 )

 

   

 

#	Company	Alexa Rank	Compete Rank	Average Rank	Index Change
1	Intelius	2,970	107	1,538	+1
2	Zillow	2,484	756	1,620	-1
3	iLike	3,043	1,055	2,049	+1
4	43 Things (Robot Co-op)	3,271	1,504	2,387	-1
5	BuddyTV	4,948	1,873	3,410	-
6	Wetpaint	5,963	4,448	5,205	+1
7	Newsvine	4,432	6,019	5,225	-1
8	PayScale	15,397	2,202	8,799	-
9	Jobster	17,818	3,524	10,671	-
10	BlueDot	8,856	12,714	10,785	+2
11	Farecast	21,938	2,761	12,349	-1
12	Mpire	26,375	2,895	14,635	-1
13	SnapVine	31,612	2,574	17,093	-
14	Judy's Book	30,113	4,948	17,530	-
15	Bag Borrow or Steal	33,784	2,368	18,076	-
16	Redfin	17,529	18,961	18,245	+1
17	Picnik	19,009	20,794	19,901	-1
18	Trailfire	31,161	16,303	23,732	+5
19	GarageBand.com	27,810	21,297	24,553	-
20	ProgrammableWeb	17,938	31,662	24,800	-
21	Twango	23,949	25,708	24,828	-
22	ImageKind	23,491	26,940	25,215	-
23	Shelfari	16,563	33,906	25,234	+3
24	Ohloh	21,013	29,787	25,400	+1
25	43 Places (Robot Co-op)	35,830	18,553	27,191	-7
26	JamGlue	46,477	23,902	35,189	+4
27	Urban Spoon	53,048	26,922	39,985	-
28	Trumba	74,761	11,546	43,153	-
29	Sampa	43,606	47,554	45,580	+4
30	Atomic Moguls	88,280	11,322	49,801	+1
31	BigOven	93,557	10,181	51,869	+11
32	Menuism	92,670	17,317	54,993	-
33	Yapta	90,728	26,432	58,580	-4
34	Jott Network	63,747	53,948	58,847	+5
35	BeRecruited	99,027	22,917	60,972	+2
36	Findory	72,523	50,400	61,461	-2
37	Lists Of Bests (Robot Co-Op)	89,560	38,857	64,208	+1
38	Popshops	54,383	109,012	81,697	-2
39	All Consuming (Robot Co-Op)	110,518	58,472	84,495	+1
40	MyTypes	52,895	118,768	85,831	+1
41	Mixxer	92,933	78,732	85,832	-17
42	Avvo	98,294	77,650	87,972	-7
43	Broadband Sports	114,866	66,387	90,626	+3
44	NewsCloud	91,357	102,790	97,073	+4
45	GotVoice	156,429	39,154	97,791	-
46	Pluggd	114,032	83,683	98,857	+9
47	Should Do This (Robot Co-Op)	118,647	82,776	100,711	+30
48	RealSelf	161,366	47,977	104,671	+3
49	Healia	182,851	29,485	106,168	-
50	Cozi	186,449	33,730	110,089	+2
51	Wishpot	107,168	113,092	110,130	-4
52	Biznik	101,329	134,972	118,150	-2
53	TripHub	180,753	62,953	121,853	+1
54	LexBlog	191,682	97,188	144,435	+4
55	PhoneSherpa	187,660	118,668	153,164	+1
56	SmartSheet	219,188	120,470	169,829	+4
57	PeepCode	137,615	208,786	173,200	+2
58	Down2night	151,253	197,577	174,415	-1
59	ReelTime	74,940	277,240	176,090	+17
60	Mercent	335,252	37,218	186,235	+4
61	Thrift Books	348,309	54,492	201,400	+4
62	ZooDango	200,489	211,970	206,229	+4
63	nPost	242,093	204,101	223,097	-1
64	EyeJot	191,615	257,219	224,417	+7
65	Jackson Fish Market	246,773	212,533	229,653	-2
66	Etelos	277,724	192,588	235,156	+1
67	Earth Class Mail	140,473	332,935	236,704	-23
68	Zoji	155,346	323,837	239,591	+1
69	Estately	230,462	272,597	251,529	+1
70	Versionate	197,855	305,219	251,537	-9
71	They're Beautiful	118,321	386,307	252,314	-28
72	WebFives	270,754	266,117	268,435	(new)
73	Robot Co-op (43 Things)	348,512	191,847	270,179	+10
74	AdReady	390,013	175,738	282,875	-
75	Ripl	426,190	168,938	297,564	+13
76	RescueTime	331,385	271,301	301,343	-4
77	Instacalc	449,656	159,193	304,424	+8
78	Noonhat	481,803	178,601	330,202	+42
79	Treemo	280,309	384,241	332,275	-11
80	goChongo	133,963	562,385	348,174	-1
81	PixPulse	295,754	406,736	351,245	-6
82	MegaBuzz	277,526	449,362	363,444	-29
83	Peppers and Pollywogs	655,700	84,468	370,084	+6
84	ActiveWords	478,990	264,106	371,548	(new)
85	SecondSpace	358,100	394,461	376,280	-4
86	SNAPforSeniors	575,744	212,400	394,072	-13
87	PrestoGifto	540,444	326,032	433,238	+3
88	Jookster	457,581	414,717	436,149	+3
89	ZenZui	520,681	354,784	437,732	-5
90	FlowPlay	434,539	469,197	451,868	+31
91	Pelago	559,526	348,969	454,247	+7
92	MixPo	313,972	606,656	460,314	-10
93	Scriptovia	448,047	506,495	477,271	(new)
94	Others Online	296,736	665,040	480,888	-14
95	SportsUltra	793,013	174,442	483,727	(new)
96	TrenchMice	683,455	285,900	484,677	+26
97	Linebuzz	599,573	400,144	499,858	-19
98	Wishlisting	581,558	427,490	504,524	(new)
99	HomeMovie	529,248	550,523	539,885	-5
100	Bus Monster	782,848	456,095	619,471	+5
101	TalentSpring	909,768	366,283	638,025	-5
102	Musicmobs	636,307	663,257	649,782	-16
103	Blist	729,852	569,983	649,917	+10
104	LiveMocha	539,568	760,291	649,929	+3
105	Medio Systems	644,559	659,897	652,228	-13
106	Openomy	480,904	870,025	675,464	-7
107	GridNetworks	596,772	763,241	680,006	-20
108	Yodio	1,093,142	278,289	685,715	-7
109	Bill Monk	498,894	873,822	686,358	-7
110	Inrix	750,733	641,730	696,231	-17
111	HelpShare	758,833	642,571	700,702	-16
112	XoomPad	749,066	773,484	761,275	-12
113	TeachStreet	1,122,368	419,361	770,864	(new)
114	SnapTune	1,139,430	562,567	850,998	-8
115	GeoJoey	1,155,936	550,512	853,224	-7
116	Weedshare	1,552,559	230,918	891,738	-13
117	Catch the Best	1,221,654	592,050	906,852	-7
118	OwnYourPhone	1,308,364	527,819	918,091	(new)
119	MobIncentive	1,273,409	621,743	947,576	-22
120	Overcast Media	1,310,636	600,918	955,777	+6
121	FinancialJoe	1,507,387	497,321	1,002,354	+30
122	Minecode	1,275,026	991,147	1,133,086	(new)
123	Melodeo	1,571,835	704,203	1,138,019	-19
124	Zumende	1,558,696	802,066	1,180,381	+3
125	Ontela	1,622,062	771,605	1,196,833	-16
126	LiquidPlanner	1,786,024	674,360	1,230,192	+28
127	Cdigix	1,657,414	878,950	1,268,182	-13
128	CoolToors	1,903,247	710,960	1,307,103	(new)
129	TextPayMe	1,933,923	744,988	1,339,455	-14
130	Appature	2,006,001	778,446	1,392,223	(new)
131	Illumita	2,723,005	785,233	1,754,119	+9
132	Altus Networks	2,978,744	869,124	1,923,934	+10
133	Knouen	3,629,065	778,774	2,203,919	+23
134	Phrasetrain	4,238,217	523,905	2,381,061	+12
135	Goose Networks	4,238,404	633,292	2,435,848	(new)
136	Lilipip	5,175,425	980,136	3,077,780	-19
137	Collab-O-Matic	7,763,090	719,604	4,241,347	+20
138	Investment Yogi	325,344	?	-	-19
139	UberSquare	687,096	?	-	-11
140	Synapse	840,418	?	-	-17
141	PageForest	844,809	?	-	-12
142	Bioscreencast	1,040,474	?	-	(new)
143	Tesly	1,077,239	?	-	-13
144	Trusera	1,198,498	?	-	-19
145	Fyreball	1,408,229	?	-	-11
146	ShackPrices.com	1,851,844	?	-	-22
147	CampusChai	1,877,175	?	-	-11
148	SongSlide	1,968,655	?	-	-13
149	Biego	1,977,298	?	-	-8
150	SchoolSoft	1,995,484	?	-	-13
151	Thinglefin	2,108,347	?	-	-12
152	Zeenami	2,293,302	?	-	(new)
153	Limeade	2,412,632	?	-	-22
154	Conenza	2,455,105	?	-	-43
155	Trendi	2,701,624	?	-	-22
156	GoGoMo	3,109,796	?	-	-13
157	Postacrime	3,134,697	?	-	-45
158	TrustedWord	3,206,171	?	-	-14
159	Style du Jour	3,355,100	?	-	-14
160	TravellingWave	3,355,227	?	-	-22
161	imaPodHead	3,432,320	?	-	-14
162	Beet Inc.	3,452,455	?	-	-14
163	ClayValet	3,760,975	?	-	-10
164	GimmeNow	4,382,531	?	-	-1
165	Spoken	4,450,708	?	-	(new)
166	SiteScout	4,470,923	?	-	-14
167	Digini	4,528,572	?	-	-18
168	Positive Motion	4,927,098	?	-	-52
169	Pheromone Trail	6,173,095	?	-	-51
170	PeerWisdom	6,515,730	?	-	-38
171	Human Proxy	7,129,646	?	-	-5
172	Icebraker	7,786,239	?	-	-22
173	Accelerated Pictures	9,676,166	?	-	-15
174	SwitchGear	?	?	-	-1
175	Grads Wanted	?	?	-	-4
176	Joingle	?	?	-	-15
177	Grouped.com	?	?	-	-5
178	VoxPixel	?	?	-	-19
179	DigWorks	?	?	-	-10
180	Fremont Forward	?	?	-	-15
181	ExtraHop Networks	?	?	-	-11
182	Super Oyester	?	?	-	-15
183	Limber Media	?	?	-	-23
184	izzyMe	?	?	-	(new)
185	NimbleBee	?	?	-	-30
186	iCultur	?	?	-	(new)
187	SyngerG Software	?	?	-	-23
188	Zeebits	?	?	-	-20

 

MON 1 OCT 2007

StartPad.org: Resources for Seattle Entrepreneurs By Marcelo Calbucci

 

    Mike Koss has created a new organization called StartPad.org, focused on helping entrepreneurs with the necessary resources to make their idea into a product.

 

    Check out: http://startpad.org

 

 

October 11, 2007

THU 11 OCT 2007

AoA: Alumni Event 2: Building a Team By Marcelo Calbucci

 

Event: Alliance of Angels Alumni Event: Building a Team 

 

Date: October 25, 2007

 

Time: 4:30 - 6:30 PM

 

Venue: Rainier Tower, Seattle

 

Price: Free - Only Alumni of AoA luncheon meetings

 

Presenters: Jeremy Jaech (Trumba), Glenn Kelman (Redfin), John Cook (Seattle P-I).

October 15, 2007

MON 15 OCT 2007

Company DNA By Janis Machala

I am in the process of forming a company out of technology from
the University of Washington where 6 different academics
contributed to the patent portfolio. Two are mechanical engineers,
two are biomedical engineers, and two are radiology diagnosticians
and imaging techies. It’s been very slow going getting this many founders
together on the various topics and issues around company formation.
Only 1 of the professors/scientists is to be part of the company on a full-
time basis and he is now wavering on coming on board due to the risks
inherent in a startup.

 

His recommendation was finding someone to replace him as soon as
possible so he could go back to China and do something else, that the
company needed to live on beyond his involvement. What that does
not take into account is the company’s founding soul and DNA. Who is
the core of the company and brings it into formation with respect to
values? Can I do this? Sure. But I am not the full-time CEO, we will be
hiring someone and that person won’t be around for many months yet.

It made me think about for how long the company equals the founders
and the founders represent the totality of the company. One part of me
says it’s probably a year before there’s enough critical mass of people to
make it seem like a separate entity from the founding team.

 

However, what I deep down believe after many many years in building
startups and working with founders and seeing company evolution is
that there’s never really a separation. The founders’ fingerprints, foot-
prints, and DNA are always on the company and there’s never a time it
goes completely away. That’s why when you think about working for a
startup or joining with founders as an executive team member, look to
the founders and how they view the world.

 

Think Google founders and the “Do no evil” mantra they espouse. Think
about how developers rule at Google, even after many hundreds and
thousands of business people being hired. Even if the two founders left
today, that fabric would stay behind. Ask long time Microsoft employees
about how Steve/Bill that company is, even after all the decades in
existence.

 

DNA’s a good thing, though. It lets you know what the rules are and the path
that will be the “right” one. Listen to how the founders talk, send email, act
in meetings and you know what will and won’t be accepted. It will let you
know whether it’s a place you can thrive and have fun or drown and be
miserable. Every person can assess how they will or won’t be successful or
effective given how the company’s founders have made their marks and set
the pace/tone/inner clock.

 

----

Janis Machala is the Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Partners.

 

October 17, 2007

WED 17 OCT 2007

Why Seattle's So Great for Entrepreneurship By Janis Machala

I love the Seattle startup scene. I think we have a really unique culture that makes us a special place to build companies. Part of it is the natural beauty of our surroundings but part of it is the culture of our people.

 

Seattle’s a terrific place to recruit people to. We have wonderful recreation, a great economy, many choices for types of lifestyle. Are we affordable? Some would say “not so much.” But in fact given the salaries of high tech workers and the wealth that’s been created from so many successful startups, we are probably not too
bad from an ability to live well perspective.

 

Seattle has a wonderfully collegial startup environment. It isn’t “I win, he loses.” It’s “If you win, that’s good for all of us.” People are willing to share their experiences for how they did something or learned a lesson on something not to do.

 

I’ve been working with two founders on a stealth company that we’re not ready to share with the world quite yet. However, we have been bringing many serial entrepreneurs into the fold to show them what we’re doing and to get feedback on the idea, technology, business model. It’s been a wonderful experience as these very busy people (many of them are out getting funding for their own company right now or deep in product  development cycles or with pressures of VCs to answer to over revenue commitments…) have been so giving and willing to see the product, offer advice, and make introductions. And with no expectation of what they might get out of it.

 

I think why we’re unique is our sheer collective joy and enthusiasm for company
founding and in working together to make our state a world class startup culture. I hear this reiterated from serial entrepreneurs I have met here who have moved via acquisition or lifestyle choice from Atlanta, Boston, San Diego, Texas, and Silicon Valley. They all share how open we have been to them and their endeavors.

 

What does this mean? Use the community to recruit cofounders and exec team members and employees. Use fellow CEOs for introductions to angels and VCs. Find companies who might have similar customers and get them to endorse your technology or introduce you to the decision makers you need to reach. One CEO had his VP Sales sit down with a client of ours and lay out their sales pipeline and current customers and brainstorm what would be the ideal beta sites to have him help my client recruit. What gold there was in that  conversation and door opening. He just wanted to see another company behind him get further up the curve faster than he did.

 

Maybe it’s all the coffee shops and gathering spots we have. Maybe it’s free WiFi at
Tully’s. Maybe it’s a better work life balance culture that supports civic mindedness
and doesn’t yell “what’s in it for me.” All I know is that I am grateful to be part of this tremendously vibrant startup community.

 

 

----

Janis Machala is the Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Partners.

Week 42 of 2007

Event: Seattle Tech Startups Meeting 9 months ago
Event: Intuit's Ready, Set, Start! 9 months ago
NWEN: Pub Night 9 months ago
NWEN: Business Plan Writing Workshop 9 months ago
Deadline for TiE's Funding Forum Event 9 months ago
Stats for the last 30 days 9 months ago

Week 43 of 2007

Waiting for our industry to catch up 9 months ago
Looking for a job at a Startup? 9 months ago
MITEF: Building a Scalable Business 9 months ago
NWEN: October Think Tank - Carbon Taxes and "Green" Business 9 months ago

Week 44 of 2007

Tips for your message to get past the Spam Filter 9 months ago
NWEN: Venture Breakfast - Avvo and Expedia 9 months ago
Is your startup listed here? 9 months ago