Recent posts and comments

• Why Vulcan, Google, and ATV Are Backing AltaRock Energy, Betting on Next-Gen Geothermal

  Geothermal is one of those energy sources that you know is there, but you don’t hear about much. Until it comes rushing to the surface, as it did with this week’s... Read more »

• Konnects Rolls Out New Business-Networking Site, Looks for Sweet Spot Between LinkedIn and Facebook

  Every day it seems I learn of another fast-growing Web software startup in the Seattle area. Today, I discovered Tacoma, WA-based Konnects is launching a new user interface for its social-networking... Read more »

• Non-Competes Could Explain Rise and Fall of Boston’s Route 128 Vs. Silicon Valley, Study Says—But Not Everyone Buys the Lessons

  When it comes to non-compete clauses in employment contracts, it seems timing is everything. In the early stages of a tech industry, keeping employees from jumping ship and working for competitors... Read more »

• At One Million Wikis and Counting, Wetpaint Wants To Make Every Website Social

  When I first arrived in Seattle a few months ago, I’d already heard a lot about Wetpaint. Called “stars in the consumer wiki space” and a “power to the people”... Read more »

• Latest Imperium Woes Could Spell Trouble for the Biodiesel Market

  It’s been a rough year for Imperium Renewables, the Seattle-based refiner of biodiesel fuel. Back in December, CEO Martin Tobias abruptly resigned and left the board, just weeks before the... Read more »

• Dendreon Proceeds With Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials, AXI Gets Oil from Algae, PATH Prepares to Launch “Ultra Rice,” & More Deals News

  It may be the dog days of August—a sweltering, 90-degree weekend in the Northwest?— but there was still a trickle of action last week in biotech, biofuels, and software. We’ll see... Read more »

• If Your Startup Isn’t Moving, It’s Probably Dying—and Other Insights from a McKinsey Director

  Bob Felton has been there, done that. Growing up in a farm town in Eastern Washington, the son of a migrant construction worker, he was the first in his family to... Read more »

• Voyager Capital, Maveron Expand South

  Seattle-based venture firms Voyager Capital and Maveron have made some West Coast additions. Voyager announced it has opened an office in Portland, OR, staffed by new venture partner Diane Fraiman, formerly... Read more »

• Backed by Washington Venture Firms, Connecticut’s InstallFree Could Help Remake the Fabric of Computing

  Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about how software startups don’t need as much venture capital as they used to. But someone forgot to tell Stamford, CT-based InstallFree, which last... Read more »

• Busting the “Idea Investor” Myth, and Other Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

  “Startups are desirable again,” says Tony Wright. That sums up the feeling I get whenever I meet with innovators and investors these days. We’re sitting at the Caffe Umbria in Pioneer... Read more »

• 1Cast Raises Cash, Announces Beta

  Kirkland, WA-based 1Cast, an online news and information delivery service, announced it has raised its first round of funding, which was led by Eagle River Holdings. 1Cast plans to launch... Read more »

• University of Washington, Allied Minds Team Up to Launch Biofuel Company, AXI

  I first heard of a Seattle startup called Voltan Biofuel two months ago, when I talked to Jim Roberts, head of business development at UW Tech Transfer’s LaunchPad, a program... Read more »

• Dendreon Gives Update on Clinical Trials of Prostate Cancer Drug

  As Luke reported a couple weeks ago, Seattle-based Dendreon is in the midst of a crucial clinical trial of its cancer drug, Provenge, against prostate cancer. Interim results from 500... Read more »

• GalleryPlayer Down, But Is It Out?

  Last spring, Wade wrote about Seattle-based GalleryPlayer’s software, which allows users to display high-resolution photos and artwork on HDTVs. Now GalleryPlayer has apparently “ceased operations” as of July 30, as... Read more »

• Healionics Gets Kudos in Congress, Contracts from Companies

  When I stopped by Buddy Ratner’s office at the University of Washington yesterday, he looked like a proud papa. He had just gotten word that the National Science Foundation, in a... Read more »

• Microsoft Entertains Idea of Funding Startups, Probably Won’t Take the Plunge

  Last week I highlighted Kevin Merritt’s original blogpost in which he proposed that Microsoft develop a Y Combinator-like program to fund early-stage startups. Merritt also posted a follow-up in which he... Read more »

• Tatango Cracks Top-100 Area Websites

  Bellingham, WA-based Tatango, a mobile-applications startup focused on text-messaging to groups, rose 77 spots to #91 in this month’s edition of the Seattle Startup Index. Other big gains were... Read more »

• Software Startups No Longer Need As Much Venture Capital, Says Founder of RescueTime

  Venture financing—who needs it? Not early-stage software and Web startups, if you ask Tony Wright. I sat down with the serial entrepreneur and founder of Seattle-based RescueTime yesterday, and he had... Read more »

• Verdiem Encourages the “Greening” of Personal Computers, Starting with Yours

  I’ll admit it. The planet would be better off if you stopped reading this and shut down your computer. That’s because your desktop or laptop PC wastes roughly half the energy... Read more »

• How To Save Microsoft, and Other Valuable Insights from Blist

  OK, it’s taken me a few weeks, but I finally have a chance to highlight a couple of entries in a local blog I’ve been following. It’s from the guys at... Read more »