Startup Seattle

For this episode, we sought to throw some light on data science and data scientists, a trending position in modern companies. We are excited to bring you an episode with Widad Machmouchi, a Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft. She may have ended up in Washington DC but Seattle lucked out in becoming her home. Widad and I talk about

• What does a Data Scientist do?
• Understanding Machine Learning with an example
• A/B Testing
• How she evaluates companies on AI/ML/data-driven claims
• Skills such as "Math Maturity" that one should get to enter Data Science

Harish is a junior in the Tesla STEM school in Redmond, WA. I found about his deep interest in astrophotography last year and saw many of his brilliant images on Instagram. I was curious to explore his journey and to my delight, he was ready to share. I hope you enjoy this special episode.

Harish is active on Instagram and his handle is hk.astro. He has promised to create a web site with his images soon.

Suresh Kumar is the Global CTO and Chief Development Officer of Walmart.

The highlights of the conversation

• How being curious and passionate helped him. He encourages one to follow those traits.
• A few management secrets such as connecting the dots.
• How AI and ML is being used at Walmart to deliver valuable customer experiences and increase efficiency.
• Pros and Cons of Technology expansion in our lives 

Suresh is an articulate speaker and there is a lot to take away from this episode. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed producing it.

"Climate Change is THE problem that all problems report to"

"Climate Change is an existential problem for us over next 20 years"

To budding entrepreneurs, "Do something that matters"

In this discussion, Geoff shares his insights on

• Skills he needed to make a move into Venture Capital investing
• Evaluating AI/ML Companies with skill
• Attributes of a successful founder
• His firm's focus on Pacific Northwest Founders

Mentions - Seattle Angel Conference, Alliance of Angels, Pike Place, RedSox, Pike Place, Home Recording Studio

Enjoy this discussion, where we talk about

• What is contributing to modern day housing crisis and ways to solve it?
• Zoning as a development issue
• Blokable's end to end approach to modular housing
• Complexity in real estate development
• Blokable's advantages
• & more...

Blokable is at www.blokable.com and you can follow Aaron on Twitter @aahholm

Biologics are a hot trend and have been proven to treat many diseases. If you watch TV, you have seen those ubiquitous Humira ads.  

In this episode, Brian answers our questions on

• Why Biologics matter
• Manufacturing challenges
• Lumen's unique approach
• Life Science vs Technology Startup 
• & more...

Yay, we made it to 20 episodes!

Ryan Dibble is COO and Founding Member of FlyHomes. FlyHomes was founded to focus on the buyer's experience.

Ryan shares with us

• His work focus at the growth stage of FlyHomes
• Current trends (temporary and permanent) trends shaping the real estate market
• Flyhomes as a one stop for Buyers
• How technology is powering home buying
• & more

Shirish Nadkarni is a three time founder (TeamOn, LiveMocha, Zoomingo) and the author of a new book - From Startup to Exit. He is also very actively involved with TiE Seattle and it's startup initiatives.

Shirish shares with us

• His thoughts on achieving product market fit
• Inspiration for his new book and deciding scope of book
• Challenges to tackle in growth phase and the importance of culture
• Maintaining focus
• Skill that Startup Founders should gain
• & more

Bryan Hale is a Managing Director of the AI2 Incubator Program at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

We talked about

• Why we need to pay attention to AI
• The role played by the AI2 Incubator
• Why he joined AI2
• How to get prepared for AI?
• Diversity in AI
• & more

Suresh Kotha is a Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at UW Foster School of Business

We talked about

• Suresh becoming an accidental Professor
• What they teach in the various Entrepreneurship programs in Foster School
• Crossing the Idea to Opportunity Chasm
• What's Entrepreneurial Thinking
• Diversity
• Seattle Startup Ecosystem
• & more

Tami Fujii is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Kinona. Kinona specializes in golf apparel for women. We talked about

• Motivation to found Kinona
• Early customer Discovery and Design
• The challenges of navigating the company during COVID
• Mind of a marketer
• Brand Strategy
• & more

Joe Wallin is a Principal at Carney Law and a leading startup lawyer in Seattle. We talked about

• Hot topics in early stage companies and ecosystem
• Key developments in last decade for startup funding and company formation
• Use of AI in Law. Issues with AI entering mainstream
• Seattle startup scene from his vantage point
• Advice for some entering law (it was brutal:-))
• Role of Crypto and emerging decentralized landscape
• & more

Craig Evans is CEO of Oregon based Energy Storage Systems (ESS), a leader in long duration energy storage solutions

We talk about

• Role of long duration energy storage in power grids
• ESS's Tech advantage with the Iron Flow Battery System
• Challenges in building an energy company
• Managing a company as a couple founding team
• His advice to early stage entrepreneurs
• & more

Dr Bradley Younggren, an Iraq war veteran talks about how his battlefield experience shaped his interest in applying technology innovations to health care. He is Chief Medical Officer of 98Point6 and Emergency Physician and Evergreen Health in Kirkland WA. We talk about

• Using technology advancements to revolutionize primary care via 98point6
• Being in ground zero for COVID response in Kirkland, WA
• Why Physicians love to work at 98Point6
• Why more healthcare startups need to be created
• & his inspirations

Vetri Vellore is a second time entrepreneur and is the Founder and CEO of Ally.io. They offer an OKR platform for enterprises. In this episode, hear Vetri share his thoughts on

• Recent Trends in the nature of work in companies, small and large
• How OKR's (Objectives and Key Results) differ from other goal setting systems
• Sparking a culture change in companies
• Early Surprises for Ally
• Is there a bear case for distributed development?
• Advice for someone wanting to start their own business
• & more…

Isaac Kato is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and now serves as the Managing Director of Techstars Seattle. In this episode, we talk about

• His adventures in Iceland with an exciting stint as founder of a Green data center company
• How Techstars is run, their current diversity focus and adapting to the pandemic
• His timeframe for autonomous driving

As a bonus, we conclude with a short Iceland trivia.

Enjoy!

Gregg Bennett is a prolific Angel Investor, company incubator and Vice Chairman of the Board at Alliance of Angels. In this episode with Startup Seattle, Gregg shares his

• Serendipitous entry to Angel investing
• Reasons for Angel investing
• How he sizes up the Founding team
• Thoughts on company updates
• Experience incubating two companies - one in crypto space and other in sports content
• Thoughts on Seattle startup ecosystem
• Challenges for 25 year old's today

Laura Malcom of Give InKind shares her fascinating story with us. Topics :-

• Impact of Give InKind
• Her Bootstrapping Journey
• Art of Story Telling
• Focus and Balance? 
• Her Fundraising Framework
• Her role as a Female Founder
• A Lightning Round

In this slightly longer episode, three Angel Investors get together to share their Angel Investing experience. David Hoppe, Javier Soto and the host Krishnan Gopalan talk about

• How they got started and their Portfolio highlights
• Why they Angel Invest
• How to get started Angel Investing in Seattle
• Key aspects they look for during their company evaluation
• How Angels can help
• Good and Bad Experiences / Lessons Learned
• Impact of Pandemic on Angel Investing 
• 2021 Predictions

Hope you enjoy this episode.

Carter Mackley shares useful and interesting information on business entity formation, cap tables, common mistakes in fundraising, valuation and other aspects of startup law. He shares his experiences.

Carter's web site is startuplawtalk.com. It's a great resource for startup founders.

Please send your feedback to startupfeedback@carabinermedia.com