from Hacker News

Mark Suster on Seattle and how a few key people can transform a community

by daryn on 5/5/11, 3:22 PM with 35 comments

  • by Mongoose on 5/5/11, 4:34 PM

    One thing that I think would help is if Seattle startups did more recruiting at UW's CSE department. There's a reason why Seattle startups tend to be founded by ex-MS and -Amazon folks instead of fresh college grads. Very few students here know anything about the local startup scene and end up being gobbled up by big companies (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe) or moving to greener pastures in the Bay Area. Suster didn't mention connection with local education institutions as one of his 10 points, but I think taking advantage of the stream of talent coming out of UW would go a long way to providing good hires and fostering a greater sense of entrepreneurship among Seattle's young people.

  • by stevenj on 5/5/11, 3:45 PM

    I may be wrong about this, but I sense that Seattle's startup scene is definitely lacking something important. I can't put my finger on it, but I think it's there.

    In my opinion, people here seem pretty risk-averse (ie few want to jump and do a startup, especially people in their twenties).

    It kind of seems like people lack the drive to "change the world". Instead, people seem pretty laid back here. It's almost as if they get too comfortable here.

  • by daveschappell on 5/5/11, 3:30 PM

    I'm fired up by Mark's idea, to much more deeply engage with our local leaders (Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, etc) -- think every geography has these, and presenting it how Mark does makes it so much more compelling. Everyone benefits from these relationships, and really, the Bay Area has crushed it in this area (think growth of Zynga and others on Facebook... the wave of startup involvement with iPhone/iPad Apps store launches...) -- I look forward to helping make that happen, more quickly

  • by rtalwar on 5/5/11, 9:17 PM

    Hi All-

    I'd like to first introduce myself to everyone. My name is Rishi Talwar and I'm a senior majoring in Informatics at UW. I can't believe this is my first post on HN ever. I guess this topic really resonates with me because I've been passionate about the Seattle startup tech scene since the beginning of freshman year.

    I too agree that there needs to be a more emphasis on startups at UW and building software that ultimately help others/create value. From my personal experience I have seen that there are a few people who feel as passionate and inspired about startups. I found this out when I was looking to work with a UW CSE student on a project I had in mind which is now up here: http://www.fratapps.com/. I'm not a CS major but I'm still up on different types of technologies. Mainly, I'm a front-end and product guy who loves building stuff. Therefore I was seeking someone who was majoring in cs.

    After meeting with multiple students I finally found a friend who was willing to partner up and work with me who was a UW CSE student. But most of these students that I met didn't have any clue about the startup scene in Seattle or didn't care about building anything. This makes me feel that these students majoring in CSE are not passionate about their industry and ultimately get gobbled up by a big-co knowing that they will receive an $80,000+ salary. Maybe its not in their DNA or other factors drive them or its not in their curriculum. But there was definitely an utter lack of fire that is not money driven or by notoriety.

    However, this past year I've been happy to know that these students are out there like Mongoose and a few others who has been a tremendous advocate for startups and do it purely out of passion. Also, I have had the honor to meet a freshman business student who is probably way more well connected in the Startup scene then me (twitter:@mikeytom) who has worked on FratApps.com.

    When I read blog posts like this from Mark Suster it makes me want to hustle. Maybe there needs to be a startupWeekend for UW like StartupUW. Something that brings all facets of knowledge ie business, engineering, and Informatics or anyone else together on campus.

    I appreciate you reading this and would like to hear your thoughts.

    Thanks,

    Rishi Talwar twitter: @rishtal

  • by calbear81 on 5/6/11, 1:24 AM

    Oren Etzioni (http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/etzioni/), a UW professor, and co-founder of the previous startup I worked at in Seattle is also involved with several other new startups including Decide.com that just raised a $6M round.

  • by haberman on 5/5/11, 4:56 PM

    I'm not active in the startup scene, but how could an article like this not mention Seattle Tech Startups? http://www.seattletechstartups.com/