Latest news with #NectarSocial
Geek Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Geek Wire
Startup's plan to ditch Seattle for Bay Area sparks reaction about tech culture, work pace, AI and more
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) A drizzly, cool, grey morning in August feels like the perfect time to recognize that Seattle is not for everyone. Announcing that your tech startup is packing up for the Bay Area might be another way to throw a wet blanket over the Emerald City. The co-founders of Nectar Social sparked a bit of reaction after GeekWire reported Wednesday that sisters Misbah Uraizee and Farah Uraizee are moving their AI-powered social commerce startup to Palo Alto, Calif., to operate in 'Valley speed.' 'The hustle factor is real,' Misbah Uraizee told GeekWire. 'Right now in [Silicon] Valley, teams are working six, seven days a week because they understand this is a unique moment in technology history. That intensity — that sense of 'we have to win this market NOW' — is harder to cultivate in Seattle where the pace, even at startups, tends to mirror the steadier rhythms of the big tech companies.' On Reddit, Seattle pride mixed with a bit of anti-tech sentiment as commenters on the story essentially said, 'good riddance' and took issue with everything from what Nectar is building to how intensely they expect people to work on it. The comments shed fresh light on the long-simmering animosity toward tech in some Seattle circles. And while others might embrace the city's rise as an industry hub, being dumped for the Bay Area always stings. Here's a sampling: 'Definitely good riddance. The work culture norm that they are seeking from the talent pool is not one that I ever want to see as the norm where I am looking for jobs.' 'Tech culture is full of bullshit and is toxic. This whole idea that you have to work 7 days a week because this is a unique moment in history is pure egotistical garbage.' 'Based on several of my friends who have lived in both the Bay Area and the Seattle area, it's kinda true — and that's not a bad thing either. I like the slower pace of life and I'd pick Seattle over the Bay Area any day. My job is just that — a job, nothing more. 'Bye! Maybe rent will go down.' 'Don't let the DoorDash hit you on the Waymout.' Over on LinkedIn, the story and departure also caught the attention of Aviel Ginzburg, a tech investor who leads the Seattle-based startup hub Foundations. Ginzburg said the first question he asks young and unnetworked or unleveraged founders is 'why haven't you moved to the Bay Area?' 'In many cases, this being one of them, Seattle is just not the better place to build your company,' Ginzburg said about Nectar's move. 'There is enough stacked up against you already, you've gotta take every advantage that you can.' But Ginzburg called the startup pace and culture of Seattle a feature, not a bug, and said the city shouldn't strive to be the Bay Area. But it also shouldn't 'suck for the folks where Seattle makes sense,' he added. The Uraizee sisters are not alone in chasing the AI dream to the nation's tech capital. The New York Times reported this week on the wave of 20-something entrepreneurs who are flocking to San Francisco for fear of being left behind the boom. Nectar Social launched in 2023 to help brands reach consumers where they're hanging out on social media platforms and talk directly to them in personalized conversations using artificial intelligence. The company raised $10.6 million in a funding round earlier this summer. Misbah Uraizee said that while Seattle's startup ecosystem has 'matured tremendously,' there is still a 'cultural gap around early-stage risk appetite.' As GeekWire Editor Taylor Soper pointed out, the departure of this one startup echoes themes highlighted in our story last week in which GeekWire interviewed more than 20 investors and founders across the community about the state of Seattle's startup scene amid a wave of AI-fueled transformation. 'We have the talent. We have the tech. Now we need to move louder, faster, and bolder,' said Samir Manjure, a veteran entrepreneur and CEO of Seattle startup Vieu. Perhaps Seattle will be loud enough and fast enough for the next startup that decides to stick around.
Geek Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Geek Wire
‘The hustle factor is real': Why this fast-growing Seattle startup is packing its bags for Palo Alto
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Nectar Social co-founders and sisters Misbah Uraizee (left) and Farah Uraizee. (Nectar Social Photo) Misbah Uraizee and Farah Uraizee want to win. And they believe their best shot at success lies in Silicon Valley, not Seattle. The co-founders of Nectar Social, fresh off a $10.6 million funding round, are moving their AI-powered social commerce startup down to Palo Alto, Calif. The decision came down to three main factors: proximity to customers and early adopters, co-locating employees, and accessing specialized talent. 'This wasn't about leaving Seattle — it was about giving Nectar the best possible chance to define a new category,' Misbah Uraziee told GeekWire. 'Sometimes that means being where the game is being played at the highest level.' Speed was also a consideration. 'The hustle factor is real,' Misbah said via email. 'Right now in the Valley, teams are working six, seven days a week because they understand this is a unique moment in technology history. That intensity — that sense of 'we have to win this market NOW' — is harder to cultivate in Seattle where the pace, even at startups, tends to mirror the steadier rhythms of the big tech companies.' Nectar's departure echoes themes highlighted in our story last week about the state of Seattle's startup scene amid a wave of AI-fueled transformation. The presence of tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft — along with Meta, Google, and others with large engineering centers in the Seattle region — has helped attract world-class talent. Misbah previously worked at Microsoft, Meta, and X in the Seattle area before launching Nectar Social in 2023. Farah spent nearly five years at Meta in Seattle. But that talent doesn't always translate into startup activity. Seattle's startup ecosystem has 'matured tremendously,' Misbah said, but she pointed to a 'cultural gap around early-stage risk appetite.' 'The talent pool — particularly from Amazon and Microsoft — tends to gravitate toward later stage companies with more predictable trajectories,' she said. 'For a seed/Series A company doing something new especially in social, the talent pool isn't it large as you'd expect.' Nectar is building AI tools to help brands engage consumers on social media through personalized, direct conversations. Revenue has grown 5X in the past two months, according to the company. Uraizee said Seattle excels in cloud infrastructure and AI research, but the Valley offers stronger depth in go-to-market functions, product marketing, and design — especially from people who've shipped AI products at scale. Asked what she'd add to the Seattle startup scene, Misbah said the city would benefit from celebrating risk-taking and more diversity within the investor ecosystem. Nectar raised from one Seattle firm, Flying Fish, but other backers are in Silicon Valley or elsewhere. 'Seattle VCs tend to pattern-match on enterprise SaaS and biotech,' Misbah said. She also called for more support infrastructure for early stage startups — such as shared spaces, angel investors, and advisory networks. 'Most importantly, Seattle needs to embrace the idea that some companies need to operate at Valley-speed to win their markets,' she said. 'That's not a judgment on work-life balance — it's recognition that certain opportunities have expiration dates. If the ecosystem could support both sustainable growth companies AND these sprint-mode ventures, more founders would stay.'
Geek Wire
26-06-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Check out the new GeekWire 200: Our ranking of Seattle-area startups gets an AI-driven reboot
The GeekWire 200, our quarterly ranking of the top privately held technology startups in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, has a new look and a revamped approach — designed to spotlight a wider array of up-and-coming companies alongside the region's established startup leaders. Presented by JPMorganChase, the GeekWire 200 combines objective data and editorial insight to provide a broad view of the region's startup landscape. The ranking, which dates to 2013, has long served as a resource for investors, job seekers, service providers, and others tracking the Pacific Northwest tech scene. With this Q2 2025 update, we've started changing the way we calculate the ranking, with help from AI tools. Part of the goal is to do justice to fast-growing startups — including small teams making a big impact. It reflects a growing trend of startups punching above their weight, leveraging artificial intelligence. Here's the new top 10. See the full GeekWire 200 ranking here. Several companies joined the list for the first time. Nectar Social (No. 175), a social commerce startup that raised $10.6 million earlier this month. (No. 175), a social commerce startup that raised $10.6 million earlier this month. Elastix (No. 187), an AI inference platform that emerged from stealth in May. (No. 187), an AI inference platform that emerged from stealth in May. Vercept (No. 176), which is working on a new computer interface system and raised a $16 million seed round. (No. 176), which is working on a new computer interface system and raised a $16 million seed round. EdgeRunner AI (No. 165), a startup building technology to help military members use generative AI. And several established startups made notable moves list since our Q1 update. Statsig jumped to No. 5 after the developer tools startup raised $100 million at a $1.1 billion valuation in May. jumped to No. 5 after the developer tools startup raised $100 million at a $1.1 billion valuation in May. Overland AI moved to No. 15 on the heels of the military tech company's new autonomous vehicle release and the opening of a Seattle factory. moved to No. 15 on the heels of the military tech company's new autonomous vehicle release and the opening of a Seattle factory. Crypto startup Eigen Labs (No. 78), legal tech firm Supio (No. 80), and solar power servicing company Omnidian (No. 37) also improved their rankings after raising new funding (see our funding database here). How the rankings have evolved The revamp is a work in progress, and it will continue to evolve in future quarterly updates. Here's how we're changing our approach. We're looking at each company's employee growth over the past 12 months, factoring in both the percentage increase and the number of jobs added. Larger companies still earn credit for maintaining scale — a sign of maturity and customer traction. But this is weighted less heavily than growth, to help spotlight emerging players. We include LinkedIn follower counts as a rough measure of a company's public traction. To avoid favoring long-established firms, we apply a curve that gives younger companies a fairer shot. And as in the past, we take into account editorial judgment from the GeekWire news team, based on factors including recent fundings and layoffs, and our own insights from covering the region's tech startups. Companies founded 15 years ago or later 'graduate' from the GeekWire 200, and are not included. We also remove companies due to mergers, acquisitions and private equity deals in which they sell a majority of their shares. How we used AI in this update We used Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT to help aggregate data, generate the rankings, and verify the accuracy of the data. For future updates, we're experimenting with an AI-powered 'Innovation Score' that will factor in recent launches and breakthroughs in areas such as AI, enterprise tech, space, robotics, and biotech. We'd welcome your ideas for further improvements and new data sources: newsteam@ We also refreshed the design of the GeekWire 200, making it easier to: Sort the list by different metrics Search for specific startups Explore related GeekWire coverage In a first for us, this new interface was built by a non-developer on the GeekWire team using Claude and ChatGPT (and reviewed by a developer before going live). Notes on the GeekWire 200 Our list is not scientific, by any means, and the specific rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. But it has proven to be a highly useful tool. We hear regularly from readers who use the GeekWire 200 to look for jobs, prospect for customers, mine for potential investments, and get a high-level view of the tech community. We also use the list as a valuable insights tool, gathering survey data to highlight trends among fast-growing startups. To make sure your Pacific Northwest technology startup is eligible for the GeekWire 200, first confirm it's included in the broader GeekWire Startup List. If so, there's no need to submit it separately. If your startup isn't among the companies on that larger list, you can submit it for inclusion here, and we'll crunch the numbers to see if your company makes the next GeekWire 200 update.
