“What happens here is important everywhere.” GeekWire’s renovated conference room, themed about the Seattle area tech community, awaits our return to the office. (BCRA Design Photo)
Anniversaries are not news!
This has been our stance as long as we’ve been business and tech reporters, or at least since we realized that covering arbitrary milestones would leave little time for breaking news. As we approached the 10th anniversary of Launch of GeekWireOn March 7th, we heard a lot from the GeekWire team about how we would mark the occasion.
We chose to do what we’ve always done: focus on the people, companies, and trends that drive the technology and innovation community in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
In retrospect, we couldn’t have picked a better decade than GeekWire’s first. That was when Seattle technology came into its own. We’ve covered the rise of the cloud, the boom of Amazon, the rebirth of Microsoft, the arrival of Silicon Valley engineering centers, disputes, mergers, IPOs, and the emergence of thousands of startups. And for the past year, we treated Seattle as the center of the scientific and philanthropic response to a changing global pandemic.
What happens here is important everywhere. This has become our mantra.
We worked hard, with a great team, and we got through our share of challenges and battles. The reason GeekWire is still considered a profitable media company is because of this community and all of you as readers, sources, listeners, members, sponsors, and supporters. GeekWire has been lucky enough to tell the world about this place for the past 10 years, and we’re still at it.
A time machine: To put the last 10 years into context, we each spent some time thinking about some of the stories we covered from 2011 to 2012. It was like remembering baby pictures. Many moments were a glimmer of great things to come. Some weren’t.
- The first lockers from Amazon, a story we tracked and recorded down to the smallest detailwere an early sign of the massive last mile delivery infrastructure that is still being rolled out across the country. A lawsuit from an accessory manufacturerA prelude was also the company’s accusation of bullying. And Jeff Bezos set the tone for the decade when he assured the shareholders that Amazon “was ready to be misunderstood for long periods of time”.
- A Microsoft video from 2011 comfortably gave a vision for technology for the next 5 to 10 years. While some details didn’t hit the mark – we’re still waiting for the augmented reality taxi window – the video accurately anticipated the diffusion of information and interactivity across a range of devices and screens made possible by the cloud .
- Back in 2011, A 10-year high in US venture capital investmentsAt more than $ 30 billion, this raised concerns about a possible bubble that was about to burst. In reality, it was just the beginning. The number grew steadily over the decade over $ 156 billion last year.
- The carefree “post-it wars” Among the tech companies in downtown Seattle in 2011, they seem painfully curious through the window of 2021. Many of these offices are empty and the streets below reflect persistent economic and racial inequalities.
- But this 2011 prediction from a certain research firm gets the award for missing the mark most of all: Will Windows Phone Outperform iPhone by 2015? Gartner thinks so.
GeekWires team: Looking back over the past 10 years, it’s easy to remember the stories that GeekWire broke on our lunch with the late Anthony Bourdainor laugh at being run over on the way to be interviewed by Leslie Stahl of 60 minutes.
But what really stands out are the moments with the people who built GeekWire with us.
Todd Bishop, John Cook and Jonathan Sposato at the GeekWire Summit 2017. (Photo by Dan DeLong for GeekWire)
- We thank GeekWire Chairman Jonathan Sposato, our business partner and sole investor, for staying with us over the years. True story: Around 2010, after a group dinner where TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington ripped John to work at a major media company rather than starting his own startup, Jonathan pulled John aside and offered his support for one such company. We approached him about it later, and we’re fortunate to have his ongoing input and advice as we continue to build the company.
- Talking about longevity, Taylor Soper joined us eight years ago from the University of Washington as the first contributor to the GeekWire news team he now leads. He’s the hardest-working person on tech news, and he’s an example of that The core values of GeekWire. We are grateful to him that he endured two die-hard reporters as bosses.
John Cook runs for the finish line and surprises GeekWire editor Monica Nickelsburg (center) and editor-in-chief Cara Kuhlman (right) at our “Great Race” 2017 in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)
- We love group activities with the GeekWire team. Some of them are just for fun, like our annual summer sail on Elliott Bay, run by our editor-in-chief and resident ship captain, Cara Kuhlman. But the best of them also produce great content in terms of startup productivity. Our favorites are our multimodal race through Seattle at rush hour and our month-long GeekWire HQ2 project in Pittsburgh.
- But by far the greatest moments of team building were ours GeekWire events. Some of our best memories of the first 10 years of GeekWire were working with our small, scratchy team to host conferences like the GeekWire Summit and celebratory community events like the GeekWire Awards. In the past year, under the direction of Head of Sales and Marketing Holly Grambihler and the business and event team, we learned a lot about organizing virtual events. The online experience will continue to tell what we’re doing, but we can’t wait to see you all again in person.
Our families: We both had young children when we started GeekWire, which sparked jokes about taking over multiple startups, but the reality of those early days (and years) could be dark and difficult for our families, and our spouses Holly Firmin and Amy in particular, Bishop. It can still be difficult at times. You deserve GeekWire’s success just like anyone else.
John’s late mother, Sallie Cook, herself a journalist, was an inspiration to the GeekWire news team. Todd’s mom, Peggy Bishop, has listened to every minute of every podcast we’ve ever produced (or at least close to it). And our fathers, Roger Cook and Bob Bishop, both entrepreneurs themselves, provided business wisdom and insight at key moments.
Let’s cut this off before we accidentally set a precedent for company anniversary coverage. Thank you everyone for your support. To this great community for the next 10 years. We can’t wait to see (and report!) What happens.
So you can get involved with what we do.
- Send us a news tip.
- Sign up for GeekWires newsletter.
- Visit our unique piece GeekWire events (initially virtual).
- Join the GeekWire Membership program.
- Become GeekWire Advertiser or Sponsor.
- Learn more about our Health Benefits Program for Tech Startups.
- Send your startup to our Pacific NW Startup List.
- Follow that GeekWire 200 Pacific NW Technology Companies Index.
- Check out the GeekWire Community events calendar.
- Subscribe to the GeekWire Podcast.
- Find your next big gig or geek on ours GeekWork job board.
- follow us on Twitter Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.
- And don’t hesitate contact us by asking.