A Sack of Seattle

Keith Grinstein dies?!

I was at Open Coffee this morning and someone told me that Keith Grinstein died.   Here's the article confirming the fact . I didn't know Keith well -- but he was a real character in the venture capital / angel investing scene in Seattle.   He always seemed like a gregarious, outgoing, good guy -- he was known as a little wild and crazy but I liked that about him.  It's weird when peers start dieing unexpectedly -- he was only 48!  Makes me feel mortal.

Seattle #1 for cyber job growth

I read this article stating that Seattle is #1 for high tech job growth and thought to myself....well that explains why recruiting high tech talent in Seattle has been and continues to be so difficult!

Seattle start up index

A friend of mine has started blogging this ...and  I think it's pretty cool index of what's going on in Seattle.

Seattle Tech Entrepreneurs networking is improving

There's a small group of technology entrepreneurs (mostly CEOs) who are getting together once a month for informal dinner, drinks, talk, and the occasional poker game. I went last night and got home at 1:30AM. Had a really fun time. All the people there were high caliber. This was our second meeting. If you'd like to be invited to the next one please email me -- while this is an invite only event out of necessity, it's an open good group. Maybe there is hope for networking Seattle entrepreneurs.
Reminder: the first Seattle coffee club is next Tuesday. I look forward to seeing you at Louisa's on Eastlake.

Complaints about Seattle

So you've heard the things that I was worried about prior to moving to Seattle. Now that I've been living in Seattle for the better part of 5 years, I have a clear idea about the areas where Seattle is lacking. While I'm quite willing to point these limitations out, I want people to know that I think Seattle is great -- it's a great place to live period.

The following are my complaints about Seattle:
1) The restaurants scene is just ok
I wouldn't say the scene sucks and I wouldn't say it's great....and that's just it -- the scene is just ok. Unfortunately, it's below the restaurant scenes in other major metropolitan areas that I've lived or frequented such as NY, Providence, San Francisco, LA, and Boston. In my opinion, it's fair to say that there are a couple really good restaurants, the salmon and crab are great, and everything else is just ok . But the food that my wife and I love to eat -- anything asian -- is just ok in Seattle.

2) The entrepreneur scene is just ok
Much of what I just wrote about the restaurant scene can also be applied to the entrepreneur scene. It's taken me a while to make sure that it wasn't me, that the entrepreneurial scene I craved wasn't simply occuring somewhere in Seattle that I was not -- and while that there's a chance that may still be the case, my confidence in stating that the entrepreneurial scene is just ok has risen. Not sure why this is so -- and I haven't given up hope, but Seattle lacks the entrepreneurial spirt of most of the cities on either coast. There are pockets of people who are working hard to improve this situation -- to make the city more of an entrepreneurial mecca. In the meantime, people might be sleepless in seattle because of the coffee, just know that in my experience to date -- it's not the entrepreneurial buzz keeping everyone awake.

I'm not one to openly compain and not do anything about it. I've gone ahead and started a company (www.Judysbook.com), teach entrepreneurship at the UW, and continue to eat out lots!