This document summarizes the growth of Seattle's startup community from 2004-2011. It describes the early years as "The Dark Ages" with no organized community or events for entrepreneurs. In 2005-2006, the first meetups and blogs started to emerge, creating more connections among founders. The Seattle Startup Index launched in 2006 to track local companies. Over the following years, hundreds of meetups, conferences and resources developed to support entrepreneurs. By 2011, Seattle had a thriving startup ecosystem with many investors, mentors and resources available. The document advocates for continuing this momentum to help more high-quality startups launch from the region.

1. A Brief History of Seattle Startups2004-2011 Marcelo Calbucci @calbucci | marcelo@calbucci.com everymove.org | www.seattle20.com

2. The Dark Ages (2002-2004)

3. 2005 – The New Baby

4. 2005 – Not here NO Calendar of events (heck, no startup events) NO list of startups NO list of investors, VCs, angel investors NO list of lawyers, accountants, etc. NO community of entrepreneurs NO Cloud / Mobile / jQuery / MVC (AJAX term was just coined)

5. 2006 – Start of Seattle 2.0 Bravenewword.typepad.com >> marcelo.sampasite.com >> seattle20.sampasite.com >> seattle20.com blog.calbucci.com WHAT: Events for entrepreneurs WHOIS: Create date: 20 Sep 2006 FIRST POST: March/2007 WHY…

7. relevant to entrepreneurs, technology geeks, startups and investors;

8. about entrepreneurship, startups and Web 2.0;Hopefully, this blog/site will define and scope itself as time goes by. Or it will disappear into the oblivion in a couple of months. The driving force to me is to create a more connected and collaborative startup scene in Seattle. There are a few groups, people and entities doing that already so I don't expect to duplicate, but to collaborate and divulge their work. I put together an About page for people to learn a bit more. Send your ideas, suggestions, comments and feedback to me. http://www.seattle20.com/blog/A-new-blog-in-town.aspx

9. The Seattle Startup Index August 10, 2006: John Cook publishes the list of 64 “Web 2.0” startups in Seattle: http://blog.seattlepi.com/venture/2006/08/10/seattles-web-2-0-list/ August 21, 2006: Greg Linden (Findory) ranks the startups by their Alexa Ranking. http://blog.seattlepi.com/venture/2006/08/21/the-most-popular-seattle-web-2-0-startups/ September, 2006: Marcelo Calbucci calls it the Seattle Startup Index and runs with it.

10. # of Startups Registered

11. 2011 Events: Seattle 2.0, NWEN, WTIA, Startups, MITEF, Hops & Chops, TechCafe, Startup Weekend, Open Coffee, TechFoam, Meetups, etc. Hundreds of entrepreneur blogs and news blogs (GeekWire, TechFlash, Xconomy, Seattle Times) Resources: Seattle 2.0, Seattle Tech Calendar, Seattle Tech Wiki, etc. Seattle Tech Startups (email list w/ 2,500+ people), Seattle CTO, CEOs, Angel groups: (PSVC, AoA), Keiretsu, First Look Forum, Zino, SIFP, etc.

12. 2012 & Beyond More early-stage investors More high-profile tech & startup events More doers, less talkers Do something *new* Support Seattle 2.0’s mission: More startups in Seattle Better startups More visibility to Seattle startups