Aaron Long: Recognition can boost morale, increase conversion and get you acquired!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Recognition can boost morale, increase conversion and get you acquired!

The Seattle 2.0 Awards 2011 will be our best ever. If you didn’t get a ticket for the Awards ceremony on May 5 you should get one soon before we sell out. But this week the important deadline is the nominations! On Friday we’ll close the nomination round and if you and your startup are no in, you won’t be a finalist.

In 2009, Picnik won four Awards. The team was ecstatic about it and 8 months later they were acquired by Google. Coincidence? Probably, but who knows!? In 2010, Eric Koester won the Best Service Provider to Startups. Between then and now, he quit his law job, joined a startup, left that startup and founded his own startup, Zaarly. Also in 2010, Bonanzle was the winner of Best Bootstrapped Startup, and between being nominated and winning, they raised $1M of funding and changed their name to Bonanza.

There is a lot of good energy around winning an Award, particular one where your industry peers have voted in. It recognizes the hard work that goes into startups and the people around them.

So, if you know someone deserving of an Award to recognize their contribution and hard work, make sure to nominate them and their company for the Seattle 2.0 Awards by Friday, March 25.

Here is a recap from 2010:

Best Startup: Apptio, Blue Kai, BuddyTV, Cheezburger Network and Redfin (Winner)
Best Boot-strapped Startup: BigOven, Biznik, Bonanzle (Winner), HasOffers and Survey Analytics
Best Nonprofit Startup: Jolkona, One Bus Away, Startup Weekend, TisBest (Winner) and Vittana
Best Startup CEO: Rich Barton (Zillow) (Winner), Sunny Gupta (Apptio), Glenn Kelman (Redfin), Andy Liu (BuddyTV) and Dave Schappell (TeachStreet)
Best Startup Technologist: Damon Cortesi (Untitled Startup), Joe Heitzeberg (WhitePages), Darrin Massena (Picnik/Google), Daryn Nakhuda (TeachStreet) and Scott Porad (Cheezburger Network) (Winner)
Best Startup Designer: Alex Berg (ex-Wetpaint), Greg Bowers (TeachStreet), Aviel Ginzburg (Untitled Startup), Jenny Lam (Jackson Fish Market) (Winner) and Matt Lerner (Front Seat)
Best Venture Capitalist: Geoff Entress (Voyager Capital), Michelle Goldberg (Ignition Partners),Greg Gottesman (Madrona Venture Group) (Winner), Nick Hanauer (Second Avenue Partners) and Andy Sack (Founder’s Co-Op)
Best Angel Investor: Bill Bryant, Clark Kokich, Andy Liu (Winner), Dan Rosen and Kelly Smith
Best Service Provider to Startups: Pearl Chan (CFO Selections), Geir Hansen (SVB), Eric Koester (Cooley) (Winner), Craig Sherman (WSGR) and Joe Wallin (DWT).
Best Entrepreneur Blog: Inspired Startup by Andy Liu, Quick Sprout by Neil Patel, Redfin Blog by Glenn Kelman (Winner), Startup Front End by Tony Wright and Untitled Startup Blog by Damon Cortesi & Aviel Ginzburg.
Best Event for Startups: Hops & Chops, STS Meetings, TechFlash Live, Ignite Seattle (Winner), and Seattle Open Coffee.

And for 2009:

Best Startup: Dreambox Learning, Picnik (Winner), Redfin and Wetpaint.
Best Boot-strapped Startup: Appature, BigOven, Picnik (Winner) and Urbanspoon.
Best Startup CEO: Andy Liu (BuddyTV), Glenn Kelman (Redfin), Jonathan Sposato (Picnik)(Winner) and Matt Hulett (mPire).
Best Startup Technologist: Chris Hahn (Appature), Greg Harrison (mPire), Joe Heitzeberg (WhitePages) and Nat Brown (iLike)(Winner).
Best Startup Product Designer: Jenny Lam (Jackson Fish Market), Keith Harper (Inkd) and Peter Roman (Picnik)(Winner).
Best Venture Capitalist: Bill Bryant (DFJ), Bill McAleer (Voyager Capital), Matt McIlwain (Madrona Venture Group)(Winner) and Nick Hanauer (Second Avenue Partners).
Best Angel Investor: Andy Sack (Founders Co-Op), Bill Bryant (Draper Fisher Jurvetson), Geoff Entress (Voyager Capital)(Winner) and Mike Koss (Startpad).
Best Service Provider to Startups: Adam Philipp (AXIOS Law Group), Craig Sherman (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati) and Shannon Swift (Swift HR Solutions)(Winner).
Best Blog from/about Startup: Startup Whisperer by Matt Hulett, TechFlash by John Cook (Winner) and Xconomy Seattle by Greg Huang
Best Social Event for Startups: Ignite Seattle by Brady Forrest, Lunch 2.0 by Josh Maher (Winner), nPost Networking by Nathan Kaiser and Open Coffee by Andy Sack.