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.
Read the full article here
