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Postcard from Seattle

I just returned from Seattle, and things there are really great, particularly in August. The sun shines, the fog lifts in the San Juans, the Mountains are out an visible and provide a great backdrop. And the economy appears to me to be in great shape.  Seattle has Microsoft, of course, which actually layed a few people off this year. But Amazon probably hired them all, or maybe Starbucks or Costco or Expedia. Our fund, NAV, has an investment there called Qliance that could be yet another really big fast growing company. Why did this happen in Seattle?  Because Bill Gates’ parents live there, of course.

Bill grew up in Seattle and liked it, so Microsoft began life there.  Eventually, all those engineers needed great coffee to stay awake and code during the 10 months of drizzle.  Seattle had latte and cappuccino ubiquity way back in 1989 before the rest of knew what they were.  So, naturally, Starbucks was founded in Washington.   Jeff Bezos drove across country from New York to Seattle in large part because he liked the great coffee there.  And now there is Amazon.  Then Microsoft spun off Expedia.  There is a fresh crop of newly minted millionaires from all these corporate success stories every few years, and they get married and have kids and need a great place to take them.  And one really smart thing they all did was dump buckets of money into the zoo.

And the money was really well spent.  The zoo is clean, has snow-leopard cubs, the exhibits are really well done and accessible, the walkways between exhibits have cool sculptures kids are allowed to climb on, it is not far between exhibits, in short it is an absolutely great place to bring kids.  And whoever raised money for the zoo did an amazing job.   Everywhere you look, someone’s name is engraved in a brick or on a bench.

Even the Space Needle is upgraded – the food and service is really good, and the view still without equal.  When it isn’t drizzling that is.  Seattle even has a thriving opera and real theatre.  It goes to show how one really great successful company, situated in a place with great quality of life, can beget other successes making a virtuous circle.  Everyone points to Silicon Valley as the shining example of this, and while it is a larger example, I suspect that per capita Seattle may be the real winner of the information technology revolution thus far.