Seattle’s tech future has never been brighter or bigger. For Seattle Tech Week 2025, the scale and breadth of opportunity were on clear display, with nearly 200 events drawing thousands of participants ranging from longtime industry leaders to young builders in emerging categories.
Throughout the week, from meeting rooms and cafes to galleries, pickleball courts, Ballard breweries, and South Lake Union boardrooms, the city became a stage for founders, investors, engineers, researchers, and tech leaders to exchange ideas, test products, and forge collaborations. It was a vivid display of Seattle’s ambition, creativity, and technical excellence, with conversations spanning AI, biotech, quantum, fintech, and more — and building connections that will extend far into the future.
A City Built for Builders
Seattle Tech Week reflects the region’s depth of expertise across many sectors. The city has a long track record of producing industry-shaping platforms, category-defining startups, and leaders who influence global markets. That history creates an environment where big ideas find the talent, capital, and collaboration they need to grow.
This year’s program showed that range in full force. AI dominated the agenda, with more than 40 sessions exploring applications in healthcare, commerce, infrastructure, and more. The week also brought Seattle’s first quantum-focused event, hosted by Barclo and K&L Gates, and a growing biotech presence, accounting for nearly 10 percent of all programming. As one attendee noted, “One of the most compelling AI use cases is in medicine and drug development. And one of the most archaic, inaccessible industries is medicine and drug development.”
From workshops and investor-founder meetups to the more unexpected highlights like a burger competition, the diversity of formats matched the diversity of the people attending.
The week wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of event hosts, sponsors, and attendees — and the partnership with our Seattle Tech Week Committee members from JP Morgan, Ascend, SVB, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Perkins Coie. Everyone’s efforts have helped turn a passing vacation conversation into one of the city’s most anticipated annual summer traditions.
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The Seattle Advantage
Throughout the week, a consistent message emerged. Seattle offers a rare combination of technical depth, industry diversity, and a collaborative culture that founders value. As one CEO put it, “There’s less noise. People want to get stuff done. People want to put in the work. They pick something, and they commit. It makes it easier to build and recruit.”
That combination, along with a tradition of building enduring companies, is a competitive advantage that will only grow stronger.
It was especially evident in the conversations around artificial intelligence — the most dominant theme of the week — where founders, investors, and operators explored what’s working in AI today, what still needs to evolve, and how organizations can navigate this rapidly shifting landscape. The dialogue was transparent, insightful, and reinforced the importance of bringing together diverse perspectives to drive responsible innovation forward. Madrona’s Matt McIlwain dove into some of this during his conversation with AWS Startups’ Jon Jones, which you can watch above. But he also shared this blog with three lessons that have proven durable across waves of innovation, and that matter even more now.
Similar ideas were front and center when Matt joined Pioneer Square Labs’ Greg Gottesman on stage at OneSixOne’s Seattle Tech Week Venture Day, a conversation GeekWire covered. There, the two longtime investors dug into the paradox facing AI-era startups: it’s never been easier to scale fast, and never harder to build something that lasts. Both agreed: The AI era is rewriting the startup playbook, and Seattle has the ecosystem and talent to shape what comes next.
That same confidence in Seattle’s potential came through in another GeekWire story from the Seattle Tech Week Startup Showcase, where founders talked about what makes building here unique — from the city’s “quiet, focused environment” and deep talent pool to its “welcoming, low-ego community.” As Kiana Ehsani, CEO and co-founder of Vercept, put it, “We can build in a more quiet, focused environment than the Bay Area. And there’s a lot of talent.”
The Human Edge
Given the recent news of layoffs and the collaboration between AI & humans, it’s no surprise that several events focused on talent or shared the common thread.
Casium organized a session bringing together the topics of immigration, hiring, and innovation because they believe they shouldn’t be separate conversations. As the Casium CEO Priyanka Kulkarni put it at the event: “Everyone is chasing the same talent: The kind of builder who doesn’t just code but shapes the intelligence behind the product.”
They shape each other. In a world where job descriptions, job ladders, and jobs to be done are shifting and coding tests are giving way to AI-enabled interviews, the need for adaptable, cross-functional builders is more urgent than ever.
MeeBoss, which hosted another event, noted that founders are rethinking how they hire. “Many told us they’re done with long hiring cycles and outdated tools. What they need now is speed, clarity, and a more human approach to connecting with candidates.”
That same spirit of connection and opportunity was on full display at Venture Black’s Soul Food Brunch Pitch, which brought investors and founders together over soul food, art, and poetry at the Wonder of Women Gallery. Against a backdrop of Hiawatha D.’s vibrant paintings and the words of Veronica Very, underrepresented founders pitched for prizes — including rYOUminate CEO Montana Houston, who won “Best Overall” and “Most Socially Impactful Pitch” for her vision of building a trusted brand offering practical, youth-tailored guidance for Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
And that human connection is really the heart of Seattle Tech Week. Yes, it’s about AI and tech talent — but it’s also about people finding their way to building, to connection, and to believing they belong in this community. And for some, it’s about finding their way back.
One attendee shared a story that perfectly captured the reason we launched STW in the first place. She arrived at the MotherDuck hackathon on Lake Union not as a founder with a pitch deck, but as someone in need of connection. She wasn’t sure she belonged. Then a friend encouraged her to share an idea she had half-baked.
In 2 hours, she had a team, a prototype, and a name: QuackTrack. She stepped back into product mode, scoped the MVP, and pitched. To her surprise, the judges named QuackTrack “Best Overall Project.”
Her words say it best: “I met a version of me I hadn’t seen in years — still loves tech. Still thinks in MVPs. Still belongs.”
Looking Forward
Seattle Tech Week 2025 showed what’s possible when this community comes together. The city has the people, ideas, and infrastructure to lead in the next era of innovation. The momentum is real, and the future here is bright.
We look forward to welcoming even more people, ideas, and energy at Seattle Tech Week 2026. To receive event-hosting information, email [email protected].