Startup radar: Seattle-area startups tackle AI personas, sales intelligence, marketing automation
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From top left, clockwise: Bluepill CEO Ankit Dhawan; Ecosided CEO Haixia Wang; Proponent CEO Prashant Mohite; Flickboom CEO Yinhan Liu; and Managerspring CEO Tom Langan.
We're back with a new spotlight on early stage Seattle-area startups — with a fun twist.
Kyle Lui, general partner at Bling Capital who relocated to Seattle last year, joins us for this startup radar to give his quick take on each company.
Check out Lui's assessments below — the 'VC View' — and read more about the companies. Check out past startup radar spotlights here and email me at taylor@geekwire.com to flag other companies and startup news.
Bluepill
Founded: 2025
The business: Helps companies create AI personas that mirror real customers to simulate reactions to messaging, surveys, ads, product concepts, and more. The idea is to de-risk product and marketing decisions before official launches. Bluepill is backed by Pioneer Square Labs.
Leadership: Founder and CEO Ankit Dhawan was an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Allen Institute for AI and co-founded virtual experience startup Virtuelly. He also spent more than four years at Amazon as a product leader.
VC View: 'Incumbents are sleepy and old, a new winner will emerge in the AI era. But there will be loads of similar competitors battling it out.'
Ecosided
Founded: 2025
The business: Aiming to be a hub for climate-related data and decision-making with new frameworks and metrics. The company's goal is to help businesses turn climate risk challenges into growth opportunities through their value chain and product strategies. Ecosided is bootstrapped.
Leadership: CEO and co-founder Haixia Wang was a senior director of data research at ZoomInfo and a senior VP of research at Skift. Her co-founder Vladimir Baranek has more than three decades of tech industry experience and spent nearly five years at Amazon Web Services.
VC View: 'Climate is hot. Great potential if the product works and can drive value to businesses.'
Flickboom
Founded: 2025
The business: AI automation for social media marketing. Flickboom develops social media strategies, creates content, and publishes across various platforms. The company is bootstrapped.
Leadership: Founder and CEO Yinhan Liu previously co-founded healthcare startup Birch AI and spent time at Facebook and eBay. Last year she co-founded LeyLine but has transitioned to Flickboom. Liu co-founded Flickboom with Shan Huang, who previously co-founded Forma Cloud and was an engineering exec at Artera.
VC View: 'Classic 'replace agencies with AI' thesis in a big market. The big question — is it durable or accumulating advantage over time?'
Managerspring
Founded: 2024
The business: This just-launched coaching app describes itself as the 'Duolingo for people management,' helping new and aspiring managers practice conversations and improve leadership skills with AI-assisted role-play scenarios. Managerspring is bootstrapped and just launched its app on iOS, iPad, and Vision Pro.
Leadership: Founder Tom Langan previously worked at Meta as a director in product management working on Oculus and VR devices. He also held leadership roles at Hulu and Microsoft.
VC View: 'Experienced product leader. Historically tough market for venture-scale businesses.'
Proponent
Founded: 2025
The business: Helping B2B marketing and sales teams analyze customer interactions to identify needs, pain points, and deal priorities. The company's AI learns from successful deals to improve suggestions. The software integrates with tools like Gong, Hubspot, and Zoom. Proponent is bootstrapped.
Leadership: CEO and co-founder Prashant Mohite held product manager roles at Paxafe and Datafi. He co-founded Proponent with Mathew Thekkadayil, a former manager at Hemmersbach and About You.
VC View: 'Product looks solid. Is selling into PMMs (product marketing managers) a big enough market for venture?'
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