Seattle entrepreneurs get short-circuited

By Tim Tasker, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

It was hard to miss the Puget Sound Business Journal headline: Seattle second-worst for entrepreneurial activity (March 8, 2011). Frankly, it shocked me, because Seattles entrepreneurs have built some of the most recognizable brands in the world and, in the process, have changed the way we conduct our lives every single day.

Lets start with your morning cup of joe. In his own words, Seattle entrepreneur Howard Schultz turned it into something beyond a cup of coffee. He made coffee a social experience and created a multibillion dollar industry in the process.

Next, head to your office. Recall the days when your companys computers were housed in one big room and only IT people could use them. With entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the personal computer became a reality. Their teams designed powerful, efficient programs that could be run on devices small enough to fit in a briefcase. They may not have invented the internet, but they realized its potential early on. They supported and enhanced it, leading to communication advances that are changing the world 140 characters at a time.

Want to text your kids? Seattles Craig McCaw helped develop the wireless industry which finally gave parents and teens a way to communicate.

Now lets go shopping. The Nordstrom family of entrepreneurs isnt just well known for excellence in retail customer service they set the bar. Are you reading this on your Kindle? Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his garage; by 2015, the e-book industry is expected to reach $3 billion in sales.

Thats just a sample of Seattles most high-profile entrepreneurs. As program director for Ernst & Youngs Entrepreneur Of The Year Pacific Northwest awards, I see incredible innovation coming from our entrepreneurs every day. Consider just two recent award recipients. Seattle entrepreneur Melissa Waggener leads one of the largest global independent communications firms in the world, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. You may not have heard of Jeremy Lewis Big Fish Games yet but it reached one billion game downloads in 2010.

Game-changing innovation is alive and well in Seattle. Thats how I measure entrepreneurship and I think Entrepreneur Of The Year award recipients Schultz, McCaw, Bezos, Waggener and Lewis might agree.

Tim Tasker is a partner with Ernst & Youngs Seattle office and is the program director for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Pacific Northwest awards.

The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP.