Insights from the life of early Amazon investor Tom Alberg

Insights and inspiration from the life of Tom Alberg: Seattle investor and business leader Tom Alberg (above), who died last week at 82, was a key figure in the e-commerce and wireless industries, and in the Seattle startup community, as an early Amazon investor and longtime board member, executive at McCaw Cellular, and co-founder of Madrona Venture group. 

On this week’s GeekWire Podcast, my colleague John Cook and I share insights from Alberg’s life, based on our interactions and interviews with him over the years in the course of our coverage of Amazon, venture capital, and startups. We also listen back to a clip of Alberg discussing his original Amazon investment ($50,000 in 1995) as a guest on the GeekWire Podcast in 2016. 

Read more and listen here. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. We publish new episodes every Saturday. 

While you're at it, be sure to check out last week's episode, in which John and I offer our takeaways from the recent earnings calls by Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. You can listen to that one here.

“I don’t believe it. Can you show me a proof that you are telling me the truth.” That was the ironic response from an unnamed customer service rep for a site called Amazon Bulk Reviews, when I explained in a text chat that Amazon had sued the site on allegations that it sells fake product reviews. The rep denied the allegations. Amazon Bulk Reviews is one of six sites targeted by the tech giant in its latest crackdown on the practice. Read more. 

Securing private car deals: How confident are you in that car you’re buying? Seattle startup KeySavvy is using software to verify private party vehicle sales, aiming to prevent fraud and make the buying process more efficient. Read more in this startup profile by Sonali Vaid, a Seattle-area high school student who is interning at GeekWire this summer. 

The women writing checks: Finally, in case you missed it, be sure to see our new list of female venture capitalists in the Pacific Northwest, which we published this week thanks to an immense amount of work by Sonali, along with Taylor Soper, GeekWire’s managing editor. 

Send story tips, feedback, complaints, fake reviews, or anything else you'd like to get across to todd@geekwire.com. Have a great weekend.