1. Home
  2. Discover
  3. News
  4. GeekWire
  5. Startup founders and investors react to capital gains tax ruling | Q&A with Seagen founder Clay Siegall 

Startup founders and investors react to capital gains tax ruling | Q&A with Seagen founder Clay Siegall 

ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSOR MESSAGE: Unique & Urban Venue for Weddings, Conferences and Meetings: Plan your event at Block 41 today!

TODAY'S TOP STORIES
Startup founders and investors shared both praise and concern over a highly anticipated ruling from the Washington state Supreme Court upholding a new capital gains tax.

  • The tax has sparked controversy within the tech industry because it targets stocks, a key part of compensation for many startup founders and their employees.

  • "We can’t achieve the community, environment, housing, social support, schools, arts, and more to increasingly make this region a great place to live for founders and employees, and solely rely on a regressive tax structure to fund these services,” said Xiao Wang, CEO and co-founder of Seattle immigration startup Boundless.

  • "Founders take years or decades to see a return. Reducing that potential return makes us less competitive than other states,” said Marc Barros, CEO of Seattle camera startup Moment. Read more reactions.

  • In its opinion, the court concluded that the capital gains tax “is a valid excise tax under Washington law.” Read more.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says a launch anomaly that forced the suspension of its suborbital spaceflights last September was caused by a structural failure of the rocket engine’s nozzle.

  • Corrective actions are being taken, and flights are expected to resume “soon,” Blue Origin said today. No people were aboard New Shepard during last year’s launch from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas. 

“I built a great company.”

  • Clay Siegall, the co-founder and longtime CEO of Seagan, told GeekWire he’s proud of his legacy at the Seattle-area biotech giant. Last week the company announced plans to sell to Pfizer for $43 billion, and Siegall is back in charge of new biotech startup Morphimmune, a Purdue University spinout with expansion plans in Seattle. GeekWire reporter Charlotte Schubert caught up with Siegall to talk about developing drugs, the pending acquisition, and more. Read the Q&A.

Which Pacific Northwest startups are most likely to have a successful exit? A new machine learning tool from PitchBook helps make that prediction.

  • We used the VC Exit Predictor to analyze the top 50 startups in the GeekWire 200. See the results.

In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the future of venture debt is unclear.

  • Andy Liu, a partner at Unlock Venture Partners, said he expects unprofitable startups will now have a harder time raising venture debt from banks. Jason Stoffer, a partner at Maveron, expects “less cheap bank debt.” Read more.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
SPONSOR MESSAGE
Apply for Foster’s Evening MBA program by April 11th

Accelerate into greater leadership responsibility or pivot your career direction to make an impact. Foster is committed to bettering humanity through business by providing a world-class, affordable education in a hub of ingenuity and innovation. Test-optional applications are available.

Apply by April 11th, start classes fall 2023.
Copyright © 2023 GeekWire LLC, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted to receive emails from GeekWire LLC.
 
Our mailing address is:
GeekWire LLC
123 NW 36th St, Suite 203
Seattle, WA 98107
 

Key phrases

Unique amp Urban Venue Seattle camera startup Moment Washington state Supreme Court new capital gains tax capital gains tax ruling Blue Origin space venture Seagen founder Clay Siegall Seattle immigration startup regressive tax structure valid excise tax Seattlearea biotech giant new biotech st many startup founders September launch failure

Older messages

Capital gains tax ruled constitutional by Washington state Supreme Court

Friday, March 24, 2023

Breaking News from GeekWire GeekWire.com | View in browser BREAKING NEWS The Washington state Supreme Court ruled that a statewide tax on capital gains is lawful, allowing the legislation to move

GeekWire Startups Weekly

Friday, March 24, 2023

News, analysis, insights from the Pacific NW startup ecosystem View this email in your browser Presented by Flying Fish Partners Startup leaders sound off on the future of venture debt in fallout from

Inside a new Seattle museum that blends art and tech | GeekWire Awards voting begins

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Pet care startup backed by Rover emerges in Seattle | Seagen founder back in biotech ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: Unique & Urban Venue for Weddings, Conferences and Meetings: Plan your

GeekWire Mid-Week Update

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Read the top tech stories so far this week from GeekWire Top stories so far this week Amazon is laying off another 9000 employees — read the CEO's memo Amazon is cutting 9000 jobs over the next few

Seattle business leaders want city to suspend taxes | Amazon shutting down DPReview

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

GeekWire Awards finalists revealed | UW students show off VR and AR projects ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: Unique & Urban Venue for Weddings, Conferences and Meetings: Plan your event at

Millennials Will Not Age Into Voting Like Boomers

Friday, June 2, 2023

Columns and commentary on news, politics, business, and technology from the Intelligencer team. Intelligencer Stay informed about business, politics, technology, and where they intersect. Subscribe now

Salesforce shrouds Slack and Tableau financial results

Friday, June 2, 2023

Startup wants to automate college admissions counseling | Microsoft sets aside $425M for potential fine ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: Money Hacks is a financial education series from GeekWire

What's hot right now

Friday, June 2, 2023

Happy June ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

☕ Cooking with Dash

Friday, June 2, 2023

Dash brand co-founder and CEO Evan Dash. June 02, 2023 Retail Brew TOGETHER WITH mntn It's Friday. To be more precise, it's the first summer Friday of the year—for some and, well, the last day

We are grateful for you

Friday, June 2, 2023

We are here for you, because of you ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

☕ Get a clue

Friday, June 2, 2023

Perhaps a contextual advertising clue? June 02, 2023 Marketing Brew SPONSORED BY Audacy It's Friday. And another Twitter exec has left the building, this time it's the head of trust and safety,

We Ranked Every ‘Succession’ Episode

Friday, June 2, 2023

View in your browser Twitter Facebook Instagram Share | Subscribe The Ringer June 2, 2023 Happy Friday from your friends at The Ringer! Here are some things you might have missed on our site this week.

GeekWire Startups Weekly

Friday, June 2, 2023

News, analysis, insights from the Pacific NW startup ecosystem View this email in your browser This Univ. of Washington startup wants to automate college admissions counseling Read more » Microsoft

Art Beings

Friday, June 2, 2023

The Art of Compression // We Are Not Human Beings Art Beings By Sylvia Bishop • 2 Jun 2023 View in browser View in browser The Art Of Compression Richard Hughes Gibson | Hedgehog Review | 31st May 2023

Is AI a threat to democracy?

Friday, June 2, 2023

+ why we prefer spontaneity in entertainment ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌