Zillow responds to Rocket-Redfin deal | Google vet joins Microsoft AI as CVP

Get close to your customers. Hire the right people. And stay optimistic. These are some of the leadership mantras used by CEO of the Year finalists at this year’s GeekWire Awards. Read their tips, and cast your vote across all Awards categories. (Above, from top left, clockwise: Zuper CEO Anand Subbaraj; Highspot CEO Robert Wahbe; Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi; Syndio CEO Maria Colacurcio; and Read AI CEO David Shim.)

• The five finalists for the Innovation of the Year category are developing everything from a next-generation nuclear power plant to tech that can help law enforcement avoid dangerous weapons pat-downs. Read more.

Rocket Companies’ planned $1.75 billion acquisition of Seattle-based brokerage Redfin sparked questions about a potential competitive threat to fellow Seattle real estate company Zillow Group, another key player in the digital real estate arena. Read Zillow’s response.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic Labs is selling its video game division for $3.5 billion to a Saudi Arabia-owned company. Niantic is based in San Francisco and has an engineering center in Bellevue, Wash. (The Verge)

• Check out our list of all engineering centers in the Seattle region.

The FTC is asking a judge in Seattle to delay its trial against Amazon due to budget and staffing constraints. The trial revolves around allegations that Amazon duped consumers into signing up for Prime memberships. (CNBC)

Tech Moves: After nearly 19 years at Google, Umesh Shankar has joined Microsoft AI as a corporate vice president of engineering. Read more.

NASA has penciled in Blue Origin’s Blue Moon MK1 cargo lander to deliver a scientific payload to the moon’s south polar region as soon as this summer. The uncrewed lander would rank as the largest spacecraft sent to the moon’s surface. Read more.

Seattle-based VC firm Founders’ Co-op is raising a new fund, according to SEC filings. Read more. 

Private and uncensored AI: Seattle entrepreneur Jesse Proudman is taking another startup leap with Venice.ai, a new AI app focused on privacy and uncensored interactions that is positioning itself as an alternative to mainstream generative AI services from giants such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Read more.

Hot Links:

• The rise of generative AI could change how founders approach their first hires at a startup. (Pioneer Square Labs)  

• The next Salesforce or ServiceNow could be built in the next 24 months. (LinkedIn)

• Amazon, Meta, Google and other corporations signed a pledge supporting the tripling of global nuclear capacity by 2050. (World Nuclear Association)

• Six founders from Washington state — including Stephanie Bonk from Overland AI, and Susan Gates and Kate Isler from The WMarketplace — made Inc’s Female Founders 500 list. (Inc)

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; and GeekWire reporter Lisa Stiffler, lisa@geekwire.com.