After being accused by several people at this evening's Industry Achievement Awards of possessing a "Sports-Illustrated-like-cover-curse," I redeemed myself with my predictions. I got half of my picks correct, making up for last year's dismal performance when I missed every one.
The 14th annual awards ceremony had a fun vibe as it moved to the Paramount Theater, with DJs, a video game lounge and Tom Douglas' corn dogs. Yummy. So who won?
MY HITS:
Breakthrough Startup of the Year: I thought Dan Shapiro's Ontela was a shoe in for this one. And I was right. "I can't believe it is not a Chihuly," said Shapiro as he accepted the ceramic vase trophy and then, appropriately enough, took out his camera phone and snapped a shot of the audience.
The other nominees -- Apptio and LiquidPlanner -- didn't have a chance with their business product offerings. LiquidPlanner's Jason Carlson conceded as much beforehand. After all, Carlson noted that the online project management software that his company builds just isn't as sexy.
Winner: Ontela
Technology Innovator of the Year: This was a fifty-fifty chance, and I leaned toward Darrin Massena of Picnik. Massena gave a heart-felt speech, thanking his wife and the Picnik team. "This is a great honor," he said.
Winner: Darrin Massena
Best use of Technology in the Government, Non-Profit or Education Sector: The Snohomish County Planning and Development Services department was by far the most energetic winner of the night -- to the point where one of the team's members planted a giant kiss on my cheek after they won.(She was worried that I had hexed them by picking them as a winner.) Nope, the curse is over -- at least until the awards roll around again next year.
Winner: Snohomish County Planning and Development Services
MY MISSES:
Service Provider of the Year: I had a theory going into the awards that the larger companies had an inherent advantage since they could simply mobilize their workforces to stuff the online ballot box. But the theory backfired -- twice. In fact, I think the opposite proved to be the case. The smaller startups had more to gain, so they got the word out. It certainly happened here, with online advertising startup AdReady beating out The Cobalt Group and Azaleos. In his acceptance speech, founder Aaron Finn pointed out the winning strategy when he thanked all of the AdReady employees -- and all of their friends -- for voting.
My Choice: The Cobalt Group
Consumer Product or Service of the Year: Wetpaint founder Ben Elowitz -- who I sat next to during the event -- felt pretty good about his chances. That's because -- in addition to leading Wetpaint -- Elowitz also was an early investor in fellow nominee Pet Holdings/ I Can Has Cheezburger. In the end, Elowitz and Wetpaint prevailed.
"They were hard to beat," Elowitz said of his competition with I Can Has Cheezburger. "They have pictures of cats that can't spell well."
My Choice: Picnik
Commercial Product or Service of the Year: Once again, I missed out by going with the largest company: Concur. (I learned my lesson for next year.) At the end of the day, it was Visible Technologies and its TruCast technology that took home the top prize. At least Visible had a connection to Concur, since newly-appointed CEO Dan Vetras sold Captura to Concur in 2002.
My Choice: Concur
Here are a few of my photos from the event.
Picnik's Massena accepts the innovator of the year award.
Michael McCrary wins the government award.
The Paramount marquee
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