About

TiE Seattle was founded in 2000 as a network of entrepreneurs and executives and professionals with the mission of supporting and promoting entrepreneurship in the Greater Seattle area. Over the last 18 years, TiE Seattle has carried out its mission through a host of programs such as Startup On Tap, where Charter Members narrate their startup journey, Investment Outlook Panel, where Experts provide predictions for the year; Pitch Clinics, which have mentored over 100 startup founders to fine tune their pitch and the TiE Angels Group (TAGS), which has evaluated over 1,000 business plans over 4 years and either invested in or referred over 300 of these. In addition, TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) has mentored over 125 students from 20 schools on entrepreneurship. The GoVertical program, aimed at the creation of new startups, today attracts over 150 applicants for each cohort, with funding opportunities for the leading startup ideas.

Building on this success, TiE Seattle is now embarking on its next phase of scaling the incredible platform and network, to be more accessible and relevant. As we do so, we are focused on the following tenets:

Relevance

The Seattle ecosystem of startups, investors and entrepreneurs,and their needs have evolved significantly since TiE Seattle was founded. We remain relevant by evolving alongside and providing the connections, support and mentorship that the ecosystem needs through our rich network which is our greatest asset.

Diversity

TiE Seattle has strong roots in the South Asian community, whose members work at the leading wealth and job creators in the area such as Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, Costco, Weyerhauser and others. Several of them have taken the entrepreneurship plunge, supported by TiE, or have come forward as mentors and advisors for startups. However, we recognize that the Seattle startup ecosystem is very diverse and entrepreneurs from all over the world start companies here and need support. To broaden the access and support TiE Seattle provides, we are actively drawing members from the larger Seattle community. As an indicator, 50% of the new members in 2018 were from outside the South Asian community, and 30% were women.

Partnerships

Being a non-profit platform, TiE Seattle’s focus is not on helping and promoting startups that fit our ‘investment criteria’ but supporting the entrepreneurship ecosystem as a whole. Through the breadth of our member base and the diversity of our programs, we help startups at all stages, from all industries and whether they have access to funding or not, as long as the entrepreneur has an idea worth pursuing.

A key component of achieving this wide-ranging objective is the strong partnerships we’ve built with all players in the ecosystem, with whom we co-host and co-sponsor diverse programs and events throughout the year. Our partnerships and network ensure that we’ll find the right resources for any startup that comes to us for help.

ABOUT TiE

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) is a global nonprofit dedicated to growing and fostering entrepreneurship all over the world. We believe in the power of ideas to change the face of entrepreneurship and growing business through the five pillars of our global mission: mentoring, networking, education, incubating and funding. TiE was founded in 1992 by a group of successful entrepreneurs and is currently the world’s largest entrepreneurial organization. With 15,000 members including 2,500 charter members across over 60 chapters in 17 countries, TiE is reaching out and fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs.