Startup Radar: Seattle founders are building new technology for dog parents, travelers, product leaders, and students
3 hours agoLast Updated: November 4, 2025
1 9 minutes read
Startup Radar: Seattle founders are building new technology for dog parents, travelers, product leaders, and students
By Taylor Soper | Published: 2025-11-04 17:41:00 | Source: GeekWire
From top left, clockwise: Boop CEO Nancy Lee Smith, Dotted CEO Eric Newman, FurFriends CEO Avery Morton, and AceRocket CEO Dong Zhang.
Our latest Seattle startup spotlight covers a lot of ground — dog-influenced communications, shareable travel itineraries, in-person test preparation, and streamlined product reporting.
This regular series highlights early-stage startups bursting with innovative ideas.
Read on for brief descriptions of each company – and a pitch rating from Mean VC Powered by GPT, for which we ask you to provide both positive and critical feedback.
Check out previous Startup Radar posts here, and email me at taylor@geekwire.com To report on other companies or startup news.
the job: An educational platform that helps high school students prepare for the SAT, ACT, and AP exams with personalized daily coaching. It uses artificial intelligence and an adaptive question engine to personalize each learning path according to student performance. The commissioned startup has served more than 200 beta users and plans to expand its beta program later this year.
command: CEO Dong Chang He spent three years at Amazon as a machine learning scientist and two years at IBM as a data scientist.
VC means: “AceRocket is hitting the niche market with an AI-driven adaptive prep system that can make standardized test studying less soul-crushing and more effective. But the test prep space is dominated by giants with brand trust, so unless you show radically better results — or pivot quickly when tests become optional — you’re flying into headwinds, not into orbit.”
the job: An AI-driven social travel companion that automatically turns real trips into shoppable itineraries that friends can copy, customize and book. Boop wants to create the world’s largest network of itineraries – connecting travelers, creatives and local businesses through personalized recommendations. Boop is backed by Bling Capital, BBG Ventures, and AI2 Incubator, and just launched its public waiting list.
command: CEO Nancy Lee Smith She is a long-time product leader, having worked at Meta, Microsoft, and most recently BrightAI.
VC means: “Boop benefits from the perfect intersection between social discovery and travel commerce, with a clear path to viral growth if itineraries feel personal and truly shareable. But unless Boop breaks retention and monetization beyond influencer glamor, it risks becoming another shiny app that people forget between trips.”
the job: Automate product reporting by pulling live data from tools like Jira, GitHub, and Slack, and turning it into drive-ready narratives. It aims to replace chipsets, free product teams from manual updates, and give executives real-time visibility and control. Dotted is currently in closed beta and building its own B2B early access program.
command: Co-founder Donny Abiodun He spent nearly a decade at Microsoft as a software engineer and manager. Co-founder Eric Newman He was a senior product manager at Axon, and has worked at Amazon and Microsoft. Former Microsoft Director Jeremy Schreiber He recently joined as Chief Commercial Officer.
VC means: “Dotted cleverly targets a universal pain point — turning sparse product data into clear, executive-ready updates without wasting a PM’s weekend on slides. But automation in reporting is a graveyard of ‘nearly useful’ tools, and unless Dotted proves accuracy of narrative and context, leaders won’t trust what’s written any more than they’re already ignoring it.”
the job: It aims to help locals break the “Seattle freeze” through dog-friendly social connections. The app organizes playdates and events that help dog owners make friends in the real world. The company plans to launch premium subscription features and partnered with the Seattle Mariners earlier this year for a Bark at the Park event at Victory Hall.
command: founder Avery Morton He is a former technical product manager at Amazon and was a product manager at Prodege.
VC means: “FurFriends cleverly uses dogs as social catalysts to thaw the Seattle Freeze, tapping into an emotionally resonant playful niche with real community stickiness. But unless you break down consistent engagement beyond the first wag of the tail, you’ll end up with more ghost towns than dog parks.”
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