Jan 1, 2019

From top left, clockwise: Geoff Entress, Gillian Muessig, Erik Benson, Matt McIlwain, Andy Liu, Corey Schmid. How many Seattle startups will go public in 2019 ? What will happen to Amazon’s stock price over the next 12 months? What will be the most overhyped technology next year? And will the Seahawks win another Super Bowl? As 2018 winds down and we look at ahead to another year, GeekWire asked six venture capitalists from the Pacific Northwest for their 2019 predictions, as a window into their outlook on the upcoming year. These investors are closely watching tech trends, as they all plan to make several investments in the coming months. Read on to get their take on topics including privacy, electric scooters, blockchain, chatbots, healthcare, the political climate, and much more. And check out how another group of investors fared with their 2018 predictions . Geoff Entress. Geoff Entress , managing director at Pioneer Square Labs Number of IPOs in Washington state in 2019: Six. Many of the top GeekWire 200 companies are likely candidates, but I will go with Chef, Auth0, Convoy and OfferUp here. Probably a couple of biotech companies as well, although I don’t know which ones those will be. Number of new investments your firm plans to make in 2019: Pioneer Square Labs will likely make five or six new investments in companies that aren’t associated with our Studio. On the Studio side, we expect six to eight new spinout companies in 2019 and our fund will participate in their financings as well. Google’s stock close on 12/31/19 ($1,037 now): $1,100. Microsoft’s stock close on 12/31/19 ($100.39 now): $120. Microsoft is hitting on all cylinders right now. Amazon’s stock close on 12/31/19 ($1,478 now): $1,900. Amazon will continue to capture an increasing portion of consumer’s online spending. Apple stock close on 12/31/19 ($156.23 now): $175. Nasdaq final close on 12/31/19 (6,584 now): 7,000. What will be the hottest technology of 2019: Cybersecurity is going to be an increasing concern as we head into the new year and so new cybersecurity solutions are going to be hot. Whether that is cloud security solutions, like those being developed by PSL portfolio company Shujinko, or personal data security, like that being developed by Helm, security is going to be a hot topic in 2019. What will be the most overhyped technology of 2019: Electric scooters. I am a big believer in ride sharing of all types, and believe it is going to be a critical component of our transportation infrastructure going forward, especially in autonomous form. But the scooter craze seems overhyped and I think safety concerns will slow their deployment, which has been amazingly fast to date. Politicians on both sides of the aisle will continue to focus on online privacy as a hot button issue during 2019, helping drive the demand for new cybersecurity solutions. What will be the most pressing issue facing the tech industry in 2019: Privacy. Just as I believe cybersecurity will be the hot technology of the year, the impetus for the increased focus on security will be the recent revelations regarding the lack of privacy we all face online. One of the stocks you didn’t ask about above is Facebook and I think Facebook is going to be under ever-increasing scrutiny regarding its privacy policies. Other large companies will feel this pressure too, notably Google and Amazon, but I expect Facebook will feel it most acutely. Facebook Dec. 31, 2019 stock close will be $110, down from about $130 now. How will the political climate affect the tech industry in 2019: Politicians on both sides of the aisle will continue to focus on online privacy as a hot button issue during 2019, helping drive the demand for new cybersecurity solutions. Politicians will also begin ramping up for the 2020 elections and the election meddling of past elections will even further the increase the demands for better online security. As you can tell, security is a big current focus for me! Advice to startups for 2019: Protect your cash and take more when you can get it. As you can see from my stock predictions, I am optimistic about the U.S. tech industry in 2019, but a lot of people aren’t, and probably safest to have some extra cash on hand. I have never heard any entrepreneur complain later that they raised more money than they needed. Other bold predictions for 2019 in tech, politics, sports or anything else: With Facebook under increased scrutiny, there might be an opportunity for other large tech companies to make a move in social media. With Snapchat parent Snap under increasing pressure from continuing losses, their valuation is now $6.6 billion, might make sense for Microsoft or Google to pick up 185 million daily active users on the cheap. Microsoft may be the most likely, due to their ownership of LinkedIn and Skype already. Go Hawks! Bold prediction? Russell and the Seahawks win the Super Bowl over my hometown heroes the Pittsburgh Steelers, avenging their loss from 2006 (I know, I know, the Steelers didn’t actually “win” that one