Nick Hanauer | Entrepreneur, venture capitalist and writer
Nick Hanauer is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and writer. He is the co-author, with Eric Liu, of The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government. He is a partner with Second Avenue Partners, a Seattle venture capital partnership specializing in early state startups and emerging technology. He has had a hand in such companies as Amazon.com and aQuantive among others. Hanauer's career began with a position as executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Pacific Coast Feather Company, a family owned manufacturer of basic bedding. In his time in that role, he helped grow Pacific Coast from several million dollars to more than $300 million in sales. Hanauer subsequently served as the company's Co-Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer and remains Chief Executive Officer.
Pierre Omidyar |
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Dan Price | Founder and CEO Gravity Payments
Dan Price is the founder and CEO of Seattle-based payment processing company, Gravity Payments. A graduate of Seattle Pacific University, Dan Price started the Seattle-based credit-card payment processing firm in 2004 at the age of 19. From the company's humble beginnings Gravity Payments has become the largest credit card processing company in the state of Washington. His growing company now employs more than 120 people. Along the way, Dan has amassed a collection of awards and honors including the National Small Business Administration "Entrepreneur of the Year", GeekWire.com's "Young Entrepreneur of the Year," and the Seattle Mayor's Small Business Award. Dan's entrepreneurial story has also been chronicled in Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc, the Seattle Times Business Week and Forbes. Mr. Price made headlines in 2015 when he announced that he planned to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman at Gravity Payments to a minimum of $70,000said he would pay for the wage increases by cutting his own salary from nearly $1 million to $70,000 as well as using 75 to 80 percent of the company's anticipated $2.2 million of annual profit.
