Thanks to GeekWire, the Seattle tech community could once again let it’s geek flag fly with pride.

Last night was the annual GeekWire Bash at the Showbox SODO, and it was the best yet. Representatives from tech companies across the region gathered to play ping pong, foosball, and dress up. Once again, GeekWire reminded us that we’re part of a vibrant community in Seattle filled with amazingly talented individuals.

One such individual is our very own See Sing Lau, who made it to the expert bracket of the ping pong tournament! Congrats, See Sing!

You can check out pictures from last night on the GeekWire website: http://www.geekwire.com/2013/scenes-geekwire-bash/#prettyPhoto

The WhitePages Team

Today, I am excited to announce that LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke and local startup guru Geoff Entress have joined the WhitePages board! Both Konstantin and Geoff are already making a positive impact on our business and we will continue to look to their guidance as we grow our investment in big data technology this year. A little bit about them:

Konstantin, a venture partner at Earlybird Venture Capital and mentor to Stanford student entrepreneurs, also serves on the boards of Doximity, Accolo and StartX. Prior to Earlybird, he was CEO of jaxtr, a social communications start-up with over ten million registered users that was purchased by SabSe Technologies in 2009. Before jaxtr, Konstantin co-founded LinkedIn and as vice president of marketing led the company’s marketing activities from launch to the first six million members and profitability.

Geoff serves as a Venture Partner with Voyager Capital and focuses on information technology investments in the Pacific Northwest. A former venture partner with Madrona Venture Group, a Seattle-based venture capital firm, Geoff is a current investor in over fifty private companies in the Pacific Northwest including Walk Score and Context Relevant, who have both built successful businesses on top of big data. He is a current board member of ten companies, including Big Fish Games, Banyan Branch, Bonanza, LiquidPlanner and now WhitePages!

Please join me in officially welcoming Konstantin and Geoff to our board. And trust me when I say that the future of WhitePages just got quite a bit brighter!

Do you remember the “dot-com era”? When companies took time to appreciate their employees? When an entire company took a trip to celebrate the past year, while looking forward to the next? Here at WhitePages, we remember. In fact, we are still living it.

This past weekend the entire WhitePages team (plus families) took a trip up to Whistler B.C, Canada for a weekend of work and fun. It started out on Thursday with the arrival of the New York team and two busloads full of the Seattle team. A dinner welcomed everyone and jump started the weekend so when the final bus from Seattle arrived Thursday night, the whole team was really ready to get the party started!

Friday was packed full of productive meetings with many discussions focused around strategy for the  forthcoming year which resulted in some innovative and actionable ideas. After a hard day of work, the team got a chance to kick back and enjoy each other’s company at a cocktail reception that was followed by dinner and a holiday party at the Garibaldi Lift Co. where the #1 band in Whistler, The Hairfarmers, took the stage. It was a great way to celebrate our long day (and year!) of productivity.

Once the “work” was over, everyone was given the opportunity to enjoy all that Whistler has to offer including a trip to the Scandinavian Spa, a Zip Trek tour, skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing. The weather was perfect and these activities were a nice way to reward everyone for all their hard work this past year!

Although it was hard to go, everyone left the weekend feeling rejuvenated and motivated to make this year even better than the last! As we were checking out of the hotel, the manager remarked “I’ve not had a group like you guys come through a hotel like this since the 80’s. It really felt like you were a family.” This trip was only the start to what we know will be a very successful 2013 here at WhitePages!

Australia Day is January 26, and marks the day that the English First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove in 1788 and claimed the land for King George III – not independence from England. Australians typically celebrate with a picnic or trip to the beach, listening to the annual “Triple J Hottest 100 Countdown”; rankings are based on radio listeners’ votes for their favorite songs. Whatever you do, don’t “throw a shrimp on the barbie” (they’re called prawns, for starters!)
Australians typically eat an average of 12 meat pies per person per year; here are some Stateside places to sample that Oz staple and more, that are, in our opinion, “fair dinkum” (the real deal).

Last night WhitPages sponsored the inaugural Code Fellows “Get Awesome” job fair and recruiting event. The evening consisted of a presentation from SEOMoz CEO, Rand Fishkin, as well as a panel discussion of Start Up CTO’s from across Seattle. Included in this panel was our very own CTO, Scott Sikora. Scott, along with the other CTO’s, gave first-hand advice on how to impress (and how to disappoint) a hiring manager in your first impression. Approximately 100 attendees filled the South Lake Union Discovery Center and the caliber of candidate was extremely high. We are optimistic that we made some great connections in the Start Up community!