20:41:30

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

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20:41:30

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

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Ascend Updates

FOUNDERS BASH 2023 - SEATTLE STARTUP PHOTO GALLERY

More than 1100 founders and investors registered for Founders Bash 2023, what a night. Shouts to our partners at AWS Startups, Stifel Venture Banking, Summit…

KW

Kirby Winfield

Founding General Partner, Ascend

·

1 MIN READ

FOUNDERS BASH 2023 - SEATTLE STARTUP PHOTO GALLERY

Ascend Updates

More than 1100 founders and investors registered for Founders Bash 2023, what a night. Shouts to our partners at AWS Startups, Stifel Venture Banking, Summit Trail Advisors, WSGR, Reverb, and Mary’s Place and Special Olympics of Washington!

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“The deck comes later. First we go look at the thing.”

“The deck comes later. First we go look at the thing.”

[ MEDIA ]

Lake Union, test day. The rig ran for eleven minutes before the founder called it a success.

▶

A founder who could explain the physics in one breath and the business model in the next.

A prototype we could see and touch, not a projection.

A cost curve that gets better with scale, not worse.

If you’re building something we’d want to see in a kayak, read our founder resources toolkit before you pitch us.

KW

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kirby Winfield, General Partner

Kirby founded Ascend to write the first institutional check into Pacific Northwest technology companies. He’s on the board of 12 portfolio companies, including Bean Box and Endurance Energy.

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FIRST-CHECK VENTURE CAPITAL FOR TECHNOLOGY FOUNDERS.

ABOUT

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STARTUP TOOLKIT

FUTURE FOUNDERS

BLOG

LINKEDIN

JOB BOARD

Ideas on founders, technology,
and what comes next.

© 2026 ASCEND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

FIRST-CHECK VENTURE CAPITAL FOR TECHNOLOGY FOUNDERS.

ABOUT

COMPANIES

STARTUP TOOLKIT

FUTURE FOUNDERS

BLOG

LINKEDIN

JOB BOARD

Ideas on founders, technology,
and what comes next.

© 2026 ASCEND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

FIRST-CHECK VENTURE CAPITAL FOR TECHNOLOGY FOUNDERS.

ABOUT

COMPANIES

STARTUP TOOLKIT

FUTURE FOUNDERS

BLOG

LINKEDIN

JOB BOARD

Ideas on founders, technology,
and what comes next.

© 2026 ASCEND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.