Dan Voelpel | South Sound Business

Gig Harbor’s ‘Boy Genius’ of Cloud Computing is Now Creating Community off the Grid in Hawaii

They called Christophe Bisciglia, who grew up on a small farm in Gig Harbor, a wunderkind, “a boy genius.” Columnist Dan Voelpel catches up with the former Google prodigy.

News

The Olympia Oyster Shooter Open

Could our area stomach — and benefit from — a competitive-eating competition? And what could such a competition do for the South Sound’s economy? Columnist Dan Voelpel endeavors to find the answer.

News

We Have All the Other Check Marks, so How Do We Go About Securing the Talent?

In the olden days, like 2015, if Anyplace wanted to recruit new businesses, Anyplace simply pitched its unique attributes to site-selection consultants that scout expansion locations for businesses. Not anymore.

News

‘The Pumpkin Patrol’ is Helping Transform Olympia’s Downtown Back Into a Golden Carriage

We have a love-hate relationship with our downtowns. We love the attractions but hate the search for parking. We love the restaurants but hate to pay for the valet.

News

‘It works in Tacoma’ for startups. Are we prepared for the next wave of them?

Humming strips the middleman, mystery, and most of the cost out of online advertising. Its simple online tool uses artificial intelligence to scrape a business’ website and quickly creates optional online ads.

Opinion

Reseeding an Old Idea: It’s Finally Time to Put the Flower on the Tacoma Dome

As you sit in I-5 construction traffic alongside the Tacoma Dome late this summer, you will see people dangling from safety ropes armed with buckets of Simple Green, scrub brushes, and water hoses cleaning the Dome’s grit-and-green-algae-covered roof

News

Larry Treleven’s Pest-Filled Journey: From the Bottom of a Dock to the Top of His Profession

Business owners from throughout the Puget Sound region called Alfred Treleven Jr. — owner of W.B Sprague & Co. Exterminators in Tacoma — to get rid of their wharf rats, mice, bed bugs, ants, termites, and weevils. And little Larry begged to help out.

Lifestyle

When Project Obstacles Outweighed Supporters, Point Ruston Developer Still Overcame

Two days after American Smelting and Refining Co. announced it planned to close its 1890s-era copper smelter on the far end of Ruston Way, my editor sent me out to interview the workers as they came off their Friday shift. It was June 1984.

News

Bending until it breaks: Local trade association looks to fail so that others may thrive

Tucked into a hideaway on the border of Tacoma and University Place, behind a secure wrought-iron fence, sits a little known laboratory where six Ph.D.s and a staff of highly trained researchers celebrate failure over and over again.

Opinion

Downtown Tacoma’s Renaissance: Three decades and at least one unsung hero

If I blindfolded you and dropped you at the downtown Tacoma corner of South 17th Street and Pacific Avenue in spring 1988, then removed your blindfold, chances are you would not immediately know where you were.

Written by Dan Voelpel

Gig Harbor’s ‘Boy Genius’ of Cloud Computing is Now Creating Community off the Grid in Hawaii

The Olympia Oyster Shooter Open

We Have All the Other Check Marks, so How Do We Go About Securing the Talent?

‘The Pumpkin Patrol’ is Helping Transform Olympia’s Downtown Back Into a Golden Carriage

‘It works in Tacoma’ for startups. Are we prepared for the next wave of them?

Reseeding an Old Idea: It’s Finally Time to Put the Flower on the Tacoma Dome

Larry Treleven’s Pest-Filled Journey: From the Bottom of a Dock to the Top of His Profession

When Project Obstacles Outweighed Supporters, Point Ruston Developer Still Overcame

Bending until it breaks: Local trade association looks to fail so that others may thrive

Downtown Tacoma’s Renaissance: Three decades and at least one unsung hero