Although it may feel like we’ve been living in a perpetual March, 2020 is almost over. And despite the fact that time has lost all meaning, a lot actually happened this year. The COVID-19 pandemic took over everyday life, a summer of protests led to a racial justice reckoning, the U.S. presidential election garnered huge voter turnout, and so on.
The tech industry also had a busy year filled with plenty of innovation and creativity. As a result, there’s a lot of stories to look back upon, and many of them have implications that will go far beyond this year. So to honor those stories, Built In Seattle is taking a quantitative approach by ranking the most-viewed news stories we published in 2020. Below are the stories that got you, our readers, clicking.
#5. Microsoft announced its initiative to give 25 million people training for tech jobs. A side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was massive unemployment. Yet, at the same time, certain jobs in the tech industry saw a huge spike in demand. Technology is constantly changing the way people work, so business automation is nothing new, but the pandemic poured gasoline on that fire. Suddenly every industry was looking for technology that would allow them to operate digitally, because working around others made people susceptible to infection. Microsoft announced that it was using its resources to give free training for in-demand tech skills to millions of people. In turn, this would make them more competitive job applicants and make their careers more future-proof, since business automation shows no signs of slowing down.
#4. The Plug compiled a database of companies making racial justice statements. Protests broke out across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police. This caused a lot of people and organizations to take a long, hard look at the way they were complicit to the systematic oppression of Black people. Corporate America was no exception. Numerous tech companies began putting out public statements condemning oppression and vowing to do better. So Seattle native Sherrell Dorsey and The Plug began collecting these statements in a database, along with information about the DEI initiatives of those companies, whether they have donated money to racial equity organizations and so on. While it’s easy to put out a statement, this database was meant to hold companies accountable to their words, and see if any of them actually showed signs of improvement after protesters left the streets.
#3. Business software provider Ally shared its vision for the future of its workplace. Employees from countless tech companies were forced to start working remotely due to the pandemic. This was uncharted territory for many companies, as offices were left barren and meetings were held over Zoom. At the same time this was happening, Bellevue-based startup Ally saw a huge increase in the demand for its product and had to figure out a way to expand while running its business remotely. Ally CEO Vetri Vellore spoke to Built In about how he planned to hire around 70 people this year while recognizing that remote work was a sign of the future.
#2. The NBA announced a partnership with Microsoft to put virtual fans in the stands. We had to make a lot of sacrifices this year, one of which was sports. After the NBA initially put its 2019–20 season on hold during the start of the pandemic, it resumed games starting in July. To do this, the NBA had to create an isolated bubble where players lived and played, and no one else was allowed in or out — that meant no fans. Instead, the NBA teamed up with Microsoft to allow basketball fans to video call in, and have their faces shown in the stands of the arena. While that may not be as fun as actually seeing a basketball game in person, at least the stands weren’t completely empty.
#1. Atomo raises $9 million to make coffee without coffee. The No. 1 most-read story on Built In Seattle for all of 2020 was about coffee (or technically, not coffee). In August, Seattle startup Atomo Coffee announced the closing of its $9 million seed funding round. Scientifically, Atomo’s product is quite interesting. The company created a chemical process to make what it calls “molecular coffee” by taking ingredients from various plants and combining them. The end result is a coffee-like drink that looks like coffee, smells like coffee, tastes like coffee, but doesn’t use coffee beans. We’re not entirely sure why this was the most-viewed story on our site. Maybe people are excited about the potential sustainability benefits of molecular coffee. Maybe it has something to do with the coffee debate it spurred on LinkedIn. Maybe people just really love coffee.
