7 hours ago
- Lake Union symbolizes Seattle's industrial evolution from maritime and aerospace (Act I) to cloud computing (Act II) and now intelligent machines (Act III).
- The lake hosts a mix of historic maritime firms (e.g., Lake Union Dry Dock) and modern tech startups (e.g., Endurance Energy, AI2, Cobot).
- Seattle's Act III companies (e.g., Overland AI, Anduril, Brinc) require industrial space, airfields, and deepwater access, unlike traditional software firms.
- Despite downtown challenges, Lake Union's ecosystem thrives with high density of hardware engineers and AI talent, outpacing the Bay Area in certain fields.
- To sustain growth, the region needs greater risk appetite, policy support for physical AI, and community collaboration among founders and investors.