Tech
Can AI Help Students Navigate the Career Chaos It’s Creating?
After a career counselor visited one of her classes earlier this year, Lily Hatch found herself asking a chatbot for guidance about college.
A junior at Wake Forest High School in North Carolina, Hatch had taken an in-class career quiz that recommended she pursue dermatology. She had finished quickly and so approached the counselor to find out how to explore that profession further. The counselor gave a couple of suggestions, before adding that Hatch could also play with a chatbot to explore her college options.
So, that’s what Hatch did.
But instead of returning information on which schools rank highly for dermatology, the chatbot — a general-purpose consumer product, rather than an edtech tool — veered off into offering information about climate, telling Hatch to consider the University of North Carolina in Wilmington because it’s near a beach.
It felt a little like a runaway train, with the bot dragging her down a pre-laid track. “I was looking for advice on what colleges would be ideal for me. And it switches into going more into what things in my life I would be looking for in the future, which was not what I was looking for,” Hatch says.
Today’s high school students — who spent years of their academic careers surfing disruptions and the challenges of returning to the classroom after the pandemic school closures — are preparing to enter a labor force and broader economic system that can seem confusing and unstable, as technologies like artificial intelligence are reshaping the career ladders that their parents climbed. Some national surveys show that Gen Z students feel more prepared for their futures now than they did in past years, but for those about to graduate, that’s not always the case. Many students describe a general pessimism about the future.
“There’s a lot of fear there,” says Matthew Tyson, CEO of Tapestry Public Charter School in DeKalb County, Georgia. Tyson notes that many of his students aren’t planning for college, or feel discouraged by the fast-changing nature of life around them.
Navigating these major shifts about starting a career requires both educators and young people to think flexibly, according to experts. Students need honest guidance, Tyson says, adding that adults should be transparent about the reality that they don’t have all the answers.
But new AI tools don’t have all the answers either, not even those purpose-built to offer career guidance. At least, some human counselors don’t think so.
“The AI stuff is kind of crazy to think about,” says Ian Trombulak, a school counselor in Vermont. “That’s not going to help us reverse the trend here of career readiness scores being low.”
Still, some say they are open to the possibility that offloading aspects of their work to AI may, ironically, free them up to offer better support to students contending with the disruptions AI is creating in the labor market.
A Tough Job
Career counseling is a demanding gig these days.
Youth unemployment rates are increasing, and recent assessments reveal dips in college readiness. And two-thirds of parents desire an increase in job skills and workforce training opportunities in high school, according to a figure from the Hunt Institute.
Yet counselors often have to make tough choices between giving academic and career advice or addressing students’ emotional crises, and many students seem to lack support systems, says Tyson, from the Georgia public charter school. Student traumas can spout up to the adults meant to give those students advice.
“A lot of times, there’s only so much water that can be taken out of a glass before the glass is empty,” Tyson says of counselors’ emotional states. Eager to assist students, counselors can burn out.
They also have to deal with staff shortages. Tapestry, Tyson’s public charter, doesn’t suffer from a shortage of counseling educators like some nearby schools. It has three counselors for 300 students, according to Tyson.
But across Georgia, there are 378 students for every school counselor, according to the latest data from the American School Counselor Association, which recommends one counselor for every 250 students. And that’s hardly the worst in the nation, with the ratios sitting at 573 students per counselor in Michigan and 645 per counselor in Arizona.
With human resources strained, schools are now considering how to use AI to create more opportunities to meaningfully advise students on how to approach the future.
Innovative uses of artificial intelligence can amplify the work of human college and career counselors, argues June Han, the CEO of EduPolaris AI, a company which offers Eddie, an AI counseling platform that includes counselor, student and parent portals licensed by schools. The company raised $1 million in early investments, and the company’s platform — which relies, at least in part, on third-party large language models — is being piloted in a handful of Title I high schools, the CEO told EdSurge.
School-support organizations, including the Homeschool Association of California, list the tool as a recommended AI resource, as does the White House.
Tapestry is one of the schools piloting Eddie. The platform has helped, according to Tyson, particularly because the dashboard lets Tyson see useful information such as how many students have completed their reference letters for college applications. From the dashboard, he can send a nudge to students, reminding them to finish. That feature cuts down on the number of meetings he has to take. The data collected by the platform also provides clues about what to focus on when he works with students, and where they need the most help, Tyson says.
The Davidson Institute, a nonprofit that provides educational opportunities to “profoundly gifted” students, uses the “Ask Eddie” chatbot function to counsel families in the Young Scholars Program for students ages of 5 through 18. Many of those students are on “nontraditional paths,” looking at early college, or coming from accelerated grades or homeschool backgrounds, says Megan Cannella, director of outreach.
More than 200 families in the program have used the tool since February 2025, according to Cannella. She says the big selling point is that it’s available 24/7 and in a number of languages. The nonprofit doesn’t offer traditional school counseling, so the AI tool boosts the limited support that staff provides. It’s proven particularly helpful for families just starting their college journey, and for homeschoolers, she adds.
Meanwhile, what students want from a career is also changing, in a way that makes it difficult for career counselors to keep up.
Shifting Interests
In northwest Missouri, students have become more interested in exploring non-college pathways after graduation, such as military service or vocational training, says Geoff Heckman, a school counselor at Platte County High School.
Apprenticeships, internships and alternative credentials feature more prominently in students’ plans these days because these options prepare them to step right into jobs when they leave high school, Heckman says. Indeed, around the country, students are skeptical about college, meaning that high school counselors can’t assume that pathway.
The students Heckman counsels at the public school outside of Kansas City are also starting to find postsecondary guidance resources on their own more often, using AI and social media, he adds.
There have been cultural shifts, sometimes away from the kinds of jobs the school’s infrastructure is set up to support. Not long ago, the career and technical school next door to Heckman’s school had a waiting list for its law enforcement opportunities. Now, there’s much less interest, Heckman reports.
Instead, some of the careers students now desire are hard for Heckman to understand. In the years since he’s become a counselor, students have found jobs as social media influencers and professional gamers. Indeed, the number of students who say their dream is to be a social media star has swelled.
“I want to support a student no matter how wild their dream may sound to me,” Heckman says.
It comes down to helping them construct a plan of attack, teaching them to research the industry of interest, to discern how strong their passion for this dream is and to reach out for mentorship, he adds. For example, last year a student came to Heckman and said she wanted to be a pilot. There was no program for that at the high school. But an effort from the district was able to create a new internship opportunity for the student through the local Air Guard, which has a flight school.
Similar situations occur in schools across the country, and many places are keen to build stronger career pathways.
For instance, Vermont switched over to proficiency-based grading requirements — beginning with the class of 2020 — and it has started to incorporate “self-direction skills” in the assessment of students. It’s a signal for schools to focus on skills that will be useful in a future where counselors can’t predict precisely what jobs students will be working, according to one school counselor in the state.
A lifelong Vermonter, Ian Trombulak came to career counseling after working in a group home after college. It sparked something, he says. After he left the emotionally tense work of a group home, he found himself pulled into schools where he could be the type of person who had helped him through high school.
Trombulak has worked in public education for nine years, and in that time, he’s seen “this continued drumbeat” where public educators are asked to do more with fewer resources, even as core components of education like curriculum have become swept up in political battles. Budgets are too tight to hire enough counselors, and counselors have too many students to feasibly advise, he admits.
“You know, we’re not superheroes,” he says. “At a certain point, you are constrained by the kind of resources that you have at your disposal, and public education is not working with a whole lot right now. Even in the best of times, it can be a struggle.”
Helping students steer through their uncertainty requires a deft approach. At the same time he’s helping ninth graders find their footing in the murky transition from middle school to high school, he’s also advising students on what could happen after graduation. On average, he meets about five to 10 students per day. Some meetings are pre-planned and some are drop-ins. A lot of his job happens outside of scheduled sessions, he says. While stopping in on a teacher, students will pull him aside to check in. There are about a dozen of those encounters a day.
Schools may be turning to AI out of desperation, Trombulak says. But he doubts it will advise students as well as human counselors.
EduPolaris leaders feel that the safeguards on Eddie, the AI counseling platform, position it to boost the human work of counselors. Han, the company’s CEO, argues that Eddie is so human-centric and school-specific that the tool amplifies the human counselor’s efforts, allowing for schools to provide personalized guidance even with limited resources.
Han argues that initial skepticism from counselors stems from a lack of AI literacy. Counselors and educators are afraid of losing control, she says.
Yet even if AI proves adept at providing accurate, useful career information and advice, that may miss the subtler value that can emerge when students sit down to chat with a trusted adult. That type of interaction is essential to building the “social capital” and interpersonal networks that actually help young people secure jobs, some researchers argue.
And much of Trombulak’s work is relational rather than transactional. Mostly gone are the days of relying on personality tests and career quizzes. Instead, Trombulak says, counselors hold open-ended conversations probing what students feel passionate about. It’s more self-exploratory and requires a more human touch. “I’m almost there as a mirror,” Trombulak says, or as a backboard to bounce ideas off.
Ultimately, a powerful lesson Trombulak believes he can teach students is how to find answers on their own. As students try on ideas, counselors teach them about what kind of path they would have to take to end up in a job. It means a lot of Googling with students. He goes through the process of how he, as a well-educated adult, would find answers.
Part of that process now is, yes, verifying information gathered from AI.
Unreliable Narrator
For students, what matters most is the quality of the advice they receive, whether it comes from a human or a bot.
After two or three weeks of back and forth with the chatbot, Hatch, the junior from North Carolina, didn’t return to the human career counselor.
But that doesn’t mean she found the AI useful.
The scraps of information she got could have been easily discovered by a quick Google search, she says. The experience contributed to her overall skepticism of AI, which she acts on as a student leader for her school’s chapter of Young People’s Alliance, which advocates for stronger AI regulations and more job training opportunities for young adults.
She doesn’t know yet where she wants to attend college, or even what she’ll study. Right now, instead of dermatology, Hatch is considering education as a career path.
So, what does she think about using AI for career counseling?
She wouldn’t recommend it. In fact, she’s not so keen on what she sees as an overreliance on technology in general. Students she knows use it to churn out passable school work, and in response, teachers even seem ready to give out good grades for subpar work when they feel it’s not AI-generated.
Students should really slow down, and rely on AI less, she says: “I feel like it overall is not as useful as people make it out to be.”
Mo Malakoutian has been mayor of Bellevue, Wash., for about a month. He’d like to take credit for the Seattle Seahawks making it to (and winning) the Super Bowl, the World Cup coming to the region this summer, and all of the sunshine of late — not a bad political posture to assume.
A longtime engineer, academic and tech industry veteran, Malakoutian is executive director of the Consulting and Business Development Center at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business and an affiliate professor in civil and environmental engineering. He spent eight years at Amazon before leaving last fall as a senior manager in learning and development.
Malakoutian was elected to the Bellevue City Council in 2023 and served as deputy mayor in 2024 and 2025 before his unanimous appointment as mayor on Jan. 9, succeeding Councilmember Lynne Robinson, who served as mayor for six years.
Originally from Iran, Malakoutian spent eight years in construction before coming to the U.S. to get his PhD in structural engineering at the UW.
We caught up to talk about how his tech background informs his leadership style; managing Bellevue’s significant growth as a tech hub; his view of the Eastside vs. Seattle debate; transportation; AI; and more. Our Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.
GeekWire: How does your tech background — including eight years at Amazon — inform your approach to governance? Can we expect you to lean on the Amazon leadership principles?
Malakoutian: When I started [at Amazon] in 2017 and you hear all of these leadership principles, you say, ‘My God, what’s going on?’ Then, after two or three years, I caught myself because I was using those in my friend conversations: ‘Please earn my trust. … Are we delivering results?’
We are using that day one mindset [from] Amazon. We wanted to be less bureaucratic where we can and work with my partners on the Council and city staff to have a very safe and functional city that moves, hopefully, at the speed of innovation. Innovation and technology are moving super fast, and we should also be nimble and fast to catch up with what is happening around us.
GW: OpenAI just grabbed more office space in downtown Bellevue. Amazon is a huge presence. Now Elon Musk’s xAI is opening an engineering center. What role do you think city policy should play in balancing this tech growth with quality of life?
Malakoutian: We need to make the city safe, clean, functional and with high quality of life — that’s how we are thinking about growth. We are building housing. We are building transit. We care about whether people will be frustrated in traffic. We want people who work here actually be able to live here — that’s related to our affordable housing strategy. We want to be friends with businesses. We want them as an engine that helps pay for our infrastructure, parks, schools and local improvements. If we don’t do that, we cannot achieve all of our goals.
GW: Why do you think Bellevue is a destination for AI companies, especially relative to Seattle? What is Bellevue doing to recruit companies, if anything, and do you like the “AI hub” label?
Malakoutian: I do think Bellevue has really leaned into being execution focused. When companies choose us, it’s because they value clarity and consistency. They want a city that works, where permitting is predictable, infrastructure is modern, and the streets are safe. When a CEO is trying to recruit the best talent in the world, things like our schools, safety, and parks aren’t just nice to have — they are the competitive advantage.
Our strategy is built on the fundamentals. Through our Economic Development Plan, we’re turning the city into a living laboratory. Whether it’s our Innovation Forum or the Civic Innovation Challenge, we’re letting startups pilot real solutions. We want companies to choose Bellevue because this is a place where they can actually get things done.
AI is a massive engine for the future, but a label doesn’t mean much if it isn’t grounded in community values. We want an ecosystem where our big employers thrive, but also where our small businesses aren’t left behind. Whether it’s managerial training, better access to capital, or opening up new markets, we’re focused on what our local shops and workers actually need to stay competitive. If we build a platform that is safe, vibrant, and innovative for everyone, the “hub” label will take care of itself.
GW: What’s your take on AI as it applies to city government?
Malakoutian: We want all of our community to be part of this innovation economy. We don’t want anyone to get behind, because if they get behind, they are going to be behind for everything. So we are doing a lot. We are using AI for our permitting — developers are asking us to be faster, to be more reliable. We want to bring everyone along. We should all be very fluent in AI. Being able to use that in your day-to-day life is a must.
GW: Do you have a vision for downtown Bellevue over the next couple of years? Is it residential, experiential, or a premier office destination?
Malakoutian: All of the above. Are you familiar with an area named Wilburton? It’s an area on the east side of downtown. As part of our comprehensive plan, we increased the density of that area, mixed use housing and retail. Then we are connecting Wilburton to downtown Bellevue by a bridge over 405. We call that bridge Grand Connection. The vision is people work there, live there, enjoy restaurants and grocery shopping there, and can walk downtown to go to Amazon offices and all of those AI tech companies that we have. We want to make it a 24/7 Bellevue. We want to have a very vibrant city, keeping people after 5 p.m.
GW: When it comes to the Eastside vs. Seattle debate, do you prefer a regional strategy, or do you have a competitive streak where you want to win for Bellevue?
Malakoutian: A regional strategy. We see the success of what Bellevue is doing, and we are going to continue that. We do take pride in being intentional about our planning, about our public safety, about high quality government services that we have. But of course, many of our issues are regional. Seattle’s success is Bellevue’s success. Homelessness is a regional issue. Transportation is a regional issue. I am all about working together as a whole.
GW: You must be especially excited about the East Link light rail and the coming connection over Lake Washington.
Malakoutian: Absolutely. We are ready to make that connection between Seattle and us. Equity, to me, is really important, to connect people and make people move I think is really important for the economy and for the whole benefit of the community.
The success of Bellevue is that anything that comes to us grows — the new light rail, anything. We plan ahead of the game. How we can make it accessible? How can we do activation? How can we provide the safety that people expect from us? This planning and this thinking that the City of Bellevue has is going to be very helpful, and it has been helpful for us.
GW: What’s your perspective on the debates around the state’s tax structure — capital gains taxes, the millionaire’s tax, etc.?
Malakoutian: Last year, we sent a letter from our city, so that’s what I can talk about. Overall, we were thinking that everything is super expensive, more development is happening, businesses are already paying a lot of taxes. Anything more is not good for our economy. We said that we think the Bellevue economy is the Washington economy. If something is bad for Bellevue, it is bad for Washington.
This year, we hope that the state talks to us. We know if they increase the B&O tax, for example, what kind of unintended disadvantages that can bring for the economy. I know they are dealing with a very challenging shortfall of revenue, and they need to manage that. I’m compassionate to that, but we need to protect our economy. We need to protect our small and large businesses.
HP has launched a subscription service for its OMEN gaming laptops.
Instead of buying hardware outright, users can rent devices with fixed monthly fees. The highest tier includes RTX 5080 GPUs for $129.99 per month, but subscribers will never own the laptop.
The service begins with a 30‑day trial, but after that, users are locked in for at least 12 months. Cancellation fees apply if you leave early, with the highest tier charging $1,429.89 in the second month. That fee decreases gradually over time.
HP offers multiple tiers, each with different specifications, with accessories and monitors also available for monthly rental. Prices range from $3.99 for a USB‑C hub to $9.99 for higher‑tier monitors. A headset costs $7.99, while a microphone is $7.99. However, the service currently appears limited to the US.
The upside is that subscribers can upgrade their laptops every year. This ensures access to relatively current hardware without waiting for traditional upgrade cycles, with HP also including 24/7 customer support.
However, it is important to reiterate that ownership is never part of the deal. If you fail to return equipment, HP can charge up to $3,299 for its highest‑tier laptop, roughly equal to retail pricing.
This financial trade‑off raises questions. At $129.99 per month, the RTX 5080 tier costs about the same as buying outright after 16 to 18 months. Yet subscribers end up with no hardware to keep. For some, the appeal lies in avoiding high upfront costs. For others, subscription fatigue makes the model less attractive.
HP’s move comes amid rising hardware demand. AI workloads have driven shortages in RAM and storage, pushing prices higher. Renting hardware may appeal to gamers who want flexibility without waiting for components to stabilise.
Still, the model highlights a broader trend. Companies increasingly push subscription services, from software to entertainment to hardware. Critics argue this erodes ownership, leaving users perpetually paying for access. Supporters see it as a way to stay current without major investments.
Ultimately, HP’s OMEN Gaming Subscription offers convenience but raises long‑term value concerns. Renting ensures upgrades and support in the short-term, but ownership remains off the table.
This service represents a new experiment on how we access hardware.
In a technology M&A deal, whether you are acquiring or selling a tech or software business, valuation rarely hinges on a single dimension. Financial performance, growth efficiency, and cash flow durability remain the backbone of any transaction. In practical terms, this means metrics such as revenue and ARR, retention as a proxy for revenue quality, margin structure, and capital intensity continue to anchor how buyers price risk. However, alongside these tangible indicators sits another layer of value, one that does not always surface cleanly in financial statements and may even remain invisible if it is not properly understood or articulated:…
This story continues at The Next Web
Keanu Reeves returns as the man in black, taking on the goons in a brand new John Wick action game from Saber Interactive revealed during the Playstation State of Play event. He’s preparing for a new assault on the streets in a game Saber believes was the ideal project to work on, collaborating directly with Lionsgate, director Chad Stahelski, and the man himself, Keanu Reeves.
The trailer begins with some really nice CGI action, reminding everyone what it takes to be the greatest assassin for hire, which includes a few tricks of the trade like characteristic club shootouts, and the occasional kitchen frenzy. It all leads up to the good stuff, which is actual gameplay footage of Reeves’ likeness slamming people around. The environments are all lighted up like neon nightclubs and rainy streets straight out of a John Wick film, and the camera work is flawless, weaving tight through the turmoil exactly like in the movies.
The true brilliance of the game is in the gun-fu, where shooting and hand-to-hand combat coexist in perfect harmony. You get to sneak into crowded places, popping heads and avoiding knives and chokes. Driving parts will feature several high-speed chases, with Wick evading or hitting pursuers in a huge automobile crash. Saber designed all of these features to fit the pulse of the film’s action scenes, transforming those cinematic moments into actual playable gameplay. The cityscapes on display are reminiscent of a John Wick flick, with crowded nightspots and darkly lit alleys calling for a brutal takedown.
Iglesias emphasizes the goal: deliver action that feels pulled straight from the screen. “The style of fighting will feel like an authentic John Wick action scene taken straight from the films,” he writes. “Everything is designed to faithfully mimic the movie experience in a meaningful, fully playable way.” Collaboration ensures the game’s chapter fits seamlessly into Wick’s legend, years before the first film’s events.
Within the game, everyone working on it wants to make sure it fits in smoothly with the John Wick tale, which takes place years before the first film was released. This game will be accessible on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, meaning that it will be a full-fledged AAA release with no corners cut. Of course, Saber, the team behind World War Z Aftermath and the upcoming Space Marine 2, is no stranger to crafting popular games.
There is no release date yet, but you can already start wishlisting it on the PlayStation Store to be among the first to know when it becomes available. The trailer ends with Wick reloading, surrounded by various bodies, before the logo appears on the screen, with Saber promising more information about the title, release date, and where the plot goes from here, all of which will be revealed shortly.
American consumers are likely considering many different factors when choosing where to go for gas. The cost per gallon is at the top of course, as gas stations often have different prices. Fuel type can be a close second, and even the brand name on the pumps can play a part as well. But the companies behind those brands may not be top of mind, as some US gas station chains are actually owned by British companies. Perhaps the best-known example is BP, which stands for British Petroleum, a company that dates back to the 1920s.
BP, in turn, owns Amoco, a gas station chain that was previously known as Standard Oil, once the largest oil company in the world. Amoco merged with BP in 1998, and while the brand isn’t as prominent as it once was, BP keeps it going in select locations. Another British-owned company, Shell, began as a small antiques shop in 1880s London and grew into a worldwide corporation with thousands of fuel stations across the US.
Another company that operates gas station chains in the US, EG America, is also owned by the Brits. However, you may not be familiar with this subsidiary of EG Group, as they operate under 10 different travel-stop brands throughout America. Those brands include Kwik Shop, Turkey Hill, Cumberland Farms, Tom Thumb, and the Loaf and Jug.
Other foreign-owned gas station chains in the US
In addition to British-owned chains, several US gas station companies are owned by entities based outside America. 7-Eleven began as an American company but is now owned by a Japanese corporation called Seven & I Holdings. This same parent company also owns the Speedway chain of fuel stations. Couche-Tard, a Canadian company, owns Circle K and Lukoil gas stations are owned by a Russian company.
Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA), a Mexican conglomerate, took over a chain of gas stations in the southwest, when it acquired Delek US Retail. FEMSA was already an established player in the industry throughout Europe and Latin America thanks to its OXXO brand of convenience stores. Up until late 2025, Citgo was owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, a Venezuelan company. However, as of this writing, Citgo is in the process of being acquired by an affiliate-backed group of US investors.
Some of these companies have made big moves to grow their US footprint in recent years. Couche-Tard unsuccessfully attempted to buy Seven 7 & I Holdings for $38 billion in 2024, but the offer was deemed to be too low. But that didn’t stop Couche-Tard’s American expansion, as the Canadian corporation acquired a chain of stores from another company in the same year. 7-11 continued to grow as well, thanks to its own convenience store chain purchase, as well as the purchase of a restaurant chain.
The patent troll Optis has been told by a US jury that Apple has not infringed on any of its LTE patents, ending the elongated dispute in the US until yet another appeal is made.
Optis hoped to collect money for every iPhone sold
The latest jury trial occurred after the US Court of Appeals threw out a verdict that would have had Apple paying Optis $300 million in damages. The case was then sent to a trial by jury where the jury members would be asked a single question about the five patents.
According to a report from Reuters, the jury voted unanimously. The question was: “Did Optis prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Apple infringed at least one claim from each of the following patents?”
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Seattle-based company Highspot plans to merge with Seismic in a deal that will combine two of the biggest players in sales and revenue enablement software.
The companies announced Thursday that they’ve signed a definitive agreement to merge. Once the transaction closes, the combined company will operate under the Seismic name and be led by Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff, who was hired in October. Highspot founder and CEO Robert Wahbe will join the board of directors of the combined company.
Permira, the private equity firm that has backed San Diego-based Seismic since 2020, will remain the controlling shareholder. The companies will operate independently until the deal closes. The platforms “will continue to be supported thereafter,” according to a press release.
The deal effectively places Highspot under Seismic’s leadership and brand. Additional terms were not disclosed. We’ve followed up with the companies to learn more about any potential workforce impact and where the combined company will be headquartered. Update: Highspot declined to provide further details.
The merger brings together two longtime competitors in the revenue enablement market. Their software is designed to help sales, marketing, and customer success teams manage content, training, analytics, and performance.
“There is a growing demand for technologies that better connect sales strategy to execution and help organizations drive consistent revenue performance at scale, especially in today’s go-to-market environment,” Tarkoff wrote on LinkedIn.
In the press release, Wahbe said the deal will let the combined company “move the revenue enablement space forward” by giving customers “more innovation” and “more insights leading to actions.”
Highspot is one of Seattle’s most prominent enterprise software companies and has raised $650 million since launching in 2011. It’s held the No. 1 spot on the GeekWire 200, our list of privately held technology companies in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and employs more than 1,000 people, according to LinkedIn data.
The company’s most recent publicly disclosed valuation was $3.5 billion in 2022, when it raised $248 million.
Highspot went through layoffs twice in 2023 amid a larger tech slowdown.
Highspot’s valuation in 2022 came at the peak of the software boom. Since then, venture funding has tightened and valuations across the tech sector have reset. PitchBook noted that many once high-flying “unicorns” have seen valuations fall below the $1 billion mark as capital becomes more concentrated. Established enterprise software companies are also under scrutiny amid the AI boom.
B Capital Group and D1 Capital Partners led Highspot’s Series F round in 2022. Other backers include ICONIQ Growth, Madrona Venture Group, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.
Wahbe is a former longtime employee at Microsoft, where he spent 16 years equipping sales teams with necessary information to craft customer pitches. He founded the company in 2011 with former colleagues Oliver Sharp and David Wortendyke.
“We believe this is a great next milestone and an exciting new chapter for one of Seattle’s longstanding, successful startups,” Wahbe said in a statement to GeekWire.
Seismic, founded in 2010, is best known for its Seismic Enablement Cloud. It reached a $3 billion valuation in 2021 and serves around 2,000 customers worldwide.
Highspot’s customers include Compass, Nasdaq and Stripe. The company said in November that it had more than 40 customers with 5,000 sales representatives each. Its largest deployment exceeded more than 50,000 end users.
Editor’s note: GeekWire publishes guest opinions to foster informed discussion and highlight a diversity of perspectives on issues shaping the tech and startup community. If you’re interested in submitting a guest column, email us at tips@geekwire.com. Submissions are reviewed by our editorial team for relevance and editorial standards.
Washington state is once again fighting about taxes. Business-and-occupation rates are up. Payroll taxes have expanded. Property taxes keep climbing. The Climate Commitment Act has raised everyday costs. Now comes the familiar call for an income tax. Each debate follows the same pattern: Is the tax fair? Is it legal? Is it progressive enough?
That framing is the problem.
Washington argues about taxes one at a time, as if each levy exists in isolation. They do not. What matters to families, workers, and employers is the total burden, how it is structured, and whether the system reflects a coherent plan. By that standard, Washington is failing.
Supporters of an income tax argue the state’s system is too regressive. They have a point. The state relies heavily on consumption taxes and business taxes that are ultimately passed through in higher prices and lower wages. Lower- and middle-income households end up paying a larger share of their income than higher earners. Adding progressivity, the argument goes, would make the system fairer.
Opponents respond that politicians cannot be trusted to stop at “just one tax.” They warn of a ratchet effect: new taxes layered on top of old ones, steadily pushing Washington through the ranks of the highest-tax states. They’re not wrong either. The Paid Family and Medical Leave payroll tax has nearly tripled since 2019. The capital gains tax rate jumped from 7% to 9.9% last year. The gas tax rose again in 2025, putting Washington among the most expensive states to fuel a car.
Both sides have valid concerns. Yet the debate remains a series of narrow, partisan skirmishes rather than a serious discussion of tax policy as a system.
What’s missing is strategy. State leaders are offering revenue ideas, not a tax vision. A strategy begins with an end state. Washington has never articulated one.
What is the state’s target tax burden as a percentage of income? How should it compare to states Washington actually competes with — California, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona? Should Washington aim to be a low-tax state, a middle-of-the-pack state, or a high-tax state that promises high-end public services? Voters are never told.
Nor is there clarity about the proper mix of revenue. How much should come from consumption? From business activity? From income, if at all? Which taxes should grow with the economy, and which should remain stable? These questions matter. They shape investment decisions, talent retention, and long-term growth.
For small businesses and startups, the consequences of this lack of clarity are immediate. Young companies don’t encounter taxes one at a time; they absorb the full stack at once. Business-and-occupation taxes apply before profitability. Payroll taxes rise the moment hiring begins. Energy and transportation costs flow directly into margins.
Unlike large corporations, startups and small firms cannot shift operations across states, absorb sudden cost increases, or negotiate their way out of regulatory complexity.
The goal is not to avoid paying taxes, but to operate within a system that is intentional and predictable. Sudden changes — such as reclassifying businesses from services to retail for B&O purposes — can render an otherwise viable business model unworkable overnight within Washington.
In practice, uncertainty and compliance churn often matter as much as the rate itself. A tax system without a defined end state makes long-term planning nearly impossible for the very firms the state says it wants to grow.
Instead, Washington’s approach has been incremental and reactive. When spending rises, a new tax appears. When equity concerns emerge, yet another tax is layered on. There is no framework tying these decisions together, only a running justification for why the next increase is unavoidable.
Consider the most recent addition to the tax base: the Climate Commitment Act. Some analysts argue that it functions as a regressive revenue mechanism because compliance costs can be passed through into energy, transportation, and consumer goods prices. If lawmakers are serious about addressing regressivity in the tax system, they should explain how the CCA’s cost impacts fit into the broader tax and mitigation framework and whether adjustments or offsets are warranted.
A more serious administration would approach this differently. It would publish a comprehensive tax strategy. It would define the desired total burden. It would benchmark Washington honestly against peer states. It would identify which taxes should expand, which should contract, and which should be eliminated. And it would explain the tradeoffs plainly, without pretending that revenue comes without cost.
Such a plan would not please everyone. But it would signal competence and demonstrate leadership. It would give voters and businesses something they currently lack: predictability.
There is also a political opportunity being squandered. Comprehensive tax reform is one of the few areas where bipartisan agreement is possible. Democrats concerned about equity and Republicans concerned about growth could meet on common ground — if the goal were a coherent system rather than the next revenue “win.”
Instead, the current approach reinforces public cynicism. Each new proposal confirms the suspicion that taxes rise without limit, that reforms are never finished, and that promises of restraint are temporary.
If Washington wants to be seen as a model of effective governance, the answer isn’t another narrow tax fight. It’s a pause. A reset. A commitment to step back from piecemeal changes and present a full plan worthy of public trust.
The country is tired of partisan trench warfare. One way to lower the temperature is to govern like adults: set goals, measure outcomes, and explain decisions. Washington has the resources and talent to do that.
What it lacks, at least for now, is a strategy.
WP Engine’s third amended complaint against Automattic and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg alleges that Mullenweg had plans to impose royalty fees on 10 hosting companies beyond WP Engine for their use of the WordPress trademark.
The amended filing, based on previously sealed information uncovered during discovery, also claims Mullenweg emailed a Stripe executive to pressure the payment processor into canceling WP Engine’s contract after WP Engine sued Automattic in October 2024. Newfold, the parent company of Bluehost and HostGator, is already paying Automattic for trademark use, according to the complaint, and Automattic is in conversations with other hosts.
The filing challenges the 8% royalty rate as arbitrary, citing Mullenweg’s comments at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 where he said the figure was based on what WP Engine “could afford to pay.” Internal Automattic correspondence cited in the complaint includes Mullenweg describing his approach to WP Engine as “nuclear war” and warning that if the hosting company didn’t comply, he would start stealing its customers.
Major League Soccer fans will be able to enjoy even more game highlights as part of the Walmart Saturday Showdown, debuting on Apple TV in February 2026.
Walmart Saturday Showdown is coming to Apple TV on February 21.
Apple’s push for sports-related programming continues, as the iPhone maker has now promised additional Major League Soccer content. Throughout 2026, Apple TV subscribers in the United States will be able to watch MLS games for free, with select games highlighted as part of Sunday Night Soccer.
Starting February 21, MLS fans will get to enjoy even more soccer content over the weekend, with Walmart Saturday Showdown games coming to Apple’s streaming service.
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