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Tom Huseby paired an investor’s focus on markets and execution with a founder’s patience and an enduring sense of humor. In a 2024 remembrance, Voyager Capital managing director Erik Benson called him “a champion of the entrepreneur.” Huseby, who founded Seattle-area SeaPoint Ventures, died in Everett, Washington, on June 16, 2024, aged 76, according to an obituary shared by his family.
From Raychem and Brazil to Seattle venture capital
Thomas Signor Huseby was born July 27, 1947, in Pearl River, New York. His family’s obituary says he spent much of his childhood in Brazil and studied at George School, Columbia College, Columbia School of Engineering, and Stanford University Graduate School of Business. It attributes his death to complications of pancreatic cancer.
After business school, Huseby began his career at Raychem in Menlo Park, California, then returned to South America to open Raychem do Brasil. He moved to Seattle in the 1990s, joined Innova and the region’s technology venture-capital community, and founded SeaPoint Ventures in 1997.
A 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer profile offers a dated view of his work across firms: Huseby had joined Voyager Capital as a part-time strategic director while managing SeaPoint and serving as a venture partner at Oak Investment Partners and Hunt Ventures. The newspaper described SeaPoint then as a 10-year-old fund with $65 million under management and reported that it was no longer making new investments at that time. Those details describe the firm in 2007, not its present status.
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Companies, boards, and a founder connection
The family obituary lists Huseby’s board service at SnapIn, Airspan Communications, Glympse, Photobucket, autoGraph, and Zumobi. His role in the region’s startup network also involved making connections between entrepreneurs and investors.
Benson recalled that Huseby introduced Voyager Capital to Zipwhip founding CEO John Lauer, helping lead to Voyager leading the company’s first venture round. Benson’s 2024 remembrance says Twilio later acquired Zipwhip for $940 million. That account and the reported amount are Benson’s recollection, rather than transaction reporting independently established here.
What Huseby told founders about building a startup
At a Seattle venture-capital financing panel, Huseby spoke about persistence, market choice, the limits of a startup’s timeline, and the difficulty of execution. John Cook’s contemporaneous 2013 report preserved several of his points. They were advice offered in that panel’s context, not guarantees of a particular outcome.
Expect the journey to take longer than planned
“One of the things I sell to entrepreneurs is that the ‘I-give-up-gene’ has apparently been missing (from me),” Huseby said. He also warned that a company founders expect to build in three or four years might take eight. His longer view was captured in another line Cook attributed to him: “If you get a good company with a good idea and you hang around long enough, you will probably have a win.”
In a separate 2024 remembrance, Cook recalled Huseby saying, “You can be successful by just hanging around for a long time.” Cook explained the practical point as conserving cash, outlasting competitors, and being in a position to use opportunities when they arise. The quoted line is Huseby’s; that explanation is Cook’s.
Choose a market with room to grow
“You can tweak the product. You can tweak the management team. You can’t tweak the market…,” Huseby said. He argued for finding a clever approach to a large, growing market need. His distinction is useful: a startup can change what it builds or who builds it, but those changes cannot create demand in a market that lacks it.
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- Author: Guillebeau, Chris.
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- Pages: 304
- Publication Date: 2012-05-08
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Make execution and adaptation part of the plan
A promising idea and market approach could still fail through poor management, Huseby cautioned. He also described pivoting as a skill refined through practice. In other words, changing direction is not an automatic fix; it depends on a team’s ability to recognize what is not working and execute a new approach.
Find a useful place beside powerful incumbents
Huseby described “winner take all Switzerland plays,” a metaphor for a startup becoming a necessary missing piece for multiple large companies. It offered founders one way to think about positioning alongside incumbents—not a formula that ensures a startup will win.
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He closed his panel remarks with direct encouragement: “You guys are what make this world go round. You are what make this country great, particularly those of you who came here from some other country to start a company. Welcome! We really need that.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How colleagues remembered him
The remembrances published with the family obituary reflect different vantage points: partners and former colleagues recalled how Huseby worked with founders, while founders and friends described his presence and personality.
- Susan Sigl, his SeaPoint Ventures partner, remembered a person energized by launching and supporting startups: “What an amazing person to share a company with. Tom had a genetic code that drove him to launch and support start-ups. That’s what energized him.”
- John SanGiovanni, Zumobi and Visual Vocal cofounder, called Huseby an “Oak Tree” and associated him with “Plan for the Long Haul” and “Always Be Present.” These were SanGiovanni’s metaphor and characterizations.
- Melissa Widner, Lighter Capital CEO and a former SeaPoint general partner, recalled his optimism: “For Tom, the glass was perpetually overflowing.”
- Dan Rosen, angel investor and startup mentor, called Huseby “a great bridge between our local ecosystem and Silicon Valley,” recalling his telecom knowledge and willingness to make introductions.
- Erik Benson, Voyager Capital managing director, remembered Huseby’s understanding of the founder’s journey and dry wit, and called him “a champion of the entrepreneur.”
The obituary and these recollections also place sailing, family, storytelling, humor, and practical optimism among the details that mattered to Huseby and those close to him. They portray a Seattle-area investor whose counsel extended beyond choosing companies: he stayed engaged with founders and helped people find one another.
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