Archives
The “Easy Out”
March 7, 2010 | Filed under SpringStage, Startups
I’ve used a technique that I call the “easy out” for some time. It’s handy when you’re selling someone something and they’re are ignoring you. It could be an investor you’re trying to close, or a customer that you’re trying to sell something to.
Once you’ve tried several emails with no response, I always recommend a [...]
Gigabit Fiber in Boulder
March 6, 2010 | Filed under Blog
Google has put out a call that looks like this:
Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times [...]
University of Colorado Denver – Annual Business Plan Competition
March 6, 2010 | Filed under Blog, SpringStage, Startups
CU Denver’s Bard Center is hosting their 10th annual business plan competition on June 10th, and it’s open to all early stage Colorado based companies which have not yet received significant Angel or Venture Capital funding.
Orientation for the 10th Annual Bard Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition is coming up on March 11, 2010 at 5:30PM [...]
Bootstrap Loving Angels is April 7
March 6, 2010 | Filed under Startups
Bill Flagg is organizing and hosting Bootstrap Loving Angels on April 7th. This is a special angel funding event for bootstrap oriented companies looking for a small amount of growth capital. It’s very informal, so if you meet the criteria below, I’d encourage you to apply to attend.
I’m going to be writing more [...]
Beers with Brad (Feld, that is)
February 4, 2010 | Filed under Blog, Venture Capital
KGNU is having a Beers with Brad (Feld) event, a benefit for KGNU at the Twisted Pine brewery (in the brewery itself, not the tasting room!) on Feb. 18th – 6-8 pm. It’s the first BWB event in Boulder in a very long time. If you like beer, and you like Brad, you [...]
Help! The proposed “software tax” stinks
January 27, 2010 | Filed under Blog
You may have heard by now that Governor Ritter is rushing a new tax on software through legislation at an unprecedented rate, with an effective date of March 1, if passed. The bill proposes a new tax on any software purchased or installed in Colorado. Yes, a tax on software. Wait, it’s worse.
It’s unclear that [...]
How I use Plancast
January 26, 2010 | Filed under Blog
I’m loving Plancast. It’s a very powerful social discovery tool. Here’s a quick overview of how I use it.
I put in any events that I’m attending that are “significant” that I think my friends might like to know about. I love how easy it is to put in a future plan. It’s just 3 fields [...]
Open Angel Forum Colorado – February 3 FAQS
January 21, 2010 | Filed under Uncategorized
Since my original post on the Open Angel Forum, I’ve received the following frequently asked questions:
Q. What is the deadline to apply to present at OAFCO1 on February 3rd, 2010?
A. From my experience with TechStars, I know you need a deadline so you can apply 32 seconds before it. So let’s make it 6:00PM [...]
Startup2Student at CU
January 17, 2010 | Filed under Blog, Startups
If you’re a Colorado company looking to hire interns or full time, check out Startup2Student on March 11th, 2010. This was a great event last year, and I expect that Ben Limmer who’s organizing it will make sure it’s even better this year.
The event is held on campus, and it’s an easy way for students [...]
Open Angel Forum – Colorado bound!
January 15, 2010 | Filed under Blog, Startups, Venture Capital
By now, I’m sure most of you have read about the ongoing debate about charging entrepreneurs to pitch. I’ve tried to put together a chronology of links about this, but I’m sure I’ve missed some great ones. You had:
An angel group that makes me vomit – Brad Feld (97 comments)
Jason Jihad: Keiretsu Forum Must [...]
Boulder is showing the world about mentorship
November 15, 2009 | Filed under Blog, Personal, Startups
During the last TechStars summer, we were visited by representatives from two foreign governments: Singapore and France. Both had heard about something interesting happening in Boulder. Each came and observed the program for a half day or so, looking for a productive exchange of ideas and opportunities.
During the summer, I was invited by the Singapore [...]
Robert Reich and Add-on-Con
November 8, 2009 | Filed under Blog
Robert Reich has done an amazing job building the new tech meetup here in Boulder and now in Denver. I was at the earliest of those meetups, when there were just 10-15 people there. Now there are 300+ and standing room only at every event, it seems. It’s now a fixture here in Boulder, [...]
Internet Business Models of the TechStars
November 7, 2009 | Filed under Blog, Startups, Venture Capital
I’m a guest lecturer for an executive MBA class at Denver University later today. I was asked to talk about Internet business models (among other things), so I thought I’d take a look at the 39 companies that have been through TechStars to give them a sense of the relative popularity of various business models. [...]
Brad Feld interviewing me at Entrepreneurs Unplugged
October 27, 2009 | Filed under Blog, Startups
A few people have asked, so here’s a link to a video of Brad Feld interviewing me at the Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurs Unplugged event last week down at the University of Colorado. In the interview, Brad asks about:
How I became an entrepreneur
My first company - Pinpoint Technologies / ZOLL Data Systems (acquired)
My second company - [...]
An offer to Funding Universe
September 22, 2009 | Filed under Blog, Startups, Venture Capital
UPDATE: Funding Universe posted a response to this post and has now waived pitch fees nationally as a result.
Funding Universe is expanding their presence in Colorado and they are presenting a CrowdPitch event on September 30th in Denver. It costs $125 to present your company there, and it’s free to attend otherwise.
Some of us [...]
BoCo - Who’s in?
September 8, 2009 | Filed under Blog
Andrew Hyde (TechStars Community Manager, Startup Weekend, VCWear, and main instigator of Ignite Boulder) is putting together a 1-day conference on October 2nd called BoCo. It’s got music, tech, and food. As the web site puts it, “The main goal we have is to create amazing and unique experiences. We are not hosting the [...]
Reference check code words
September 8, 2009 | Filed under Blog
I remember reading Freakonomics and learning about how in the real estate business “charming” just means small. It’s code used in real estate advertisements so that realtors know that other realtors mean “small.” There are dozens of such codes, and it pays to know them when reading the listing your realtor creates for your [...]
Entrepreneurs Foundation Generates $100K for community from first five exits
August 22, 2009 | Filed under Blog
On Friday, I went to the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCo) celebration party held at Rally Software. Everyone was celebrating the fact that five exits have generated over $100,000 that went back into the community, and that 27 area companies have now joined the foundation. There was fun, food, and networking, and the event featured [...]
Who’s going to Defrag?
August 13, 2009 | Filed under Blog
The Defrag Conference is back for year 3 in November. It always draws a great crowd of real thinkers from all over the country. Here’s a neat widget that EventVue put together so you can see who else you know that’s attending, and subscribe so that you know when any of your friends register.
Boulder gets hacked - A new tradition?
August 11, 2009 | Filed under Blog
Hundreds of folks attended Investor Day last Thursday as TechStars wrapped up. A few days before the event, a mysterious twitter account popped up promising something special on the eve of that event.
Dozens of out of town investors joined the scene on the rooftop of the Lazy Dog last Wednesday night and this is what [...]
Colorado Springs Celebrates Technology too
July 29, 2009 | Filed under Blog
In Colorado Springs, Celebrate Technology recognizes the achievements of companies and individuals that have contributed in a significant way to the technological business landscape of the Pikes Peak region including El Paso, Teller, Douglas, Elbert, Lincoln, Crowley, Pueblo, and Fremont counties. These contributions cross every discipline from the Internet and software to space related and [...]
#NameCO - just vote and see what happens
July 28, 2009 | Filed under Blog
Looks like there were over 100 submissions for the effort to come up with a moniker for Colorado’s technology scene. Those names are now in a voting mode for about a week. Go here to allocate your ten points across some of the names you like the most and to check out the leader board.
I’ve [...]
Eric Ries - Lean Startup coming to Boulder
July 17, 2009 | Filed under Blog
Eric Ries is a serial entrepreneur who has been talking about building Lean Startups in Silicon Valley and on his fantastic blog Startup Lessons Learned. He’s been sharing his ideas about Continuous Deployment, The Five Whys, the Ideas/Code/Data loop, Rapid Split Testing as well as Customer Development. His blog is simply fantastic and all reports [...]
You name it
July 9, 2009 | Filed under Blog
There’s a discussion going on right now about coming up with a name for Colorado’s Internet scene. Rocky Radar is leading the charge and wrote a post asking for names.
I’ve seen a few comments with some interesting names like Mile Hi Tech, Highway 36, the Boulder/Denver corridor and my personal favorite Feldicon CohenValley.
Others have suggested [...]
Startup2Startup is Tuesday - don’t miss it
June 28, 2009 | Filed under Blog
I’m really excited that Dave McClure is bringing the popular Silicon Valley event “Startup2Startup” to Boulder this Tuesday night. I’m moderating a discussion called the “Ultimate Platform Hotness Smackdown: iPhone, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and the native web”. We’ll be comparing and contrasting these platforms and others, for the relative benefit and interest from the startup [...]
