Boulder gets its propers

Dear Friend Jessica passed along a link from the New York Times today on Boulder’s startup community, which I have trumpeted many times as unfailingly awesome.  The article features some people I know talking about a culture I love:

Experienced tech entrepreneurs and investors sat alongside people who had just moved to Boulder hoping to start a company in this small city, which is breeding tech start-ups at an attention-grabbing rate. In the first three months of the year, 11 Colorado tech start-ups raised $57 million inventure capital, solidifying Boulder’s place among the country’s up-and-coming tech centers.

“In Silicon Valley, you’re a small fish in a huge pond, and it didn’t seem as collaborative and a lot more corporate,” said Chad McGimpsey, who moved to Boulder a month ago and is now a regular at the twice-a-month coffee club. “Here, you’re a big fish in a small pond. Plus, there are the mountains.”

A long list of communities around the country have tried to become “the next Silicon Valley.” But very few have the mix of money, universities, a high-tech talent pool and appealing lifestyle needed to hatch tech start-ups. Boulder, however, has been luring tech industry veterans and young entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and Manhattan with promises of a tech community that allows for lunch-break hikes in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Full disclosure before I continue:  I do not live in Boulder.  I live outside of Denver within easy reach, but I’ve not yet gone where the cool kids are (part of it has to do with the amount of time I spend on coasts West and East and proximity to DIA).  That said, I spend a lot of time there around a lot of entrepreneurs, and they are awesome.  I have great admiration for the the vision and determination of startup companies like Everlater, Napkin Labs, TrekLight Gear, SimpleGeo, and OneRiot (most of whom I do not work with, by the way–Boulder’s just like that).  It is a very special place.

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• Boulder, Colo., a Magnet for High-Tech Start-Ups (nytimes.com)
• Building a Startup Ecosystems and Government role (growvc.com)
• Boulder & California (one.valeski.org)
• Why You Should Start A Company In Boulder, New York, or Somewhere Else (feld.com)