Back in March, I wrote about the departure of Techstars Boulder, and on the back of the Foundry announcement, it became clear that we, as the Colorado startup community, needed to evolve and step up. For those of us who have been around a while, we remember what it was like in the early days – we knew how magical it was. People, whether representing themselves or representing different entities, got together to help the founders succeed. From mentors to law firms to CU to individuals to investors, we all participated.  We were small then and could fit into one room (hello Wolf Law!), everyone knew everyone else, and we often hung out socially and had a ton of fun together. But we all had one thing in common, we wanted to help startups succeed and believed that a rising tide raises all ships. 

But today isn’t like it was back then. Colorado is different. We are different. Those of us OGs are older now, there are awesome new people here, the startup ecosystem is bigger, and it needs to change and evolve. We, as a startup community, need to keep what made it magical but evolve to accommodate different times, markets, and talents.

Well, we’ve been working on just that. In part of a broader plan, I’m pleased to share that I, along with Natty Zola, David Cohen, and support from others along the way (you know who you are) have worked to launch a Techstars accelerator program experiment here in Colorado, leveraging what we know works, and trying to evolve some things that didn’t work.  For example, this instance of Techstars will be locally owned, governed, and operated while still having access to the global Techstars resources.  While Techstars will be an anchor investor, and David will sit on the board alongside me and Natty, the vast majority of the capital will be from the local ecosystem, governed by a local board of directors that Techstars influences but doesn’t control, with a staff that reports to this local entity. This allows the economic incentives to be fully aligned, to keep the returns and control here in Colorado, for Techstars to support the success of the local activity, and for the local program to take advantage of all that Techstars has built over the years. The accelerator has and can generate phenomenal outcomes when incentives are aligned, because when the returns are kept locally, it spins the flywheel of growing future companies here.  Techstars got a lot right in the early days, and we plan to capitalize on that here, as the first community with this arrangement called Techstars Colorado, a startup community partnership.

But it doesn’t stop there, because Techstars was never the community, it was just a part of the community.  In response to a ton of feedback that we need a place to gather, we are working to secure a building to be a nexus for this next generation of startups. Assuming we are successful (and are getting closer by the day!), it will house not only Techstars Colorado, but other venture funds, startups, founders, mentors, and organizations committed to helping startups succeed. We have big plans for support and resources for startups, not just at the pre-seed and seed stage, but well into the growth stages. Our goal isn’t to be the community here either, but rather to be an anchor in it, designed to live well beyond us and our influence, and to reunite the ecosystem so that we can raise the tide again here in Colorado.

It’s still early days, these things don’t happen overnight, and we will need the community (that’s you!) to step up to make this happen – which in today’s market isn’t an easy undertaking. But we have most of the key stakeholders committed and we anticipate launching sometime in 2025.

If you’re interested in getting involved, here’s what we are looking for!

• Hire a Managing Partner to run Techstars Colorado (correct, I’m not running it). If you or someone you know has been a founder CEO or CTO of at least 1, ideally 2 venture-backed startups and are interested in investing, please click here for more information and to apply.
• If you’d like to learn more about the following items, please fill out this form:
  • Becoming a Techstars mentor
  • Sponsorship
  • Office space or membership for a dedicated space for startups (likely in Boulder)
  • Investing in startups
  • Just would like to stay ‘in the know’

I’m excited to play a key part in uniting the startup community and helping Colorado take a key step forward in our own evolution. I’d love it if you joined us!