It’s the second annual Boulder Startup week! During the week of May 18-22, 2011, there will be tons of events, lots of people and lots of reasons to visit Boulder.  You can RSVP for any of the events on their plancast page (which they’ll be updating as more events get scheduled).  Nearly all the events are free, with the exception of Ignite Boulder – an event that will bring more than a thousand people together for a night of fast-paced creativity.

So, if you are curious about the Boulder startup scene, looking to get more involved in the Boulder community, or want to show-off Boulder to guests then get started planning your week!

This is an invitation to a crash course on the first steps to building a tech company, with talks by Aaron Patzer and other accomplished tech entrepreneurs (including Jim Franklin).

The Founder Institute and StartupDigest University have teamed up to give you “Startup and Go” – a crash course on the initial steps to creating a meaningful and enduring technology company.

“Startup and Go” is a collection of talks from the very beginning of the Founder Institute’s startup incubator program – which, in less than two years, has launched over 250 technology companies in over 15 cities worldwide. Taught by some of the program’s highest-rated Mentors, this course helps you create a strong foundation for a technology startup – from a properly vetted and researched idea, to a strong initial team. We’ve also included some follow-on assignments to help you turn these lessons into immediate action. The goal? To help you finally Startup and Go build your dream company.

This course includes three topics – Startup Ideation, Startup Research, and Startup Hiring, Firing & Co-Founders.

You know you have an interesting product, when 7 year old son wants to come to work with you. I was talking with Jim Booth, VP of Business Development & Operations, of Orbotix as he described the excitement around their new product Sphero, a robotic ball you control with your Smartphone. Sphero will come with several free gaming apps and the company plans to open up its API for developers who want to write their own apps.

How did you come up with the idea? What is a Sphero?
Orbotix stated out as a Techstars company that was founded by Ian Bernstein and Adam Wilson, our co-founders.  Ian Bernstein, our CTO and founder, is a non-traditionally trained robotist and he came up with the idea for Sphero one day while talking with Adam in the Tech Stars bunker.  Ian in particular realized that we’ve got these incredibly powerful Smartphones we carry around everyday and said wouldn’t be cool if we harnessed their power to  control everyday physical devices around us.

So Ian and Adam started by using different smartphones to control everyday devices such as garage doors, locks and motorcycles.  But then they both hit upon the idea of creating a robotic ball, that could be used for different gaming apps that you control using your Smartphone. Think of it as a Segway inside of a spherical shell.  Designing a robotic ball is actually something really difficult to achieve as the sensors needed to control the ball from the phone have only recently become available.
But one of the great things about Boulder and TechStars is not only did we emerge with an idea but also great mentors. Mark Tilden of WoWee continues to mentor Ian and Paul Berberian, our CEO, helped clarify our business direction.

How is a Sphero different than a remote control car?
The way Sphero behaves isn’t determined by the physical device, but by the software that is controlling it. So, unlike a remote control car that has basic controls, front and back, left and right a Sphero can roll right, left, and tilt. It has an infinite number of uses beyond gaming but that’s where a lot of the interest currently is.

There seems to be a lot of excitement and interest around this product? What’s been the biggest surprise since starting out?
The biggest revelation is how much people connect with and love this product. Prioro launching at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), we had not done a lot of marketing or PR, but we were fortunate in that we had a perfect storm of events – engineering progress, press interest and consumer interest – all of interest that really helped bring a lot of attention to Sphero.
At the CES event we were just amazed at the reaction from consumers, developers and buyers. It was just a great experience. The team had been working really hard and it all seemed to come together. We were thrilled with the level of interest.

Because of the excitement at CES, we are completely focused on getting Sphero retail-ready by late 2011. We’re fine-tuning the software, hardware, packaging – we want to create a great customer experience. We want people to be elated when they get their package from us. You know how when you receive a package, begin opening it up and are just thrilled by the experience –  that’s what we want to create for our customers.

Any advice for new startups or someone working on a new idea?
There’s tons of advice and resources out there in the Boulder Community – Techstars, VCs and experienced mentors.  These resources have provided an amazing support network for a number of local successful startups.  So I encourage other startups to tap into the experience and resources that Boulder community has to offer.  Beyond that, I tell other startups to focus all their efforts on the core aspects of their business and weed out all of noise. Then start executing.  Quickly develop a prototype, bring people in and show them what you have so you get an idea of the level of interest and reaction.

I had the great fortune of both having wonderfully tasting chai at The Cup Boulder and meeting up with Tim Falls of SendGrid. We were meeting to talk about his work at SendGrid and the importance of the Boulder start-up community.

Tell me a little about SendGrid and how you are different than other email delivery companies.

SendGrid is an email delivery service that allows companies to use our email infrastructure to support their outbound email delivery efforts. Many companies start off with an home-made email system hosted in the cloud, but once that company begins to expand its customer base, then logically their email patterns increase and become more complicated to maintain. If you have a company with 10,000 users, consider the number of emails and other social communications they generate, the resulting email volume can quickly cause problems with delivery.

We also manage and monitor how ISPs, like Gmail, handle an email – like if they are accepting it or not. There are a number of ISP requirements email distributors must adhere to:  certain number of emails sent within a specific time frame, validation of sender information, confirmation that the recipient actually wants to receive the email, and confirmation that you, the sender, are who you say you are. We take all of those additional requirements out of a company’s hands, so a business can concentrate on their core competency and doesn’t need an entire team dedicated to email management.

ReturnPath, a local company in the email deliverability space and a company with whom we often work, did a study that revealed 20% of all legitimate email does not get delivered.  So, any company that relies on transactional emails, like shipping receipts and password reset notifications, or bulk email, like customer newsletters, can use our infrastructure to send out and manage their outbound email. We also extend our service to include metrics, so companies know if an email was opened, if links within the email were clicked, or if someone unsubscribed.

How long has SendGrid been around?

We launched in August 2009 at the end of TechStars, so it’s been about 18 months.  We currently have 20,000 customers, who have sent over 7 billion emails. We are averaging around 1billion emails sent per month. We are growing very quickly.

What’s been the biggest surprise during the initial startup phase of Send Grid?

I don’t know if this was so much a surprise as the timing was, but in January 2011 Amazon introduced a competing product. It was big news, especially from our startup perspective, to have Amazon come into this space and offer a competing product. Theirs is less expensive but lacks a lot of the metrics features our product offers.

So, we are basically maintaining our position as a premium service, serving the same customer segment and offering a much fuller service. We have advanced analytics that can provide insights into customer behavior once they receive an email, which can then be used to inform content changes. Amazon can confirm only that the email has been delivered, bounced, blocked or reported as spam.

We are really focused on the customer experience, which is why we offer dedicated IP addresses. Providing this type of service is more expensive, but it also ensures that we are able to more fully support our customer’s sending reputation. If you use a shared IP address and another company using that same IP address is not following best practices, such as maintaining list hygiene and sending quality content, then that also hurts your sending reputation, and thus, your delivery rates.

So, our focus is on helping our customers maintain a high sending reputation, improving their email deliverability and providing analytics on what’s working and what isn’t working in their email campaigns

How has the Boulder Community helped SendGrid? How important is the Boulder Community to the success of SendGrid?

Boulder was important enough for our original CEO and co-founder to relocate his whole family here. Our experience at TechStars was key to helping the team figure out the best way to attack the problem we wanted to fix. From that experience, we gained some amazing mentors, advisors and customers. Companies in the startup community, who wanted to help out, became customers and provided great feedback on the product plus spread the word about us.  Within the first 8 months, we had 6,000 customers from word-of-mouth marketing; we hadn’t yet done any formal marketing.

What does the future hold for SendGrid?

We have new leadership to take us to the next level of company maturity. We’ll be digging into channel partnerships to speed up growth to establish ourselves as an industry leader in email delivery. We are also focused on having an international presence.

What’s the one piece of advice you would give to someone contemplating a startup idea?

Come up with an idea that solves a problem for enough people to make it a viable option. You want to have a solution to a serious business problem that people are willing to pay for. Of course, the hurdle to get over is identifying that idea that solves a particular problem. Make sure you have firm data and that you are talking to the right people about your solution.

Quick Left is a web engineering company that turns good ideas into great applications. I met with Ryan Cook, one of their software engineers, to talk about Quick Left and its place in the Boulder creative community.

There are a number of Web Design/Application Development companies in Boulder. What is different about Quick Left?

Ryan mentioned that the people at Quick Left loved to get involved in the early stages of a project, product or company and help people get to the next phase in their development. It’s the iterative process to development that appeals to this team of engineers, social media strategists, and web developers. Ryan emphasized that this process is an “agile style of development, meaning that they want as much feedback as possible to drive and inform their development. Our development methodology builds in rapid iterations based on feedback – it’s the way we are organized.”

How important is the Boulder Community?

For Quick Left the Boulder community means to be surrounded by individuals enthusiastically working on projects, plans and goals. This type of environment really  “helps you focus on what you should be doing.”  It’s the community aspect that has really influenced the growth of Quick Left; in fact, most of their new business comes from word-of-mouth recommendations. They are also helping to nurture new talent by taking on interns and teaching them the ropes of Ruby and project management. By mentoring CU students and offering agile development training, Quick Left hopes to better educate other companies and clients about the importance of feedback-driven development.

Quick Left believes it’s important to give back to the local and global community of developers. They’ve started hosting a monthly HackFest in which they open their shop doors, buy pizza and beer and let devs congregate around a shared love of hacking. This event allows developers to work on pet projects and learn from peers working in similar areas. Additionally, QL has contributed open-source code to the global Ruby on Rails community in an effort to share the knowledge they’ve gained and to highlight their expertise.

How did the company get started and how did the name Quick Left originate?

I asked Ryan about the name – Quick Left – and what it means and how it was chosen.  Ryan said one of the founders, Collin Schaafsma, was out riding his bike and took a “quick left” onto Left Hand Canyon.

Having worked in both the start-up realm and interactive agencies, Collin wanted to create a firm that focused on the craftsmanship of innovative software through Agile development practices. “We want to raise our industry to a higher standard,” says Collin. With a little money saved up, a home office and a few small clients, Collin started Quick Left as a bootstrapped venture. He soon partnered up with two other developers, Ingrid Alongi and Sam Breed, as co-founders and Quick Left was off to a running start.

I had the great opportunity to talk with Sue Kunz, CEO of BioVantage Resources, a Golden-based company that delivers algae production solutions for bioremediation of municipal, industrial and agricultural wastewater. Water is becoming an increasingly important topic both here in the arid Southwest and globally with the increasing severity of droughts and political instability undermining access to clean water. BioVantage Resources aims to solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems with a “green” solution, which quickly removes contaminants, excess nutrients, and other unwanted substances from water sources.

BioVantage is one of many of Cleantech companies emerging in the Front Range area, which Sue attributes to this area’s “green gene”.  She said where else would neighbors get excited to hear that you are composting. Colorado has all the ingredients to emerge as a place for thought leadership around Cleantech, especially on the topic of water. Sue says, “Colorado has a talented population, research institutes like the University of Colorado at Boulder Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), the labs: NREL, NOAA and NIST, the climate, and the entrepreneurial community” to extend Colorado’s leadership role in the future.

She does concede that some of the regulatory hurdles can slow the development and growth of startups and early stage businesses, especially those relying on outside funding.  Small businesses, especially in Cleantech, need a longer runway to take off than internet startups as the problems they are tackling are not simple, one-sided isolated issues. CleanTech solutions extend far beyond the initial problem, such as clean water, to encompass energy, storage , distribution, and facility management.

If you would like to learn more about BioVantage Resources, check out how their “green” solutions are being used in different industries

Fortunately, there are enough local people and companies tackling different elements of the problem. And this is why Sue believes Colorado is ideally positioned as a leader in Cleantech.  Colorado’s environment has enabled a critical mass of innovation, a spirit of collaboration between individuals and companies, and the talent to address these global issues.

Cue the trumpets, horns, and iPhone Lighter App!  We’re back with a new group of witty and informed writers to provide a more colorful perspective on the startup community here in Boulder. We will continue to showcase and interview emerging tech companies but we also intend to broaden our focus to include some of the cool things going on in the renewable energy and clean tech space, yummy street food vendors and record some of the insights and wisdom from our seasoned veterans of start-ups.

Do I hear a virtual “whoa, where the hell have you been”??!! If you are meeting the announcement of our glorious return with a little skepticism, we understand. But like any software upgrade, enhancement or fine-tuning, you always encounter unexpected issues. And so it was with our new roll-out.  So, please give us a second chance and if you have ideas on topics, want to contribute a post or want to get more involved in your community, drop us a line at robertsjennifer at gmail dot com.

With a name like dojo4, you would expect quite the story to explain how the Boulder-based design and development company got started. David Clements, one of the founders, did not disappoint. David described meeting with Jeff Larrimore, Justin Crawford, and Ara Howard (the other founders) over drinks at Bacaro when the idea of collaboration was first discussed. Initially, they had hoped to share office space – to create a collaborative environment where they could meet and if not work together then at least share ideas, chat and share. They also wanted to open this area to other designers and developers – friends in the field, to drop in and chat, work and maybe share a beer. But first they decided to name their effort and with the help of the good vibes at Bacaro came up with Death Ninja Squad.

Fortunately, after the hangover wore off they decided upon dojo4. But they kept the swords and a bit of the theme – 4 is the Japanese symbol for death. Then something strange happened. David said once they named their space, the work began pouring in. Now, they are helping start-ups and other more established companies with their branding, video production, development, packaging, photography – essentially any creative development concept. The folks at dojo4 aim to use art and technology to help companies with their development projects. As important as the creative and technical development of a project is the relationship doJo4 establishes with a client. Jeff stressed how important this component of their business is and in many ways builds on their ideas around community space. They want to get to know their clients, understand their needs and figure out how dojo4 can help – they want their clients to be as proud of the end-result as Dojo4 will be to include it in their portfolio!

The dojo4 group is comprised of Corey Kohn, Dave Clements, Jeff Larrimore, Justin Crawford and Ara Howard.

Alchemist is a very new arrival on the start-up scene. If you are looking for athletic wear for both cycling up to Ward or grabbing a coffee, then Alchemist with their unique designs and sustainable fabrics is a great local choice. Jeff, who is the owner and Claire, the VP, opened their online presence in January of this year and they have been really excited by the response. They are receiving requests from as faraway as Australia, Finland and Switzerland but are getting great local feedback, as well. They have been selling at the Louisville Farmer’s Market and had a booth at Community Cycles on Bike to Work day.

Sustainability and performance are key elements to the clothing they produce. The shirts are stamped instead of labeled on the back, and the tags that are safety-pinned to each shirt are wild flower seed tags – soak them overnight and plant. The shirts are printed locally and are produced using phthalate-free and pvc-free water-based inks. Jeff and Claire have really thought through the production of their designs, the choice of fabric and how they market their products to ensure they have the smallest footprint.

Alchemist provides casual, earth-friendly clothing for athletes who live and play in the outdoors. They fuse premium, sustainable materials with smart, original graphics for the active outdoor community. Organic and recycled materials come together to create threads that are buttery soft and comfortable. Green never felt so good.

I’m getting this one for my husband.

Lyn Bain from Chili Interactive is trying to help small businesses better understand their customers to not only improve their Web site but also improve their business. I met with Lyn from Chili Interactive, LLC recently to talk about her consulting group’s new, low-cost, high value product offering called Usable Feedback. Usable Feedback is a service offered by Chili Interactive, LLC.

The goal of the offering is to make usability best practices and user interface design techniques based on 20 years of web usability experience accessible to even the smallest of companies at an affordable price. The Web site review works in the following way:

1. Sign up.
2. Provide some typical customer information.
3. Define a scenario. A scenario is what you want a customer to do when they get to your site
   • For example, a customer visiting a jewelry store’s Web site may search on necklaces and compare prices on two of them in a similar price range.
4. Review the video. After a two to three day turn around, Lyn and her team will provide you with a video, including recommendations.

The charge for this service is $139 and is really tailored-made for small businesses, small design shops or web design groups wanting a second set of eyes to review their work.

According to Lyn, there has been some push back from the usability community regarding the low cost of the offering and assertions that real recommendations can’t be provided without substantial audience analysis. It’s a point Lyn concedes but she asserts that her and her team have over 20 years of experience in the usability and UI field and are applying industry best practices and methodologies to each review. Further, it’s a chance for businesses unfamiliar with usability testing to learn of the real value of testing and user interface design. Unlike the many online “remote usability” sites that are available, usablefeedback.com’s site does not require companies to know how to design research studies, write research questions, or interpret data from the feedback.  But the service can help companies understand why something is happening on their site and how to fix it, which is the key to effectively redesigning a site.