Being a bootstrap entrepreneur in Boulder can be tough but one of my favorite activities is sharing what I have learned. I often meet new entrepreneurs who are trying to find their way around our community. I usually follow up with an email listing out some (hopefully) useful links. This blog post contains pretty much what I have sent via email so I look forward to pointing to it the next time I need it.

Got more to add?  Let us know.  Perhaps we will create a page called “Quick Guide to Getting Connected” or something and keep it updated (with help from the community).

Boulder Beta

  • Startup mixer event which started in 2011.
  • Great social format for local startups to present what they are working on.  Don’t miss it!

Boulder Denver New Tech Meetup

  • Monthly feedback forum for startups (400+ attendees in Boulder and 100+ in Denver).
  • From their Meetup page: “The local community gets together to network, socialize and show-and-tell new technology. Join us.”

Boulder.me

  • The place to go to find out about local tech startup activities.
  • From their website: “organization devoted to informing and serving the vibrant startup community in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. We do that on this website; on Twitter, and with outreach and events all year long.”

Boulder Open Coffee Club

  • Casual biweekly forum to discus local and national tech business activities. Held on Tuesdays starting at 8am at Atlas Purveyors, 1505 Pearl.
  • Get there early if you want a seat since it is usually SRO.
  • Search the #bocc hashtag on Twitter for updates, they don’t have a Twitter account.
  • Want to find out if it is tomorrow?  Check out this handy website.  Thanks Eoin Coffey!

Boulder StartupDigest

  • Weekly email update on local tech startup activities.
  • Subscribe to StartupDigest and select the Boulder edition (lots of other interesting cities too).

House of Genius

  • Smaller feedback forum for startups (~20 attendees).
  • From their website: “House of Genius assembles diverse minds to disrupt normal thinking patterns and ignite new ideas. … 15 professionals … engage in an open, intense dialogue and debate to spawn truly innovative views and solutions.”

Ignite Boulder

  • Event which happens about every 6-8 weeks in which presenters get 5 minutes to “teach something, enlighten us, or simply inspire”.  It is a good time and you usually walk away with a new appreciation for something.

Startup Women

  • Biweekly networking forum for female entrepreneurs.
  • Meets every other Tuesday (opposite of Boulder Open Coffee).
  • There is an early conversation session at 8am that usually meets at Ozo Coffee on west Pearl and a more formal session (speakers, topics for discussion) at noon at Boulder Digital Arts.
  • Join the Meetup site for details.

Finally, if you are not on Twitter, fix that fast. Many folks in the Boulder tech community use it as their primary means of communication.  You can find out things like what Jason Mendelson (@jasonmendelson) is thinking, usability best practices from Lyn Bain (@lynbain), frank social media advice from Erika Napoletano (@RedheadWriting), podcast and BOCC updates from Michael Sitarzewski (@msitarzewski), food blogger noms from Grace Boyle (@gracefullplate) and so much more.  Get on it!

[Note: Fiona intends this to be the starting point for others to add their two cents - use the comments to add your thoughts on how newcomers can get connected in our community! - Bing]

Written by Fiona Schlachter

Fiona is the founder and Chief Hustler for Fidatto, a Boulder bootstrap startup on Facebook or the App Store, the easiest way to share recommendations with your friends.

  • http://www.virtuallybing.com Bing Chou

    @Affygility tweeted “+get Plancast”. Great suggestion – take a look at the events curated on the boulder.me/calendar, and use Plancast to see who’s going to be where.

  • http://www.smallhandsbigideas.com Grace Boyle

    Aw, thanks for the food blogging noms shout-out for Grace(full) Plate. What an awesome roundup list, such a resource. PS. Bing, would love to see “share” buttons here to easily tweet or throw this post up on Facebook.

  • http://www.virtuallybing.com Bing Chou

    Great idea.  You have a favorite plug-in?

  • http://www.virtuallybing.com Bing Chou

    @WendyNorris tweeted “+@StartupWomen”. Heck yeah.

  • http://twitter.com/ryanwanger Ryan Wanger

    Great suggestions Fiona!

    I know Ignite is so awesome that it *seems* like it happens every 6 weeks, but it’s actually 4 times a year. Mark your calendars – next one will be December!

  • http://profiles.google.com/fionaschlachter Fiona Schlachter

    Thanks Wendy and Bing, Startup Women should have been on here and I swear it was, I must have deleted it by accident.  I will update it when I get access but for now, let me add it as a comment:

    Startup Women

    Biweekly networking forum for female entrepreneurs.  Meets every other Tuesday (opposite of Boulder Open Coffee).  There is an early conversation session at 8am that usually meets at Ozo Coffee on west Pearl and a more formal session (speakers, topics for discussion) at noon at Boulder Digital Arts.  Join the Meetup site for details.  http://www.meetup.com/startupwomen

  • http://www.smallhandsbigideas.com Grace Boyle
  • http://www.virtuallybing.com Bing Chou

    Done, and thanks for the recommendation. Love that this is how we get stuff accomplished.

  • http://twitter.com/cohenspire Andrew Cohen

    Thanks for the informative post! As someone looking to move to Boulder and get involved with the startup scene, this came up at the perfect time.

    Cheers!

  • Brad Bernthal

    Silicon Flatirons has cataloged CU-Boulder campus entrepreneurship resources, area support organizations, and other community assets for entrepreneurs at the Boulder Startups site (http://www.boulderstartups.org/).  

    I get regular inquiries based on the Boulder Ambassadors listings here at Boulder.me, which seems to be effective as an entry point for those looking to move to the area.  

  • http://virtuallybing.com/ Bing Chou

    Welcome Andrew – we’re working on creating ways for more people to get involved – stay tuned for opportunities to work on small projects to give back to this community. Thanks for checking this post out.

  • http://virtuallybing.com/ Bing Chou

    Thanks Brad – Silicon Flatirons has been a great contributor to the entrepreneurial community – thanks for all your hard work, along with your other team members’. Keep up the great work.

  • http://twitter.com/kkurian Kerry Kurian

    Being a bootstrap entrepreneur in Boulder can be tough? Compared to what? It’s soooo much easier here as compared to anywhere else I’ve been (Cambridge, MA; Providence, RI; Western MA; Phoenix, AZ). The startup community is open and welcoming. I’d encourage any startup-minded person to visit Boulder and check it out!

  • http://twitter.com/FrankGruber Frank Gruber

    Tech Cocktail has started hosting mixer events and offering complimentary space for startups and local tech companies to showcase in Boulder in March of 2008.  We took a short break but we’re excited to be start hosting our classic mixer events again in Boulder starting Monday, Oct 24th. Here are the details: http://techcocktail.com/event/tech-cocktail-boulder Hope to see you all there.

  • halffinn

    One question – how come Boulder doesn’t rate higher on things like the Startup Genome Ecosystem comparisons?