Ryan Angilly is one of Boulder’s relative newcomers, but you’d never know it by how many people he knows here. Who better to organize a Boulder Startup Week event “We Moved to Boulder and…” to help others who recently moved here or are considering moving here feel at home?

The event will be on Friday, May 20th 5-7pm at Aspiringapps on Pearl St.  Take a peek at Plancast to see who’s coming, and better yet, to RSVP.

Ryan’s arranged to have a few other recent transplants talk for a minute about:

• Why they moved here
• Where they come from
• How quickly the got plugged in
• How awesome the ride has been
• What they’re up to now

I scanned the participants list to see who’s coming, and it looks like there are quite a few veterans mixed in as well.  If you’re new to town or Boulder is on the short list of places to move to, this event is a no-brainer.  See you there.

Boulder has friends in high places these days.  Yesterday “Boulder Is for Startups” was posted on WhiteHouse.gov, shining yet another light on the entrepreneurial ecosystem here.  Boulder Startup Week, TechStars, and Silicon Flatirons all got some love.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Boulder was one of eight cities on the Startup American Roadshow.
• “Today, Boulder is home to one of the strongest entrepreneurial communities in the country, with close to 200 fledgling tech companies and a city campaign that proclaims ‘Boulder is for startups.’”  Note: boulder.me is not a city campaign – it’s a volunteer campaign.
• “The rabbi of the Boulder entrepreneurial ecosystem…is my good friend Brad Feld.”
• “From May 18-22, the city’s startups will be rolling out the red carpet for talented developers, designers, marketers, and general startup enthusiasts.”  If you haven’t registered for Boulder Startup Week events yet, register now.
• “Many entrepreneurial communities ask how they can be the next Silicon Valley?  As Brad has often explained, that’s the wrong question.”

If you’re interested in reading the post in its entirety, check out “Boulder Is for Startups” on WhiteHouse.gov.

As I sat at my second free breakfast of the week, this one sponsored by the Leeds Business School, I met another new group of friends doing interesting things. One had flown in from Atlanta, the other came in from Worchester Mass, as well as a few locals (meaning they’ve been here at least 1 month). Being a recent transplant here, I continue to be amazed at the support and interest shown by the community, it’s the perfect stage to just go up and introduce yourself, swap twitter handles, and bam you’ve got a new connection.

It was some great conversation, and one of the comments made during breakfast was “This is great, I don’t know of any other town in America that’s even trying to do something like this!” After pondering this for a bit, I have to agree, I can’t think of anywhere else with an event of this magnitude aimed specifically as startups and entrepreneurs. Chris from ReadWriteWeb.com, who has been in town for the festivities, makes the observation that

Part of the reason I think Boulder has such a closely bonded community is that the entire downtown area is no larger than a few square miles. There are hundreds of startups located in and around Boulder, and their proximity to one another creates an amazing sense of solidarity throughout the city. When a new startup launches in Boulder, the entire town gets behind it to provide a base of enthusiastic early adopters.

We’re in a unique position to create some very real value to entrepreneurs, startup enthusiasts, VCs, and existing companies. Think about the benefit something like this is in helping people try out the town, identify opportunities, make new connections, connect current startups with potential talent, etc. You can’t overstate the impact that an event like this will create as it continues to mature and grow.
So what’s that all you other startup centric towns out there, you don’t have a startup week full of free food, beer, and meetups? You should get one, it’s great.

So late last night, @andrewhyde and myself finished off the Boulder Startup Week schedule and site and it’s ready for the big reveal.  The goal is to provide each of you with the tools you need to rock Startup Week.  Meaning you should be equipped to make some great contacts and build out your network, get a feel for the intimate startup scene here in Boulder, learn something, and find a way to enjoy yourself while doing all that.  Between the drinks, meals, people, and topics of discussion, you shouldn’t have a problem hitting all those goals.

Just a few links to help you through the week -

Plancast.com/BoulderStartupWeek – So we’re doing a cool thing with our RSVP-ing, we’re using PlanCast.  As you RSVP, leave a comment and introduce yourself, start the conversation going before you even get there.  If you’re coming in from out of town, this is a great way to break the ice.  Also, we’re hoping this is helpful in letting you find people you’re hoping to connect with throughout the week.

BoulderStartupWeek.com – Your landing page throughout the week.  For general information / schedule, this is our master list, and we’ve conveniently split the events up by day so you can piece together you schedule for the week.  Also, this will be a good one to check throughout the week as changes to the schedule will hit here first.

So there you go.  I’d suggest you spend a few minutes and build out your strategy for the week in order to make the most of the opportunity, RSVP your heart out on PlanCast, and get ready to rock Startup Week.