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.

The Underpants Business of South Park goes like this:  Phase 1, steal lots of underpants.  Phase 3, PROFITS!

So the logical question here is, what’s phase 2?

I loved that episode of South Park, mostly because of all the startups I’ve talked with, most of them get a clueless look on their face when you bring up their go-to-market strategy.  What do you mean? they ask.  I’m going to do some Adwords Campaigns, maybe I’ll hire a sales guy when I can afford it. Prepare for a really hard and fast landing if that’s your strategy.  You need to think about vertical markets, horizontal markets, how to get your lists, what kind of marketing you’ll do (print, online, phone, direct, whatever) – its exhaustive.  While I don’t mean to scare you, I do wish more entrepreneurs would start thinking about it before launching companies.

So, to help you start thinking about it, CU’s Silicon Flatirons program is running a free seminar tonight and on the 27th to help give some insights on how to market your product and company.  Start thinking about Phase 2 BEFORE you execute Phase 1!  And of course its a good place to come network.

But the real question is who else is missing their underpants?  Ummm….no comment.