Please, do not ever say these words to an investor. You are essentially telling them to run. It is heard over and over, but it is never true. Maybe no one is doing the exact same thing, but someone is doing something similar and needs to be acknowledged. Read more
The entrepreneur’s dream: starting from scratch, building something significant, and creating value for everyone
on your side. Maybe that means holding on to a business you could retire on or pass down to your family. If you’re in the VC world, taking on investors means you are expected to cash out, hopefully for far more than was invested. Acquisitions and IPOs are great, but why doesn’t it happen more often? A successful exit can be a rising tide that lifts the boats around it – why do so few entrepreneurs actually make it? Beyond a little luck, what does it take to get there?
I don’t know all the answers to these questions. If I did, I might be taking a yacht to the island I just bought to relax for the rest of my life. More likely, I would be looking for the next masochistic opportunity to work really hard at something for no cash for years, in order to do it all over again. I haven’t exited a company (yet) so I can’t tell you the secrets from experience. Thankfully, a few serial entrepreneurs who have been through it all will share their minds on the subject at the Colorado Capital Conference November 6th and 7th. This year’s theme is “begin with the end in mind” – Habit #2 of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Here are this year’s speakers, who together have built billions of dollars in value in Colorado:
–Ryan Martens, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Rally Software. The Boulder Colorado-based company, which specializes in agile project management software, priced its 6 million shares at $14, raising $84 million at a valuation of $315 million which has more than doubled since it’s IPO earlier this year.
– John Spiers, CEO and Founder of NexGen Storage. John Spiers story of entrepreneurial lightning striking twice, first with his sale of LeftHand Networks to HP and this year’s sale of Nexgen to Fusion-IO for $119 million.
– Kevin Reddy, CEO of Noodles & Co. Noodles started with $73,000 in personal funds from founder Aaron Kennedy and raised $200,000 from friends and family. The company grew to $300 million in sales and had an IPO that more than doubled in its first day and has continued to grow since then to a market cap of over $1.3 billion.
– Steve Georgis, CEO of LineRate. Louisville based LineRate received early venture backing from Boulder Ventures and wroked in stealth mode with its Software Defined Networking product that increases speed and efficiency in data centers and just ten months after their product announcement achieved success with an acquisition by F5 Networks in one of the largest acquisitions in the Boulder area in the past several years.
– Jared Polis, Congressman and a two-time successful entrepreneurial exit success story! His first exit with BlueMountainArts.com for $780 million and then ProFlowers for $480 million.
– Morgan Rogers McMillan, Executive Director of Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCO). EFCO brings together local venture capitalists and start-ups to set aside 1 percent of their profits to charity.
Register here for the 2013 Colorado Capital Conference. The opening Gala in Denver is the evening of Wednesday November 6th, and the full day conference in Golden is Thursday the 7th. Hope to see you there!
Denver Startup Week was huge for the Denver entrepreneurial scene! It was vibrant with a ton of activities and wide participation from the Denver area. Also in Denver during the same week was the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference, put on by the Colorado BioScience Association. For a bio nerd and startup junkie like myself, it was a very rewarding week. I enjoyed both events, I’m thankful to have been able to 
participate, and I’d go back next time they come around. CNBC even covered both here and here. My perspective is on the intersection of the events – or more accurately, the lack thereof.
I’m beginning to obsess over this idea. How do we connect the parallel universes of Colorado startup industries? Life Science/Biotech isn’t the only silo, but outside of tech it’s the only one I’m immersed in. Brad Feld talks about the issue in his book Startup Communities, and specifically highlights an unsuccessful interaction with a Boulder biotech group. I won’t say that any person or any group is to blame for the current split – only that we’re here now, and it needs to get better.
Denver Startup Week has been successful twice in two years, and grew significantly from 2012 to 2013. It was not quite, as their signs suggested, a “celebration of everything entrepreneurial in Denver” but it’s getting there, and I only expect the event to grow and become better. It is led by inclusive entrepreneurs, so there is significant community support.
The Colorado BioScience Association’s conference also stands on multiple years of success. Launched in 2009 as a biennial (every 2 years) conference, it brings startups from 5 states: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Montana. The 1-day event featured 30 big investors from Colorado, both coasts, and in between: VC’s, public company venture arms, and Angel investors. 30 startups also presented, pitching for everything from angel rounds to getting ready for an IPO. InnovatioNews has a great review of the day here.
Within their own communities, both events were huge. However, almost everyone I talked to at DSW about the biotech conference had no idea it was going on, and many at CBSA’s only found out DSW was going on from the signs on 16th St, since Basecamp was only 4 blocks away. It was close enough that I walked over from the Ritz during a networking break.
There are bright spots in the gap, however. Rockies Venture Club leadership, volunteers, and a few of their top Angels were all over both events. The fact that RVC was founded in 1985 and serves a variety of industries probably helps in that area. There are other people building connections and bridges between the parallel universes, and we need to encourage and cultivate that. This year DSW added a manufacturing track, and I have every reason to believe they’ll keep growing the events. Denver did have a broader focus than Boulder Startup Week, in comparison. BSW was also a great event this year, albeit primarily focused on software and internet. I attended and loved it, and I’ll proudly wear the BSW t-shirt with the 1’s and 0’s logo, even though I can’t write a single line of code.
The noble idea that brings entrepreneurs, creators, artists, and (good) investors together is the belief that we can always make things better by creating value. Startup communities grow organically and tend to be messy, and that breeds collaboration and innovation. I have no doubt this chasm will be bridged; entrepreneurs will lead the way, and the process will add value to anyone involved. The Boulder and Denver startup communities were once pretty segregated, and we’ve seen incredible progress there. Connecting the parallel universes within the Denver/Boulder area is a positive sum game and must be seen that way. It will not be an easy or quick process, but it is worth the effort.
Tim is a regular contributor to the Rockies Venture Club blog and a Master’s of Engineering Management student at CU-Boulder. He holds a bachelor’s in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Denver, and has worked for startups since he left his corporate life as a licensed investment advisor.
Twitter: @taharveyconsult