The final event at Boulder Startup Week a few months ago was Founder Fights. A bunch of founders got in a boxing ring for a real, USA Boxing sanctioned event (three rounds, two minutes each). To see a two minute version of what played out, take a look at this great video montage from the event (I make a startling entrance at 0:52 in the video.) It’s worth clicking through to Vimeo if the security settings don’t let it play in your browser.)
While I’m not a boxing fan, this was an incredible experience and one of the most energizing three hours I’ve had in a long time. Carrie Barry and her partner Kirsten Barry run The Corner Boxing Club in Boulder and I’ve done a little sparing there. My friends Jerry Colonna, Dave Mandell, and Chris Marks are regulars and Chris wrote a powerful blog post about why he boxes.
Carrie and Jerry did a great Reboot.io podcast on Carrie’s journey and why she is motivated to do what she does.
The experience of combining a set of local amateur boxers and their supporters with the Boulder startup community getting behind matches with folks like David, Chris, and Nicole Glaros was really inspiring. The event ended up raising $56,000 with $21,000 going to Blue Sky Bridge and the balance to other local charities. I hope we do it again in 2017 and have heard a rumor already that we’ll do it at Denver Startup Week in a few months.