Our regional event – Venture Capital in the Rockies – was excellent this year. I’m usually good for a half a day at something like this – I managed to last almost 30 hours. I started off by participating in a press roundtable, had a few meetings, enjoyed a packed cocktail party, and then had an outstanding dinner at Anderson’s Cabin with the folks from Square 1 Bank.
I woke up early the next day and sat through most of the presentations in one of the software / IT / Internet tracks. David Cohen has an excellent summary of many of them – so I’ll be lazy and just link to him. Dan Primack also put up a post of the cliffnotes of who is raising what along with his explanation that VCIR isn’t a skiing boondoggle – really – it isn’t – really!
David Cohen also has a nice summary of his experience as this is the first VCIR he has been to. David is an active angel investor and co-founder / CEO of TechStars – we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the past year and I loved his conclusion.
“Above all, my biggest takeaway was simply the fact that I met a great number of amazing people. Sure, it was cool to network with these very talented VCs from Colorado, Silicon Valley, Seattle, and elsewhere. But it was fantastic to meet many of the great entrepreneurs in the area that I had not met in person before, as well as the people supporting and encouraging them. It was said several times at VCIR that the VCs simply go where the entrepreneurs are. Luckily for all of us, entrepreneurs and therefore the ecosystem that develops around them, are alive and well in Colorado.”
As the climax, Tracy Kerr – a partner at Meritage Funds and the Chairman of the Colorado Venture Capital Association (CVCA) announced that the CVCA was becoming the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association which now includes Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada. I’ve always viewed this area as the “Rocky Mountain West” (as evidenced by my investment in New West) and am delighted that there is more integration between the various VC firms in this region. Of course, I’m the guy that used to think that “New England” was a state before I moved to Boston.