I love living in Boulder. But, I travel a lot. And I like that also, especially when Amy comes with me. I’m in Boston today for TechStars for a Day and then doing a bunch of stuff at MIT tomorrow. Amy came with me and is doing her own thing at Wellesley.
I often get asked how much time I spend on the road versus at home. I decided to track it – along with several other things (miles run, books read, and airplane flights) for 2009. Following is where I have slept so far this year as of 3/10/09.
Boulder is obviously the big winner so far, but expect a lot more nights in Seattle, San Fran, LA, and Boston. And probably a few in Chicago and New York. I’m using Daytum to track this – it’s intensely cool. I just wish it knew how to import data.
Congrats to all my friends at Kerpoof – it was announced a few weeks ago that Kerpoof was acquired by Disney. Krista Marks – the CEO and co-founder – emailed me the Kerpoof mouse ears photo which inspired me to blog about them. It’s another great example of a local Boulder software / Internet company that had a passion, made something happen, and had a great exit.
I met Krista and her co-founders at a CSIA event and then again while they were gearing up for the 2007 TechCrunch 40. I gave them feedback on their presentation, started playing around with Kerpoof, and decided that Krista was a star. They weren’t raising money at the time (they were self funded through consulting work they were doing while building out their service) so I gave them feedback whenever they asked and stayed close to them. I encouraged Krista to have Kerpoof join the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado – which they did.
Last spring, Krista told me they had been approached by a large company that was interested in acquiring them. She was looking for advice – both business and legal – on the deal. I connected her with Mike Platt at Cooley – one of the best entrepreneurial M&A lawyers I’ve worked with. I also provided friendly feedback to Krista and her partners during the process. Mike turned out to be the perfect fit for them as a deal lawyer and helped them navigate an extended negotiation very gracefully.
The acquisition closed last fall, but Disney and Kerpoof wanted to do some integration before announcing it. I’m glad the news is out – Krista can now wear her Mickey Mouse ears and PJ’s in public. And I especially appreciate Kerpoof’s contributions – through the Entrepreneurs Foundation – to several local organizations, including the National Center for Women & Information Technology.
Oh – and keep being innovators!
I love everything about french fries. And – much to my delight – Spud Bros. at 2010 10th Street in Boulder is the purveyor of possibly the best french fries on the planet. They are even poets, having written a poem titled Ode to Spuds.
When I get my first no from Brad
I can count on French fries to take away the sad
When I can’t get tickets to Boulder Ignite
I go to Spud Bros. to get a bite.Built up an appetite going up Sanitas for a hike
Coming down for some Chili Fries I like
When I’m in need of some WiFi
I know where to go for the Internet and a FryAfter a night out on the town
I head to Spud Bros.
Where everybody knows your name
and they’re always glad you came.
Thankfully the fries are better than the poetry. And yes – the Brad they refer to c’est moi.
Are you a VP or C-level exec at a Boulder (or Denver) based startup? Eric Marcoullier, the CEO of Gnip has created a Boulder Startup Exec Email List. It’s open to people that fit the following criteria.
Eric moved to Boulder from San Francisco last month and is getting deep in the startup scene here. He promises that VCs will not be invited to participate in this list – I tried and was solidly rejected.
While the criteria don’t include “profitable companies that never received any financing”, I’d encourage anyone that is self-funded / bootstrapped that is generating over $500k of revenue a year to get involved also.
I’m always amused by articles that are headlined “Jobs outlook uncertain for 2009”. No shit sherlock.
I was pleased, however, to learn that Boulder, Colorado is one of thirteen cities (“metropolitan areas”) out of 381 in the US that are actually growing.
The cities that are growing are Boulder, CO.; Lafayette and Louisiana, LA; Bethesda, MD; Jacksonville, NC; Binghamton, NY; Oklahoma City; OK.; State College, PA.; and Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, McAllen, and San Antonio, TX.
I get LA, but Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen? Must have something to do with that electronic border fence thing.
No – not that kind of trip, although it might have made watching the debates last night more entertaining. I’m hitting the road for 10 days to travel our great country, check out main street, see some American heroes, and subject myself to more airplane travel fun. I wonder if I’ll stay in any of the same hotels as the presidential candidates.
I start this trip in New York, where I’ll be exploring the now famous Wall Street greed and corruption people. I then travel to Bar Harbor Maine to run a marathon (sponsor me and support Accelerated Cure). As part of this quest, I’m going to search for main street; it seems like I should be able to find it in Maine. Then I’m off to Boston to return to my post high school roots, have a nerd party with some wikipedia worthy entrepreneurial friends, and explore the outer reaches of 495. A quick trip by train back to New York and then off to Virginia and Maryland to make sure the leaves are turning the appropriate colors there before they completely fall off the trees.
I’m a PC and I love this country.
An annual institution in Boulder occurred last week – the Boulder Chamber of Commerce Esprit Awards. A bunch of my friends were winners this year and – since they were all nice enough to call me out for my contribution to them, I thought I’d reciprocate by congratulating them.
So, a big congrats to:
Y’all are great – thanks for all of your hard work, vision, and contribution to the Boulder entrepreneurial scene.
I’ve lived in Boulder, Colorado since 1995. Six months after Amy and I moved her, we realized this would be our home for the rest of our life. When I moved here I had no expectation that I’d ever do any work here as most of my entrepreneurial and investing activity up to that point was in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Between 1996 and 2000 the Boulder software / Internet scene grew. A lot. The crash of the Internet bubble slowed things down some but they came roaring back starting in 2003. Boulder is rocking today and – once again – there is way more demand for super amazing software developers than there is supply.
A bunch of local companies – including Aegis Analytical, EventVue, Filtrbox, Fuser, Gnip, HiveLive, Me.dium, Printfection, Rally Software, Return Path, and socialthing! – have gotten together to create a job fair on October 27-31.
This is not your ordinary job fair. If you think you are a rock star developer, apply here. The top 100 will be chosen and flown out to Boulder – all expenses covered – to interview with all of the companies involved, get wined and diner (and hiked and biked) around Boulder.
If you are really bold, stick around over the weekend and come to Defrag 2008 in downtown Denver and use the discount code foundry1 for a $300 discount. I promise you that you’ll never think of Boulder/Denver the same way again.
When I was a kid, one of my mom’s favorite lines was "go outside and play." I spent a lot of time outside. As an adult, I spent a lot of time in front of the computer, in conference rooms, in airplanes, and in hotels. But, I still try to go outside and play – a lot. Colorado is an outstanding place to practice playing, especially on the weekends in the mountains.
On Saturday, I climbed my third 14er – Quandary Peak. My guide was my long time friend and first business partner Dave Jilk who has climbed a large number of 14ers.
We had an absolutely perfect day for a climb. When we left my house in Keystone at 6am, it was 33 degrees. The average temperature was in the mid-40s, but the sky was completely clear and there was very little wind. From the top of Quandary, Dave named off 24 other 14ers.
It was a steep climb – 3000+ vertical feet over 3.5 miles. Even though we started early, about 15 or so people beat us to the top. As we headed down, we saw over 200 people heading up! It was like looking down on an endless stream of ants marching up a hill.
I know you worked hard today. Now, go outside and play.