New Venture Challenge

Tonight, the New Venture Challenge at CU Boulder is having its 10th anniversary. It’s happening at the Boulder Theater from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm and is open to the public. Register here to attend if you are interested . My partner Jason is leading the judging panel, which includes: Abby Barlow, partner and director of Investment Research at Crestone Capital Stephanie Copeland, former president of Zayo Group and current executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Anthony Shontz, managing director of Private Equity at Partners Group Dan and Cindy Caruso and Amy and I contributed the prizes, which total $100,000. ...

In the fall of 2007, my friend Phil Weiser, Executive Director of CU Boulder’s Silicon Flatirons Center, convened 25 leaders from CU Boulder and the Boulder / Denver startup community. We spent an afternoon talking about the idea of an entrepreneurial university. Phil called the meeting a Roundtable, even though the table was long and rectangular. The discussion that day was heated. Some in the room that day questioned whether entrepreneurship should – or even could – be a significant part of CU Boulder. Others made the case for entrepreneurship. Few of us anticipated the level of follow up from that discussion and the report that emerged set the stage for a lot of activity at CU Boulder over the ensuing decade. ...