boulder - Part 2

IgniteBoulder

October 30, 2008 by Micah 2 Comments

Photo used by permission from Andrew Hyde.

Last night was IgniteBoulder. For those that dont know what it is, it a series of presentations with the following rules:

1) The slide deck consists of 20 slides.

2) The slides auto advance every 15 seconds.

3) You can talk on anything you want to.

Thats it.

I was one of thirteen presenters, and was overly impressed with every presenter. My favorites: Jeremy Tanner, who spoke on how to crash parties. Michael Tseng, who spoke on the possibilities of perception, and Tara Anderson who was able to flex her standup muscles.

Done in front of a full room of 150 people or so, it was a resounding success. When asked if we wanted to do another one. It was apparently a resounding yes. Even Matt Galligan raised his hand in agreement. (Its like where is Waldo, can you spot the new AOL employee in the crowd?) I plan on speaking again (mostly to redeem a subpar performance), and if you want to, it is simple enough. Just go to the IgniteBoulder web site, and make yourself heard. The trick? Be innovative. Be funny, but most of all, just be true.

Filed Under: boulder · Tagged With: igniteboulder, Micah, presentations

Why I Live In Boulder? Mercury Poisoning, Of Course

August 20, 2008 by Micah 19 Comments

Why?

Its my favorite question. I ask it of myself quite often, and of others a bit more regularly.

Last night, after about 60 pieces of sushi or so, as I was standing back by the bar talking to our awesome bartender Jen, I got my answer.

In Boulder, the tech community is pretty tightly knit. Some say its because there arent a lot of us in comparison to New York or SF, but thats not really true. Other say its because there are so many startups in a such a small town, but thats not really true either.

You see, Boulder is many things.

We are smart. Many of us have created, designed, built or were involved in very academic or thought provoking ventures.

We enjoy a work-life balance. Many of us (well “them”) bike, hike, camp and do many other strenuous outdoor activities.

We enjoy each other. The New Tech meetup has 300 people attend it regularly. TechCocktail, basically NewTech Meetup with beer, has 300 people attend. Even a sushi eating contest attracts 40-50 people.

Boulder is about the community. Its no surprise that people like my friend Andrew Hyde can flourish in this town. Or that Techstars does more than just bring more startups to Boulder.

Last night, as I looked over the crowd, I smiled.

Nowhere but Boulder would such a unique mix of people get together to do someone so outrageous as a sushi eating contest, and nowhere but Boulder would the manager of Hapa Sushi, when told there might be a sushi eating contest, say “no problem,” and later participate in the ordering. (Fermented soybeans, by the way, suck.)

And when Jen asked me why we did this about half way through, we watched the smiles and listened to the laughter, and I turned to her and said “thats why. Why else?”