When a Secret Isnt a Secret

by Micah

It’s an easy answer, right?

A secret isn’t a secret when everyone knows.

But, what I have learned is that it’s not the secret itself that matters, but the reasons behind that secret.

Lets get the secret of out the way.

Next month, I will be moving to SF. Not Graphicly, just me.

Why?

That’s a pretty easy answer. It’s the right thing to do.

Why?

I grew up in California. This is the longest I have ever been away from California. I find myself travelling out there more and more, mostly because its home. And that’s the crux of it. No matter where I have lived, for how long I have lived, California has always been home.

Why else?

Because the business told me so.

In today’s world you can start any business anywhere (and raise money for that business anywhere). Location is a far secondary consideration to starting and building a business. I have seen plenty of awesome startups in Boulder, and plenty of idiot founders in San Francisco. The location doesn’t matter.

As the business grows, you find that the majority of your sales and partnership activities start to focus on an area. Your talent recruitment begins to coalesce in a single location. For Graphicly, I found myself in LA and SF at least once a month. NY was every couple of months. Where I didn’t find myself a lot was Boulder.

David Uslan, an awesome business development guy in LA came onboard. We recruited an amazing product (Micah Laaker) and tech lead (Dan Theurer) in Palo Alto, and two fantastically talented developers in SF (Mark Rebec) and Palto Alto (Zach Graves). I started to spend 95% of my day on Skype with the team in California.

Even though I was in Boulder, I was spending little time in Boulder. And when I was working out of our Boulder office, I spent all my time on skype with folks on the West Coast.

The business is telling me that I should be in California.

It’s the money right?

Fundraising really didn’t factor. We’ve had no problem raising more than $4 million in Boulder, with both rounds being well oversubscribed. We have investment from top-tier investors from Houston, Omaha, Arizona, LA, SF and NY. Recently, we have started to field a lot (a lot!) of calls from investors in NY, LA and SF. We are about story and entertainment. We are about community and collaboration. Those are businesses that East and West Coast investors understand and have more experience.

Is it Boulder?

Look, if I was married, had kids, was dating someone, or a huge lover of snow or the outdoors, I would have found a way to stay. Other than the tech community and my coworkers, Boulder is not my home. I’m a California Kid, and it’s just time. I feel that I am not “leaving” Boulder. I’m just not going to live here anymore. All the relationships stay intact. We have an office here, that I will be at–a lot–and most importantly Techstars and my friends are here.

Boulder, as a community, is amazing. It’s not any one person, and I am grateful for whatever part my interactions have been received positively.

Look out San Francisco. Be ready for a dude who learned his best startup tricks on the streets of Boulder, CO.

Hope you are ready.

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