So You Wanna be a Startup…

To paraphase Too $hort: “So you wanna be a Startup…and all that sh*t.”

Back in February, when I sold Current Wisdom, I knew that I wanted to get back into the technology scene. But, my California bias made me believe that there was little to no startup activity in Colorado. With the money I got from the sale, I decided I would start researching startups in Colorado, and think about investment. After all, I was busy enough with trying to get/stay healthy and shepparding the transition of Current Wisdom into Indigio.

For the first two weeks after the press release went out, I was bombarded with phone calls from financial advisors, stock portfolio managers, a couple early stage companies, and several investment houses. When I was starting Current Wisdom, I begged for some of these folks to talk to me, and they all ignored every attempt I made. So, being the vindictive guy I am, I did the same thing.

Soon after selling the company, I landed a pretty big new client. One of the folks working at the new client was leaving to start a tech company. He told me he was part of a group called TechStars. I looked into the group and saw Brad Feld and Seth Levine’s names. Two of the investors in ServiceMagic, where I had worked prior to starting Current Wisdom. “Small world,” I thought to myself.

Then I remembered my buddy Danny Newman. I knew he was working on some mp3/ringtone deal, but for years Danny’s biggest challenge was focus. In many ways, I saw Danny as a younger, less good-looking version of myself. His technical knowledge is superb, and because of that, it held him back by giving him the ability to pursue any crazy idea he came up with. I, on the other hand, could only intellectualize many of my ideas, and found that since I couldnt physically work on the ideas, I was better at helping improve other people’s ideas.

I called Danny. Turns out that someone finally convinced him of the importance of focus, and PocketFuzz was running and funded. Go Danny! I spoke to him about my desire to get back into the startup scene, and he mentioned a couple of the things going on in Boulder.

So, I continued my exploration of the startup scene. My only experience with Boulder was when I first moved to Colorado and lived with my biological father, which, in the interest of shortening the story, sucked, and really soured my view of Boulder. Even so, I began to connect to the startup scene in Boulder. And what a scene it is:

• There are several investment groups in the area;
• More than a couple funded startups;
• TechStars; and
• StartupWeekend.

After growing up in Silicon Valley where it felt that everyone worked for or started a startup, it was nice to see something similar in Boulder. And, frankly, StartupWeekend, with 70 people attending and contributing in a high-level way without the loss of community, just reinvigorated me. Ideas started flowing again. I was intrigued by new technologies. I even attended a search engine marketing trade show, where I learned something!

So, I decided it was time to start networking again. I met with Todd Vernon of Lijit, David Cohen of TechStars, Brad Feld and Seth Levine of the Foundry Group, Alex King of Crowd Favorite, and many others. I have met with about 1/2 of the TechStar teams, and you will see MadKast and IntenseDebate‘s technologies integrated with this blog. Oh, and this blog. I decided to learn about blogging. What a way to let the world know about you in a really non-invasive way.

And, with each person I have met–Tara Anderson of Lijit, Andrew Hyde of StartupWeekend, Jeff LeDoux (soon joining) Me.dium, Gwen Bell and Paul Salamone of PlungeArtists, Rich, Chris, Braken and Michael of Hypersites, and so many more–I have realized that the energy I have been missing was alive and well in Boulder’s startup community. I have found the right combination of community, intelligence and ambition.

So, I am exploring options. I have a couple of ideas that I am pursuing, including VoSnap, which I would very much like to see through to completion. I am still working on the transition of my company and growing that business (we have doubled since January, the sound you hear is me patting myself on my back.). But who knows what the future will bring. If all it brings is more connections with people like those I have met this year, then it will be a future that I am going to be excited to be part of.

<soapbox> Let me also say, being part of a community doesnt me just “being there.” One must participate. So, sign up for every beta, and test the product, providing feedback. Give support where you can, even if its just a blog comment (*ah hem, hint hint*). And if you must be critical, provide a critique, not a bashing. Something constructive that helps improve the focus of the critique. Success is only derived from calculated failures. Feedback and critiques allow people to see their failures and learn from them. I have been disappointed when seeing a major publication like TechCrunch report on a Boulder startup that all the comments are either from homers or haters. One can be critical and supportive at the same time, thereby increasing the value of the feedback. A community can only grow through that type of feedback loop.</soapbox>