A repost from http://larrymckeogh.blogspot.com/ as I try out different blog tools and features.
This week was a roller-coaster ride on the lessons to be learned in life (and reviewed often). The last time I had dabbled in the land of start ups was over 10 years ago. At that time, it seemed that Boulder was getting a few, but that they were few and far and between. Of course the Internet at that time did not offer the level of connection possible today. You had to be in the know of someone at one of these "places". If you wanted to be part of a start up you needed to head to Silicon Valley (SV).
Fortunately for me, the trade-off of SV did not beat out the benefits of living on the front range (Den - Ft. Collins). I put my head down and acquiesced to the larger company and its stability. Learning a new craft (product marketing / management) and new techniques for developing software provided enough of a challenge to limit my scope.
Fast forward to today. The Denver-Boulder New Technology Meetup I attended this past Tuesday had an infectious high-energy quality. One would assume that money and opportunity was flowing like the Boulder creek in June. Reading more about various start up opportunities this week perpetuated this thinking in my mind. Start-up opportunity had arrived and it was just around the corner, figuratively speaking of course.
This morning after my usual swimming workout a casual locker room conversation about my perceived state of things met with reality. I entered a conversation with a video entrepreneur and fellow swimmer. We got to talking about the state of business being. He relayed that he was in the process of closing down his office since they were unable to raise an initial round of funding. This was despite of lots of sweat equity, prototypes, and interest from several prominent names.
The locker room is not the place to get into the gory details of why and what have you tried, etc. Suffice to say, it offered some reality to the week's earlier storybook reading. I then met with another gentleman for coffee and a discussion on his start up perspective. He shared some of his past experiences and failures. Listening was a good review of what not to do and what to avoid.
In all, I am optimistic about the state of things here in Colorado. It no longer appears that you have to head to a coast for high quality start up action. At the same time, we are not immune to the realities present with a start up. At the end of the day, you have to have a viable revenue stream and solid business model.
Maybe I have been out of the loop for too long. I think that new opportunities are coming - or have they been here and I have just missed them for the past couple of years?
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