curiousgirl's playground

I’ve spent the past few days in beautiful Boulder, Colorado visiting TechStars, a three-month long summer program helping selected startup teams begin their company (much like Y Combinator featured in this Newsweek article). I met David Cohen, Executive Director of TechStars, earlier this year when he was interviewing my friends from LingoLinko, one of the chosen teams to participate. David later graciously invited me to check out the program this summer. This week, I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on weekly group sessions (e.g. talks from industry panelists on various business and tech topics from "go-to-market strategy" to "transparency around blogging") and startup-specific office hours (e.g. legal advice, advice from MyBlogLog founders and Noah Kagan, etc.)

My trip has been amazing so far. First off, Boulder is absolutely gorgeous. Here are some of my favorite perks about the city:

• Perfect weather. I’m biased since my family is currently in the Bay Area of California, but think Seattle summer. Clear blue skies, clouds, moderate temperature. Not too cold, not too hot. You can wear anything you want.
• Very outdoorsy. Great for hiking, biking, camping, skiing, running, whatever else you can think of. There are always cyclists and pedestrians on the road. Seeing people in a suburban town is a wonderful feeling!
• Happy, friendly people. I think this is a result of the weather, but everyone is nice. Talk to any local barista of the many, many coffee shops around the area. Feel free to ask a stranger for directions somewhere. Or talk to the lady who works in the Boulder Bookstore. They are all personable and easy going. I love the laid back attitude of everyone here.
• Easy to navigate. Because I recently lost my wallet, I wasn’t able to rent a car, but this hasn’t been a problem at all for me. The Pearl Street Mall (downtown Boulder) is just four streets away from me. Everything is within walking distance, giving me the opportunity to really appreciate and enjoy the weather in the mornings when I go out.
• Other random facts. Did you that more than 50% of city has college education or better? One of the best places to retire.

In addition, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the conversations I’ve had with the founders of the TechStars teams. I love meeting new people and hearing their thoughts and ideas. I could immediately feel the excitement and energy of the founders just from short conversations with them, making me more eager to see the results of their hard work. All of them have been working on some very interesting, exciting, cool ideas. Unfortunately, most of them haven’t been getting too much sleep… For instance, my friends on the LingoLinko team have had crazy schedules (e.g. sleeping at 7am and waking up at 12noon). I’m amazed by everyone’s energy ….

I’m heading out of Boulder this afternoon. Thanks to David Cohen for letting me crash TechStars for a few days. Also, special shout out to Ben Casnocha for making my trip even more amazing and introducing me to more entrepreneurial people in the Boulder area!

technorati tags: techstars, boulder, colorado, david cohen, startups, entrepreneurship