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Rocky Mountain High Tech

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40 pointstbrooks21 comments

Recently Andrew Hyde from techstars dropped us a line at HN about boulder startup week, which just passed. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1283461 (details here: http://boulderstartupweek.com/)

Techstars, courtesy of pivotal labs made good on their offer and they paid for my plane fare to and from Boulder. I am working on a blog post about my honest experiences there but since this thread is here I might as well post!

Boulder is a beautiful place. It is pristine, very nature-y and the people are quite friendly -- they smile as they yield to you crossing the street. There is no graffiti, no littering, and everything is in walkable distance.

I am from L.A. born and raised so going to Boulder was quite the experience. Everyone is white, white and tall! I am not white, and I am not tall. There are 3 trashcans most places; compost, recyclables, landfill. The "Trident" coffee shop is (from what I been told) the latest shop you can go to; it closes at 11pm.

Boulder is a bubble, and the boulderites know and are proud of their bubble. The people there love their lifestyle and many are quick to say how much "they aren't like L.A. or S.F.". It's not disdain so much as it is pride in their town -- I like that.

Above all I think it is correct to say that everyone in Boulder is open to helping out. I mean that as generally as that sounds. Sure people in tech get all happy when they talk to other people in tech, but when we were holding a meeting at "Atlas" coffee shop, the manager of the store joined in on the conversation. I asked her some follow up questions as a "local small business" and we now follow eachother on twitter. At "The Cup" I talked to a worker that that had a lot of tattoos about my ideas regarding tattoos and tech ... it was nice.

I think in Boulder.... people are on the same team, they like to think of it like that.

I love L.A. though, I have been to S.F. and aside from it having to deal with a lot of tourism, it is a great place as well. S.F. is big so naturally the bar is high. I think it is wrong to say just because Boulder is so helpful that SF is not helpful. YC is very helpful, I enjoyed startupschool and YC alumni are some of the most proactive and helpful people I've met.

Boulder is great, but all places have their worth. Boulder is a bubble, and some people like that - nothing wrong there. I would work in Boulder for a startup. I love the friends I've made there. Boulder is authentic in its specific and niche way. But there is no denying that in bigger cities, you've got to deal with a much larger sampling of "authenticity" - L.A. may be dirty, but it's more indicative of a wide range of the world than Boulder is. There is no correct lens to view the world through though.

Maybe I'm not making sense. Boulder is a great startup scene. But in the end, a real entrepreneur is going to make the best with what he's got. Don't get the impression that because you are not in xyz town you are handicapped.

Thanks for reading.

I left the SF Bay Area for the Boulder/Denver area (Westminster) in 2005, and stayed through 2007. I enjoyed Pearl Street, walking around the CU campus and hiking in the Flatirons. However, I'd point out that many native Coloradoans I encountered lamented the influx of Californians (like me) and felt that we were ruining the vibe, which is quite possible.

If you wanted to take advantage of the startup scene in Boulder (especially if you're bootstrapping it), I'd recommend checking out surrounding communities like Westminster, Broomfield and Longmont. You'll save a ton of money on rent.

The same thing happened in Montana; a lot of big Cali money tried moving into Bozeman. That was OK with the locals, but what wasn't OK was that after buying up some ranchland and putting up a few McMansions and Olympic-sized pools, they put a bunch of spotlights up (on poles) to illuminate their spreads 24/7. That pissed the locals off, and the lights mysteriously got the shotgun treatment. I think the Californians got the picture ;-)

I think that as long as you're respectful of local mores and customs, you'll be OK.

Are you still in Bozeman? I'm in Helena myself.

No, I'm on the East coast. I have friends that live out there though, and I love Montana and try to get out there every chance I get. It's one of the last best places in the US!

Totally second that. Don't live in Boulder. Much cheaper to live say 15-30 minutes away and drive/bus in as needed.

Apologies in advance for bringing my pet peeve in here, but it's Coloradan, not Colordoan.

Colorado's a spanish word -- the way I think about it is "Would you say 'Mexicoan'?"

Also, note: I have a twitter account for this peeve. http://twitter.com/itscoloradan

You should hear how people on the east coast mangle "Oregon". They say "Ora-GONE". Shudder...

Oh, yeah -- I grew up in Oregon, I'm familiar with that.

"However, I'd point out that many native Coloradoans I encountered lamented the influx of Californians (like me) and felt that we were ruining the vibe, which is quite possible."

People have been saying this about Seattle for decades. In fact, if you do a find/replace for Boulder/Seattle, the entire article basically still stands.

I think the more interesting thing is the meta-story that these kinds of articles imply: a lot of people are leaving CA for Portland, Seattle, Boulder, or Austin, for some combination of lower living costs, lower taxes, and, often, better schools. As this table shows: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/ttw/trends_map_data_tabl... , CA has had a very large net out migration rate for years. It only goes up to 2006, but it's hard to believe that the rate hasn't increased since.

Boulder - usually seen as an enclave of hippies, marijuana dispensaries and rock climbers - has become a hotbed of capitalism.

As a native Coloradoan, I must say Boulder has been commonly known as a white bread, vastly overpriced, pretentious suburb for the last 30 years.

Populated mostly with college students who leave after graduating. Rent and SUV maintenance being prohibitively expensive in that city without a real job.

Affluent college town coddles young businesses? It would be shocking if they didn't.

(Did I mention I hate Boulder?)

You forgot to mention the trustafarians.

I grew up in Boulder. The reputation that Boulder has is interesting, but it's not always like that when you're there.

If you want to hang out with new-age people, you can definitely do it in Boulder. If you want to be a pretentious person you can find like-minded people in Boulder and feel good about yourself for living in Boulder. But living here is pretty normal overall.

Not being from the area, I was quite surprised to find that Boulder was not the hippie enclave (a la Burlington, VT) that people say it is. Vast tracts of shiny new development overshadow the few remaining vestiges (ie, Naropa University) of a more philosophical time. At any given moment you are more likely to be run over by an expensive SUV than to bump into an honest hippie. When you do find an honest hippie, they are generally ranting about the way things have changed.

On the whole, it was a nice place to be, but it should no longer have a reputation of counterculture... a 30+ person SWAT team keeps the kiddies in line. Boulder is now best described as a nature oriented suburb of Silicon Valley.

I live in Colorado and visit Boulder about once a week for one reason or another. I also attend most of their tech/startup meetups and events. (Returned home just an hour ago from the Colorado Green Tech Meetup, for example.) One of the great things about Boulder compared to the rest of Colorado is that it is the closest thing we have to a community built around ideas, innovation, education, science, progress, justice, health and sustainability. And therefore draws and keeps people who care about these things. Sounds like great stuff to me. How could one not like those things?

The negative stereotypes are also true, in some ways, (ex-60's-hippies, trustafarians, spoiled university kids, so-called-environmentalists-driving-huge-ass-SUV's-with-black-windows-talking-on-cellphones-while-driving-in-the-rain, etc.) but I think the positive aspects of the town far outweigh the negative. You go to Boulder, you can mentally mask out the occasional dreadlock. You go to Colorado Springs or Federal Heights, you are not going to simply mentally will into existence a coffee house or auditorium full of techies, progressives, investors, serial entrepreneurs, or scientists. Because they are just not there. Not enough anyway.

Also, you gotta love an outdoor street mall that goes like this: coffee house, art store, coffee house, bongs, Tesla Motors showroom, bongs, big retro book store, coffee, pizza.

It pretty much illustrates all the demographic groups of Boulder.

I'm nearly sold. Life in Italy is good in some ways that it likely never will be anywhere in the US (apsurd's comment about the latest place closing at 11), no piazzas like here, no beautiful old buildings and jumbled architecture. But I'm getting pretty sick of the wages here and the general condition of the economy. Actually... everywhere has problems, what's important is whether places try and tackle them, hard as it may be, and over the past 20 years, Italy really hasn't made much progress.

I could pretty easily find a job in Boulder, I think, but the last bit of the puzzle is seeing what's available for my wife in biotech or a related field...

[...] said Chad McGimpsey, who moved to Boulder a month ago and is now a regular at the twice-a-month coffee club.

Wow, I wish I could recognize trends that quickly. At most two observations, and already a "regular."

I am moving there next month just for the climbing. It seems to be the only place where you can get a decent tech job and still be within walking distance of some sweet rocks.

Lived in Boulder for two years now and I love it out here. Weather is, for the most part, amazing and it is really hard to beat the view. Also an outdoor sports heaven.

I should mention that the startup I work for is hiring, so if you want a change of pace and have real experience with iPhone and/or game development, send a resume to justin@backflipstudios.com

Are there any women there? Silicon valley is for the celibate, and every snowboard town ive been to, he dudes all have to, uh, share. From its description boulder sounds like it should be the worst of all worlds if you're single. But maybe I'm wrong...

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