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Comment by CPLX | Hacker News Reader

Do any of you modern Colorado people have an opinion of Colorado Springs these days for startups or tech or really anything?

I went to school there (CC) but that was back in the early 90's so I'm not exactly up on things, but I've long considered reconnecting with the area, finding an excuse to open a satellite office or something.

In my memory the Springs was pretty sleepy and outside of the small little hippie commune liberal arts college was mostly comprised of retired or military or both.

Does Colorado Springs figure at all in Colorado's business/tech scene?

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I lived in COS for 15 years, and recently bailed and moved to Boulder.

COS had the good seeds of a tech hub prior to the dot com melt down. Lots of cities did.

But what I think helped drain the potential was 9/11 and the uptick in defense contracting. All the engineers went to one of several contractors and all the non-engineers who would get involved in startups left town because they couldn't find engineers who would take the risk.

It's a great town if you want to work on the fringes, or commute to Denver, or work in government contracting. Since none of those three fit my needs I packed it up and moved to the Broomfield corridor (I couldn't afford Boulder proper).

It's a military town first and foremost, there is a tech scene but most of it seems to be adjacent to defense/aerospace. Seems like a bit of a different world that the rest of tech sometimes.

My knowledge is pretty out of date, I imagine it has exploded into a national security apparatus city as well by now.

I was just at Colorado College's graduation (go Tigers!) and spoke with friends and professors about this. Seems like right now the only people choosing to work in tech in CSprings are doing it because they don't want to move away from an established lifestyle or because they want to contribute to the local ecosystem. If you're looking to open a satellite office, Boulder or Denver would be much better bang for buck.

Not really. It's too long a drive from Denver/Boulder, so people end up moving north. It's got some stuff, but the Academy is really the only 'big' uni. and they don't really interact with local businesses as they are commissioned officers still. Different vibe from 'open' higher education.

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