Boulder Startup Week is this week. If you haven’t been, it’s a great opportunity for a number of reasons. You can get a flavor of the Boulder tech community (though it’s worth remembering that there are numerous firms that don’t play in the startup world that are in Boulder). You can learn a lot about startups from folks who are actively building one, or have built one in the past. You can learn about new technologies and trends that are up and coming, including data science, blockchain and cannibis. And you can meet a lot of great folks.
I’m a bit burned out on startups at the moment, but am still planning to attend a few sessions, mostly on the development track. I’m especially excited for the Boulder Ruby Meetup on Wednesday, where experts will speak about interviewing. I’m also speaking at a session on hosting.
My tips for Boulder Startup Week:
- go to at least one session in a different area of focus than you normally would.
- arrive 5-10 minutes early and plan to stay 5-10 minutes after. Use this time to chat with folks. (This is hard for me, but I’ve found that having a canned opening line like “what interesting talks have you seen” or “is this your first time at BSW” is a good way to break the ice.)
- the above tip will prevent you from trying to attend too many sessions back to back to back. This is a Good Thing(tm).
- bring business cards, or prepare to exchange emails.
- thank a volunteer and/or sponsor when you see them. There’s a tremendous amount of effort that goes into this week.
- be prepared to help someone you meet out, with an intro, feedback on an idea, or even just an interesting article.
- if a session is full, I’d get on the waitlist and then I’d show up anyway. Because every session is free, I’ve found that oftentimes folks are … over committed and there’s often space for other people.
If your interest has been piqued, please check out the schedule. Hope to see you out there.
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Blue Sky