565_ Innovative Cultural Pioneers Created a Niche that Changed the Largest Industry
Back in the 70's a few innovative cultural pioneers decided to use their interest in 'natural foods' as a metaphor. They developed a niche industry and the focus was almost entirely on natural foods. What has happened is consumers have adopted these foods as a lifestyle. Now it's truly a revolution sweeping most consumer categories. This evolution has gone from a niche of the industry to what is ultimately a lead indicator for the industry - and this is the largest industry in the world, so this is big news. “To have the 'thought leadership' coming from Boulder, I think, makes us pretty important.” Todd Woloson, Managing Director, Greenmont Capital Partners, and Naturally Boulder Days 2008, keynote speaker, tells us starting IZZE was to try to understand how the whole process works. One of the wonderful benefits we had during the development of IZZE was to be able to grab a coffee with a Steve Demos or a Mark Retzloff – these are big thinkers in this industry with proven track records and the ablity to see over the next horizon. Plus they had war wounds from being in the trenches and I learned a lot – I’m positive I couldn’t have done this without them. Getting involved in this industry is very important for Boulder, but ultimately very important, I think, for our society and culture."
Related Links: Greenmont Capital Partners || 4th Annual - Naturally Boulder Days 2008 || Boulders Best Organics || Find It || Keywords: Naturally Boulder 2008; Natural Products; Organics; Entrepreneurs; CORE; Greenmont Capital; Todd Woloson; Steve Demos; Mark Ressloff; Yoga; - LISTEN > Bytes: 8357828 > 10/06/08

564_ Expense Paid Trip to Job Fair in Boulder, Colorado
A handful of us were talking about what is going on in Boulder – there is an amazing amount of activity going on here – a huge number of startups, a lot of them growing very rapidly. One of the pain points they’re all experiencing is finding enough technical talent, software developers, programmers, engineers. We have a lot of great talent here in Boulder; we just don’t have enough given how fast these companies are growing. We thought the right way to recruit out of state talent to Colorado, to Boulder, was to find a way to fly them out here where it was low cost or no cost to them, to experience Boulder for three days. We’re having a week long job fair at the end of October. Aiming to fly in about 100 folks and we’re giving them a day to experience Boulder, just get to know the town. Then in a “speed dating fashion’, meeting with each one of the 20 sponsoring companies, and a third day to go deep on interviews with the companies they’re most interested in.
Related Links: Expense Paid Job Fair || Foundry Group || TechStars || Colorado Startups || Venture Capital Channel || Keywords: Boulder Startups, Boulder Job Fair, Foundry Group, Chris Wand, Technology Developers, Engineers, Software Developers, Boulder Wants You > Bytes: 7505191 > 10/06/08 > Channels: VC, Software - LISTEN

561_ Photo Albums of Some of the Best September Business Meetings
Larry and Pat of w3w3.com attended a number of Colorado's top business events and captured photos of hundreds of attendees. If you were there, odds are, your picture is on the photo events page. Check these out: Epicenter of Organics Boulder; Sam Pitroda at TiE Rockies; Entrepreneurs Unplugged; Real Estate Investor Forum; DU/ACG Leadership 20; RMIMA Leadership; CPIA Posse; RVC Early Stage Investing; ACG Business Luncheon; Boulder/Denver New Tech Meetup; TiE Charter Meeting: daVinci, Mastering Change. Check out the photos now and see who you recognize. You'll find a Photo Album cover for each event, click on that to see all the photos from that event. For example, above you see the photo album cover for the presentation Larry gave to the DaVinci Institue "Mastering Change" - Hope you enjoy! BTW, we've got some interesting contests coming up - make sure you know your way around the w3w3® website!
Related Links: Resources || Associations || Photo Events Page || Find It || Keywords: New Tech Meetup; Sam Pitroda; Entrepreneurs; Real Estate; DU/ACG; RMIMA; CPIA; RVC; ACG; Channel - Events

560_ The Coming Demise of the Retail Storefront
Recently, Thomas Frey and his wife Deb were relaxing at a new shopping center in the Denver area. Along the sidewalks a series of speakers cast a rather pleasant musical backdrop to the shopping experience. Thomas Frey, Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute went onto talk about what he called, 'The coming demise of the retail storefront.' He described what happened next, " At one point an interesting song began playing. I reached for my iPhone, and used a program called Shazam to “listen” to the music, revealing the name of the song and the artist. I was then able to purchase the song on my iPhone and download it directly to the phone for later use. The nature of this transaction is quite revealing in that it gives us clues as to what our shopping experiences will be like in the future." Tom is a well-known futurist and he makes his point, "Imagine yourself walking through a shop, wanting to know more information on a particular product. You pull out your phone, point it at the product and click a button, instantly revealing a page with product information, links to product reviews, and places to purchase it online. Pressing another button you are given options for purchasing it online and having it delivered to your home. Since you are already in a retail store, you could purchase it there if the price differential isn’t too great. But the shopping experience isn’t necessarily confined to a store." Listen, there's more...
Related Links: daVinci Institute || Shazam || Impact Lab || PodCast Directory || Keywords: Thomas Frey, daVinci Institute, Retail Storefront, Shazam, Retail Storefront > Channels: News > Bytes: 9248081 > LISTEN 9/29/08

WIN a Gift Basket from Boulder's Best Organics
It's another Colorado Success Story - Boulder is the Thought Leader in the worlds largest industry! Join us in celebrating Boulder's Best Organics - Determine how many products are available on the Boulder's Best Organics site - Send an email to radio@w3w3.com with your answer and be one of three winners to enjoy the"Better Gift Basket" in a box! We'll announce the winners next Monday, so don't delay - be part of the world's focus on Colorado! Listen for more details...
Related Links: Contest Link > Boulder's Best Organics || Submit Your Winning Guess (One per person) Remember to include your contact info! || Bytes: 2767206 - 10/6/08 LISTEN

566_ Ground Swell of Changes We are Facing Today
Of the many things Larry identified are patterns that occur. Some dissipate others grow. He has focused on those that are continually occurring and growing. Some of them are easy to see and some are a little more challenging. He has identified five patterns or ‘ground swells’ of change that have been occurring and then what will likely be coming down the pike. The green industry, for instance, must become strategic, sustainable and scalable. What we’ve had so far are discussions of the different things that have happened, the things that are happening and the needs we have. Today when people hear ‘green industry’, they think of energy generation, sources to recycling. Well it’s much more than that. A second ground swell of change Larry points to is about people and an inner need to give back to their community, and to give of themselves. “We have so many people today, even in these turbulent economic times that have made a great amount of money and they want to give back. So what we have is a growing opportunity, it’s called ‘social entrepreneurship’.” Having been a long time entrepreneur (with the arrows to prove it), Larry talks about the current landscape and what may be coming your way with Yvonne and Greg Lynott as they delve into the reasons for Larry's latest book. Listen now…
Related Links: Mastering Change || Lynott & Associates Public Relations || 3-Filters || Blog || Keywords: Mastering Change, Yvonne Lynott, Greg Lynott, Larry Nelson, Pat Nelson, Entrepreneurship, Ground Swell > Bytes: 14647048 > LISTEN 10/06/08 Channels: Training

563_ The 2nd Annual Angel Capital Summit is Heading Our Way
This year they’re scripting it to be twice the size because it sold out last year. They have room for at least 1000 people; and billions of dollars in investments made, represented on the executive committee at the Rockies Venture Club 2nd Annual Angel Capital Summit. This is a state wide networking event, pulling together on the platform each group providing deals to the event. Kevin Johansen said, “Our groupware has a deal flow management system embedded in it. By example Grand Junction Incubator is recruiting advisors to their group to help them screen their deals and submit the best of the best up to the Angel Capital Summit executive committee. That's the semi finals.” From there the executive committee (representing lots of money actively seeking deals) will screen and select the top 40 to be presented on November 21st – all day. At the end of the day we’re pulling together a ‘town hall meeting’ with thought leaders from up and down the front range, to basically sit down and talk about how to make sense of what’s happening in the economy. We’re trying to open up the conversation and address these problems. It’s a scary thing to be out there all by yourself, we don’t want anybody to think they’re all by themselves. Everybody in the room wants everybody else in the room to be successful. The focus isn’t only on raising money but also getting help, mentorship and so on.
Related Links: Angel Capital Summit || Rockies Venture Club || Business Catapult || Venture Capital || Keywords: RVC, Angel Capital Summit, Angel Funding, Venture Capital, Kevin Johansen, Business Catapult > Bytes: 7950736 > 10/06/08 Channels: VC LISTEN

562_ Social Entrepreneurism and Microfinancing Goes Global
Social entrepreneur, Jessica Jackley Flannery is a co-founder of Kiva with her husband Matt. Kiva is the first peer-to-peer microloan website, demonstrates how the Internet can facilitate meaningful, positive connections between lenders and entrepreneurs in the developing world and even help us all become micro-financiers. Lucy Sanders, CEO and Founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and NCWIT board member, Lee Kennedy along with Larry Nelson interviewed Jessica. She first saw the power and beauty of microfinance while working in rural Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda with Village Enterprise Fund and Project Baobab on impact evaluation and program development. Jessica has worked in the Stanford Center for Social Innovation to launch the inaugural Global Philanthropy Forum, and at Amazon.com, Potentia Media, the International Foundation and World Vision. Jessica has spoken widely on microfinance and social entrepreneurship, and has seen microfinance at work in a variety of communities in more than 30 countries. Jessica is an Ashoka Fellow and has built the Kiva budget from a small startup amount to $45 million. She was asked, "What does a $20 donation do for Kiva?" "Any donation helps us cover our basic operational costs--paying salaries, keeping the lights on, etc. In 2007, for every $1 Kiva receives in donations, we raised another $10 online in loans for the poor." Jessica shares some incredible success stories. Listen for more...
Related Links: KIVA || NCWIT Heros || ASHOKA || NCWIT Practice || Keywords: Jessica Flannery, Kiva, NCWIT, Ashoka Fellow, Microfinance, Social Entrepreneurship > Bytes: 24043836 > - LISTEN 9/29/08