Innovation is stagnant now in the medical device arena
1469_ 11/25/13 - We are talking with Mike Biselli, Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of MedPassage. At the very highest level, MedPassage is your 'Amazon.com' specifically built and engineered for the medical device implant industry. As you know, in our country right now, we are going through significant change in healthcare. With that said, Mike and his cofounder have spent 20+ years of direct experience in the medical device industry and they are leveraging that tribal knowledge into purposing and then creating a platform that will help disinter mediate and create more efficiencies within the implant space. Mike said, "As you know we need a reduced cost on all fronts within healthcare and it is our objective and our motive to see that through within the medical device implant space." MedPassage has noticed that innovation is stagnant now in the medical device arena... so we're going to have these technologies that we've been using for the last 10-20 years continue to dominate for the next 5-15 years if this market corrects. The point is why do we continue to march down the road where we have a sales distributor involved with these products that doctors know like the back of their hand? There's more...
RELATED LINKS: MedPassage || Galvanize || Economy Builders || Blog || KEYWORDS: Mike Biselli, MedPassage, Chris Onan, Galvanize, Tech Ecosystem, Entrepreneurs, Colorado, Medical Implant Devices Industry, healthcare, change, sales commissions, bytes=5811203
LISTEN TO: Mike Biselli, CoFounder/CMO, Med Passage

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We first came into this ecosystem back in 2012
1463_ 11/18/13 - We are talking with Chris Onan, Co-founder and Managing Director Galvanize, and Mike Biselli, Chief Marketing Officer of MedPassage who has an office suite here at Galvanize, actually one of the first ten clients. Galvanize was built to be a tech ecosystem. So, that is a community of tech companies working in and around one another. We wanted to do that because there is a ton of great tech activity here in Denver. At least in this neck of the woods there wasn't any nexus for great tech companies. Mike Biselli said, "It's been an evolution for our organization, the benefits that Galvanize continually brings to us. When we first came into the ecosystem back in 2012, the first and foremost benefit for us was being around other like minded entrepreneurs. Seeing others going through the same pain problems that you are and not feeling like you're the only one going through those..." Mike said, "that was the first evolution followed by the second - being introduced by folks like Chris and the other founders here at Galvanize and other entrepreneurs... Going back to the capital, had we not been part of Galvanize, we wouldn't have secured part of our funding that just occurred recently. We literally received a six figure plus round of capital because we were based out of Galvanize", said Mike. This huge entrepreneur knowledge share is terrific...
RELATED LINKS: Galvanize || Chris Onan || Venture Capital || Blog || KEYWORDS: Mike Biselli, MedPassage, Chris Onan, Galvanize, Tech Ecosystem, Entrepreneurs, Colorado, Appian Venture Capital, David Cohen, Brad Feld, Funding, Talent > bytes=5811203
LISTEN TO: Chris Onan, & Mike Biselli, Galvanize

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Huge asset to entrepreneurs here in Colorado
1448_ 10/7/2013 - We are talking with Chris Onan, Managing Director of Galvanize, and he's been a venture capitalist and strategy consultant for years. There is so much happening in the marketplace, high tech and everything else, we asked Chris for an overview of what he sees happening. He said one of the exciting things for Colorado is that milennials are moving here in greater numbers than to any city in the country, and that's not per capita, that's aggregate. There are a number of reasons, it's a beautiful place to live, centrally located, we have a major airport. It's relatively cost effective to start a business here, the tax rates are lower and you've got a mid-western ethos where you can get a cup of coffee with just about anyone. Guys like David Cohen and Brad Feld and Steve Halstead will give you a cup of coffee. It doesn't happen in Silicon Valley or New York - and it's a huge asset to entrepreneurs that are here in Colorado. TechStars, literally taking over the world recently opening in London and beyond, headquartered here - all together, it's just drawn a ton of entrepreneurial activity and attention here. And Galvanize, we're kind of drafting on that and we fit right in to the broader trend in Colorado, becoming a very prominent place for entrepreneurial and tech activity. One of the challenges talked about for this area is getting a big company to headquarter here. Chris doesn't agree, saying...
RELATED LINKS: Galvanize || Chris Onan || Venture Capital || Blog || KEYWORDS: Chris Onan, Galvanize, Entrepreneurs, Colorado, Appian Venture Capital, David Cohen, Brad Feld, Steve Halstead, Milennials, > bytes=4160682
LISTEN TO: Chris Onan, Managing Director, Galvanize

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The relationship between Business Intelligence and Big Data
1459_ 10/21/2013 - Larry had a number of questions about Big Data and Business Intelligence so he corralled Steve Dine, founder and managing partner, of Datasource Consulting. They help companies large and small to identify their data, and help integrate their data across multiple systems. In large companies that data may go into 2 to 300 systems providing information necessary to making the business process decisions. It is vital to identify the valuable data and then have the capabilities to analyze and that turn that data into information. Steve tells us that Business Intelligence, aside from being an oxymoron, is really an umbrella term that identifies different aspects to data analysis. It involves the collection of data, the modeling of data as well as the architecture of how you actually capture data and where you store it, and then accessing your data for analytic tools. So it's really an umbrella term used in the business intelligence industry for all those different areas. Really it's all about helping companies turn data into information. Larry asked Steve if he could define Big Data. Steve said, "I wish I could. One of the things the industry hasn't done a good job at is defining the term of big data. The way it's defined today is through three different areas. One is the velocity of data, that means how often that data changes and how often you actually need to process that data... Listen, there is much more...
RELATED LINKS: Datasource Consulting || Communication Technology Professionals || Communication Technologies || Software || KEYWORDS: Steve Dine, Datasource, Datasolutions, Consulting, Big Data, Integrate, Scalable Maintainable Data-Integration, Business-Intelligence Solutions. bytes=5722595
LISTEN TO: Steve Dine, Founder/Managing Partner, Datasource Consulting

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Identify, Integrate Valuable Data Across Multiple Systems
1464_ 11/18/13 - We met Steve Dine, managing partner/founder of Datasource Consulting toward the end of October. In the first part of this interview with Steve we talked about how Datasource actually helps companies large and small, identify their data and to integrate that data across multiple systems. You can go back to that first interview - Click HERE
Getting the most out of your data means identifying where the value is, business intelligence initiatives are earned investments and so as companies decide where they're going to invest their money they need to determine what the return on that is going to be. Part of making that determination is understanding where you will get the biggest bang from a buck. So you identify the value, identify who the analysts are and where you can analyze within your organization, who your constituencies are, most often they are internal. But in the financial services industries all their customers are external. Steve's first great success in IT and business intelligence came about when he was working in Boulder, in finance and he was given the opportunity to work with a big manufacturing company who understood the value of BI...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Datasource Consulting || Communication Technology Professionals || Communication Technologies || Software || KEYWORDS: Steve Dine, Datasource, Datasolutions, Consulting, Big Data, Integrate, Scalable Maintainable Data Integration, Business-Intelligence Solutions. bytes=5190115
LISTEN TO: Steve Dine, Founder/Managing Partner, Datasource Consulting

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They need to determine ROI on their Data
1470_ 11/25/13 [Part 3]- We are back with Steve Dine, managing partner/founder of Datasource Consulting. Steve has explained to us how Datasource Consulting actually helps companies large and small, identify their data and to integrate that data across multiple systems. In the second interview we learned that getting the most out of your data means identifying where the value is. Business Intelligence initiatives are earned investments and so as companies decide where they're going to invest their money they need to determine what the return on that is going to be. Now in this last interview with Steve, we get an example of how valuable this information can be with a short case history - a great success story... Listen for more
RELATED LINKS: Datasource Consulting || Communication Technology Professionals || Communication Technologies || Software || Economy Builders || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Steve Dine, Datasource, Datasolutions, Consulting, Big Data, Integrate, Scalable Maintainable Data-Integration, Business-Intelligence Solutions, bytes=7539882
LISTEN TO: Steve Dine, Datasource Consulting

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Will they find you or your competition
1451_ 10/7/2013 - We have been hearing a great deal about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as organizations are trying to figure out how to get more individuals and organizations to visit their website and buy more. The 'World Wide Web' offers many opportunities as well as challenges. Larry called Ray Hutchins (a hands-on expert in SEO) to give us another view on Search Engine Optimization because it continues to morph and is becoming a very complex, hard to fathom piece of our Internet business strategy. Making it to the first page of the search engines when you are operating in a competitive keyword environment is not easy. It takes SEO experience, business experience, persistence, and time - and in many ways, it's more of an art than a science. To succeed, a business owner needs an SEO company that knows how to: Identify and target the right keywords; Structure and organize your website so it best accommodates the search engines; Build the right link program for your business needs; Stay on top of the constantly evolving SEO processes, strategies and procedures and make sure YOU stay on top! Ray also brings something else to the table. He owns a Web Development company, Denver Web Services. Ray says, "No use doing a great SEO campaign and getting a customer to visit a site that won't convert them into a sale. Your business needs a site that builds trust and converts leads into sales. But if you are like most business owners, you just cannot afford to spend a fortune to make this happen. ...Listen for more, this is part 1 of 2...
RELATED LINKS: Denver Web Services || Denver Cyber Security || TiE Rockies Network || Innovation Pavilion || Blog || KEYWORDS: Ray Hutchins, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Web Development Company, Denver Web Services, TiE Rockies, Denver, Innovation Pavilion, Entrepreneurs, > Bytes=7117325
LISTEN TO: Ray Hutchins, Denver SEO Services

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Search Engine Optimization continues to morph
1453_ 10/14/2013 - Ray Hutchins, founder of Denver Web Services, goes onto say, "Now days, everyone is trying to get themselves ranked higher - everybody! It used to be just a small number of businesses but now, it's just crazy. Your choices are to get yourself ranked high in the search engines for certain key words in the organic or free search results - or you can play Google's game and buy ads which they are putting on the same page, in positions more prominent than the organic free results. So your options are you can pay money for Search Engine Optimization or you can pay money for pay-for-click ads. The advantage to pay-for-click ads [if you can figure that campaign out] is the results are instantaneous. You can put your ads up today and , conceivably get results today. Although it's pretty complicated and a lot of people don't want to take on the mental challenge, but it's doable. With Search Engine Optimization, it takes time to get ranked. Depending on the keywords and depending on the market you're after it takes, two months best case, to six months to get ranked up there. Search engine optimization is a cross between a science and an art. Ray finds it fascinating as a practitioner and he tries to transmit to his clients, how the web works when you're trying to manipulate the results." Listen for much more...
RELATED LINKS: Denver Web Services || Denver Cyber Security || TiE Rockies Network || Innovation Pavilion || Blog KEYWORDS: Ray Hutchins, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Web Development company, Denver Web Services, TiE Rockies, Denver, Innovation Pavilion, Entrepreneurs, bytes=5722595
LISTEN TO: Ray Hutchins, Denver Web Services

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From ideas to implementation to Apex awards
1441_ 9/23/13 - Designed for creative encounter and collaboration, APEX is the Colorado technology industry’s annual conference to celebrate accomplishment and set the direction for the coming year by gathering the community, recognizing excellence, sparking innovation, introducing disruption and proposing opportunity. In 2012, the Colorado Technology Association paired two of its most important and longest-running events — The Apex Awards and DEMOgala — back-to-back for an exciting two days of celebrating the greatest people, companies and accomplishments of the state’s tech industry and looking ahead to the critical issues facing the industry in the years ahead. This year, they were pleased to launch APEX, the evolution of more than ten years of innovative thinking, engaging speakers, phenomenal energy and industry focus. APEX is more than an awards ceremony, conference and tech challenge. APEX is your opportunity to be a part of the conversations driving innovation and technology in the state. The leaders in 2014 will be the people and companies that show up and participate fully.
RELATED LINKS: APEX Awards || APEX Sessions || Colorado Technology Association || Podcasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Apex Awards, Apex sessions, Colorado Technology Association
See Apex Conference Photos HERE

Percolated up to a national agenda item
1404_ 7/8/13 - He is involved with so much and he still has time to hear student concerns. We're talking to Dr. Arlen Meyers, about the CU Program of Bio Innovation and Entrepreneurship, basically a certificate program for graduate level, business, science, engineering, law, health professionals, who are interested in getting an idea to a patient. Dr. Meyers, and CU created the program because there was a gap in providing these students with the business skills needed to find a job. The NSF and the graduate school community has recognized the gap, and finally it's percolated up to a national agenda item. "So", says Arlen, "we have created a program to provide the knowledge, skills, abilities, experience and networks that these people need to interact with industry and get a job." It is Arlen's belief that entrepreneurs need four things to be successful: "They need education; they need experience, networks and they need money, We provide all four in the program." Listen for more about the program and the unique legal and regulatory environment for bio science and health innovation and entrepreneurship. It is probably the most regulated industry in the U.S. Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, is a professor at the CU School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology and he is President/CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs. Part 4 of 4...
RELATED LINKS: Society of Physician Entrepreneurs || CU School of Medicine || TiE Rockies Colorado || Economy Builders || Podcast Directory || KEYWORDS: Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, CU School of Medicine, Bio Integration, Business skills, SoPE, TiE Rockies, Colorado, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, NSF, Graduate School, Community Invention, Innovation, > bytes=4034040
LISTEN TO: Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA; President/CEO, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE)

Powered by Podbean.com Traditional marketing doesn’t work like it used to
1400_ 6/24/13 - Larry interviewed Patrice Barber, CEO of Taylor Made Emarketing, (TME) a national speaker and award winning business automation consultant who has worked with over 35 Fortune 500 corporatPatrice Barberions and hundreds of entrepreneurs. Her areas of expertise include digital marketing strategy, marketing automation, mobile marketing, CRM implementation, as well as operations and business development. She is also COO of TiE Rockies Colorado. Its great that all these digital tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube connect us to lots of people online… But the question is how do we attract online prospects and convert them into long term business relationships and revenue. The answer to that question is what I have asked our guest Patrice Barber to talk with us about today. That includes the market challenges the opportunities, and how digital marketing works. Patrice started out with the Challenges: One of the biggest challenges SMB’s face is that the landscape of marketing is rapidly shifting to online and digital marketing. Traditional marketing doesn’t work like it used to. Many small business owners still don’t quite understand how to leverage the power of the Internet and integrate it into the traditional offline tactics that DO work and tie marketing efforts directly to the sales team. Opportunities: There are at least 5 online marketing channels most businesses can take advantage of to tie into their traditional marketing. Mobile marketing, Online PR, Social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, You tube, Google+, Ads online, Internet marketing - Auto-responder drip campaigns, Content writing – like blog posts and other articles. Provide an example of how digital marketing works. When small businesses focus on relationship marketing, they can warm up leads and enjoy 'inbound or pull marketing' instead of more traditional PUSH-Y marketing. One way we simplify this is to define the digital marketing strategy as - Connect, Convert and Cultivate. The idea is to connect to your target market, convert them to interested prospects and raving fans, and cultivate relationships before during and after the buying process so they buy, rave, refer, and buy some more…Patrice explains more…listen now…
RELATED LINKS: TMEmarketing || Innovation Pavilion || TiE Rockies || Economy Builders || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Patrice Barber, Taylor Made Emarketing, TiE Rockies Colorado, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Traditional Marketing. Mobile Marketing, Online PR, Social Media, bytes=6579412
LISTEN TO: Patrice Barber, President/CEO, Taylor Made Emarketing

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Ron McKey, When doing Business Globally
1356_ 2/25/13 - Ron McKey is the Founder and President of FlyingBeds International; we're talking about doing business globally. Ron tells us that FlyingBeds is a two way company, he's noticed out in the market place that FlyingBeds is an exclusive, high-end presentation of Murphy beds, the Murphy Bed concept, in America. At Ron's factory here in Denver, he manufactures exquisite, unique Murphy beds. Murphy beds meaning beds that fold up into the wall. When he's out in the market place Ron said, "When I am selling over in Germany, Barcelona, Israel, Egypt; I've run across other companies that are just as unique as me in their concept. So, like the Italian bed that I bring in from the Colombo Company are the narrowest in thickness. Meaning they really fold up in 10" of space - that's amazing. But then over in Germany is a company owned by Karl Warner the Lift Bed Company and they take their beds and put them on the ceiling. They run them up by electric motor. That is cool. Very expensive but cool." Larry asked, "What are the most interesting challenges you face when dealing with these organizations overseas?" Ron replied, "They are always concerned with installation. It's relatively easy to decide on the design with email and the Internet, and we can over-night a sample to them and we can make adjustments and approve it." When asked, "What advice would you give other entrepreneurs wanting to do business overseas?" RM: "Well, you're not going to get any overseas commerce by being the lowest priced guy in the marketplace. This is my opinion, you're going to have to have something unique, either a great service or a product no one else is making. But I also bring back in products that are not available to Americans. I look at it as a fair trade. We're building a relationship with these other countries." Having worked with Ron on his website, Pat asked about the Shoji Bed and room Ron designed and created for a family living in Japan. Her question goes to Ron's background and how he does what he does. He chuckled and referred to his background as a dairy farmer from Oregon and a mechanical drawing class. He doesn't tell us about his work in the military, installing and repairing the electric wiring and cables in airplanes or his experience as a buyer or his university education in business and marketing. Pat's conclusion, there's... Listen, Watch and visit http://www.flyingbeds.com/
RELATED LINKS: FlyingBeds International || Video Library || Economy Builders || Blog || KEYWORDS: Ron McKey, Murphy Beds, FlyingBeds, Wall Beds, Italian Smart Beds, Colombo, Lift Beds, Germany, Barcelona, Israel, Egypt, Shoji Bed, > bytes=8021789
LISTEN TO:Ron McKey, Founder/President, FlyingBeds International

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Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping Video at the Crash Course
1358_ 2/25/13 - This Crash Course diagrams bootstrapping strategies for startups. Several area companies in the Front Range – ranging from early startups to more established entities such as SparkFun and Backflip Studios – have achieved financial viability without the assistance of outside financing. Bill Flagg an experienced entrepreneur, shares finding creative ways to fund a startup is important for a range of businesses. Some early stage startups may lack access to institutional financing. They may need to prove up a concept before venture capital or angel options become available. Moreover, established businesses may make a conscious decision not to take on outside financing. A variety of reasons – ranging from low capital intensity to control issues – may militate against a startup taking outside money from sources such as angel investors and venture capitalists. This Crash Course will focus upon strategies associated with bootstrapping a company and will address the following: Best Sources of Funding; Increasing Odds of Success; Freedom to Create and Thrive. Watch this video with Brad Bernthal and Bill Flagg ...Watch Video
RELATED LINKS: Crash Course, Bootstrapping || The Felix Fun || Bill Flagg Blog || Economy Builders || PodCast Directory || KEYWORDS: Bill Flagg, Crash Course Bootstrapping, Silicon Flatiron Center, Brad Bernthal, The Felix Fun, RegOnline, PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, SurveyGizmo, SFC Crash Course
Watch Video: Watch Bill Flagg, Crash Course Bootstrapping, with Brad Bernthal, ...

"Commissioned sales people
may be a thing of the past..."
1362_ 3/4/13 - ...Bill Flagg was convinced he needed the service and would probably buy within the next month. But, the commissioned sales person was so motivated to get the sale in by the end of the quarter, that he gave Bill a 30% discount - on the entire contract, a big dollar amount. Not only did Bill not get value from this sales person, he had to go to the tech guy to get his real questions answered - You need a technology partner willing to work for sweat equity - cast a wide net in the beginning... Bootstrapping, more insights, Watch Now Part 2 of 2
Crash Course, Bootstrapping || The Felix Fun || Bill Flagg Blog || Economy Builders || PodCast Directory || KEYWORDS: Bill Flagg, Crash Course Bootstrapping, Silicon Flatiron Center, Brad Bernthal, The Felix Fun, RegOnline, PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, SurveyGizmo, SFC Crash Course
Video - Bill Flagg, The Felix Fun - SFC Crash Course Series, Bootstrapping

Dr. Christine Riordan, Dean, Daniels College of Business, Leadership
1348_ 2/11/13 - Most recently Christine was elected to the International Society for Accrediting Business Schools (AACFC) and that was an international election. Since Dean Riordan assumed the leadership role, Daniels has been ranked among the top business schools in the world by Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, The Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes and the Financial Times. Dr. Riordan, Dean of the Daniels College of Business is also Professor of Management and we're talking about leadership. "Leadership requires mental toughness" Larry asked her to tell us a little about this. Talk about some of the elements and why they exist. Chris went onto explain, "There's a great parallel between business today and sports. A lot of what we do with sports is we train our athletes to have a mental toughness, an attitude and ability to adapt. When we think about what business has been through in the last five years, the same concept applies to business leaders today. Thinking about being an executive in today's business environment is very tough. There's a lot of change that's rapid. There are massive amounts of information. There's a need to think differently. So 'mental toughness' is a concept that business leaders should apply every single day and to their own personal lives as well as their organization. It includes things like flexibility. Are you flexible enough to adapt your plays within your company? To change business as you need to change business? Are you responsive to the demands of the game of business? Do you have the courage to make some pretty tough decisions? Do you have the resilience to get back into the game when things don't go your way? Are you a good sportsman trapping the game of business? So when we talk about mental toughness, it's really taking some of the concepts that they use in sports and applying them in business." They went on to discuss How can leaders avoid making decisions based on overconfidence?...and other leadership issues ...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College Business || Christine Riordan || || Social Entrepreneurship || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Christine Riordan, Daniels College Business, DU, Leadership, Mental Toughness, Change, Hiring, Executives, Decision Making, Overconfidence, bytes=7665688
LISTEN TO: Christine Riordan, Dean, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

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Charles Patti, Ph.D., Daniels College of Business, Customer Experience
1350_ 2/11/13 - It hasn't been the norm to find universities teaching customer experience courses. At the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business, it is a big deal. We're talking with Charles Patti, Ph.D. and Senior Associate Dean and he tells us "Customer experience is a relatively new idea in the world of business and it is certainly even newer in the university setting. We started, about four years ago, developing a program, at the graduate level, in customer experience, primarily behind the impetus of the Cox family (Cox Cable) in Atlanta, Georgia. But, it has become very important to companies as they begin to see that their businesses depend not just on delivering service, but a total experience for their customers, which ends up translating to an emotional connection between the customer and the brand. Customer service also became very important about 15-20 years ago. But, in our mind, customer experience embraces many more attributes of doing business with a company than just the service component." Asked if and how companies measure customer experience, Dean Patti says, "We've been encouraging companies to do that. Many engage in customer satisfaction surveys. But at least 75% of what they measure in customer satisfaction, is only about the functionality - how well the product performs. Customer experience embraces many other aspects than just the functionality. We've been encouraging companies and working with companies to measure the other important dimensions like how they communicate. If it's a retail place, what the look and feel of the organization, and the culture and quality of the employees. When you look at all four dimensions you begin to measure the entire customer experience." Chuck's advice, "First would be for new employees to understand the difference between customer service and customer experience. To have them completely understand the four dimensions of customer experience and get them committed to measuring the financial return on the investment in a customer experience initiative that a company might take. The ability to measure what is the financial return, off of any kind of investment, is key." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College of Business || Charles Patti || Social Entrepreneurship || Blog || KEYWORDS: Charles Patti, Ph.D., Daniels College of Business, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Cox Cable, Four Dimensions of Functionality, > bytes=5506510
LISTEN TO: Charles Patti, Sr. Associate Dean, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

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Stephen Miller, Sr. Director of Entrepreneurship, Daniels College
1351_ 2/18/13 - Stephen Miller, senior director of Entrepreneurship, Daniels College of Business, has been working with entrepreneurs for the last 8-10 years. Working first with the CTEK group and then opening the CTEK Stapleton Incubator Denver Ventures. That entity today is about 35 companies in a broad range of technologies, over the course of about 5 years. Part way through that time frame we started talking to the National Renewable Energy Lab as well as the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. They were looking at starting an incubator as well as a clean tech open and we're working with the folks out in California to do exactly that, and talking with NREL about being their incubator. So those forces came together and we did exactly that. We were talking about entrepreneurship more generally. This last year the opportunity to join Daniels presented itself. And the opportunity to work with Dean Riordan and her fine team led him here. Stephen said, "I think, entrepreneurship is not only live and well, but it's growing in many ways. Colorado has traditionally been known as a tech hub - and entrepreneurship has been focused more in the technology areas and Boulder to an extent has lead that charge. And of course CU has been very involved in that as has CSU and the Colorado School of Mines as well. A lot of the innovation we've seen out of Mines has been energy related both traditional and renewable. In Denver, we've seen a tremendous kick-start by leaders such as Jim Deters at Galvanize and Vic Ahmed at Innovation Pavilion. We have a former Mayor who was an entrepreneur in the beer business and the current mayor who is very entrepreneurship friendly. And it doesn't hurt that Paul Washington is head of economic development, has a history in startups as well." The University of Denver has looked at entrepreneurship as a focus for ten years or more. A lot of professors, Paul Bauer and others, and now with the leadership of Dean Riordan it's finally come to a critical mass. Alumni who are successful entrepreneurs in their own right and board of trustee members...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College Business || Stephen Miller || Social Entrepreneurship || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Stephen Miller, Sr. Director Entrepreneurship, Daniels College of Business, National Renewable Energy Lab, NREL, South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, Clean Tech, bytes=9156130
LISTEN TO: Stephen S. Miller, Daniels College

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Contents: Entrepreneurs 2010; 2009; 2008; 2007

2013 Entrepreneurs
CTA Apex Awards/Conference
Patrice Barber, President, Taylor Made Emarketing
Brad Bernthal, SFC Entrepreneurship Initiative
Mike Biselli, MedPassage, CMO and CoFounder
Jeremy Bloom, Integrate - SFC Crash Course
Colman & Company, Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes
Colman & Company, Part 2 Colman & Molly Hughes
Jim Deters, Founder/Managing Director, Galvanize
Steve Dine, Datasource Consulting [1 of 3]
Steve Dine, Datasource Consulting [2 of 3]
Steve Dine, [3 of 3]
DSW / Denver StartUp Week 2013
Jill VanMaatre Dupré, Associate VP, ATLAS Institute
Brad Feld & Jerry Colonna, The Emotional Challenges of Entrepreneurship [3 parts]
Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping - SFC Crash Course
Bill Flagg, The Felix Fun, Crash Course Videos
Galvanize, Mike Biselli & Chris Onan
Michael Hamers, Lightspeed Design & Branding Group
Eric Hubbell, Founder/CEO, My Hub App
Ray Hutchins, Denver Web Services [Part 1 of 2]
Ray Hutchins, Denver Web Services [Part 2 of 2]
Ron McKey, Doing Business Internationally
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, SoPE, Series: Resources
Arlen Meyers, Pres/CEO, SoPE, Raising Money
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, SoPE, Innovation
Arlen Meyers, MD, Professor CU Medical School,
National Agenda Item
Stephen Miller, Sr. Director Entrepreneurship, Daniels
Chris Onan, Managing Director, Galvanize
Charles Patti, Daniels College of Business
Christine Riordan, Dean, Daniels College of Business
Justin Sanger, Founder/CEO, SupportLocal
Sarah Schoupp, Founder & CEO, UniversityParents
Jenna Walker, Founder, Artifact Uprising

2012 Entrepreneurs
Rustin Banks & Holly Hamann, BlogFrog - Entrepreneurs Unplugged
Nancy Bigley & Ginger Jones, Bottle Bottega Denver 3/5/12
Roy Dimoff, Founder, ViaWest, Success & Sustainability...
Brad Feld, Author, Startup Communities and Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem
Daniel Feld, Colorado Tech Scene
Daniel Feld, An entrepreneurial blitz...
Jim Franklin, CEO Sendgrid, Growing Entrepreneurs Ecosys
Mike Fries, President/CEO, Liberty Global, E&Y 2012 Award
Adam Kaye, Startup Chile
Mike Hamers, Founder/CEO, LightSpeed Commercial Art
Mike Hamers, Startups in Boulder, Biz is a Real Pitch 4/9/12
Dave Jilk, Social Network business opportunity coming to end
Tom Krekel, CEO, Full Sail Strategies 3/19/2012
Wendy Lea, CEO, Get Satisfaction - Entrepreneurs Unplugged
Kelly Manning, CO SBDC Network & Estes Institute 8/27/12
Kirsten Nelson, Founder, C3 Writing 2/13/2012
Larry Nelson, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos
Kelly Quann, Exec Director, COIN, 1/9/2012
Melodie Reagan, Serial Entrepreneur 10/22/2012
SFC/Crash Course, Feld-Weiser One-on-One 10/15/2012
SFC/Crash Course, Panel Reaction to the Boulder Thesis
Frank Traylor, Change for big & small companies and government
Brian Tsuchiya, Startup Guru & the JOBS Act 4/9/12
Silicon Flatirons Center, Dr. Weiser, Founder & Executive Director, & Prof Bernthal Help Celebrate 13 Years
Paul Washingtonr, Jump Start 2012 - Denver's Economic Development Strategy Part 1 of 2
Paul Wshington, CDFI Initiative... Part 2 of 2
Robert White, Founder, Extraordinary People - TiE Rockies Executive in Residence

2011 Entrepreneurs
Vic Ahmed, Innovation Pavilion 12/16/11
Vic Ahmed, TiE Rockies, CEO, Plug & Play 11/28/11
Barrett Blank, RVCs Pitch Academy Beginning 4/18/11
Brad Bernthal, Silicon Flatirons Center @ CU 2/21/11
Brad Bernthal, #1 Challenge, Assembling Right Team 3/7/11
Scott Casel, CEO, Startup America Partnership 11/21/11
Aneesh Chopra, Startup Colorado Launch 11/9/11
Brad Feld, Entrepreneurs Unplugged - Video 1 thru 5 Louis Foreman & Tom Frey, where Great Ideas Succeed 11/28/11
Jim Franklin, CEO, SendGrid, Inc. Entrepreneur Unplugged
Jim Franklin, Founder Institute 4/25/11
Tom Frey, Inventors, entrepreenurs & revolutionary thinkers
Tom Frey, Futurist, DaVinci Institute 4/4/11
Francisco Garcia, Klinggon - Consumer Product of the Year!
Josh Jacobson, Co Founder, Viktorian Guitars 7/25/11
Kimberly Lucas, President, Goldstone Partners 8/15/11
Dave Mangum, Executive Director, Startup Colorado
Kelly Manning, Financial Challenges & Solutions
Jana Matthews, Leadership in the New Economy 2/14/11
Ron McKey, FlyingBeds.com 10/24/11
Kirsten Nelson, C 3 Writing, Startup America Nov. 2011
Nancy Phillips, Entrepreneurs Unplugged 11/14/2011
Sam Pitroda, Chairman, WorldTel Ltd 10/24/11
Art Rancis, International Entrepreneur 8/1/11
Mark Seglem, ADSS, Federal Budget Crisis 4/4/11
Brian Tsuchiya, New money source - Crowdfunding 11/21/11
Theresa Szczurek, Radish Systems 6/6/11
Why Boulder - Startup Colorado, Launch in Boulder 11/9/11

2010 Entrepreneurs
Sam Addoms, The ups & downs growing business 6/28/10
Eric Alexander, The entrepreneur & the challenges 12/27/10
Kelly Burton, InvestorAvenue.com - RVC - CCC 5/12/10
David Cohen, Brad Feld, Do More Faster 10/4/10
David Cohen, TechStars Demo Day 8/16/10
David Cohen, CEO and Founder, TechStars 7/19/10
GearBox, Ian Bernstein & Adam Wilson, TechStars 7/26/10
Guy Cook, Myths and realities of innovation 6/14/10
Brad Feld, Replicating Entrepreneurial Community 10/18/10
Brad Feld, TechStars, Entrepreneurial Revival 8/16/10
Tom Frey, At the Inventor Showcase 2010 - Amazing 11/13/10
Michael Hamers, LightSpeed Commercial Arts 6/1/10
Jeff Hoffman, Value of Mentors - RVC - CCC
Jeff Hoffman, Raising Money...5/12/10
J. B. Holston, Newsgator, Colo Companies to Watch 6/1/10
David Jilk, Standing Cloud, Small Business, 7/19/10
Raymond Johnson, Infinite Power Solutions 10/25/10
Dean Kamen, Could be the FIRST step in Child's Innovation
Steve Katsaros, Nokero, Solar powered light... 6/21/10
Steve Knopper, Appetite for Self-Destruction 1/25/10
Greg Maffei, Liberty Media (Entrprs Unplugged) 10/18/10
David Moll, Infield Capital 10/4/10
Krista Marks, Disney Online Kerpoof Studios 3/8/10
Rich Martinez, Young Americans Center 7/19/10
Jason Mendelson, SFC: Crash Course 1/25/10
Larry Nelson, Contradiction of Foucs
Larry Nelson, Super Charge Your Business Now 7/26/10
Jared Polis, Washington - Pay Attention 8/16/10
Rally Software, Entrepreneurs Unplugged 2/1/10
Robert Stoll, Commissioner for Patents, USPTO 11/13/10
Theresa Szczurek, Entrepreneurs - Piece of the Action 5/3/10
Brian Tsuchiya, Coaching, Consulting, Mentorship 10/11/10
Brian Tsuchiya, Crowd Funding 5/17/10
Brian Tsuchiya, Startup Factory 1/11/10
VacationRentalPartner Michael Joseph & Tom Feldhusen 7/10
Mark Weakley, HRO Boulder, Due Diligence 5/3/10
Mark Weakley, Entrepreneurs Raising Capital 3/25/10
David Wolf, Young Americans Ctr for Financial Edu 8/23/10
Michael Zeisser, Liberty Media (Entrps Unplugged) 10/18/10

What's the difference between an improvement and an innovation
1395_ 6/10/13 - Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, a professor at the CU School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology and he is President/CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs.
Part 3 of 4... We're talking about innovation and Arlen says... "So, the issue is what is innovation? If you ask 100 people, you're going to get 100 different answers. So, here is Arlen's two cents..."First of all there is a difference between an idea, an invention and innovation. An idea is something that pops in your mind - that's the end of it. An invention is an idea reduced to practice. You make a sketch, you build a prototype - you actually start conceptualizing how this thing is going to look/taste/feel, it's reduced to practice. It could be a process or service, it doesn't necessarily have to be a product or goods. But innovation is a step further. Innovation is about creating value and value that someone is willing to pay you for, or exchange something of value which is usually money. So an invention doesn't do you any good unless someone is willing to give you money to use it or buy it. That's what innovation is. Now it's usually something new. An argument is what's the difference between an improvement and an innovation? And does that make a difference? Probably not, but an improvement is you take an old way of doing something and you improve it verses an innovation where you take a new way to try to make things better. Arlen said, "In my view the U.S. healthcare system has not been terribly innovative. In fact most of the biomedical industrial complex has not been terribly innovative." He went on to say if you look at the amount of money that goes into the top research and development funnel through NIH... Last year the FDA approved 39 new drugs - total. And that was the highest number in 50 years. So what we get out of the bottom for what we put in the top, are 39 new drugs. And, if you look at what are those drugs, a lot of them are ...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Society of Physician Entrepreneurs || CU School of Medicine || TiE Rockies Colorado || Economy Builders || KEYWORDS: Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, CU School of Medicine, Otolaryngology, SoPE, TiE Rockies, Colorado, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, Idea, Invention, Innovation, > bytes=4457015
LISTEN TO: Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, President/CEO, SoPE

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Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes - Authentic Connection

1352_ 2/18/13 - Talk about presentations and getting your message across. We are here with Kendall Colman CEO and founder of Colman & Company and Molly Hughes. These two women are experts in the field of presentations and getting your message across. So we asked for an overview of what they might recommend to a business today. Kendall said, "The place that we first work and coach with people is, first and foremost, how they connect with an audience. So all the things that you've learned through other programs may or may not work. The first real piece is really around connecting, true connecting and authentically connecting with your audience through holding their gaze for a certain amount of time before you move on to the next person. So that's fundamental. And we really think the most important part of speaking is, really two things, one is to be remembered and the other is to be repeated. So if you're speaking to an audience there really shouldn't be any other purpose but that. You want that message to be continued on. So, it's really about connecting, conveying, and then convincing." Molly said, "It is a whole different ball game when you're talking one-on-one with somebody than it is talking to a large group of people or when you get up in a boardroom, or at a big event when you're representing your company. What we've found are these physiological things that happen within a person, whether it be the butterflies, sweaty palms or the nausea or the racing heart, the sweat... So what we work on with people is how to manage that physiology. It really comes down to a couple factors of being present in the moment. We find that when you are really present in that moment, a lot of those self-conscious fears that we have when we're up in front of a group, tend to fall away. We really work with people on the physiology, try to relax them from the core." Larry asked, "When you're taking an executive or their team through this process, what are the most common flaws or areas of lack of strength?" ...get ready to take notes...
RELATED LINKS: Colman & Company || Colman & Company Events || Economy Builders || Blog || KEYWORDS: Kendall Colman, Molly Hughes, Colman & Company, Speaking, Coaching, Networking, Organizational Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Culture, Channel 4 News, CBS, bytes=5989671
LISTEN TO: Molly Hughes & Kendal Colman, Colman & Company

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Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping, SFC Crash Course
1357_ 2/25/13 Bill Flagg is an angel partner in four boot-strapped, built-for-life, internet-based companies (PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, and SurveyGizmo). This community of businesses, The Felix Fun, delivers value to over 20,000 customers, with the help of 100 co-workers, generating $15 million in revenue per year, and growing. Prior to this Bill Flagg helped build RegOnline which he sold in 2007. As part of the Silicon Flatirons Center, Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, Bill spoke about his experience in bootstrapping his company. Bill tells us he started bootstrapping in high school and then college - he didn't know he could get someone to actually give him money to go out and start a business. So it was really out of his own naiveté that he became a bootstrapper. Bill was co-owner of RegOnline, which was sold to The Active Network in 2007 (he hopes to never sell another great company). In 2008, Bill started The Felix Fun to be an angel partner in helping other entrepreneurs grow great companies and thrive through organic growth. He's always had this thought in mind, 'is this extra dollar going to provide more than a dollar of value to my customers?' Because, if it wasn't going to return the value, then he knew he couldn't sustain the business. That really is the premise he uses in building and helping to build companies he works with over the last 20+ years. There are different strategies that he employs, one is, , using your capital in the most efficient way. When bootstrapping there isn't that much capital - that forces the question very acutely. The second is to really know who your core customers are. Bill says, "A lot of businesses..." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Crash Course, Bootstrapping || The Felix Fun || Bill Flagg Blog || Software Channel || 2012 Software Chnl || KEYWORDS: Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping, The Felix Fun, RegOnline, PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, SurveyGizmo, World Champion, Olympian, SFC Crash Course, Brad Bernthal, > bytes=6946798
LISTEN TO: Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping, SFC Crash Course

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Startup Communities and Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
1287_ 10/1/12 - What does a Startup Community Ecosystem look like? Ask our prolific author and Colorado based VC Brad Feld. Ok, you don't have to, we did. Now you can listen to him. Then you have to read this book. And after digesting all his great advice, one last step, or maybe the first step... "Do it!  Don't wait for permission. Don't wait to talk to someone. Do go to startup events, meetups, tech talks everything you can find and commit to that for at least six months."
      We began, that is w3w3® Media, 14+ years ago on terrestrial radio and one of our earliest interviews was Brad Feld, a relative newcomer to the Boulder area - already making a name for himself. We've watched him and his wife Amy build their home here, making this community - that's the entrepreneurial, technology (even the arts, the university) and VC communities better and stronger. He's been a champion for the community as a whole and now he's working on the young emerging entrepreneurs, his newest book, "Startup Communities - Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City".
      Brad said he's used a lot of the ideas that he's been involved in and participated in, in Boulder, since he moved here in the mid-90s, to form the framework for the book, which we called the "Boulder Thesis". They worked hard on defining on what any city in the world should do if they want to create a long-term, healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem. The key parts of the Boulder Thesis are these four components. The first is the startup community has to be lead by entrepreneurs. We separate the world into leaders and feeders. They're both important, but they're different. In the context of startup communities, the only people that can be effective leaders are the entrepreneurs. If you have the other people involved in the startup community, the feeders playing the role of leader, it doesn't work. So government can't be the leader, university can't be the leader, investors, venture capitalists, big business, those can't be the leaders. The Second is those entrepreneurs have to take a long-term view. Brad likes to say, "It's generational, at least 20 years. You can't start and build a sustainable startup community in two or three years." We're in a cycle where startups are exciting, a lot of people get involved in startups, and that's fine. But if you really want to build, in your city, a long term startup community, you have to be in it for a long time. The Third part of the Boulder Thesis is, you have to be inclusive of anyone who wants to engage at any level. This is leaders and feeders, individuals who want to get involved - it's anyone new, who moves to town, anyone who wants to be involved can and should be - Then you're way ahead of the game. The last part is you have to have a series of activities and events that have a regular cadence and rhythm to them. Things like TechStars an accelerator for 90 days, you're doing something that engages the entire entrepreneurial stack. The essence of it is this idea that... Well, listen to Brad he will tell you so much more - read his book and you'll learn so much more. Get started now!
RELATED LINKS: Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City || Brad Feld Blog || Brad Presenting, SFC Crash Course || Foundry Group || Do More Faster Book || Economy Builders || Venture Capital Channel || NCWIT Sit With Me || KEYWORDS: Brad Feld, Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City, Foundry Group, Venture Capital, Amy Feld, Boulder Thesis, bytes=8827196
LISTEN TO: Brad Feld, Author, Startup Communities, Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

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