Innovators Peak
Month
Today we’re excited to add two new cities to the growing list of markets in which Postmates delivers: Denver and Vegas!
Now you can get Root Down delivered in the mile high city or late night pizza to the Craps table, all at the touch of a button. To celebrate our launches, we’re delivering…
Denver Beer Company’s #DBCExplorer challenge is taking craft brews to a whole new height, encouraging people to climb summits and traverse streams in pursuit of winning the ultimate prize: free DBC beer for a year. Two of Denver Beer Company’s most popular flavors, Incredible Pedal IPA and Graham Cracker Porter, are inscribed with twenty-four GPS coordinates of wild, well-loved locations throughout the Denver region. All you need is a social media account, an adventurous spirit and a taste for quality brews. Whether you’re in it to win it or you just need a fun excursion, we present to you a step-by-step guide to submitting your photo to the #DBCExplorer challenge.
My grandmother loved Bill Cosby. Rarely did I make a visit to her house as a kid when there wasn’t an episode of The Cosby Show playing on the television twice as loud as it should have been (only so she could hear, what she called, the genius of Mr. Cosby from the kitchen where she smoked a cigarette and cooked us kielbasa). To this day I can still hear her raspy old voice praising his wisdom in the episode in which Cliff Huxtable hilariously teaches a young Theo a thing or two about budgeting using Monopoly money.
“How about that one with the Monopoly money and how kids don’t know anything?!” she would hoot and holler, “Hilarious!!”
I know, Grandma. I watched it with you.
If you missed out on Denver Startup Week, or just want to relive it, here is the YouTube channel for most of the incredible Basecamp sessions! For example, our #WomenCrushWednesday Leadership Session:
The internet has become a vast landscape of content creation and consumption. Whether you’re looking for the latest in new music and movies to health and fitness tips – a simple search engine query will find what you’re after. As anyone who has ever clicked on a video or read an online article knows; sometimes that content is less than what was advertised. Enter TidBitts.
If paragliding over Oregon’s Hood River and snorkeling in the azure waters of a Grecian island seem like appealing travel adventures, imagine doing them all with a local expert by your side. Advlo, or Adventure Local, is a Colorado startup website which seeks to enrich such experiences by connecting worldwide travelers with local hosts at a lower cost than traditional tourism agencies.
Rolling out of an incredible #DenStartUpWeek - our entrepreneurial ideas are spinning with a wealth of information. So, lets share it with you!
Location.
It’s no secret that California’s Silicon Valley is the number one hotspot for tech startups in the country, but at Monday’s kickoff breakfast for Denver Startup Week 2014, San Francisco-based investor Dave McClure of 500 Startups insinuated that the Valley may have a little friendly competition arising in the Rocky Mountain region.
Over 500 people registered and about 75 of us made it in. Advertise a panel of CEOs getting real about failure in business and entrepreneurs are like a moth to a flame. The room was filled with successful business owners, budding entrepreneurs, and a few people still lingering on the edges of beginning their own venture. People were packed in, elbows bumping elbows, laptops teetering on knees and a palpable sense that the audience was waiting to hear that failure in business is not only okay but maybe even necessary.
A just-released report from Downtown Denver Partnership breaks down what is, more or less, a check-up report on the health of the Mile High City’s startup scene. Of note, 88 startups have been founded in downtown Denver this year alone (which, in case you’ve forgotten, is still chugging along), with 39 startups managing to snag $197,627,500 worth of funding in 2013. That’s a lot of digits.
In 2013 Basecamp launched by Chase—the hub of Denver Startup Week— hosted to 2000 attendees, serving as a crucible for innovators, mentors, and knowledge-seekers to discuss what’s new and trending in Colorado’s red-hot technology space.
Because of last year’s success, the 2014 Chase Basecamp is offering a larger space and an expanded schedule of keynote speakers, panelists and one-on-one mentor sessions, featuring CEOs, entrepreneurs, and developers from around Colorado and across the country.
What else is new at Chase Basecamp this year?
The Chase Basecamp is free and open to all Denver Startup Week attendees.
Once a layover for out-of-towners on their way to the mountains, Denver has transformed itself into a hub of innovation. Colorado has assumed its own role in the world with idea-driven advancements in many industries and is thriving as a better-kept secret, bringing together like-minded entrepreneurs to create a competitive community-based hub. We’re breaking down 10 overlooked innovations found in Colorado that can positively impact the global community.
Kathryn Scott Osler via The Denver Post
Big Data
Access to data gives us insight into consumers’ behavior – but it’s only recently that researchers have developed ways to link datasets to generate new insights. Denver-based start-up, Wayin, leverages social media analytics to provide businesses with richer user data. Rather than spend millions on mass marketing, you can target your efforts to niche segments for a bigger impact all thanks to data.
With this year’s Startup Week in full swing, Colorado’s entrepreneurs are buzzing with networking events, workshops and informative lessons. But what does startup week really mean for those of us who aren’t directly involved in the excitement? Learning about Colorado’s successful ventures is one of the best ways to support the startup community. Grace Skis, Soundwall and Occipital are three companies that continue to create innovative products within three uniquely different markets, all with the Rocky Mountains as their backdrop.
1) Grace Skis
Encouraging big mountain adventure, each set of Grace Skis employs small-batch manufacturing with the well-seasoned skier in mind.
If you’ve ever spent a Wednesday night in LoDo, you’re familiar with the two-wheeled, costume-clad enthusiasm that comprises Denver Cruisers. The Mile High City’s most popular–and perhaps most notorious–bicycle “gang” continues to grow each year, drawing hundreds of people together for a collective bike party. Within the past four years, a small group of bicyclists have branched off of Denver Cruisers and founded the Street Kings Bicycle Congregation, or SKBC. The congregation differs from The Cruisers because they believe in sustaining the positive reputation of Denver’s bicycling community, one ride at a time.
So you’re thinking about starting your own company. You’re sick of the everyday nine to five grind and punching the clock for thirty minute lunch breaks. You’re tired of Bill Lumbergh breathing down the back of your neck nagging: “Yeah… If you could go ahead and make sure you do that from now on, that would be greaaaat.” You’ve got a vision. You’re ready to throw that vision out of the nest and see if it can fly. You’re ready to be your own boss.
Forget pink button-downs and tighty-whities, Denver knows the true risky business players rock jeans and t-shirts. Members of startup communities prove themselves as some of the bravest and baddest—in the hip sense, of course. Entrepreneurial underdogs might seem small, but they have a big bite. Put them all together and you have a wolf pack of power. This year, you can find them at Denver Startup Week, kicking off Monday, September 15th. The weeklong celebration of startups pools the smarts of thousands of innovators. In collaboration with corporations, government agencies and their fellow startups, goes network, learn and geek out. Between presentations, workshops and beer hangouts social opportunities, attendees have roughly 200 options to fill their agenda. What’s a design-conscious, free-food-loving techie to do?
No need to fret. We’ve narrowed down the top 10 must-see events of #DENStartupWeek ’14. Follow this list for inspiration. And a possible buzz.
In - no - va - tion
Something (as a device) created for the first time through the use of imagination; The act or process of introducing new ideas, devices or methods.
A brainchild. A concoction. A contrivance. A wrinkle.
I set out to discover how people define innovation in Denver. I took to the streets and headed to the city’s newest arts district and hub for creativity, RiNO.
Just on my walk I felt surrounded by innovation. Art galleries, breweries and distilleries tucked between co-working spaces, architecture and design firms. A winery and tasting room. A coffee roaster and their neighbor a choclatier who both direct source and produce single origin products. Tiny cars taking over the city with the new Car2Go car share. B-cycle stations for our city’s bike share. Corporate sponsored graffiti?!? I felt like Kate Hudson in Almost Famous when she says, “It’s all happening.”
Innovation coming alive. I could see that innovation is a brainchild— a wrinkle — but it is also the act(s) of bringing these things to life. It is the thinking and the doing.
I arrived at the Higher Ground Music Festival — what better place to to find people to describe innovation than streets littered with artists and entrepreneurs — and I began to ask people to finish this sentence:
Innovation is …
I learned an important lesson very quickly. When you tell people they will be featured on a blog nearly everyone takes the opportunity to engage in a little self-promotion (one guy actually told me his facebook page was the definition of innovation. I haven’t seen it yet but I have my doubts). I had to give them a little credit. Harnessing the power of social media is certainly an innovation that can’t be ignored.
Many answers had common themes.
Innovation is breaking boundaries & expectations.
Innovation is a creative process.
Innovation is taking chances.