Boulder Startup Week 2025

​External Registration Req'd: https://lu.ma/tplm8nez
Founders. Funders. Fast Hands.
More dinks, less decks.
​Pickleball is the new golf—faster, funnier, and more accessible. Some of us have met our closest friends on the court. Now it’s time to connect with fellow builders, backers, and problem-solvers in a new way.
​Join us for a curated, high-energy half-day of play, connection, and possibility.
​This is not your dad's networking event. It’s an experience designed to bring good, smart humans together... with high likelihood of dad jokes.

​What to Expect:

• 4 hours of curated pickleball with other vetted founders, investors, and startup leaders
• Options for all levels—from beginner intros to skill-building drills to advanced competition
• Programming that helps you meet new people naturally, not awkwardly
• Light snacks & refreshments
• Space to play, spectate, mingle, and connect however you like

​Who Should Come:

• Founders & funders (angel, seed, early-stage VC)
• Startup execs, product leaders, operators
• Coaches, creatives, or investors adjacent to the innovation space
• Any of the above who love pickleball or are curious about it, and who vibe with intentional, lightly curated community

​We’re keeping this intimate, high-trust, and high-level. RSVP doesn’t guarantee a spot—we’ll confirm attendance as space allows.
​Our Hosts & Sponsors:
​This event is made possible by a few key humans and community allies:
​​​Neuberg Gore is a premier executive coaching firm that helps startup CEOs and their leadership teams gain the mindsets and leadership skills to scale their companies. Having worked with over 1,250 startup CEOs and their executives, they are coaching next-generation leaders to build tomorrow’s solutions.

- First time founders make a lot of mistakes. And a lot of those mistakes are the same mistakes as every first time founder.- You can learn everything the hard way or hear some stories that might save you the pain.- I’ll share stories and then we’ll workshop your first time founder problems. And what you’re probably missing.

What it takes to build a business in the Healthcare field from scratch. Finding a niche to build a healthcare business in it, understanding roadblocks and how to over come them. Raising funds for your start up and how to go about it. Think about when and for what amount you would like to sell your healthcare business. Understanding who might be interested in buying or merging with your business.How AI is going to disrupt the healthcare industry and how it will be playing a bigger role in healthcare now and in the future. How innovation will come from outside the healthcare industry and why the healthcare industry is hesitant to adopted and embrace innovation.

In today’s competitive landscape, strategic partnerships are essential for startups aiming to scale effectively and sustainably. This session explores the critical role partnerships play in driving growth, innovation, and market expansion for software startups. Attendees will learn how to identify potential partners, approach them strategically, and cultivate mutually beneficial relationships.

Key topics covered include:

• Types of Salesforce Ecosystem Partnerships:  Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Systems Integrators (SIs)
• Benefits of Partnerships: Access to new markets, technologies, and customers while sharing risks and costs.
• Choosing the Right Partners: Identifying complementary businesses, technology allies, and distribution channels.
• Best Practices for Success: Building scalable partnerships through effective relationship management and alignment of values.

Whether you’re looking to expand your customer base or enhance the marketability of your solution, or both, this session provides actionable insights to help startups leverage partnerships for sustainable success.

Lance Foster & Corey Litwin each have 25+ years of relevant experience and success in the startup world and live in Boulder ready to help entrepreneurs be successful during Startup Week and beyond.

Women network differently—and we should. But most events still expect us to play by outdated rules that don’t reflect how we actually connect, collaborate, or do business.

This hybrid workshop and very intentional networking session is for women and moms in business who are tired of awkward small talk and ready to build a real, effective network—one that supports your goals, respects your time, and makes growing your business feel less lonely.

Led by Renegade Motherhood founder, business coach and obsessed community builder Jen Morris, this session will teach the Renegade Networking Roadmap—a simple but powerful framework to help women entrepreneurs clarify their needs, own their voice, and confidently ask for what they want. You’ll learn how to network with intention and bring your full, authentic personality to the table—because your best connections come when you’re showing up as yourself, not some polished version of a "professional."

After a short workshop, we’ll move into intentional small-group matchmaking where you’ll practice making meaningful connections—without the pressure to pitch or pretend.

This is not about collecting business cards or performing in a circle. It’s about showing up strategically, supportively, and unapologetically—and building a network that actually works for you.

Perfect for founders, freelancers, side hustlers, creatives, and changemakers—especially those doing the juggle of motherhood and business. Bring your big ideas, your real self, and let’s connect.

AI startups raised $97B in 2024, but let’s be real—most of them are just glorified features, not standalone businesses. If your AI tool can be replicated or absorbed by a larger platform, you’re not building a company—you’re building someone else’s roadmap.In this brutally honest session, we’ll unpack why so many AI startups struggle to move beyond the “cool demo” phase and how to break out of the feature trap. We’ll cover:The Feature vs. Product vs. Company framework—where does your AI idea actually sit?

1. Why distribution, not technology, determines your fate
2. Why founding mindset matters
3. How to anchor AI capabilities to a defensible business modelLessons from AI startups that escaped feature purgatory—and those that didn’t

If you’re building an AI startup and raising VC funding, you need to think bigger. Come ready to challenge your assumptions and leave with a playbook for how to assess if you're building a lifestyle biz, a seasonal tool or a VC-backable company.

Startups move fast, and founders often prioritize growth over compliance—sometimes at their peril. Seemingly minor missteps in legal and financial planning can snowball into costly problems that jeopardize funding, ownership, and long-term success.

In this session, experienced legal and accounting professionals will break down 10 common pitfalls that catch entrepreneurs off guard, covering issues like:

• Structuring your business entity the wrong way (and how to fix it)
• Equity mistakes that can derail fundraising
• Tax traps that lead to unexpected liabilities
• Contract missteps that expose startups to unnecessary risks
• Intellectual property oversights that can cost you your brand
• Compliance gaps that could lead to regulatory trouble

This interactive discussion will offer practical, real-world guidance for founders, early-stage employees, and investors. Attendees will walk away with a clearer understanding of how to avoid common legal and financial headaches, ensuring their startup is set up for success from the start.
Whether you're launching your first venture or scaling your startup, this session will arm you with the knowledge to navigate common pitfalls before they become expensive problems.

Transparent and vulnerable conversation about mental health, neurodivergence, and how that plays out in the crazy startup journey. Hear from founders, support systems, professionals, ally’s, mental health enthusiasts and the mental health curious welcome.

Join two Boulder founders for a detailed and personal look at what it REALLY takes to build a $1M+ revenue company. This session isn’t about sales, marketing, pricing or product - it’s about the Inner Journey that all founders go through as they find product-market-fit and scale their companies.
Alex Raymond, Founder of AMplify and Host of The Conscious Entrepreneur Summit and Ret Taylor, Co-Founder and former Co-CEO of Ned, will discuss:

• What does it really take to be a successful entrepreneur?
• How do we deal with the Inner Demons like self-doubt, burnout, impostor syndrome?
• How must founders evolve as our companies grow?
• What happens if we don’t build a unicorn?
• When is it time to hand over the reins or pivot?

This session is for current, former and future CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs who want an unvarnished look at the ups-and-downs of building a company.

Brad Feld and Jaclyn Hester will have a fireside chat about the evolution of a startup community. They cover topics like the importance of existing leaders to hand off the torch to the next generation, why the development of the startup community is not a straight line up and to the right, and how to incorporate concepts from Brad's upcoming book Give First: The Power of Mentorship into your daily activities in the startup community.

When most startups think about raising capital, they immediately look to venture capital or angel investors—but there are powerful alternatives that allow founders to grow without giving up equity. In this session, we'll explore Revenue-Based Funding (RBF) as a flexible, founder-friendly financing option designed for businesses with steady revenue who want to scale on their terms.

We'll cover:

What Revenue-Based Funding is and how it works.
How RBF compares to traditional equity financing.
A practical checklist to determine if your business is ready for RBF.

This session is designed to help founders discover new funding strategies that align with sustainable growth and long-term ownership. Whether you're bootstrapping, crowdfunding, or preparing for your next stage of growth, you'll leave with actionable insights to fund your startup—without pitching a single investor.