Boulder Startup Week 2025

- 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.

Are you raising money for your startup? Or interested in eventually raising money? Join this panel discussion hosted by Boulder investors and founders to unpack what it means to raise money. Expect a candid conversation with the hopes of demystifying Venture Capital and other forms of funding. This panel will be hosted by:

Natty Zola - Partner at Matchstick Ventures (seed stage investor)
Nicole Glaros - former MD for Techstars Boulder
Jaclyn Hester - Partner at Foundry (growth stage investor)
Yoav Lurie - successful founder and angel investor

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.

As your startup grows, understanding the legal essentials is crucial for protecting innovations, scaling effectively, and ensuring long-term success. This session covers key topics like navigating fundraising complexities, resolving disputes proactively, and staying compliant with evolving AI regulations. Gain practical insights to confidently tackle legal challenges and strategically scale your business in a fast-paced, regulated environment.

Are you capturing the full value of your product, or leaving money on the table? Most companies default to pricing based on costs or competitors, missing the opportunity to align price with actual customer value. In this interactive session, you'll discover the psychological factors that influence how customers value products and learn practical ways to ethically optimize your pricing strategy. This workshop is designed for founders and product leaders who want to boost profitability while delighting customers. Through three hands-on activities, you'll learn new strategies for interviewing customers to identify what they truly value; understand how product positioning impacts what your users are willing to pay; and recognize the mental models customers bring to every purchasing decision. With a 4.7/5 rating from past participants, this workshop works. You'll learn why top companies price based not on what they cost to build, but on the real value they bring to each type of customer – and how to use these ideas to grow your business today.

Sales can feel intimidating, especially for founders who didn’t set out to be salespeople. But the truth is, no one is better equipped to sell a product/service than the founder. This session will break down the fundamentals of founder-led sales in a way that feels natural and authentic—so you can grow your business without second-guessing yourself.

You’ll learn how to connect with customers in a way that builds trust, navigate objections with confidence, and close deals without feeling pushy or transactional. We’ll cover practical techniques like storytelling, active listening, and asking the right questions to guide conversations toward a “yes.” You’ll also get hands-on strategies for structuring sales calls, following up effectively, and building a repeatable process that doesn’t require you to reinvent the wheel every time you talk to a prospect.

By the end of the session, you won’t just understand the mechanics of selling—you’ll have a clear, actionable plan tailored to your business. Whether you’re still trying to land your first customers or you’re looking to refine your approach, you’ll walk away with the confidence to sell in a way that feels right for you.

As AI agents rapidly transform from science fiction into business reality, a critical question emerges: are we sacrificing security for innovation? While companies race to deploy autonomous AI systems that can operate independently across digital environments, the security implications remain dangerously unexplored.

In this timely and provocative panel discussion, our cybersecurity experts will pull back the curtain on the hidden vulnerabilities of the agent revolution. Drawing from frontline experience, they'll examine real-world security risks posed by AI agents operating with unprecedented levels of autonomy and system access.

Attendees will gain valuable insights into:

-The unique attack surfaces created by agentic AI systems
-How malicious actors are already exploiting weaknesses in agent architectures
-Practical strategies for implementing security-by-design in agent development
-Governance frameworks that balance innovation with robust security protocols
-The evolving regulatory landscape and its implications for startups building agent-based solutions

Whether you're building proprietary AI agents or integrating third-party systems, this session will equip you with the knowledge to protect your organization while still harnessing the transformative power of agentic AI.

Join us for an eye-opening conversation that goes beyond the hype to address the security challenges that everyone in the AI revolution needs to confront—before it's too late.

Cyber Expert Panel Members:
Andrius Useckas
Bryan Becker
Dan Ward

Moderator:
Aaron Walls

Quantum computing is all around us and many don’t realize how close we are to seeing it in everyday life. The panelists are building atomic clocks, quantum sensors and quantum internet that will be part of the fabric of our daily lives. The Colorado ecosystem is the epicenter of this technology and with the recent Federal funding with Elevate Quantum and ground breaking of a new facility to support the industry, the region is poised continued growth within the industry.

As psychedelics move from underground subcultures to the forefront of psychiatric research, the entrepreneurial landscape around them is rapidly evolving, and Boulder is poised to become a key hub for innovation and access. Colorado is the second state to establish a regulated framework for psychedelic use, including healing centers where individuals can experience guided psilocybin journeys from licensed facilitators.
This panel brings together founders, investors, legal experts, and researchers who are actively shaping the future of psychedelics—from mental health treatments to clinics, retreats, and digital platforms. Together, we’ll explore what it takes to responsibly participate in this high-risk, high-reward space where science, ethics, accessibility, and business intersect.
Beyond the business opportunity, we’ll also examine why a growing number of entrepreneurs - from both inside and outside of the psychedelic sector—are turning to psychedelics for personal insight, creativity, and resilience. In a leadership landscape marked by uncertainty and burnout, psychedelics are emerging as powerful catalysts for deeper self-awareness and values-driven decision-making.
Whether you’re an investor, founder, or simply curious, this conversation will offer a grounded look at the risks, rewards, and transformative potential of psychedelics… for the industry, the people leading it, and for you.

As a founder or early employee at a SaaS startup, design decisions can make or break your product adoption and growth trajectory. Yet most startups struggle with when to invest in design, who to hire, and how to evolve their design practice as they scale. Drawing from experience leading research and design at Fuego UX, this session unpacks practical frameworks for implementing effective design processes at each stage of your startup journey.

We'll walk through the essential design milestones that align with your funding rounds and business goals - from DIY design in the earliest days to building sophisticated design systems as you scale. You'll learn when to hire your first designer, how to leverage fractional design talent, and when to build an in-house team. We'll explore practical methods for sharing and testing designs with real users, documenting feedback, and transforming insights into actionable product improvements.

For founders without design backgrounds, you'll gain actionable strategies to develop your design intuition and vocabulary, helping you make informed decisions even before you can afford dedicated design talent. For technical teams, we'll cover collaboration models that integrate design thinking throughout your development process.

By the end of this session, you'll walk away with:

A stage-appropriate design roadmap aligned with your current growth phase
* Hiring guidelines for design talent based on your product maturity
* Simple but effective user testing methods that won't break your budget
* Strategies to evolve your design system as your product grows
* Frameworks for cross-functional collaboration around design

Bring your specific design challenges for the Q&A portion, where we'll tackle real examples from the audience.

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.

This panel will dive into current fundraising trends at the Seed and Series A stages, specifically focusing on how companies should be preparing ahead of a Series A fundraise. Discussion topics include current benchmarks at the Seed/Series A and best practices for companies ahead of a Series A.

What happens when you mix a group of investors with rapid-fire startup questions?
Welcome to the most chaotic and entertaining panel of Boulder Startup Week, a high-stakes mashup of Shark Tank meets The Dating Game. But instead of roses, we’ve got whiteboards, and brutally honest investor opinions.

• We ask spicy, high-leverage questions:
   Would you fund a startup without a technical cofounder?
   How much traction is “enough”?
• Every investor has a chance to answer - all at once. 
• We follow up on the most surprising or controversial answers.
• And you get to play along by asking your questions!
  
  
  

Expect sparks, real talk, and some surprising responses. You’ll walk away with insights into how investors think, what they’re actually looking for right now, and what founders get wrong when trying to stand out.
Whether you’re raising or just curious, this is one session you won’t want to ghost.

One of the most important parts of the fundraising process is having a pitch deck that stands out and gets investors excited. In this session we’ll look at a successful pitch deck and see what they did to stand out. Startups will leave this session with clear, actionable ideas about how to make the best pitch deck for their business.

Deep-tech is seeing strong interest in Colorado. There is new access to capital for startups, along with many changes in federal and grant funding. Part of the trick for startups is finding the right partners to support company growth. The panel will discuss what it takes to get funded and how to find the right fit.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are highly competitive programs that encourage domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) with the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR and STTR enable small businesses to explore their technological potential and provide the incentive to profit from its commercialization.

This session will explore the basics of the SBIR and STTR programs and what you need to do to set your self up for success in your submission.

Join Rockies Venture Club for Angel Investing 101 to acquire the necessary skills to successfully secure and/or deploy angel investment. Without such training, new investors might spend years and over $250,000 to learn effective investment strategies on their own.

This session is open to both entrepreneurs seeking to learn more about how to secure angel investment and "angel-curious" investors who are in pursuit of the best early stage startup investment deal flow. Rockies Venture Club offers education to both entrepreneurs and investors through the extension of this program, Angel Accelerator, the RVC Pitch Academy, and the RVC HyperAccelerator. In addition to education, RVC Members receive access to 140+ events annually, which include Monthly Investor Forums, Industry Investment Nights, and the Angel Capital Summit.

Creative thinking and analytical rigor – they seem like an either/or but really organizations (and individuals) need both to generate inspiring ideas and execute meaningful innovation. Especially at the startup stage where design-centric voices tend to be outnumbered, purposefully practicing creativity can help you build a brand that better resonates with customers and craft a product experience that users love.

As an early non-technical hire at Scythe, and as the first self-proclaimed creative on the team, Billy Otteman jumped from a decade of branding agency experience straight into the deeply analytical engineering environment of the Boulder County-based robotics startup. He quickly learned to navigate the software and hardware spaces while building what has become one of the most engaging and exciting brands in its industry (again, self-proclaimed).

In this talk, Billy will share best practices for fostering a creative culture that leads to more compelling customer communication. He’ll also present strategies for conducting illumination exercises that increase customer empathy and discuss how impactful collaboration between design and engineering teams can make your products stickier. And so you leave inspired, he’ll lead the group in a few creative exercises for you to conduct with your coworkers.

Whether you’re a marketer surrounded by strict rationality looking for a creative spark or an engineer hoping to better communicate with your crazy creative counterparts, you’ll return to your team with effective creativity tactics that you can put to work right away.

Employee ownership is a proven yet often overlooked business model that drives productivity, stability, and wealth distribution. Companies where at least 30% of shares are broadly owned by employees experience faster growth, higher wages, better benefits, and greater resilience against economic downturns. With the passage of House Bill 24-1157, Colorado has doubled down on its commitment to employee ownership, codifying the Colorado Employee Ownership Office and establishing a $1.5 million annual tax credit to support businesses in their first seven years of employee ownership.

This panel will explore how more entrepreneurs can approach shared ownership—whether they’re launching a startup, scaling a business, or planning an exit. Experts will break down state incentives, legal considerations, governance models, and strategies to mitigate risks in financing and decision-making. Panelists include Matt Licina (National Center for Employee Ownership), Allie Clark (Foley & Hoag), Ashley Ortiz (Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center), Jason Weiner (Jason Weiner PC), and David Henry (Namaste Solar)—leaders with deep expertise in employee ownership transitions and operations.

As wealth inequality grows and business leaders play an increasingly crucial role in balancing the economy, shared ownership offers a sustainable, strong alternative to status-quo business approaches. Entrepreneurs have an opportunity to build stronger, more equitable companies—and Colorado is making it easier than ever to do so.

Our economy is not well designed for the work of care.
Social cooperatives are a kind of business designed to put workers and recipients of care at the center. The model emerged in Italy and has been spreading around the world—including to the United States. This discussion will explore how the social co-op model is already at work in Boulder and its prospects for taking hold more widely around the country.

The hiring process is often seen as a complex and tedious endeavor, weighed down by outdated systems and rigid workflows that frustrate both recruiters and hiring managers. In this engaging session, we’ll explore how innovative tools, designed to be both fun and functional, can revolutionize the way organizations approach hiring.We’ll delve into common recruitment challenges—such as aligning stakeholders, capturing job requirements, and navigating candidate bottlenecks—and demonstrate how a fresh, intuitive approach can foster collaboration, save time, and improve hiring outcomes. Using real-world examples and data-driven insights, this talk will highlight the transformative power of technology that prioritizes user engagement and simplicity.Whether you're a recruiter, a hiring manager, or a tech leader, this session will leave you inspired to rethink your hiring process and excited about the tools that can help you build better teams.

Do you feel ill-equipped to be selling, yet here you are? Are you struggling to articulate your value in a way that resonates with investors, customers, and partners? Are you struggling to stand out in a crowded digital landscape? In this high-impact session, you'll learn how to harness the power of strategic storytelling to drive measurable business growth across multiple channels—even if you consider yourself a "technical person" who doesn't naturally gravitate toward sales.

Perfect for technical founders, engineering leaders, and product-focused professionals who struggle to communicate their value effectively, as well as marketers bridging the gap with sales, and sales leaders short on time. Especially valuable if you're preparing for fundraising, sales meetings, or product launches and your expertise isn't generating the traction you deserve.

Through a combination of proven frameworks, real-world case studies, and interactive exercises, you'll discover:
• How to craft a compelling elevator pitch that translates complex solutions into clear value propositions in 30 seconds or less
• Techniques to transform technical features into captivating product demonstrations that highlight customer benefits
• Narrative structures that address investor concerns while showcasing your vision and market opportunity
• Content frameworks specifically designed to trigger buying decisions and build trust without feeling "salesy" or inauthentic
• Cross-platform storytelling strategies that maintain cohesion while optimizing for different audience behaviors

Unlike theoretical communication sessions, this workshop delivers actionable techniques developed and tested in competitive startup environments. You'll leave with customized narrative tools for fundraising conversations, sales presentations, and marketing materials that you can immediately implement.

By the end of this session, you'll understand how today's most successful entrepreneurs use strategic storytelling to secure funding, close sales, and build customer loyalty. More importantly, you'll have the tools to craft your own revenue-generating narratives that resonate with investors, partners, and customers alike.

At the intersection of AI and Biotechnology, meet a panel of founders that are making life-saving medicine. Each founder has raised significant venture capital and is developing technology in cancer, immunology, or metabolic disease. Panelists include Joel Dudley (Partner @ Innovation Endeavors VC), Jerome Fox (Founder/CEO @ ThinkBio, CU Boulder), Doug Chapnick (Founder/CEO @ BioLoomics, ex-CU Boulder), John Meyer (Founder/CSO @ Ambrosia Tx), and Joey Azofeifa (Founder/CEO @ Arpeggio Bio, ex-CU Boulder)

This panel followed by networking will feature folks from the AI realm - talking about the hurdles involved and best practices in maintaining company culture as you scale up- should be as interactive

Autonomous AI agents hold the promise to reshape the way we work, but can we make them work reliably? We've all seen the amazing demos of AI products only to find they fall down in the real world.

In this talk, we will explore reinforcement learning techniques to make agents more reliable of the time, giving us a solid base to build enterprise ready products on.

Boards can be a force-multiplier to any startup's success. Done poorly however, Boards can also damage if not destroy value in a startup. How does one Build and Manage a Board for maximum probability of success? This session will steer right into the provocative aspects of what it takes both to Build a great Board, and then to manage that Board to get the most out of them. We'll discuss what works, what doesn't, and how to avoid potholes and landmines.

What if every student could read at their level… in the same story?

Literacy shapes opportunity—but the gap is growing.
- 65% of 4th graders read below grade level
- Nearly 70% of 8th graders still struggle with literacy
- A typical 5th-grade classroom spans 11+ reading levels
- Students who fall behind by 3rd grade are four times more likely not to graduate
- Adults with low literacy earn up to 42% less over their lifetimes

Meanwhile, teachers are stretched thin. They face overwhelming student variability, limited time, and outdated tools that make true differentiation nearly impossible.

Ojje, a Boulder-based startup, is building a smarter solution. In this session, founder and CEO Adrian Chernoff—the inventor behind electric cars at GM, digital health apps at Johnson & Johnson, rides at Disney Imagineering, and medical robots at NASA—shares the thinking behind Ojje: a digital reading platform designed to prepare students for lifelong success.

Ojje delivers a story-driven experience where every book includes 15 reading levels, available in English and Spanish, with leveled text, visuals, and audio—all integrated into one adaptive experience. Students get exactly what they need. No switching. No overwhelm.

Built with safe, responsible AI, Ojje generates high-quality, science-of-reading-aligned content. Teachers can also create their own narrative or informational materials in minutes—saving hours of prep time. A growing library of community-generated content ensures every classroom can access more of what works.

What You’ll Learn:
- The pain points teachers face—and how Ojje helps solve them
- How Ojje personalizes reading without increasing teacher workload
- How AI and design work together to support better outcomes
- What it takes to build a mission-driven startup with the potential to reach millions

This is a story about literacy, technology, and impact—built right here in Boulder. Don’t miss it.

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.

This session will highlight programs run by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) that support Colorado startups and investments in those startups. We’ll cover OEDITprograms that provide entrepreneur education, startup grant capital, tax credits to angel investors, and public matching for private investment.The panel will include program representatives from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) for a high-level overview of the programs/incentives available to founders and investors. Proposed panelists:Luz Gonzalez - CO State Advanced Industry Investment Tax CreditRama Harris - CO Advanced Industries Accelerator ProgramCrystal Walsh - CO Venture Capital AuthorityAli Karp - CO Quantum Tax Credits

Securing funding through grants is a pivotal skill for nonprofits, researchers, and organizations looking to bring their ideas to life. This session, "Mastering the Grant Writing Process," will provide participants with a comprehensive guide to understanding and navigating the complexities of grant writing. Whether you're new to grant writing or looking to refine your skills, this session will offer valuable insights and practical strategies to craft compelling proposals that stand out to funders.

In this interactive and hands-on workshop, we will explore the key components of a successful grant proposal, from the initial idea to the final submission. Participants will gain a deep understanding of how to research and identify the right funding opportunities, how to structure a persuasive narrative, and how to align their organization's goals with the funder's priorities. We will also delve into frameworks for budgeting, writing clear objectives, and demonstrating measurable outcomes to ensure your proposal effectively communicates your project's impact.

Furthermore, attendees will learn how to avoid common pitfalls that often lead to proposal rejections and how to strengthen their application by incorporating compelling evidence, strong storytelling, and data-driven insights. Real-world examples and case studies will be shared to highlight successful approaches, and there will be opportunities for peer feedback and Q&A.

By the end of this session, participants will leave with the tools and confidence to approach grant writing strategically and effectively. Whether you’re seeking funding for a new project, research, or organizational development, this session will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to increase your chances of securing the funding you need to make your vision a reality.