I’ve seen the “Transactional IQ” – i.e., the level of understanding around startup deal making – rise at CU over the past five years.  This fall I finished teaching a Venture Capital course at CU for the fifth time.  And in recent years I’ve helped coach CU’s Venture Capital Investment Competition team.  It is fun to see what involvement with students over a five year trajectory can accomplish.

I’ll be involved in another five year milestone on Wednesday.  CU-Boulder’s New Venture Challenge Fifth Annual Championships are Wednesday 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. in the Wittemyer Courtroom at Colorado Law.  I am a judge.  Free registration available at http://cunvc.org/

It is fun see the NVC go from “let’s make up a competition” to, five years later, something that feels like an annual CU-Boulder institution with over 60 teams involved.

In 2008, several groups across CU-Boulder banded together to launch a cross-campus entrepreneurship championship, which they coined the New Venture Challenge.  In year one, the CU NVC set out to answer the question, “I’m interested in entrepreneurship.  But where do I start?”  Buoyed by a grassroots group of student volunteers, the NVC aimed to inspire students and “collapse the campus” (i.e., encourage people to build startups in interdisciplinary teams).   It helped that, from the start, the NVC involved all parts of campus, with the Silicon Flatirons Center, Deming Center, ATLAS, BDW, eShip, and the Entrepreneurship Center for Music involved.  About 75 or so people trudged through a foot of snow to see the inaugural NVC Finals, which my partner Ryan McIntyre helped judge, in 2008.

Five years later, the snow is back, but the CU NVC otherwise appears to be scaling well.  A robust mentorship program now connects CU NVC teams with Front Range entrepreneurs.  The NVC increasingly emphasizes action over endless business planning.   Several experiential classes have popped up across CU-Boulder that build companies that participate in the CU NVC.  Audience interest is up, too.  The NVC Finals are now held in the 250 seat Wittemyer Courtroom at Colorado Law School.

Check out the NVC on Wed night.  I’m looking forward to it.

Of all the projects Startup Colorado initiated in its first year, one of the most successful was Startup Summer, a summer internship program that combined a ten-week internship at a Denver/Boulder startup with a series of evening events focused on teaching the student-participants the fundamentals of entrepreneurism.  Last year 18 students worked with 14 companies in a variety of roles, from web developer to marketer.

Startup Colorado is now accepting applications for the second year of the Startup Summer program, which will be open until March 1st.

The program includes:

• A paid ten-week internship with a Front Range startup; the internship will include frequent interaction with the company founders and management team
• The Startup Summer seminar series, featuring prominent entrepreneurs teaching classes on entrepreneurship
• A weekly social event with business leaders in the community
• A close-knit community with your peers in Startup Summer
• An opportunity to interact weekly with a personal mentor experienced in startups and entrepreneurship

Like last year, Startup Summer is looking for students at colleges or universities who are aspiring entrepreneurs and want to accelerate their development by getting plugged in to one of the hottest startup scenes in the nation.  Unlike last year when the program was limited to students in Colorado, we are opening the program up to any student actively enrolled at a four-year program in the United States.

If you are a student at a four-year college with a passion for entrepreneurship, or know a student who would be interested, you can get more details and apply to Startup Summer here.

What is old is new.  Entrepreneurs  are stil being asked to pay to pitch.  It’s WRONG.

Two and a half years ago, I wrote a post about a Boston group trying to charge entrepreneurs $4500 to pitch venture capitalists at an event.  Many in the startup community were appalled by this especially folks like Jason Calacanis who created the Open Angel Forum specifically to create an event where entrepreneurs could gain free access to investors.

To quote my partner Seth:

THERE IS NO CIRCUMSTANCE IN WHICH ENTREPRENEURS SHOULD PAY TO PITCH THEIR BUSINESS TO PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS.

PERIOD. END OF STORY.

Microsoft, who had been a sponsor of the Boston event, terminated their relationship after the pay-to-pitch arrangement was publicized.  I thought all of this activity would die, but it’s 24+ months later and it looks like the idea has been resurrected.  And it makes me just as sick today as it did then.

Venture Summit | West, being held February 13th is an event looking to make money off of entrepreneurs who need to raise money.  The price?  $1585.00.  I suppose the good news is that if you apply and don’t make the cut, they don’t charge you.  But $1600 bucks to pitch VCs?  This is completely backwards and distasteful. They also offer startups a ticket for $400 if they just want to come and network with the VCs at the event.

They are charging the VCs to attend ($500) and they have a bracket for “others” at ($700).  So at least the investors are not getting a free ride on the backs of the entrepreneurs, but can we finally be done with trying to make money off of startups that don’t have any cash?  Come on folks, create a business model where you can make some money but NOT charge the entrepreneurs.  My bet is that many of the VC attendees have no idea this is even going on.

Lastly, if you are trying to raise money, do you homework.  You have many other outlets to meet VCs, including OAF, and simply going to VC websites and finding email addresses.  There are events all over the place where you can network and / or pitch.  Even online.

I hope that companies aren’t taken in by their slick marketing materials.

One of our portfolio companies, Sympoz has announced the launch of their programs targeting startup entrepreneurs.  Even better, the series stars some of my favorite people in startup land:  my partner Brad Feld, along with Brad Bernthal of the University of Colorado Law School and Mike Platt , partner at Cooley LLP.  We teach you everything that we know in this comprehensive video series.

Thinking about doing your first startup? Perhaps you’re a startup veteran, who has the bumps and bruises to prove it, looking to jump back in?

Let us help you maximize the opportunity and do it right.

Brad’s class, How To Light a Spark & Set Your Startup on Fire, is FREE for a limited time.  Brad has lived the startup story over and over. He offers straight-shooting advice: Does your idea have market potential? Is it the right idea for you? Brad’s raw and pragmatic advice will lead you to consider the competition, examine your motivation and be honest about your level of passion and commitment.

Brad Bernthal and I, who have for several years taught an oversubscribed course at the CU Boulder Law School, are joined by Mike in teaching, The Nuts and Bolts of Starting a Company. In this class, which includes over 4 hours of instruction for just $29.99, we join forces to teach you things your lawyer and venture capitalist may not want you to know. How to turn an idea into a company. Who to partner with. How to seek out money and what to do with it when you get it. You’ll learn what to put in your pitch deck, what not to say to a VC, and 15 common mistakes that will kill your startup before it gets off the ground.  And a lot, lot more…

For those of you who have read Venture Deals, consider this a great summary of some topics in the book, but more heavy on the business side of equation, with the benefits of interactivity between you and the instructors.

Sympoz classes are perfect for busy people; you can watch the professionally produced, HD videos anytime, anywhere on the planet, from any Internet-connected device, as often as you want. The Sympoz learning platform seamlessly blends discussions into the class experience, enabling you to ask questions of, and participate in conversations with your class community, including your instructors.

So, what are you waiting for? Join us in class!

I co-teach a class at the University of Colorado Law School called “VC 360.”  We have both MBA and JD candidates and the course deals with all things in the entrepreneurial / venture ecosystem.

Each year, we have a pitch day where one entrepreneur comes in and pitches me.  The students get to watch.  The entrepreneur and I get an hour together and then the students get to ask questions for 20 minutes.

This is a real pitch.  It’s not any different than if someone comes to our offices, but there is a “studio audience.”

So if you are interested in pitching Foundry Group and want to do something great for the Boulder education community, let me know.  I can only take one.  Priority will be given to ideas that fit within the Foundry Group investment themes and are understandable by students.  Also there is a bias toward local entrepreneurs to Colorado, as I hate making folks travel to see me.

The pitch date is 10/1 at 8am in Boulder.  Either email me or leave a comment and I’ll let you know.  Thanks for the consideration.

Every day I get many unsolicited emails asking for either my time or my checkbook.  Most of them make me feel like I’m on a mailing list, as they clearly are from folks whom have done little to no research on me or Foundry Group.  It’s not like I’m looking for entrepreneurs to do a lot of research on us and try to kiss my butt, rather it’s attractive when someone does their homework and understands why further conversation may be relevant.

So what should one do if cold contacting a VC?  I’ve always counseled entrepreneurs to try to personally connect to the VC.  Find a similarity in backgrounds, a common hobby, tell a good joke, etc.  Today, one such entrepreneur hit a home run in this respect and I’d like to share what he did correctly.

1. He acknowledged that he’s read Venture Deals and after reading an interview I did with the Berklee Music Business Journal, thought that I might make a good fit for his company that is loosely in the music ecosystem.

2. He didn’t just throw out the book and article, but referenced them.  Quote:

I read an interview you gave to the Berklee “Music Business Journal” in May in which you said,  ”I answer every email that says, “Dear Jason, I’m a former drummer and I’ve started this company.” Well, sad to say I’m only a piano player, however for one semester when I was at Michigan I had the key to the back door of Hill Auditorium, and used to sneak in in the middle of the night to play the concert grand on stage. (The security guard who caught me one night let me stay, so I must not have been completely terrible…?)

3. Then he went the extra mile and made a parody of our I’m a VC video.

It’s a must watch, especially the end, where he cons a family member to renact our shower scene.  (If you haven’t seen our video, it’s here).

4. After the attention-grabbing intro, he listed 5 bullet points of what he is working on including traction numbers.

5. Then he dove a bit more deeply into the market and then closed with letting me know that I’m the first guy he is contacting.

How on earth could I not take a meeting?  He’s got a good sense of humor, he’s clearly done his homework and he’s put some effort into the email.  I haven’t even had the call yet, but I’m looking forward to meeting him.

Yes, it’s a sample size of one, but he did a great job.

The 4^th annual CU New Venture Challenge has come and gone and the student entrepreneurs have only gotten more impressive.  Now in its fourth year, over 40 companies entered the competition with six of these teams moving to the finals. One of the finalists received a grant from the Department of Energy and many of the finalists were operating companies.  I’m proud of how the CU NVC has evolved from a business plan competition into business creation competition.

The winner this year was Rideorama.   Rideorama is a marketplace for carpooling to and from Denver International Airport.  If you need a ride, you can post a ride request to Rideorama so drivers can find you or search Rideorama to find drivers.  If you are driving, you can search Rideorama to find passengers or post a ride offer so passengers can find you.  Drivers offset their costs and passengers get cheap, direct travel.  This team of entrepreneurs includes two students from CU and their friends that moved to Boulder to start this business.  Their simple, innovative solution has the potential to solve the annoying problem of finding someone to take you to the airport.

The Rideorama team also demoed their product at Boulder Beta during Boulder Startup Week.  Their passion for this business showed in their presentation again as they won the people’s choice award at this event as well.

Try out Rideorama the next time you need to get to or from Denver International Airport and give these guys feedback to help them improve their website.  I know they would greatly appreciate it.

If you want to know more about the team and their service, check out the short profile the Colorado Daily did on Rideorama earlier this month.

One of the cool perks of being on the National Venture Capital Association board of directors is that I get to see lots of interesting data on the venture capital industry.  The research staff, along with PriceWaterhouseCoopers  are constantly looking at trends and data that provide unique and useful insights into the ecosystem and publish under the MoneyTree brand.

Today, however, I got wind of some new MoneyTree data that pulled at my heart strings unlike any data that I had seen before.  In fact, I was all of astonished, proud, humbled and inspired.  The news?  In 2011, Colorado ranked 4^th in the country behind California, Massachusetts and New York for seed/early stage dollars invested into startup companies in the state.  The state has grown in leaps and bounds with 63 firms investing $290 million into 41 companies in 2011 compared to 2006 when 41 firms invested $89 million into 32 startups.

Wow.  I knew that Colorado was kicking tail, but this was really amazing news.  It backs up what I’ve been telling people for a long time:  Colorado is a top five destination for VC investment and I think it’s only getting stronger.

So why is our nearly average populated state so decidedly above average when it comes to starting companies?  It’s combination of many things (great universities, Techstars, lots of engineers, well educated people, great mentors and active community leaders), but one thing really stands out:  our entrepreneurs.

I think Colorado is breeding and attracting a type of entrepreneur that is unique to venture investing.  While driven, smart and motivated as all entrepreneurs are, the Colorado population seem to always be acutely aware of their local communities and always make sure to give back and pay forward to future generations of company starters.  Its you folks, who are creating the amazing companies that investors are interested in.  So much so that we are now the fourth most popular destination for early-stage investing.

So congratulations Colorado.  Congratulations to all of the entrepreneurs who are creating great companies and great jobs while never forgetting about their communities.  I’m proud to be a small part in your collective worlds.

My partner Ryan and I just returned from SXSW.  We spent a lot of time meeting with entrepreneurs, spending time with some of our companies and catching some great music.  (In short if you don’t know who L.P., Punch Brothers and Ed Sheeran are, find out immediately – amazing music).

But the coolest idea that I ran across was part of my office hours at Startup America.  The entrepreneur is Eric Fitzsimons and his company is IEmployVeterans.  The concept is simple, create a line of food and clothing products (akin to the Newman’s Own brand) that provides great quality at similar prices to other brands, but where 100% of the profits go to supporting our military veterans in their civilian job lives.  Currently 30% of veterans looking for work are unable to find it and the number is expected to rise in the future.

Eric has entered his company into a contest sponsored by Walmart, called Get On The Shelf.  In short, Walmart is crowdsourcing what new product to put on their shelves.  If Eric were to get one of his products sold at Walmart, it could have a huge impact on his efforts.

Eric’s first product is bottled water.  In a 100% biodegradable form, it’s simple, it’s neat and it’s easy to buy rather than your current brand.  And the profits go to those who help us so much.  Eric needs votes.

You can vote once per day and here is the link

Want to “meet” Eric?  Here he is below.  Good luck Eric!

With ongoing partisan politics fostering endless inertia in Congress, it would be easy for us citizens to throw in the towel and assume that nothing of legislative substance will get done this year.  Yet VCs and entrepreneurs are eternal optimists and, in fact, we actually have a bill poised to do great things for venture-backed portfolio companies showing signs of significant bipartisan momentum.

S. 1933 or the “Re-opening American Capital Markets To Emerging Growth Companies Act” was originated in the Senate late last year and is now being considered by members of Congress.  With the House poised to pass their version of this bill at some point this week, there is no better time for the Senate to finish the good work they started and put their bill up for a vote — and pass it — as soon as possible.

Essentially, the provisions in the bill provide a regulatory on-ramp for emerging growth companies (defined as under $1 billion in revenues) for a period of up to five years after an IPO.  This on-ramp allows smaller companies to save massive amounts of time and costs that today are required to be spent because of Sarbanes Oxley compliance and other regulations.  Once the company reaches $1 billion in revenues or five years post IPO – they leave the on-ramp and comply with existing regulations.  The bill also allows for these smaller companies to communicate more effectively with potential investors – something that has become increasingly difficult post the Spitzer settlement which separates investment banking from analysts research.  A good summary can be found here at the NVCA website but suffice it to say that the bill has many provisions that will make the IPO process significantly less daunting than it is today.  Its easy to assume that all is well and good in the IPO market with the hype surrounding the Facebook filing — but it is also wrong.  Make no mistake.  We need more IPOs overall – both large and small.  They are good for the economy and create plenty of jobs.

Here at Foundry Group, we strongly support this legislation and are encouraging our CEOs to do the same.   Given the track record of our Colorado Senators Udall and Bennet in supporting entrepreneurship, I am optimistic that they will act in our best interest.  Still I urge them and other Senators to bring S. 1933 to the floor and vote yes for a smoother path to IPO.