Entrepreneurship Initiative

Something special is happening in Boulder's entrepreneurial circles, and the world is taking notice that Boulder is a world-class location to start a business. In support of this creative environment, Silicon Flatirons helps stitch together the entrepreneurial fabric for the area's software, telecommunications and Internet startup communities.

Silicon Flatirons' initiatives - which focus on high technology - catalyze entrepreneurship across the University of Colorado-Boulder campus as well as throughout the larger regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. The New York Times cited Silicon Flatirons' role as a nerve center which ensures that entrepreneurial "veterans cross path with young entrepreneurs" through the wide variety of events and services we provide. The University of Colorado-Boulder enjoys a location amid a great emerging company environment. Bloomberg Business Week deemed Boulder the "best town for startups". Fast Company recently wrote an article describing what makes Boulder a good place for startups and entrepreneurs. And in 2007 researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ranked Boulder as the highest performing small city for venture capital investment.

To support networking and an exchange of ideas, the Center sponsors the monthly New Technology Meetup, which draws over 275 local entrepreneurs to the Law School's Wittemyer Courtroom for presentations and demonstrations by start-up companies. Since spring 2008 Silicon Flatirons has hosted Entrepreneurs Unplugged, a series which features successful entrepreneurs sharing their experiences with University of Colorado students and faculty. We provide free legal services to area start-ups through our Entrepreneurial Law Clinic and support them through our Crash Course for Entrepreneurs series, which addresses issues for start-ups ranging from Intellectual Property strategies to fundraising matters. All of the above opportunities are also open to students, who are encouraged to take part in our campus-wide business plan competition - the CU New Venture Challenge - and can take advantage of our unique certificate in entrepreneurial law. And Colorado Law offers an advanced law degree focused on issues facing startup companies, the Entrepreneurial Law LL.M. This degree has garnered national attention in the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Inc. Magazine, and the National Law Journal.

Entrepreneurship Certificate

Law students can take additional courses to qualify for a certificate.

New Technology Meetups

The monthly New Technology Meet-Up draws over 300 local entrepreneurs to the Law School's Wittemyer Courtroom for presentations by start-up companies.

Entrepreneurs Unplugged

Entrepreneurs Unplugged attracts star entrepreneurs who share their stories at CU-Boulder. Past guests have included Ted Turner, Sam Zell, Liberty Media's Greg Maffrei and Michael Zeisser, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, and many of the Front Range's leading serial entrepreneurs.

Roundtable Series on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Public Policy

The roundtable series - - which gathers local business leaders, attorneys and academicians to discuss topics of pertinent interest - - is an important means of furthering Silicon Flatirons' goal of elevating the debate around entrepreneurship, innovation, and public policy issues.

CU New Venture Challenge ("CU NVC")

The CU New Venture Challenge is an annual campus-wide business plan competition at CU-Boulder comprised of workshops, team building events, a pitch day and a final competition.

Crash Course Series

The Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs provides focused lectures for the outside community, students and faculty about legal and business issues confronting entrepreneurs when launching new ventures.

Boulder's Entrepreneurship Scene

Recently featured in the New York Times in an article entitled Boulder, Colorado: a Magnet for High-Tech Start-ups, Boulder is one of the strongest scenes for entrepreneurship in the world today.

Entrepreneurial Law Clinic

The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School provides transactional legal services regarding the formation and development of small businesses.

Entrepreneurship Week

CU's first annual Entrepreneurship Week (and a half) kicks off on April 7 The Week officially begins April 13 and runs through April 17.