New Years resolutions are tough. They are tough to narrow down, tough to commit to, and, as we all know, tough to keep. But they are also useful. Mind tricks of any sort (or behavioral economics if you want to get fancy about it) can actually work and the scientific community would agree that making and attempting to keep New Years resolutions can sometimes lead to positive behavioral change. Over the last few years, in the hopes of actually keeping my resolutions, I’ve tried to stay away from small, superficial ones that force me into an all or nothing thought pattern. For example: Lose 10 pounds.... Read More

Earlier this year, Brad Feld, a prominent Boulder-based venture capitalist wrote a blog post titled Holidays Can Be Hard. The post was written in July, right around the 4th of July holiday weekend, but I think it warrants revisiting his poignant thoughts again now, in another season, during another holiday, which can cause stress and difficulty for so many of us. Feld talks candidly about his own depression and also cites alarming statistics that show that entrepreneurs are almost four times as likely to suffer from depression and to commit suicide than the rest of the American public. Holidays... Read More

Boulder is a town filled with doers: people who would rather get up at the crack of dawn and summit a mountain than sit on their couch and watch television. I believe that this characteristic, the preference toward action over inaction, is what drives so much of the entrepreneurial success in our community. For a town of around 150,000 people, Boulder pulls more than its weight in the international entrepreneurship scene. This means that each of us Boulderites have to do more individually, and thus be stronger as a community. This holiday season, think about the entrepreneur in your life, whether... Read More

We’ve all heard the ancient proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime, right? Well, the meaning behind this proverb seems to be at the heart of a debate that has been sparked by Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan’s announcement that they would give away approximately $45 billion worth of Facebook shares over the course of their lifetimes. Any announcement made in such a public way by such a public figure is likely to ignite a firestorm of pushback and the Zuckerberg announcement was no different. Critics disparaged the Zuckerbergs... Read More

On Wednesday, the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business hosted an event that they dubbed the Sustainable Shark Tank. The Sustainable Shark Tank provided an opportunity for MBA students to present sustainable business plans to a panel of expert judges. Unlike the real Shark Tank (the one on television, not the one at The Aquarium) the judges weren’t deciding whether or not to write a check at the end of the program. However, the judges were providing honest and valuable feedback so that the MBA students could decide whether or not it would be worth it for them to take a chance and pursue... Read More

When it comes to marketing to women, outdoor gear companies have traditionally taken the ‘pinking and shrinking’ approach: offering smaller and rosier versions of men’s products with little regard for what women actually need when they’re in the outdoors. A new, and decidedly ballsy, wave of female entrepreneurs is pushing back, though, and fighting the good fight to connect adventurous women with the gear and the products that they want. Niki Kourboulis is one of those entrepreneurs and her Boulder-based company, Bold Betties, curates outdoor experiences specifically for... Read More

Boulder, as a home for start-ups, entrepreneurs and smart, innovative people, may seem like a welcoming place. It’s a place where technology companies can draw world-class talent with the promise of a high quality of life and perks like the ability to bring your dog and your bike to work. If you look at the career pages of any of Boulder’s prominent technology companies you begin to see a common theme. Boulder is a wonderful place to live because, though people are driven to create good work, they care about things other than work too. The people care about giving back and the companies care... Read More