It’s important to note that I currently work at Impact Hub Boulder, as a social media and communications intern. Before that, I had spent some time in the Techstars Boulder office. These spaces are what introduced me to the profundity that is open-space and collaborative workspaces.

Members and Boulder locals collaborate at a Hackfest at Impact Hub. photo courtesy of / Impact Hub Boulder

What we have in Boulder is no recreation of the wheel. If anything, it’s just taking advantage of an economic triumph turned boom and bringing back a very good set of wheels that were lost through years of competitive capitalism selfishness, and a poor U.S. economy.

That’s not the case for the City of Boulder these days. With Engine.is and the Kauffman Foundation’s report bringing buzz about there being more tech startups per capita than any metro area in the Nation, it’s likely that it will continue to see the surge it’s experiencing now in entrepreneurship. And those businesses, some made from the mixing of Baby Boomers and Millennials, aren’t trying to take on the poor success rates – 9 out of 10 fail – that revolve around startup cultures. It’s all about collaboration.

Businesses are becoming more dynamic, situated in global mobility and quickness to keep up with daily modernism, and with such realities came the expanding practice of free exchange of ideas in workplaces. Collaboration among peers in the same room and in our case, among like-businesses, is gripping the road more everyday. Trade secrets are no longer locked up under the CEO’s desk in the best-kept file. In the spirit of success and thanks to wanted friendly help, companies are breaking the corporate molds and diving into innovation.

As the spotlight shines on Colorado being the next state for the new Silicon Valley-esque economy, entrepreneurs will keep piling into downtown Boulder offices. With all those minds, all those employees, professionals and experts, companies both new and standing, in the same city offers heightened success rate for social impact.

That’s exactly the position Impact Hub Boulder is taking advantage of; offering an innovative and collaborative workspace where truly the adage ‘two heads are better than one’ takes center stage.

“It is our underlining mission and defining values that influence our goals of making positive impact. That is the arena where many of our members work, and those that do not work in that space, we invite them to join the conversation and participate,” Interim Operation Director of IHB, Hannah Davis said. “We have so many entrepreneurs and small businesses [in Boulder]. Many folks work from home or coffee shops and need professional work environments and communities to interact with.”

IHB encompasses a daily flow of hundreds of individual business owners and budding companies with memberships, all building towards a symmetrical goal for more, better, and deeper social impact. It’s a dance of ideas, work, fun, practiced mentors and guidance, workshops and skill-building events, community and networking, and when you put it all on the dance floor is where you can see how this well oiled dancing machine becomes a force in productive change. It’s people helping build other people’s dreams; collaboration at it’s most professional level.

“We provide community of resources to support members with inspiration from others around the office to work hard,” Davis said. “It really make it easy for our members to grow and hire within a community, or find a job because they share resources like coffee and printers, at the same time creating a professional environment to meet in for folks who don’t have their own office. It’s a venue to interact with people aimed at the same goal.”

Connected to a large global network of 74 running, or in the process of beginning, HUBs spread across six continents the collaborative office is apart of a larger colony of bees that pollinate the fruits of innovation and global change.

“In places like Boulder that have means to change the world – collaboration, communication, and shared resources are key to its changing economy and impact. The way we do business here at IHB can have a huge impact on social and environmental issues,” Davis said. “Movements such as Impact Hubs and B Corps show that people do care about how businesses are run, and triple bottom line businesses can move the dial on creating a more just world.”

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Gavin B. Griffin Director of Business Bloggers