Calling All Entrepreneurs to Denver Startup Week 2019

This week, Denver Startup Week is taking over downtown Denver’s co-working spaces, tech offices and art galleries. In its eighth year, entrepreneurs, founders, investors and other Denver business professionals will participate in 350 events at 80 different venues over the next five days.

The week kicked off with stories and insights from Denver-based DazBog Coffee co-founders (and brothers) Anatoly and Leonid Yuffa; Denver-based fitness entrepreneur Emily Schromm, who owns Platform Strength gym in RiNo; and co-founders of The Skimm, Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg. However, the week will go beyond these stories, bringing together startups of all sizes, stages and industries for a breadth of knowledge and networking. This includes presentations by John Elway on how to score in business, insights from Lindsey Vonn on building a second career and much more. 

The week celebrates and cultivates conversations for eight types of individuals/startups. These include sessions and tracks for product management, development and marketing; spotlight events for entertainment and inspirational content (a new track this year); makers of products across industries covering everything from go-to-market strategies to supply chain creation; for founders looking for knowledge on where to begin; for growth and all that it entails; for designers, creatives and artists; and for the developer to learn new skill sets.

And the eighth track, which is new to Denver Startup Week this year, is the People track, which focuses on the ways entrepreneurs and businesses can build culture teams and communities. Erik Mitisek, Startup Week co-founder, co-founder of The Commons on Champa and president of Imagine Analytics, in his opening remarks, says that this new track was built to grow diversity and the conversations around employees and people in business.

“Innovation is the economy and dialogue of our city,” Mitisek says. "And we want to be intentional in creating diversity, so the people track is packed with ideas on how to make sure we’re inclusive in our community." 

In addition to its new focus on diversity, Mitisek says Denver Startup Week is bringing new panels on “clusters” and trends, such as blockchain and cannabis.

According to Mayor Michael Hancock, speaking at the week’s kickoff event at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, 8,300 companies have started or came to Colorado over the course of the eight years since Denver Startup Week’s founding.

ColoradoBiz, as well as journalism students from CSU, will be bringing news and insights to cobizmag.com from this week’s panels, events and sessions. Denver Startup Week is a free event that anyone can attend. For a full schedule of events, click here.