Colorado tech leaders make joint statement regarding COVID-19

All of Colorado industries have been banding together to fight the rising coronavirus pandemic. And on March 13, Bryan Leach, founder and CEO of Ibotta, alongside 37 other Colorado technology company CEOs co-signed a statement on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the state. 

The statement was shared in a Medium post by Leach and was co-signed by major tech leaders such as Chris Cabrera, the founder and CEO of Xactly Corporation, Brent Handler, CEO of Inspirato, Matt Talbot, CEO of GoSpotCheck, David Levin, the co-founder and CEO of Four Winds Interactive, and more. 

“This week, our companies stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 here in Colorado and beyond,” says Leach in the post. “Reflecting the spirit of collaboration that characterizes our startup community, we all came together as a group, shared best practices, and agreed to take the following decisive actions in the interest of protecting the most vulnerable members of our community.”

The best practices agreed upon in the statement are as follows: 

• Encouraging the majority of employees to work from home as soon as possible

• Restricting work travel by their employees and advising employees to be thoughtful about all personal travel

• Moving clients, visitors and interviews to remote-only meetings

• Consulting with their teams to find was to support local healthcare workers and local nonprofits serving the at-risk communities

• Calling on government officials and leaders to restrict large group gatherings

It’s worth noting that the local government had made restrictions since the statement was made. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has canceled public events at city-owned and -operated venues and has closed all restaurants and bars to onsite seating, which Gov. Jared Polis extended the closure of bars, restaurants, gyms, theatres and casinos to the rest of the state. The Colorado Department of Health and Environment is recommending that Coloradans follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on not hosting event that consist of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks.

For ongoing updates on closures, visit the new State of Colorado website dedicated to COVID-19 resources and information. 

Tech companies are not the only Colorado industry jumping into action. Prior to the closure of all onsite eating at restaurants in Colorado, Sage Restaurant Concepts launched a limited-contact curbside pickup initiative called Keep Calm and Carry Out.  In addition to more safely feeding communities and encouraging social distancing, the initiative pledges a $1 donation to Feeding America for every carry out order placed at any participating location. Feeding America is helping local food banks respond to COVID-19. For a full list of participating restaurants, click here. Additionally, a number of organizations have rallied around artists and cultural organizations to provide support and resources.