NewCo launches first event – one-hour entrepreneurial meet-ups

BOULDER – Engage Colorado LLC, a startup launched in January to try and build bridges between Colorado’s various entrepreneurial communities, will produce its first event, NewCo Boulder, Oct. 8.

The event is a non-ballroom conference designed to introduce entrepreneurs to other local companies and the ways in which they’re innovating. Thirty-five companies – mostly in Boulder but including one in Longmont – will host attendees for hour-long sessions at their places of business.

Participating hosts range from large publicly traded companies such as Google and Rally Software to small restaurants such as Yellowbelly and craft brewery Upslope.

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The idea is not so much to hear company or product pitches as it is to get an inside look at how the companies are getting creative to conduct business.

“It’s hearing the story of innovation, how is this company innovating, what is this company doing that’s new and innovative,” said Rich Maloy, who cofounded Engage Colorado with Tim O’Shea.

NewCo is a conference model started three years ago in San Francisco by entrepreneurs John Battelle and Brian Monahan. Last year, NewCo events were held in San Francisco, New York, London and Detroit. Boulder is one of eight cities hosting such conferences this year.

Maloy said he and O’Shea liked the idea of an entrepreneur-focused event that centered not just on Boulder’s strong tech sector but everything innovative locally, from natural and organic foods to professional services to media

“We are really excited about it because it really embodies what we want to do, and that was to reach out to all the different sectors that are here,” Maloy said.

Registration for NewCo Boulder (http://bdr.newco.co/2014-schedule/) ranges from free to $200 depending on the access granted and the priority in choosing your itinerary for the day. Attendees can choose up to six different sessions to attend, with different groups of companies presenting during each of the six time blocks.

The $200 tickets give access to itinerary signup immediately plus access to a CEO summit the night before featuring executives from the various host companies.

NewCo Boulder is the first of two Engage Colorado events planned for this fall. In November, the company will host Hackfit Boulder, a hackathon-style weekend focused on finding technological solutions to health, wellness and fitness issues in addition to providing hackers with various fitness activities while they’re in Boulder.