Call for Presenting Companies for VCIR Fall 2010 WHAT Venture Capital in the Rockies Fall is the largest and oldest capital conference in the Rockies region. Now in its 3rd year, Venture Capital in the Rockies showcases the region’s most promising companies for an audience of over 150 venture investors and service professionals from around [...]
Archive for the ‘Intermountain West’ Category
Jun
10
Apr
13
Our Investment In Goomzee & A Lesson For First-Time Entrepreneurs
Last week, there was a considerable amount of media attention regarding the announcement of our investment in Missoula, MT-based Goomzee. The company has developed a very elegant and innovative mobile marketing platform that helps real estate professionals connect with potential buyers. The platform has applications beyond the real estate market, including retail and auto. Even [...]
Apr
08
The RMVCA, Leadership Observations & Opportunity in the Rocky Mountain Region
Yesterday I led my first Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association board meeting as the new chairman of the organization. I left the meeting excited about the momentum of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region and completely jazzed about the positive energy exhibited by a board that has undergone more than 50% turnover in the last [...]
Apr
07
TechStars Visits Boise – April 21
Over the last few years, you’ve probably heard me talk about TechStars or read a post about them in this blog. If you have, it will come as no surprise to you that I believe TechStars is probably the most unique and innovative mentorship program to help foster and support startups that I’ve seen in [...]
Oct
05
5 Minutes With Aaron Turner
While there are plenty of high-profile start-ups in the region, there are a growing number of terrific new companies sprouting up off the beaten path as well. RFinity is one of those companies. Based in Idaho Falls near the Montana border, RFinity is setting out to make mobile payments completely secure. With a terrific funding [...]
Sep
10
VCIR Fall ’09, Utah, 9/11 and why I believe in angels…
Sitting in my hotel room with a bit of a fuzzy head after I was over-served at VCIR’s traditional poker tournament last, I’ve been reflecting on what a terrific event it was. When we created the RMVCA two years ago, part of that vision was adding a Fall VCIR event that moves around the region [...]
Aug
08
Boulder, Colorado
Yesterday, I got back from spending a week in Boulder. While I was there, I visited with many of my colleagues in the venture business, met with quite a few exciting start-ups, and spent a good deal of time with the folks at TechStars, including attending Demo Days, their much ballyhooed culminating event at the [...]
Jul
23
5 Minutes with Chris Onan
Here at Highway 12 Ventures, we’re in the somewhat unique position of having a singular focus of investing in the most promising high growth companies in the Intermountain West, an area that overlaps the footprint of the RMVCA (which is the subject of this post). If you’re not from around here, I wrote two posts [...]
Jul
05
Utah Fund of Funds
A few weeks ago, the Utah Fund of Funds had their annual meeting in Park City. During the presentation, the Fund presented some very compelling statistics regarding the change they have been able to enact. Of the venture capital and private equity funds the Fund of Funds has invested in (total of $100M invested to [...]
Jun
03
TechStars: Everything That’s Great About Startups
(And Why I Love Being An Early-Stage Venture Capitalist) Yesterday, my partner George Mulhern and I spent a very long and exhilarating day at Techstars in Boulder, CO meeting with ten raw start-up teams who have been selected to participate in this year’s rigorous TechStars bootcamp. For the next three months, this very lucky group [...]