there’s no substitute for Silicon Valley

there’s no substitute for Silicon ValleyThe Foundry partners, even though theyEdge cardare not investors in the company, routinely give themstraw bag Chinaan hour of their time or have them over for dinner. A relationship with a TechStars mentor led to a partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

The Foundry partners also run the coffee club and hold office hours, where anyone can meet with them for free advice on their business idea.

Still, Boulder depends on Silicon Valley. There are not enough investors in Colorado to finance growing companies. Many entrepreneurs open California offices, including Matt Galligan, who started and sold Socialthing and is now the founder of SimpleGeo, which makes mapping and other location tools for software companies.

“The community here is terrific, but in terms of generating business, there’s nostraw bag Chinasubstitute for Silicon Valley,” he said.

Though the University of Colorado has opened to the tech community, it plays nowhere near the pivotal role that Stanford does. “Creating a culture somewhat like M.I.T. or Stanford, where it’s expected in the technical disciplines that you will do a start-up, or at least it’s not looked at askew, is not part of the faculty DNA in most departments yet,” Mr. Bernthal said.

And maintaining such an inviting culture, where top venture capitalists will freely give people an hour of their time, will be difficult if Boulder’s tech scene continues to grow.

Still, many tech types in Boulder move here precisely because they want to escape Silicon Valley and its institutionalized tech scene. “There is a feeling in Silicon Valley that if you win, someone else loses,” said Kimbal Musk, chief executive of OneRiot, a real-time search engine based in Boulder. “Edge cardIt has drivenstraw bag Chinasuccess, but it has also driven people to leave.”