Tech & Science
Technology and Science news from Boulder, Colorado
2018 Boulder Startup Week descends upon Boulder
May 12th
Deal or no deal? A lot of 20-somethings come to Boulder during startup week with their dreams and ideas hoping to to be chosen by “angel investors”. They pool their savings and show up here. Sometimes it is the last of their money and their fledgling companies are on their last legs. Most go home without a deal. We have even had some apply for sales jobs here at Boulder Channel 1 so they could buy airfare to get home, or who gave up and wanted a job just to stay in groovy Boulder. Admittedly , we like hiring those kids because they are all highly driven. Hunger makes for good salespersonship.
The Pitch Much of the week attendees will visit Boulder tech companies, startups, agencies to hear pitches by other millennials about how to be successful. They will hear the VCs pitch startups. It is all topped off with new age feel good politics ” community. vision, growth and inclusiveness” That is if you are a millennial and not a nosy journalist of any age. They don’t like to be reviewed or critiqued. Boulder Startup week is well intended with a bit of phony baloney. One example: look at what happened to Facebook, Twitter, Google and the Daily Camera this past month. They all went into upheaval over their hype, perception and reality. Journalism vs money. Privacy vs money. 🙂
Women marriage beer and party on Did we mention beer and partying? There is lots of that too. The crowd is mostly young white male, so there is a shortage of women. The women who do attend have a tendency to work in public relations, advertising, retail, restaurants. Few woman who attend are actually engineers with a tech startup. The complaint is that there are not enough women. One 26 year old women told us she found her husband at a pitch session. He was a 27 year old millionaire who created a few hot aps. They met and a year later got married. She’s happy, he’s happy and her parents are really happy. Her father told us, “thank God she met an engineer.. and not like my other daughter who married a drug addict musician. ” Yup, Boulder Startup Week is a great place to find a husband though they wouldn’t be so gosh as to say it.
Jobs: Some people have told us they come to startup week hoping to find a job, but the chances are nil unless you are an engineer or a coder. PR jobs are a dime a dozen in Boulder so none are available. Many millennial techies think sales is beneath them, but there is a lot of money in sales and everyone is always looking for a good sales rep including us. Much emphasis is put on entrepreneurship but not on being a good employee. One women told us “she grew up in Boulder , went to college ,moved to Denver and could not find any jobs,. She came to Boulder Startup Week but there were no jobs. She was disappointed because they had a jobs table and job fair. But there wre no jobs for a film maker, on camera talent and writer. If you can’t code don’t bother applying.
But what is Boulder startup week really about?? It is about the next investment for Boulder Angel investors and VCs and it is a closed shop. You have to look the part, act the part, talk the part scripted to a Tee and then maybe if you are lucky a pittance will be thrown your way. Most start up ventures fail. Estimates that 8 out of 9 Boulder Startups never make it out of angel stage. That is never publicized. VCs look form a gem inside the disco and they usually find one. This new crop of Boulder business people would have you believe that they invented business investment. They did make it easier to show your stuff, but Boulder has always been a startup business community ever since the gold and silver days of the 1800’s. The next big Boulder investment is bound to be here at this years Boulder Startup week and it will make a bunch of people really very rich… ahh but we don’t talk about that either. lol
ps if you are looking for a job Boulder Channel 1 is hiring sales reps 303 447 8531 720 621 7750
Start-Up TV Special
May 5th
StartUp News
CU-Boulder – Antioxidant Turns Old Arteries Young
May 5th
An antioxidant that targets specific cell structures—mitochondria—may be able to reverse some of the negative effects of aging on arteries, reducing the risk of heart disease, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder.
When the research team gave old mice—the equivalent of 70- to 80-year-old humans—water containing an antioxidant known as MitoQ for four weeks, their arteries functioned as well as the arteries of mice with an equivalent human age of just 25 to 35 years.
The researchers believe that MitoQ affects the endothelium, a thin layer of cells that lines our blood vessels. One of the many functions of the endothelium is to help arteries dilate when necessary. As people age, the endothelium is less able to trigger dilation and this leads to a greater susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.
The study, published in the Journal of Physiology, was funded by the National Institute on Aging, one of the 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health and a leader in the scientific effort to understand the nature of aging.
Source: CU