Venture capital is a dominant source of funding for young companies. According to the Boulder Innovation Venture Report, over a fifth of current public U.S. companies have received venture capital funding. The report showed that since 2012, 41 percent of all venture capital in Colorado was invested in Boulder startups. Boulder also has the second-highest per capita venture capital investment in comparison to peer communities.” (Source: Biz West)
Over the past year, we have seen some backlash with startups rejecting venture capital, for example in this NY Times article.
Venture capital has a very big megaphone. VCs have largely convinced a generation of entrepreneurs that the most important thing is for them to get a check from an angel investor or a venture capitalist -- when in reality the most important thing is for that startup to focus on the customer and the problem.
This discussion will focus on shifting the startup conversation from overly focused on investment and fundraising to getting back to our roots of solving a problem and building a company. The road to “exit at all costs” is littered with cautionary tales of startups who ran their companies into the ground and failed because they were beholden to unrealistic expectations from investors.
Discussion led by Toby Krout, CEO of Boomtown Accelerators and Jason Searfoss, CFO of Boomtown Accelerators.
