Supporting Entrepreneurship and Accelerating Investment
EMERGE and the Rockies Venture Club (RVC) initiated the Greeley Startup Ecosystem project with the goal of building a strong base for ecosystem development. The project began with research to identify key stakeholders and resources, followed by a gap analysis and action plan.
Problem
There is a dire need to generate venture funding and venture education in Greeley and Weld Counties in Northern Colorado. Project goals included developing a stronger startup ecosystem that incorporates Greeley’s unique personality, resources, and strengths, similar to the area’s neighbors in Boulder and Denver. Increasing awareness of venture funding for Greeley’s startup community and boosting investment required the mobilization of local investors and education of both investors and entrepreneurs.
Solution
To bring a community together and accelerate investment, RVC developed a county-wide startup ecosystem website to educate, connect, share, facilitate investment, and track investment results. EMERGE supported RVC in delivering the group’s time-tested venture and hyper-acceleration education programs for both founders and angel/venture capital investors.
The project created the Greeley Startup Ecosystem, a sandbox for venture-funding education and partnerships and included a series of monthly and quarterly workshops as well as venture-funding educational activities for University of Northern Colorado faculty and students designed to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Results
The result of the partnership is a robust venture funding ecosystem, a dynamic environment where entrepreneurs can access diverse venture funding sources and comprehensive venture hyper-accelerator education, including the knowledge, resources, and financial support necessary to accelerate their startups and drive innovation.
The Greeley Startup Ecosystem project highlights the vast potential for collaboration between EMERGE and regional partners to develop local entrepreneurial ecosystems and achieve economic development for a given region, focusing on underserved communities. This venture ecosystem will be used as a blueprint to support the implementation of similar projects within EMERGE partner institutions and beyond.