Denver Startup Weeks ends with everyone a winner
Startup Resources:• : Pivotal Labs launched a service offering free consultations• : City created guide to 400 funding sources
• , home to a wealth of year-round resources for startups
As the fourth winds down Friday evening, the week-long free event set records and got local entrepreneurs pumped to get back to business.
Organizers said Friday registration is expected to hit 12,000 for the week, a nearly 50 percent increase .
Erik Mitisek, one of DSW’s organizers and CEO of the , added that not every attendee even registers.
“Only two-thirds who attend actually register. When you think about it, that means somewhere around 12,000 to 15,000 attended,” Mitisek said. “It is clearly by far the largest free week of its kind.”
And while everyone who attended surely got something out of the 230+ sessions and events, a handful of standouts took home cash prizes and a chunk of respect from their investors, organizers and other startups. For the record, I’ve rounded up the results (ping me if I missed anyone):
The Denver Startup Week’s winners:
— All eight finalists shared the $150,000 reward and all were invited to launch pilot programs by one or more of the health organizations, which included Kaiser Permanente, Aetna and Denver Health. The eight winners are: ; in Boulder; in Kansas City, MO; in Broomfield; in Telluride; in Denver; in Boulder; and in Denver.
— , the LinkedIn-ish professional network in Boulder that connects people you actually want to be connected to, took the top prize and heads to the next TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. The People’s Choice winner was Boulder’s , which sells a monthly kit to teach kids how to code apps.
— Guerrilla Gravity, a custom mountain-bike maker, won the Denver Office of Economic Development’s annual competition and . Consulting includes legal counsel provided by Polsinelli, strategic marketing services from dovetail solutions, and entrepreneurship mentoring from TiE Rockies and Rockies Venture Club.
JPMorgan Chase $50,000 philanthropic grant — Awarded to based in Fort Collins. (Chase has also sponsored for the last three years.)
More Denver Startup Week 2015:
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