Boise labeled good startup city- Venture capital forum continues

Matt Harris
Village Ventures chief says to take more risks

Julie Howard
The Idaho Statesman

Boise is one of the best places in the country to start up a new company — and also for venture capitalists looking for a place to invest, according to Matt Harris, CEO and founder of the $300 million venture capital network Village Ventures.

“This has become one of our favorite markets,” said Harris, whose Village Ventures is the parent of Boise venture capital firm Highway 12 Ventures.

Harris, the keynote speaker Wednesday at the Intermountain Venture Forum at the Boise Centre on The Grove, said the metropolitan area just needs to market its business culture better to outside areas.

“There´s a tourism and ag focus,” said Harris. “What about putting a tombstone ad in The Wall Street Journal about the great financing that´s available here, rather than putting out a glossy magazine on how great agriculture is here.”

More than 200 entrepreneurs, service providers and venture capitalists — representing at least $6 billion in funds — attended the annual event, sponsored by the Boise Metro Economic Development Council. Fifteen growing companies from the Treasure Valley to Scottsdale, Ariz., to Seattle gave show-and-tell presentations to the audience in an attempt to have their firms become better known by the venture capital community — and perhaps attract an investment.

Maurice Gaubatz, president and CEO of Colorado Springs, Colo., company Pyxant Labs, said the forum was also valuable in networking with other start-up firms.

“It´s a great forum, obviously, for getting in front of investors, but also for meeting other CEOs and founders,” said Gaubatz. “So much of the practice of growing a business is transferrable, even if we´re not in the same industry.”

Amanda Reed, partner with Silicon Valley-based venture fund Palomar Ventures, said the Boise forum was well worth attending.

“We respect the level of entrepreneurial talent in the Treasure Valley area,” said Reed. “We´re here to make sure we´re visible and if we see a company presenting that we think is interesting, then we´ll go in with a local venture fund to invest.”

The forum also drew some service providers seeking new customers among the fledgling companies.

“Part of my being here is looking for potential clients and seeing what´s going on outside of Seattle,” said Russell Davis, managing partner of Valesco Partners LLC, a Seattle area firm that does sales for technology firms not big enough to have their own sales staff. “This also seems to be an underserved market.”

The Venture Forum continues today with more company presentations starting at 8:30 a.m. The forum ends at 11:30 a.m.

To offer story ideas or comments, contact Julie Howard
[email protected] or 373-6618

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