Creativity focus of Expo – Colorado Finance event draws investors, entrepreneurs

Boulderite Thomas Cross knows all about how to find money to launch a business after the venture capital craze in the 1990s had subsided.

By Erika Stutzman, Camera Business Writer

"I sold one of my houses," said Cross, whose startup, Techtionary, licenses an animated, detailed dictionary of technology terms to businesses.

Cross was one of a few hundred people who attended the 10th annual Fall Finance Expo, held in Denver on Tuesday. The event is hosted by the Rockies Venture Club and aims to draw investors, entrepreneurs and service providers together.

This year’s aim was a little higher: the theme was "Energizing our Economy: The Big Picture."

And speakers and attendees — whether consciously following the theme, or because they’re participants of an economy clawing its way back to health — spent the day talking about creative strategies that can jump-start the entrepreneurial economy.

And while venture capital is certainly still a hot topic among entrepreneurs and experts, other strategies — such as Cross’ bootstrapping by selling a house — were at the forefront of Tuesday’s event.

The keynote speech in the evening featured businessman and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Well-attended seminars focused on strategies including finding creative financing, exploring strategic relationships and a case study on the Mobius Venture Capital incubator in Superior.

David Fletcher, president of Aurora’s Tuscany Design Automation, which makes electronic design software, said finding good corporate partners is one way to help launch a firm — but only when it’s done well.

Fletcher said startups should judge potential partners the same way the would judge potential employees. That includes scrutinizing the partner’s corporate integrity.

Shannon Hogan, the chief operating officer of Road 9 in Englewood, agreed. She said finding a valuable partner, such as a large corporate firm that can resell your technology as well as its own, can lend a lot of credibility to small startups.

"But only have conversations with people who have character and integrity," she said.

For Edward Roberto, the chief executive of Superior-based Newmerix Corp., accepting venture capital from the right firm for him was a no-brainer: He had already been working for free at Mobius Venture Capital’s incubator for a while before they gave his firm $1.45 million.

An entrepreneur for 22 years, Roberto came to Mobius around 2002, working for no pay as a consultant to its portfolio firms.

He and Neil Robertson, who was the chief technology officer in residence at Mobius, hooked up to form Newmerix, which provides an automated way to roll out complicated software packages such as PeopleSoft.

Roberto said the firm really came together because of the people working in the incubator environment.

"Being in the incubator has been a real benefit," he said.

Many of the people attending the event said they’re more optimistic about next year’s economy than they have been in years.

A telling sign: Last year, half the seminars were canceled because attendance was so poor. This year, a few of the seminars had standing-room only, with more than a hundred people filling the rooms and lining the walls.

Contact Erika Stutzman at (303) 473-1354 or [email protected].

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