DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 25, 2003–
Denver-Based Organization Teams with Local and National Venture
Capital Firms and the Colorado Office of Innovation and Technology
to Support Next Generation of Rocky Mountain Technology Companies
In an effort to foster entrepreneurship in the Rocky Mountain region, TiE-Rockies today announced “The Next Great Idea: TiE-Rockies’ Search for Tomorrow’s Technology Business,” a region-wide competition to identify and help develop the best new technology business concepts in the Rocky Mountains.
The competition will invite entrepreneurs to submit a business plan and compete for an opportunity to present their companies before leading venture capital firms from across the United States.
The competition was announced at a TiE-Rockies event honoring John Hansen, chief technology officer of the state of Colorado and Secretary-designate of Technology for Colorado, who will serve as an honorary judge for the Next Great Idea Competition. Hansen was appointed chief technology officer by Governor Bill Owens in December 2002 and will soon assume the additional title and responsibilities of Secretary of Technology for the state.
TiE-Rockies is partnering with Austin Ventures, Battery Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures and representatives from the firms will serve as judges for the competition. Collectively, the firms manage over $6.2 billion in assets and have funded some of the technology industry’s most successful ventures, including Akamai, NextTel and Vignette, among others.
“TiE-Rockies has always championed entrepreneurship in Colorado and the Next Great Idea Competition is a continuation and expansion of that dedication,” said Vipanj Patel, president of TiE-Rockies. “Today’s entrepreneur needs a new business acumen to launch a great venture in the current economy and the competition is designed to help entrepreneurs acquire that knowledge.”
“Colorado has the economic and educational infrastructure, and the quality of life, to attract the companies that will create the next wave of great technology,” said Secretary-designate Hansen. “Governor Owens and I recognize that the entrepreneur is key to stimulating economic growth and we are pleased to team with TiE-Rockies to encourage more entrepreneurs to call Colorado home.”
The Next Great Idea competition will accept formal business plans up to July 25, 2003. All the submitted business plans will be evaluated by leading Colorado business executives and venture capitalists and a group of finalists will be selected and notified by mid-August. Those business plans will be presented to the panel of venture capitalists partnering in the competition at an open event in mid-September where the competition winners will be selected and announced.
The official rules for the competition are available at http://www.tie-rockies.org/competition.
Sponsors for the competition include: Comerica Incorporated, Deloitte & Touche, Holland & Hart LLP, iSherpa Capital, LLC, KPMG LLP, Level (3) Communications, Inc., Microtech-tel, Silicon Valley Bank, and 104 Degrees West Partners.
About TiE-Rockies
TiE, a not-for-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals, was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley, California, USA. Although its birth name, The Indus Entrepreneurs, signifies the ethnic South Asian or Indus roots of the founders, TiE stands for Talent, Ideas and Enterprise. It is an open and inclusive organization that has rapidly grown to more than forty chapters in nine countries. TiE endeavors to cultivate and nurture the ecosystems of entrepreneurship and free-market economies everywhere, as it sees this to be the single most powerful instrument of prosperity.
In July 2000, a group of successful entrepreneurs sculpted the general enthusiasm about TiE-Rockies into a functional organization. Through their leadership and experience with entrepreneurship in the technology industry, the founders leveraged their resources to facilitate interaction among entrepreneurs, one based on genuine mentorship, self-empowerment and active participation. The TiE-Rockies chapter has established an unrivaled track record of bringing some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world to Colorado.
