We started with another early (ish) day today, leaving at 8:30 for Chautaqua Park, a mountain park at the base of Flagstaff Mountain. First, we drove up to an overlook of Boulder. What a beautiful view! There, we were able to climb around on the mountain a little bit and take a ton of fun pictures. Everyone in the group even ventured to the end of an overhanging rock, despite being a little afraid. I loved being able to see my friends enjoy something that many of them had never seen before and be amazed at what Boulder looked like from above. At Chautaqua, there was also a dining hall that came highly recommended to us from a Boulder native. We were able to eat brunch there before venturing out onto the mountain again. 

This time, we had a little more time, so we went up Flagstaff Mountain, starting at the base. We had a great time there too, taking pictures and exploring. Though mostly unprepared for the hike as far as shoes go, the class did great! We all climbed through the snow and over the rocks to see some breathtaking views of the mountains. Despite most of our shoes being all wrong, we had a great time sliding around in the snow as well. At the end of the hike, we met two different groups of people that were interesting and relevant to the class. It was great to see such serendipitous collisions happen, on a mountain of all places!

The first group consisted of a husband and wife, Sean and Jane Phillips, who had moved around quite a bit in their lifetimes. Though not originally from Boulder, they seemed to know exactly what Boulder was about and fit in with the lifestyle perfectly. The couple created a startup company, Timberline Canine, where they walked dogs on trails in the mountains. This seemed like such a great idea to me; dogs would be taken care of while their owners were busy and the couple themselves got to do what they loved: hike all the time. To me, the couple embodied several aspects that Boulder people seem to really appreciate: the great outdoors, sunshine, and of course dogs.

The second group was a family, though we mainly talked to the father/husband, Jon Balck. He works at Victors and Spoils, a place that we walked by on Saturday and planned to visit Monday, thinking it was a co-working space. However, Jon told us that Victors and Spoils was actually an advertising agency. This was very exciting to me as an advertising major. Oh, and did I mention that Jon’s a Western alumni? Pretty amazing and serendipitous if you ask me! We plan to meet up with Jon tomorrow for lunch to learn more about his story and what he does. I am really looking forward to learning more about ad agencies outside of Michigan!

Later in the day, the class walked about 2 miles to Unreasonable Institute‘s new office space where we met with the founder, Daniel Epstein. Daniel had a lot of great information to share with us as a person who moved to Boulder and has watched Boulder grow and develop into the startup community that it is today. One of the biggest things that I took away from what Daniel told us today was that entrepreneurs in Boulder are excited and passionate, and above all, unreasonable in their endeavors. Boulder is all about entrepreneurs, but Daniel told us that no one really cares about what people are doing, but more of why. This was quite different from what we saw in Detroit and Chicago. At Unreasonable Institute in particular, the why is that people want to make a real difference and impact on the world. Another great insight that Daniel had about Boulder was that people here in Boulder “love dogs, beer, and sunshine.” He demonstrated this to us by telling us that his dog came to work with him, the people he worked with had to pass the “beer test,” and that much of his work could be done outside, such as being on the phone while running. Overall in my opinion, this doesn’t seem like such a bad way to live!

After meeting with Daniel, the class split up to explore Pearl Street. After exploring, we met Dale Meyer, a key player in Boulder’s entrepreneurial past, for dinner at The Kitchen. Dale was a fun and witty man that kept us all on our feet during dinner, not knowing what he would say next. He told us that when he moved to Boulder in 1969, there was almost nothing here; the population was smaller, there weren’t many businesses, and there were only 2 restaurants! However, with the help of a couple of larger companies (IBM and Storage Technology), Boulder was able to grow into the hub of entrepreneurship that it is today. Dale told us that he believed that these larger companies originally attracted people to Boulder where they decided to branch off and start their own companies. This helps explain why Boulder is the way that it is now. Dale himself also played a large part in the growth of entrepreneurship, being 1 of just 3 that worked to get entrepreneurship classes into business colleges both in Boulder and across the country.

Dale seemed like such a great guy all around. He was vey open to trying new things and listening to what we had to say. He was also great at bouncing ideas around all kinds of different problems and giving life advice. I also loved how much Dale joked around. He seemed to be able to make us all more comfortable and willing to talk to him. I would have loved to meet him again on this trip because he has so much great knowledge to share and went about it in (at least in our class) an easy and laid back way. Meeting so many people today was great! Overall, another successful day in Boulder with a lot to look forward to tomorrow!