So, here we are on our way to Boulder, Colorado. I never thought I would have this type of opportunity, but hey, life is full of surprises!

Up to this point, we have seen quite a bit in the world of start-up communities. We first went to Detroit where we met with Bizdom, Grand Circus, Techtown, Detroit Venture Partners, and Bamboo Detroit. The common theme with Detroit was that everyone wants to rebuild the city. They are all in it to win it, because they have faith in the city, and want to see it thrive again. There is such a sense of community there, and it was quite evident as we went from accelerator to mentor to co-working space.

The next trip we took was to Chicago, where I found the setting was quite different than Detroit. Chicago is more established than Detroit at this point, so I expected a little more from this Illinois town. We visited 1871, Matter, Reverb, Apervita and Human Practice. To me, it appeared that the start-ups in Chicago were much more competitive, and less community based than those in Detroit. We did not find as much collaboration between companies as we did in Detroit. This makes sense to me, though, because of the different economic states of the cities.

The last place we went was Grand Rapids. We were able to visit Start Garden’s Update Night. This was a very fascinating group, but highly energetic and encouraging. Of the three cities visited, I thought that Grand Rapids seemed to be the most willing to work with any crazy entrepreneur with any absurd idea. Up until the night that we went, Start Garden had been giving $5,000 away each week to fund an entrepreneur and his idea. This little seed money was enough to allow the entrepreneur to do some research to see if Start Garden wants to continue to invest in the idea. It seemed so open and the people there really cared about each person and want them to succeed.

I am not saying that the other accelerators and co-working spaces in Chicago and Detroit are closed off and unwilling to help, I just think that Grand Rapids brings a different idea to the start-up community. That is, funding a little to conduct research, rather than having an entrepreneur start off on his own. Each city and accelerator/space have their own positives and negatives, and sometimes the city and workspace is a personal preference that varies per individual.

Now that we have witnessed three local cities, it will be interesting to travel west and south to see the differences. These areas might be completely different than the Midwest. After reading Startup Communities by Brad Feld, I feel that I have a good idea of how Boulder will be. I think that the sense of community will be overwhelming (in a good way!). I am really interested to see if the city revolves around entrepreneurship like the book implies. I mean, there are different aspects to life than start-ups—is that evident to the tourist in Boulder? I guess I will find out soon. And, for Austin, I am not really sure what to expect. We heard that Grand Rapids is on the same track as Austin, so maybe it will have a similar feel to Start Garden. I feel that both of these cities will be much different than the Midwest, and I am excited to see what the Boulder and Austin startup communities are like!