A Template for Critical Mass: Next Steps for a Vibrant Denver Startup Scene

Tags: Entrepreneurship

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On September 6, 2012, the Denver startup community threw a bash on a scale that the city’s entrepreneurship scene had not seen before. Over 1,000 participants, representing more than 520 companies from across Denver and the Front Range, gathered in “celebration of everything entrepreneurial.” A party and attendant discussions about startups may seem like a frivolity, however, scholars and commentators underscore that this is exactly the type of social interaction that fuels startup communities as they seek to reach “critical mass.” Critical mass, as it relates to entrepreneurship, reflects a tipping point where a community’s growing energy and gravity triggers a sustained chain reaction of entrepreneurial activity. Denver is today full of entrepreneurial energy. The crucial question from an economic development perspective is this: how can Denver best channel today’s enthusiasm so as to reach startup critical mass?

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