

Boulder for startups? - gotrecruit

I&#x27;m currently enrolled in the University of Miami for Computer Science, and on the side I&#x27;m also trying to get my own tech startup going. I&#x27;m considering transferring over the University of Colorado, Boulder for CS because it appears to have a better engineering school, and also that I&#x27;ve often heard the tagline &quot;Boulder is for startups&quot;. Is this true? Can someone from Boulder chime in and give some opinions on how the startup environment is like in Boulder? It would also be helpful to know things like bar scene, nightlife, etc, basically anything I need to know about life in Boulder. Thanks!
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gabrtv
I'm a long time Boulder resident (10 years with a 3 year stint in NYC). I'm
also co-founder and CTO at OpDemand. Our office is on the Pearl Street Mall in
downtown Boulder. AMA. ;)

Boulder is a fantastic place for startups, but keep in mind it's a city of
100k people. I happen to love that; others find it limiting. The community is
very supportive, everyone knows everyone, etc. The bar/nightlife scene is
better than your typical college town, plus Denver is close if you want bigger
clubs/DJs/bands -- and don't forget Red Rocks. The most amazing thing to me,
though, is the food scene. The quantity and quality of restaurants rivals big
cities, and has to be seen (or tasted) to be believed.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions re: pot, etc.

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gotrecruit
oh on a more serious topic: how hard is it to recruit developers and engineers
in boulder? i'm a non-technical founder who is returning to school for CS, but
i don't want to be limited to recruiting just fellow students who may not have
what i need.

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gabrtv
email me: gabriel _ opdemand _ com and i'm happy to continue the discussion.

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rpedela
Yeah I live in Boulder now. Before that I lived in Silicon Valley. In terms of
startups, Boulder feels a lot like Silicon Valley to me but much smaller.
Denver (not too far away) has a good startup scene as well.

The nightlife in Boulder exists but it is pretty chill in my opinion. I think
it is because most people here actually do stuff outside (i.e. hike, bike,
ski, etc). The nightlife in Denver is a bit better and I would say it is
typical of most larger U.S. cities. To be fair, I did not go to school in
Boulder so I cannot comment on a university student's version of nightlife.

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gotrecruit
thanks for your input, i was worried this thread would be buried and no one
would see it.

is boulder a college town? is it expensive to live there?

also, i'm just going to come out and say it: i'm a big pot smoker, and frankly
one of the reasons i'm looking to colorado is that pot is legal there and i'd
like to live in a place where i'm not technically breaking the law every
night. do you know anything about the pot scene?

i do think the outside activity stuff sounds interesting, although i'm not
really an outdoorsy guy. from your description, boulder sounds like coral
gables which is where i am now - a college town that is 45 minutes drive from
the notorious south beach party scene.

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rpedela
Yes it is a college town, but it is a bit more urban than your typical college
town. It is also right next to the mountains (literally) which is something I
enjoy. Rent is expensive but if you have roommates it should be fine. There
are lot of hippies in Boulder so yes plenty of pot.

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gotrecruit
i'm actually thinking of getting my own place, because i work frequently from
home and enjoy my privacy. can you give me an idea of how much a decent 1-br
would cost per month in rent?

also, how's the weather there? is it always cold?

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rpedela
rent: [http://boulder.craigslist.org/apa/](http://boulder.craigslist.org/apa/)

It is sunny most of the time maybe even more than Florida. It is not humid
either. When the sun is out in winter, it feels warm even if it is 30 degrees.
It is very cold if there is a winter storm, but the snow melts almost
immediately and it is back to feeling warm during the day. Summers are very
pleasant.

And unlike the Midwest (where I grew up), it is warmer overall in the winter
and there is stuff to do.

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timhargis
Have debated moving to SV but Boulder sounds interesting. When you say
"smaller" do you mean the ecosystem, " vibe" and talent is just as strong as
SV just with fewer people, or do you mean it's on the right track but still
not comparable to SV?

