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<\/p>\nAs Colorado Startup Week marks its 15th anniversary, the state’s thriving scene faces new challenges. <\/p>\n
DENVER \u2014 Over the last fifteen years, Colorado has transformed into one of the premier innovation hubs in the country. According to U.S. News & World Report, we rank #1 nationally in education, and CNBC’s recent America’s Top States for Business\u00a0study places us at #6 for technology and innovation. Last year alone, data from Innosphere Ventures shows founders in our state attracted $7.4 billion in venture capital.<\/p>\n
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But as Colorado Startup Week<\/a> kicks off its 15th anniversary this week, a sobering reality is setting in: launching a business is entirely different from scaling one.<\/p>\n On this week’s edition of the Business Buzz<\/a>, 9NEWS Business Expert Ryan Frazier<\/a> \u2014 who will also take the stage Tuesday as Emcee of Colorado Startup Week’s 15th Anniversary Kickoff \u2014 looked at the lifecycle of Colorado companies from two critical angles. First, Ben Deda, co-founder of Colorado Startup Week, joined the program to discuss the state of the local startup ecosystem and the headwinds facing early-stage founders. Then, Mick Freeman, CEO and Executive Director of the Bridge Entrepreneurs Network (BEN), broke down the “missing middle” \u2014 the massive gap of underserved companies fighting to reach the next level of growth.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Colorado Startup Week starts this week and it is remarkable to look back at how far this community has come. What started 15 years ago as a scrappy gathering has evolved into the largest free entrepreneurial event in North America.<\/p>\n The intentional rebrand from “Denver Startup Week” to “Colorado Startup Week” reflects a broader statewide maturation. We are no longer just relying on downtown Denver; innovation corridors are expanding rapidly into the suburbs, the Western Slope, and across the Front Range.<\/p>\n However, founders face a tightening financial landscape. While 2025 was the second-highest year on record for venture capital in Colorado, the script has flipped in 2026. Startup funding in Denver is down roughly 50% year-over-year. Capital is concentrating into fewer, much larger deals, and the rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence is forcing founders to completely rethink how they hire and scale.<\/p>\n As Ben Deda emphasized, this is exactly why a deeply connected community matters. When outside capital pulls back, a resilient local ecosystem\u2014complete with peer support, state-level backing, and corporate mentorship\u2014is what allows founders to survive the lean years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If Colorado Startup Week celebrates the launch, what happens when a company actually finds traction?<\/p>\n According to data provided by Mick Freeman, Colorado is home to roughly 731,000 small businesses. These businesses employ 1.2 million Coloradans, representing nearly half (48.6%) of the state’s workforce. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the state boasts roughly 2,700 venture-backed startups (47 of which are “unicorns” valued over $1 billion).<\/p>\n But in between those two extremes sits the “missing middle.” While 85,000 Colorado companies have reached $1 million in revenue, only about 17,500 ever break the critical $10 million milestone.<\/p>\n This gap is populated by ambitious, growth-oriented companies that have outgrown traditional small business resources but aren’t necessarily a fit for high-growth venture capital. That is where organizations like BEN step in.<\/p>\n Operating as a non-profit, BEN provides highly curated, volunteer expert advisors to growth-stage businesses. Their flagship Signature Program specifically targets companies generating over $5 million in annual revenue that are growing at a 25% clip. Instead of simply pushing founders to raise more debt or equity, BEN surrounds them with 4 to 5 seasoned advisors for a 12-month orchestrated engagement to fix the operational, structural, and leadership friction points that break as a company scales.<\/p>\n The results are staggering. BEN companies have generated over $10 billion in revenue and created more than 23,000 jobs. For companies that go through the Signature Program, 61% go on to successfully raise new capital, boasting a massive median raise of $16.9 million.<\/p>\n The takeaway for Colorado’s business community is clear: starting a business requires an idea and courage, but scaling a business requires infrastructure and expertise. For founders feeling stuck in the “missing middle,” the fastest way to the next level isn’t always a term sheet\u2014sometimes, it’s just finding the right guide and support system.<\/p>\n Ryan Frazier<\/a>\u00a0is the 9NEWS Business Expert and Chief Executive Officer of\u00a0Frazier Global<\/a>, a Denver-based international advisory firm specializing in governance, risk, and capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Colorado Startup Week marks its 15th anniversary, the state’s thriving scene faces new challenges. DENVER \u2014 Over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28,158],"class_list":["post-848881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n15 years of hustle: Colorado Startup Week <\/p>\n
\nScaling the ‘missing middle’ <\/p>\n