About

Founded in FoCo

Founded in FoCo is a week-long conference celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit of Fort Collins and Northern Colorado. Bringing together community members across sectors to learn from and celebrate entrepreneurs, startups, non-profits, solopreneurs, creatives, local leaders, and more.

The event is created by the community, for the community, and features 50+ speakers and sessions over several days.

This year, the event takes place March 4 – 8, 2024. Get Your Tickets >

Build relationships.

Meet new friends and collaborators across sectors who are working to make things happen in our community.

Learn from peers.

50+ sessions from the community focused on sharing unique perspectives & experiences.

Incubate new ideas.

Get inspired by leaders who are solving problems for their company, and our community & beyond.

Have fun.

Every day you’ll have the opportunity to engage socially — from coffee and snacks, to our exhibit hall, and unique events.

Founded in FoCo celebrates the diverse entrepreneurial spirit of our community.

Led by a diverse group of local entrepreneurs and experts representing our community’s best and brightest business minds, each session is packed to the brim with actionable information on the topic at hand.

Abiding by the #GiveFirst mindset, these entrepreneurs have committed to freely share what they know and lift the community through the spirit of inclusion, supporting the idea that entrepreneurship should be accessible to everyone.

Founded in Fort Collins’ annual event reaffirms entrepreneurship as a primary driver for social, cultural, and economic equity, serves as a platform for local entrepreneurs to share what they know with the city they love, and empowers entrepreneurs of all stripes, backgrounds, and passions to build better businesses.

We’re presented by Howdy Neighbor Events (our 501 c3 nonprofit sponsor and parent organization), and by a team of dedicated volunteers, sponsors, and community partners. Our lead organizer is Nick Armstrong, Geek-in-Chief at WTF Marketing.

Meet the organizing team

See what they’re saying.

Praise from attendees, speakers, and community members.

The speakers and subjects are of value. I learned something at each session I attended.

Danaly Howe

It’s a good event with many opportunities for growth and meeting new people.

Tracey Kazimir-Cree

The variety of sessions and speakers was very helpful!

Kaitlin Spring

I liked the tracks this year. I am scaling so I found those courses applied to me and kept me wanting to come back.

Sonya Graywolf

Very applicable information presented clearly and with engaging speakers.

Brad Rhoda

Founded in FOCO was well organized resulting in lots of information for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Karl Dakin

Very impressed with the level of speakers and information shared in the Non-Profit track. Keep up the good work.

Kristi Ross

It’s a good event with many opportunities for growth Oh my goodness, what an event! I would absolutely recommend anyone who is interested in business attend Founded In FoCo. The biggest reason is community. Whatever it is you need to be successful in business is a handshake away, and this event accelerates those connections. meeting new people.

Andrea Bazoin

Great way to network and get new perspectives on my business.

Deb Robertson

Aside from the opportunity to network, it was jam packed with thought provoking presentation. Although many presentation weren’t directly related to my business, many had useful tips and tricks. Some of the presentations were very useful.

Andrew Cole

I would recommend the event to anyone who owns their own business or aspires to.

Pat Nicholson

I had such a nice experience!

Gina Maez

History of Founded in FoCo

The origins of Founded in FoCo begin in 2014 when the first Startup Week Fort Collins was held and was run as a for-profit venture for two years. In 2016, the event was rebooted with help from local business leaders, the Innosphere, Colorado State University, and the City of Fort Collins to become a non-profit event with official licensing from Techstars.

The first Startup Week Fort Collins was held in 2014 and was run as a for-profit venture for two years.
In 2016, the event was rebooted with help from local business leaders, the Innosphere, Colorado State University, and the City of Fort Collins to become a non-profit event with official licensing from Techstars.
In 2022, we ushered our brand renewal as Founded in FoCo to celebrate the diverse entrepreneurial spirit of our community.
We’d love to have you join us at the event or collaborator as we continue to strengthen entrepreneurship in Northern Colorado.

Partner Events

Fort Collins Comic Con is a youth literacy and creator literacy event that features over 150 artists and creators in our local community.
Both Founded in FoCo and Fort Collins Comic Con are projects of Howdy Neighbor Events, our 501-c3 parent organization.