About | Founded in FoCo

Founded in FoCo is a free conference celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit of Fort Collins and Northern Colorado. The even is created by the community, for the community and features 50+ speakers and sessions over several days and is THE place to spark new ideas, learn from peers, and build relationships.

Formerly known as Fort Collins Startup Week, the event became self-branded in 2022 as Founded in FoCo to celebrate 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. Sessions and speakers are selected not just for the relevancy and applicability of the content, but also to represent well the social and cultural makeup of Fort Collins’ economy as a whole.

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 fiduciary sponsor) 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

History

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 2017, ARTupWeek was introduced and serves as a companion celebration of creative people building up the creative industries, creative environment, and creative community (ARTupWeek is currently on hiatus).
In 2021, the event was held virtually due to COVID-19.
In 2022, we ushered our brand renewal as Founded in FoCo to celebrate the diverse entrepreneurial spirit of our community.