Author: Nick Armstrong

 

From experts in conversational intelligence to world leaders in coworking, FCSW18 is shaping up to be a shindig of super business savants!

The team at Techstars Startup Week Fort Collins gathered in late 2017 along with industry experts to mull over our survey data and discuss needs for the coming year. A few open house events and tons of sticky notes, stickers, and dry-erase markers later, the FCSW18 team is proud to announce our lineup.

Our speakers are practically guaranteed to help you learn something, no matter what industry or level of expertise you’re at, no matter if you’re a solopreneur or a Fortune 500 CEO.

Over the coming weeks, we’re gonna show off some new and familiar faces that we think you ought to get to know!

Chrysta Bairre

Chrysta Bairre is a career coach, speaker, author, and founder of Live Love Work.

Chrysta works with successful mid-career professionals and service-based entrepreneurs who want more from life and career. Chrysta helps her clients increase professional impact and income– working with them to love their work, be well-paid, and find happiness in and out of the office.

Chrysta has spoken at Ignite Fort Collins, Ignite Denver, Fort Collins Startup Week, and many other local businesses and community organizations. Chrysta is also the founder of She Leads, a collaborative community for professional women in Northern Colorado. Chrysta is a 2016 and 2017 participant and facilitator of Larimer County Women of the Year.

“Get out of your comfort zone and attend sessions that challenge you,” says Chrysta to first-time Startup Week attendees. “Be open to what you can learn and who you can meet. Your next big business opportunity could be at Fort Collins Startup Week! Also, listen more than you talk. It’s a good guiding principle in business and life!”

Her future vision for Fort Collins is an inclusive one, “I would love to see Fort Collins step up in support of women in business, encouraging women to be leaders in our business community, the state, the country, and the world.”

See all of Chrysta’s sessions here: https://fortcollinsstartupweek2018.sched.com/speaker/chrystabairre

Chrysta is speaking on:

• Thursday, March 1:
  • Selling Your Services Without Being Sales-y (10:30AM @ The Lyric)
  • She Leads: Women Leaders in the Boardroom and Beyond (4PM @ Cohere)
• Friday, March 2:
  • Overcome Imposter Syndrome (10:30AM @ Cohere)

Ariana Friedlander

Ariana Friedlander, MPA, is an author, social entrepreneur, and the founder of Rosabella Consulting. She works with leaders doing “Business as Unusual” and specializes in fostering positive change within organizations and companies of all shapes and sizes. Her first book, “A Misfit Entrepreneur’s Guide to Building a Business Your Way” was released in 2016. Ariana made Northern Colorado’s “40 Under Forty” list in 2015 and received the fourth annual Quid Novi Award for Innovative Thought. She is one of 220 coaches worldwide that is Certified in Conversational Intelligence.

Ariana says first time Startup Week attendees should, “Give yourself time to connect with other attendees. There’s so much to gain from conversations with fellow entrepreneurs, plus you never know who you may meet and what opportunities they might lead you to.”

She also recommends, “Take time to internalize what you learn at Startup Week. Reflect on how the information you’re gleaning relates to your own personal aspirations and challenges. Identify actionable steps you can take in the next week to keep the learning alive. Find an accountability partner or friend you can work with to ensure you apply lessons learned from Startup Week. In other words, don’t just listen, do something!”

See Ariana’s Session: The Neuroscience of Conversation: What Every Entreprenuer Needs to Know on Tuesday, February 27 at 9AM @ The Lyric.

Mike O’Connell

In 2001, O’Connell purchased Mountain Woods Furniture (MWF), a manufacturer of rustic furniture, and owned and operated that business until 2012. MWF’s products were sold through Cabelas, furniture e-tailers, stores, and resorts and lodges. He provided over 6,000 paychecks to American workers during his ownership. Previously, he worked in a variety of sales, marketing, and business unit positions, including eleven years with Victor Industries, North America’s third largest manufacturer of metal cutting and welding equipment. O’Connell has a business degree from Purdue University

He became Larimer Center Director in 2013, and by 2016 the Center was one of the State’s top-performers. “Our goal is to help maximize the economic potential of small businesses in Larimer County, through street-smart business education and resource connection.”

He is currently Co-Chair of the Larimer County Workforce Development Board, which deals with local workforce opportunities and issues. He is also a professional musician, and plays at venues in Northern Colorado.

Mike’s most valuable business lesson: “under-promise and over-deliver.” Mike says his session at Startup Week will help attendees “get a better understanding of the importance of Competitive Advantage, and of best practices for SELLING your services or products.”

See all of Mike’s Sessions here: https://fortcollinsstartupweek2018.sched.com/speaker/mike1002

Mike is speaking on:

• Monday, February 26
  • Top six ways businesses get into trouble – and what you can do to avoid them (Noon @ Downtown Artery)
• Tuesday, February 27
  • Pricing 101: How not to be broke (5PM @ The Articulate)

Nick Armstrong

Nick Armstrong is the Geek-in-Chief behind WTF Marketing. He’s also a dad, author, Ignite, PechaKucha, and TEDx speaker, audio drama enthusiast, and award-winning entrepreneur.

He has co-organized community events like Fort Collins Comic Con, Startup Week Fort Collins, TEDxFoCo, Ignite Fort Collins, LaidOffCamp/CareerCamp, PodCamp Fort Collins, and more. His local efforts landed him a prestigious spot as one of BizWest’s 40 Under Forty for 2016.

Alongside an amazing team of 13 other super-geeks, Nick built out Fort Collins Comic Con to benefit the Poudre River Public Library District and has raised over $75,000 for the Library to encourage youth literacy through comics.

“I want freelancers to walk away feeling empowered and ready to negotiate their next contracts with confidence that they won’t get screwed,” Nick says of his session on Negotiation and Conflict Management.

For first-time Startup Week attendees, Nick advises, “Startup Week is overwhelming. If you pick one session to really understand, one contact to connect with and actually send an introduction email, and one lesson to apply, you’ll win. Don’t overload yourself with all the possibilities, because that’s a recipe for disaster.”

See all of Nick’s Sessions here: https://fortcollinsstartupweek2018.sched.com/speaker/WTFMarketing

Nick is speaking on:

• Thursday, March 1
  • Storytelling Pays as a Marketing Technique (9:15AM @ The Lyric)
  • Negotiation and Conflict Management for Freelancers (10:15AM @ The Lyric)

Nikki Larchar

As the co-founder of simplyHR, Nikki Larchar helps provide HR guidance to small business owners in Northern Colorado and beyond. With over 7 years of experience in Human Resources and over 8 years of her career dedicated to managing a team, Nikki brings experience from both the front line of operating a business to professional HR advising and consulting. Nikki enjoys researching HR topics, providing training on harassment prevention, and educating the business community on human resources best practices.

Her advice for first-time Startup Week attendees? “Bring a notebook and TONS of business cards. There will be at least one great takeaway from each session you attend so bring a notebook so you don’t forget anything! You’ll also be meeting tons of other entrepreneur enthusiasts, business owners, and community members so bring extra business cards.”

Nikki’s best business advice is to delegate. “You can’t be an expert at everything. I am so grateful to have peers, consultants, and other professionals that I can go to when I have questions that are outside of my realm of knowledge.”

See all of Nikki’s Sessions here: https://fortcollinsstartupweek2018.sched.com/speaker/nikkilarchar

Nikki is speaking on:

• Monday, February 26
  • Crazy sh** employees do and what you can do about it (3PM @ Idea Lab – Carnegie Creative Center)
• Tuesday, February 27
  • 1099 Workers: How to minimize your risk and save money in the long run (Noon @ Downtown Artery)

Dave Harris

Dave Harris is the Director of Operations for Rockies Venture Club (RVC), and is a Managing Partner with Rockies Venture Fund (RVF) and Rockies Impact Fund (RIF); two Colorado-centric venture funds. RVC is the longest running angel investor group in the US and is a non-profit organization centered on furthering economic development in Colorado by connecting investors and entrepreneurs through conferences (Angel Capital Summit, Colorado Capital Conference, and more), networking events, educational offerings and facilitation of Colorado’s largest angel investor groups. RVC has led investments totaling over $37M to Colorado start-ups since 2014. In addition, Dave is an active Board Member for the non-profit organizations, Biz Girls CEO Accelerator and LaunchNo.CO.

“Dive in deep,” is Dave’s advice to first-time Startup Week attendees. “Not only into the Poudre during the Poudre Plunge, but dive into all of the amazing content and opportunities that FCSW provides. It is electric to be surrounded by so many like-minded people so take advantage of this week as much as possible. I’ve made so many strong relationships from Startup Weeks, but it takes work.”

Asked what his vision for the Future of Fort Collins is, Dave says, “I see Fort Collins continuing to mature over the next 5 years and the rest of the state developing a better understanding of why this community is so special. There will be several more major success stories to come out of this startup community over the next 5 years, and I anticipate that those companies will continue the trend of recycling their success and expertise back into the Fort Collins community.”

See all of Dave’s sessions here: https://fortcollinsstartupweek2018.sched.com/speaker/daveharris1

Dave is speaking on:

• Monday, February 26
  • Secrets to attracting Angel Investors: Part 1 (Basic); VC Investing Terminology, How Much Do I Ask For?, What is My Valuation?
• Tuesday, February 27
  • RVC Pitch Academy (9AM @ The Lyric)

Check out the whole Startup Week schedule and fill your week with the best business knowledge in Northern Colorado!

These awesome promo images come by way of Nick Armstrong of WTF Marketing and will help to get your friends, colleagues, employees, and random acquaintances introduced to Fort Collins Startup Week! Feel free to share far and wide.

It takes all kinds of entrepreneurs to create a successful startup community, which is why we’ve partnered with EsScentuals to blend up a special unisex body wash to commemorate Fort Collins Startup Week.

The Smell of Success scent is a custom, unisex scent for entrepreneurs, startup warriors, and go-getters of all stripes. Hand-crafted in Fort Collins, Colorado at EsScentuals, available exclusively during #FCSW17, The Smell of Success is a combo of Sweet Orange, Peppermint, Rosemary, Bergamot, Cedar & Clary Sage. It’s bright, woodsy, and the perfect compliment to the entrepreneur on the go.

This blend smells dang good because EsScentuals‘ dug in with essential oils that:

• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Promote mental clarity
• Enhance memory
• Elevate mood
• Build confidence
• Invigorate & inspire!

Be sure to visit EsScentuals to pick up your own bottle! 15 will be given away, courtesy of EsScentuals, at one of the Fort Collins Startup Week events to be announced.

So, you wanna attend Fort Collins Startup Week? Here’s the inside skinny on what you need to know:

• All events are 100% free to attend. That means you have two duties to perform:
  • Act on the knowledge that you’ve gained, make connections, do something with your newfound knowledge that you wouldn’t have been able to do before – and tell us about it.
  • Tweet, Facebook, Blog, Podcast, or do something to tell other entrepreneurs about the cool things happening at Fort Collins Startup Week. A rising tide raises all boats, and a highly-enlightened, highly-educated, and connected entrepreneurial marketplace will make Fort Collins more viable for all entrepreneurs and startups. Hashtag all your posts #FCSW17 so they’re easy to find (in fact: this is a fantastic way to network!)
• Take advantage of the Free CoWorking Happening each day to build something meaningful or fun with your new contacts.
• Don’t try to do everything all at once – with over 100 events, it’d be easy to get overloaded.
• Don’t stick to your comfort zone – focus on areas you either have a knowledge gap around, or areas where you can create an interdisciplinary knowledge that your competitors don’t have.
• Do try to explore at least one event at each of the different venues. We’ve purposefully partnered with some of the most creative, innovative organizations in town. Creating some new connections and cross-sector knowledge can only help your business ventures.
• Aim for a good mix of professional and social events.
• Offer value first. Make a connection, offer a resource, listen before you make an ask. If you sling business cards around like Halloween candy and are just looking to solicit investments, you might be better off auditioning for Shark Tank than attending Startup Week.

Fort Collins Startup Week is a great opportunity to make new connections, both with people and ideas. We can’t wait to see you there!

Are you a little burnt out on coming home smelling like you were bearhugged by a barista? Good news, now you can indulge in an entire week of free coworking, thanks to our awesome Coworking partners: Cohere, Articulate, Digital Workshop Center, Music District, Front Range Business Center, FVC Mesh Fort Collins, and Office Evolution.

Come attend Startup Week, meet some amazing partners, and then build something new together at a collaborative office space for free!

Monday, February 27: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at Cohere
418 South Howes Street
Fort Collins, CO 80521

Friendship-oriented coworking space for freelancers, remote workers and non-profits who normally work from home and don’t like it.

Tuesday, February 28: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at Articulate
324 Jefferson Street
Fort Collins, CO 80524

A vibrant community in Old Town Fort Collins where creative professionals grow and collaborate personally and professionally.

Wednesday, March 1: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at Digital Workshop Center
324 Remington St Suite 130
Fort Collins, CO 80524

Founded in 2006, Digital Workshop Center is a locally-owned computer training school, Adobe Training Center, and coworking hub in Fort Collins and Denver.

Thursday, March 2: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at Music District (long building)
639 South College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80524

Your music playground and laboratory. Whether you are a novice or pro, we provide the resources, spaces, and tools for learning, composing, rehearsing, collaborating, and more.

Thursday, March 2: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at Front Range Business Center Boardwalk Location
155 E. Boardwalk Drive, Suite 400
Fort Collins, CO 80525

Flexible and cost-saving officing options for start-ups and home-based businesses including drop-in work space or private offices.

Friday, March 3: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at Office Evolution Fort Collins
2580 E Harmony Rd, Suite 201
Fort Collins, CO 80528

The Northern Colorado business center is a community of coworking and executive offices that offers flexible terms to help grow your small business by reducing overhead.

Friday, March 3: 9a-4p Free Drop-In Coworking at FVC Mesh Fort Collins
242 Linden St
Fort Collins, CO 80524

FVC Mesh Fort Collins is a vibrant startup community located in the heart of Old Town Fort Collins. Our unique space allows entrepreneurs to create and cultivate startups while connecting them to mentors, educators, and investors to help support them.

Friday, March 3: 5p-7p Happy Hour Networking for Musicians at Cohere Bandwidth (free beer/drinks)
317 Jefferson Street
Fort Collins, CO 80524

Shared hourly rehearsal space and connection-centered events for musicians in downtown Fort Collins.

One of the things they don’t tell you in entrepreneur school about being nearly broke is that you have to break your own club crackers in half if you want them the “normal” size.

As a result, the package goes bad twice as fast. And the off-brand zip bags you have to buy to store ‘em in reek of plastic which subsequently taints your food.

They don’t tell you that certain grocery stores sell food that spoils faster. And you don’t know if you’ve selected poorly until two days after you’ve purchased – when all your “special splurge” fruit has mold. And to exchange it would require time that you don’t have or else that client project won’t make it on time.

Or that buying meat in bulk is super cost effective, but that you have to be really careful to make sure you segment and store it safely.

They don’t tell you that when you have $100 in your bank account and you’re starting a business, your food budget is directly competing against spending the $72 it takes to start a MeetUp group to grow a client base.

Or that, after you’ve spent the money on your MeetUp group organizer fees, you can eat filling meals for next to nothing—if you’re willing to eat mostly carhop-style fast food and bananas.

Or that coffee — any coffee, no matter the source — is a godsend when you’ve been too broke to afford it.

Go ahead, pick my brain. I’ll try to tone down my not-so-subtle ecstasy after each sip.

They don’t tell you that selling your boldly fluids (in my case: plasma) is how you can afford real food until your first client check comes in. Or that — and I’m not proud of this — your time is worth more than sorting laundry piles, so your clothes create a colossal colorful mountain in the corner of your room.

They don’t tell you all these little indignities will feel like tiny paper cuts to your spirit.

Each time a new mark appears, you count it and hope it’s not the fatal thousandth. Familiar cracks begin to form in your ego and each new challenge somehow finds a way into those old wounds.

Every entrepreneur has their own struggles. You might never have been broke, but I bet you’ve had your moments of “Holy hell, what am I gonna do next?”

Mine just seemed to always hover near food, being able to afford it, and what it meant as a measure of success.

When I started out on my own in 2009, I landed an amazing training gig.
Colloquially, I called it Facebook for the Golden Girls (because that’s the demographic that showed up, with a few minor exceptions).

Don’t get me wrong — I no way do I mean ‘Golden Girls’ as a derogatory. Sassy, smart, savvy business women around the ages of 60+ were the great majority of the audience, ready and eager to pick up a new skill. The Golden Girls epitomize the spirit of friendship, youthful vigor, and the constant aim to improve yourself. In short: they’re near perfect clients who know how to hold themselves accountable to their own learning.

I enjoyed teaching, but it struck me midway through the first class that Facebook had become a basic literacy skill.

You might roll your eyes at this, but for me, it’s akin to reading, writing, and knowing how to type. Texting has been in this realm for some time.

And there I was charging $90 a head. To teach someone how to, essentially, read.

I felt awful.

Please, hold your lecture that goes something like: “Yeah, but, certain skills have a price…” — that’s nonsense.

Something can have value (my time and expertise) while being unethical to charge for (basic literacy).

Picture my idea of a dystopian society: Sorry, Timmy, you can’t learn how to read because the man with the books wants $5 to lend them to you, and Mommy’s gotta charge you $1 for every word you learn. It’s only “fair.”

The next day, I launched my meetup group thanks to a very generous loan from a friend.
I ate car-hop fast food and bananas for the next two weeks until my paycheck came in from the first (and only) Facebook for Golden Girls class.

I committed to teaching social media basics every other week for $1 per head, and donated the proceeds to the Larimer County Food Bank.

Over the course of the next four years, I taught enough and earned enough trust in the community to create about 4,500 meals for the Foodbank.

I also landed a cool number of teaching gigs, clients, and created a whole network of friends who loved to learn as much as I loved to teach.

We’d start having lunches together and discussing strategy and new ideas. Some of those friends went on to start their own companies and MeetUps. I had a lot of brain-picking coffee meetings.

On the surface, I looked to be doing pretty well.
Behind the scenes, my life was in turmoil with my habit of undercharging for almost everything, every late client payment, every new unexpected expense, and the stress from near-constant hustling.

I’d work on my couch because there was nowhere else to work. I’d work until I fell asleep on the couch, wake up, pour some family-sized Cheerios into my bowl and start my work anew.

Nothing really changed during that first year until I met the woman who would become my wife.

Stacy and I met online. Our first date was to a mall. I was an hour late, thanks to the aforementioned non-stop hustling, but she took it in stride and I showed up with a lot of flowers, which I’m sure kinda helped.

We nervously speed-walked around the whole mall. We went to the shoe store (I had on bright red Chuck Taylors and Stacy thought they were cool). I got down on my knees and helped her tie a pair of Chucks on.

Later we got dinner at Mimi’s Cafe where a rambunctious child was running rampant through the restaurant. We simultaneously made a joke about tripping the kid as she ran past, and that’s when I knew I’d met The One.

I owe a lot to Stacy, who helped me realize that I couldn’t afford to bachelor or hustle myself to death.
I got my act together. Learned how to price responsibly. Landed some ridiculously cool clients like Fort Collins Brewery and Poudre Libraries.

I upped my game so I could support Stacy while she sought out the long and winding path toward her two dream jobs — teaching and being a Stay-At-Home Mom. (I’ve since come to the conclusion that this is the single-most difficult, demanding job in the world. Not only must you be consistent, you must be creative, kind, fair, and entertaining while being mostly sleep deprived.)

It wasn’t just that she was there, it was that I had to become a better version of myself to help her achieve her goals.

Clients are like that, too.

I love to grow along with my clients. As their needs expand, so too do my skills to service them.

If something is way outside my wheelhouse, we pass it along to a trusted friend. But if I can learn how to it, there’s no power in the world to stop me — except for me.

That’s the real lesson in all those hard-earned cracks, cuts, and bruises.

Only you can stop you.

So what’s stopping you from working as hard as you need to? Failing and failing and failing over again until you succeed or learn a better way?

You. That’s it. You’re playing against yourself, mostly. They don’t tell you that, either.

So why not go for the high score?

Mean or thieving competitors can get bent (nice, honest competitors get referrals).

Haters will need a support group after you prove ‘em wrong.

Something in your way? Break it in half like dollar store club crackers and put it over your stew.

About the Author:

Our first Guest Blogger in 2017, Nick Armstrong is a member of the FCSW steering committee as well as a dad, author, Geek-in-Chief of WTF Marketing, and the Co-Organizer of Fort Collins Comic Con. Want to blog your thoughts on livin’ la vida startup? Contact us.