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Governor Hickenlooper at BEN's launch last week

How will Colorado’s private industry step up to compete with the big boys in Silicon Valley, Austin and the Boston corridor?  The ‘secret sauce’ will connecting serial entrepreneurs with high growth companies, local business and civic leader JB Holston said. 

Starting this week, Holston's wish will come true as he steps into the role of "Chief Concierge" or Executive Director of the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network (BEN). The $4 million dollar grant was given by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship, with the help of U.S. Senator Michael Bennett and the blessing of Governor Hickenlooper. The grant reflects a three-year initiative to build a broad network of master entrepreneurs and advisors to scale our state’s brightest companies – often referred to as “gazelles” to sustained and long term growth.

Holston has been pushing for more 'scale-up support' in Denver for years. Having spent 25 years as a global scale-up CEO and entrepreneur, Holston has seen the importance for Colorado to make the leap for quite some time.

“I’ve been harping on the need for more scale-up in the state for the past couple of years,” Holston said. "I have been a bit of a constant curmudgeon to put a real effort behind helping our local companies scale up, and when this opportunity came along, my wife suggested I stop whining about it and go do it.”

Rather than replicating existing networks, Holston’s goal is to amplify: “There are a range of companies with real prospects to scale, but they can’t achieve the growth without the talent, infrastructure and guidance.”

Blackstone will function out of Galvanize Denver and Galvanize Boulder, in conjunction with Silicon Flatirons to build an ecosystem that not only makes it more comfortable for top talent to come into Colorado, but to interconnect existing talent within the state, and provide the network resources for training programs that may be necessary.

“When Blackstone began searching for the right geography to embark on their initiative, Colorado was an easy choice, as they felt our state has the right combination for growth,” said Phil Weiser, founder of Silicon Flatirons and Dean of the University of Colorado Law School. “Their second decision was who to give the grant to. Choosing Silicon Flatirons as stewards allows us to build the ecosystem here in Colorado. Our focus on who to choose to lead the project was someone who has with credibility with master entrepreneurs, the ability to build and lead the initiative, as well as someone with the right values and approach. JB Holston is a terrific fit."

Holston’s immediate goal is to cast a wide net throughout the state for seasoned and serial entrepreneurs in various industries to come together: “Our goal is to attract a cohort of folks who care. We had a great launch and now our goals are to create something functional for everyone involved.”

While assembling categories of industries to target and advisors to support them, Holston shared an example of how the BEN Colorado network can help companies in aerospace who may have been doing wonderful work for the space shuttle on contract for 10 years. Now they have IP to turn into software products they can sell, but they don’t have a software development background.

The exact model of how BEN Colorado will support selected organizations is both emergent and individualized to the need of each particular company:“We want to be thoughtful and sensitive to what is most productive, and that may differ widely,” said Holston. In general, the support mechanisms will center on providing access to industry expertise, connections to management talent, as well as board or advisory level talent, and access to prospective sources of capital.

Phil Weiser at Silicon Flatirons echoes Holston's initial focus, and is actively collaborating to achieve their objectives. “Our goal is to create an impactful and coordinated network of leaders invested in growing companies within the state and outside the region, which can reduce friction in scaling an organization_,” said Weiser. “Our efforts at Silicon Flatirons, as well as StartUp Colorado are a means to support other initiatives that build connections across silos, so even if a company is not a perfect fit for BEN Colorado, there are other opportunities for cross fertilization of networks and resources.”

Since the launch last week at the Denver Art Museum, Holston has been ‘besieged’ in conversations with serial entrepreneurs, interested investors and potential gazelle companies. Holston is a firm believer in the power of networking, and recognizes the goal for now is not to narrow the focus, but to cast the net as wide as possible to attract the interest of those who may not normally show up on the radar.

“I believe the serendipitous connections that come from a broad social networking effort are always more valuable than those planned in advance,” said Holston. “ I want to personally talk to lots of companies that may want to apply. The ‘human intervention’ component is the biggest goal of this first phase of the project.”

BEN Colorado will be building networks within five industry categories: Tech & Broadband, Biotech & Health, Aerospace, Energy, and Natural Foods. In addition, a new category of “Growth Advisors” will encompass the support of law firms and VC firms.

“People in Colorado inherently have a sense of social responsibility and a pay-it-forward attitude,” Holston said. "When you add the entrepreneurial background and alignment of the local government with the private sector, that leadership creates the conditions for success.”