Denver, CO - March 30th, 2016 The Rockies Venture Club (RVC) and Blackstone Entrepreneur’s Network (BEN) have joined together to help solve one of the biggest challenges for startups – Talent acquisition, retention and development. Companies that receive venture capital funding are growing at extraordinary rates and CEOs of these companies are hard pressed to find and retain the right talent to help them scale from startup to growth company.
“Having the right people on the bus is the key to rapid growth” says Peter Adams, Executive Director of Rockies Venture Club, “and it’s not just a matter of talent, but also of having people who have the ability to scale along with the company without holding it back.”
RVC works with early stage Colorado companies seeking angel investment funding and BEN focuses on the “Gazelles” that are moving along into the growth stage after funding. This joint effort celebrates the RVC companies that have grown to become a part of the BEN Gazelles and includes companies that have benefitted from both of these non-profit organizations. This program will look at the importance of building a robust internal (at one company) and external (in the broad community) talent pool. It will bring together startups across the growth spectrum, educational institutions, and government leaders to discuss the role a community should play, and the role the startups themselves must play.
Fiona Arnold, Director of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) will participate in a “fireside chat” with Amanda Lee who heads up recruiting at Google.
RVC and BEN will be hosting an event in three parts to solve this big problem: 1. The Challenge: Attendees share a challenge faced in building a robust talent pool 2. The Big Idea: Fiona Arnold, of Colorado’s OEDIT will participate in a “fireside chat” with Amanda Lee of Google. 3. The Solution: Participants will break into tables of six to discuss possible solutions. A pre-assigned facilitator, who rotates three times for three separate discussion topics, leads each table discussion.
The process and results of this event will be produced into a movie which will be shared with the entrepreneurial, business, government and educational communities to help bring them together in developing Colorado’s workforce together.