As CEO of Vokl, I'd like to take a moment to honor the work of those in the Denver community who have worked so tirelessly to build the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. And while the list of those who have made significant contributions is long indeed, I want to use this post to call attention to the guy who played such a substantial role in Denver Startup Week and in the creation of builtindenver.com, Erik Mitisek. 

I first met Erik when I was CEO of Local Matters, and I was immediately swept up in his energy and enthusiasm for the City of Denver and for the startup community here in Denver. At that time Denver Startup Week was still an idea, and most of Startup Colorado still seemed to have its center of gravity in Boulder. (There is nothing whatever wrong with Boulder, mind you, and I hope Denver forever remains closely connected to the people and the spirit of entrepreneurship that issues from that amazing community.) That said, Denver is not Boulder. It has an identity all its own and stands to benefit most by capitalizing fully on what is unique to Denver. 

That's part of the power of builtindenver.com. There are good reasons to create a site that calls specific attention to Denver as distinguished from Boulder and from Colorado as a whole. This is about helping Denver tech businesses to gain more attention. It's about helping Denver-based businesses recruit. It's about helping Denver begin to take pride in the efforts and accomplishments of a sector that has long been hardworking and productive but has until now remained mostly out of the spotlight. And that brings me back to Erik Mitisek.

Erik saw the need to do a little promoting. He took time to connect with entrepreneurs throughout the community. He met, too, with representatives of state and local goverment and garnered their support. He worked through all of the challenges of building and supporting a capable team, and he kept his head when things got a little rugged, hanging on and digging in until all the elements came together to make Denver Startup Week one of the bigger successes Denver has seen.

And smart as Erik is, he knew full well that we couldn't afford to lose the momentum that had been created through Denver Startup Week. That's where builtindenver.com comes in. It's a way to sustain, build and grow that nascent but vibrant community that is all about startups, entrepreneurship, value creation and company building. 

So, I'd like to salute Erik. And I'd like to encourage Erik and the rest of the Denver startup community to keep doing what it's doing. We're just getting warmed up.