Season 6 closes on a strong note, with a panel discussion held in front of a live audience during Boulder Startup Week. This recording just happened to take place on the 13th anniversary of the opening of T|Aco, the downtown Boulder staple that graciously hosted this lively, illuminating and fun conversation. Our panelists represent a wide swath of the Boulder entrepreneurial eco-system: •Stan Hickory, Director of CU’s Research & Innovation Office •Peter Waters, co-founder and owner of T|Aco •Davin Helden from Lafayette’s Liquid Mechanics Brewing — a proud sponsor of Creative Distillation and provider of this session’s tasty beverages •Brad Feld, a partner at Foundry, co-founder at Techstars and an icon of Boulder’s startup community Unsurprisingly, the discussion touches on a number of topics including: * how Boulder having so many different startup communities (such as food, beer and tech) promotes cross-pollination between these communities, and provides more fertile ground for all * the ways the post-covid “new normal” of empty downtown office space has fragmented the community and poses a threat to the local businesses catering to a dwindling population of office workers * CU’s role in the Boulder startup eco-system, primarily by planting seeds of the entrepreneurial mindset that can help businesses of all types, and also as a talent pipeline producing rock star students ready to immediately contribute to a startup’s growth and scale * the importance of finding the right investor * startup communities as an essential component of a vibrant city The conversation is underpinned throughout by Boulder’s unique and very real “Give First” ethos. It’s not just caring about the startup community; it’s the way we care about each other that makes Boulder special. All of that, plus Jeff’s brief, tantalizing preview of Season 7. Bust out your aloha shirts, friends. It’s tiki time! Enjoy and cheers! — This episode of Creative Distillation was recorded in front of a live audience at T|Aco in downtown Boulder. Learn more at tacocolorado.com. Learn more about Liquid Mechanics at liquidmechanicsbrewing.com Find out what Stan Hickory's up to at https://www.colorado.edu/researchinnovation/stan-hickory Connect with Peter Waters at https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwaters/ Find Davin Helden at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davin-helden-a4bb174/ Follow Brad Feld at https://feld.com/ And thank you again for showing up for another season of Creative Distillation. We appreciate you and look forward to seeing you back here for Season 7. Happy summer, everybody!