About us
Pitch Nights have been a favorite in our community for more than a decade. With a focus on community feedback and connections, these startup pitches range from the earliest ideas of a company to teams ready to raise venture capital. We hold pitch nights on the third Thursday of every month.
Fill out this interest form to apply to pitch and pay attention to our newsletters for information on attending.
Upcoming events
17
SoCo AI Solutions Challenge Sprint
Exponential Impact, 3650 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO, USPLEASE REGISTER USING THIS LUMA LINK
# 🚀 SoCo AI Solutions Challenge Sprint
Monday, August 24th | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Exponential Impact HQ | Colorado Springs, COForget theoretical AI demos. This is a hands-on working session where you'll use today's leading AI tools to tackle a real challenge facing our community.
Led by the team at BoodleBox, this immersive AI Innovation Sprint will focus on the theme of Community Revitalization for the City of Colorado Springs. Participants will work together to explore real opportunities, develop creative ideas, and build AI-powered solutions that could help strengthen and revitalize our city.
Building on the theme of strengthening the community we live in, this event invites participants to explore one of three challenge tracks: Infrastructure, Public Safety, or Community Activation. Each track represents a key pillar of community revitalization in Colorado Springs and reflects priorities identified in the City’s Strategic Doing Plan.This workshop will help you move beyond simply using AI to thinking strategically about how to solve meaningful problems with it.
The day follows the Lowrance Curve — Define, Design, Create, Validate — a practical operating model for AI-enabled problem solving.You'll start by defining the problem before choosing a tool. From there, you'll design an AI-enabled workflow, compare tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, BoodleBox, and other leading AI platforms, build a solution with your team, and validate your work through presentations and feedback.
After the morning sessions, participants will break into teams and take on a challenge within one of the three community revitalization tracks:- Infrastructure — Explore ideas and solutions that can strengthen the systems, spaces, and resources that help Colorado Springs thrive.
- Public Safety — Tackle challenges and opportunities that can help make our community safer, more resilient, and better prepared.
- Community Activation — Explore ways to strengthen connection, participation, vibrancy, and engagement across Colorado Springs.
Each team will combine its members' unique perspectives and strengths to identify opportunities and develop creative, AI-powered solutions, with coaching and support from the BoodleBox team throughout the sprint.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, creator, founder, technology leader, educator, student, community leader, or professional from any industry, you'll leave with practical AI skills, new connections, and firsthand experience using AI to tackle a real-world challenge that matters to our community.
You don't need to be an AI expert or a civic policy expert to participate. Bring your perspective, creativity, curiosity, and willingness to collaborate. The sprint is designed to bring people from different backgrounds together to explore what's possible when local knowledge, human ingenuity, and AI come together.
The day concludes with team presentations, shared lessons learned, and an awards ceremony. Teams will showcase their solutions and demonstrate how AI can be applied thoughtfully and creatively to community revitalization in Colorado Springs.
The winning team will receive a $500 cash prize for demonstrating the most creative, effective, and impactful solution.## What You'll Learn
- How to identify the right problems for AI to solve
- Why a "problem first" approach leads to better AI outcomes
- How to use the Lowrance Curve: Define, Design, Create, Validate
- How to apply AI-powered problem solving to real community challenges across Infrastructure, Public Safety, and Community Activation
- When to use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, BoodleBox, and other AI tools
- Prompting and context strategies that produce higher-quality results
- How to evaluate and verify AI-generated work
- Where human thinking, creativity, and local insight still matter most
- How to collaborate effectively with AI and with a team
- How to turn an idea into a practical, compelling solution using AIWho Should Attend
Anyone curious about applying AI to real work - founders, small business owners, developers, educators, technology leaders, creatives, students, and professionals from any industry.
No coding experience is required.## Agenda
9:00–9:45 AM — Define: Problem Solving with AI
Manual-first exercise, problem framing, and identifying where AI creates value.9:45–10:30 AM — Design: AI Tools & Bot Stacking
Compare ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, BoodleBox, and other leading tools.10:30–11:30 AM — Team Strategy Sessions
Form teams, choose challenges, and design AI-enabled workflows.11:30 AM–12:00 PM — Lunch
12:00–2:30 PM — Create: Team AI Build Time
Collaborate with your team and use AI tools to build a practical solution.2:30–4:00 PM — Validate: Team Showcase, Awards & $500 Grand Prize
Present solutions, share lessons learned, and compete for the grand prize.## Important Details
This full-day workshop is led by BoodleBox, pioneers in collaborative AI workflows and AI education.
A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.Please register only if you can commit to attending from 9:00 AM–4:00 PM, as each session builds on the previous one.
Come ready to collaborate, compete, and build. The winning team will receive a $500 cash prize for the most creative, effective, and impactful solution.
Join us for a full day of learning, building, and friendly competition, and leave with practical AI skills, new connections, and a real solution you helped create.2 attendees
SoCo Startup Week Kick-Off Party
XI-Downtown, 505 S. Sierra Madre St, Colorado Springs, CO, USPLEASE USE THIS LUMA LINK TO REGISTER
# 🚀 Southern Colorado Startup Week Kickoff Party
Monday, August 24th | 5:00–7:00 PM
Exponential Impact Downtown | Colorado Springs, COLet's kick off Southern Colorado Startup Week the right way.
Join Colorado founders, entrepreneurs, startup teams, investors, creators, and community builders for an evening that celebrates the people turning bold ideas into thriving businesses.
This is where Startup Week begins - with great energy, new connections, live music, delicious food, and conversations that spark partnerships, friendships, and the next big idea.
Whether you're building your first startup, scaling your company, investing in innovation, or supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem, you'll be surrounded by people who believe in what's possible when founders come together.Expect an evening filled with:
- 🎶 Live music
- 🍴 Great food and drinks
- 🤝 Authentic connections with founders and entrepreneurs
- 💬 Conversations that inspire new ideas and collaborations
- 🚀 A celebration of Southern Colorado's growing startup community
Startup Week is all about community, and it starts here.
Bring your co-founders, your team, your biggest ideas, and your curiosity. Meet the people building the future of Southern Colorado, reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and help us launch an unforgettable week of innovation, entrepreneurship, and momentum.
No sales pitches. No demos. Just celebration and community!
Let's celebrate the founders, startups, and entrepreneurial spirit that make Southern Colorado such a special place to build. See you there!
## Who Is This Session For
Colorado founders, startups and innovators working on new ideas and emerging technology.
4 attendees
Breaking Rural Stereotypes with Emergent Campus + Advanced Satellite Tech
Emergent Campus in Florence, 215 N, 215 Maple Ave, Florence, CO, USPLEASE USE THIS LUMA LINK TO REGISTER
# Breaking Rural Stereotypes with Emergent Campus + Advanced Satellite Tech Keynotes (with Breakfast)
📅 Tuesday, August 25th | 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
📍 Emergent Campus, 215 Maple Avenue, Florence, COWhat does the future of innovation look like? It might be a lot more rural than you think.
Join us for breakfast at Emergent Campus, a nationally recognized hub for rural innovation, entrepreneurship, and remote work, located in the beautifully restored historic Florence High School. Listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places in 2022 and honored with the prestigious Stephen H. Hart Award for Historic Preservation in 2024, Emergent Campus is redefining what's possible in rural Colorado.
Discover how Florence is attracting entrepreneurs, technology companies, and remote professionals by combining historic character with modern, flexible workspace and a thriving innovation ecosystem.
Following breakfast, hear from two visionary leaders shaping the future in rural Colorado:
10:00 - 10:15am
🎤 Phil Lund with Emergent Campus
Breaking Rural Stereotypes
Learn how rural communities are becoming powerful centers for entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth.10:15 - 10:30am
🚀 Keynote: Cherish Edwards with Narravity
The Future of Space Tech10:30 - 10:45am
🚀 Keynote: Mark Wells with Anubis Labs
New Satellite Technology10:45 - 11:00am
🎤 Brad Rowland with Emergent Campus
Intro to Emergent CampusWhether you're an entrepreneur, startup founder, remote worker, investor, student, or simply curious about the future of rural innovation, you'll leave inspired by what's happening just outside the Front Range.
Come enjoy breakfast, make new connections, and see why the future doesn't have to be built in a big city.
1 attendee
Startup Showcase Tours of Emergent Campus + Lunch
Emergent Campus in Florence, 215 N, 215 Maple Ave, Florence, CO, USPLEASE REGISTER USING THIS LUMA LINK
# Startup Showcase Tours of Emergent Campus + Lunch
📅 Tuesday, August 25th | 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
📍 Emergent Campus, 215 Maple Avenue, Florence, COExperience one of Colorado's most exciting rural innovation hubs from the inside.
Following the morning keynote, join us for an exclusive guided tour of Emergent Campus and discover how this historic Florence landmark has been transformed into a thriving center for entrepreneurship, remote work, and startup growth.
Located in the beautifully restored historic Florence High School, Emergent Campus was added to the National and State Register of Historic Places in 2022 and received the prestigious Stephen H. Hart Award for Historic Preservation in 2024. Today, it serves as a collaborative home for startups, remote professionals, innovators, and organizations proving that world-class innovation doesn't have to happen in a major metro.
During the Startup Showcase Tour, you'll explore the campus, meet innovative companies and founders, learn about the businesses growing within the space, and see firsthand how rural communities are creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and technology companies alike.
## Schedule
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM – Guided Startup Showcase Tours of Emergent Campus
12:15 PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch Provided On SiteWhether you're a founder, investor, remote worker, community leader, or simply curious about Colorado's growing startup ecosystem, this is a unique opportunity to connect with innovators while experiencing one of the state's premier rural entrepreneurship destinations.
Come explore, ask questions, build connections, and enjoy lunch with fellow attendees.
1 attendee
Past events
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