New West Network

My Page: Mark Phillips

What Will We Say Now ?

Everyone thinks the Front Range is constantly covered in snow. Most of my work is done over the phone, and nearly every time I speak with someone from somewhere other than the Rockies, the conversation goes almost exactly like this:
Them: Where are you located?
Me: I live in Boulder, CO.
Them: Wow! There's a snowy place!
Me: Actually, most of the snow is in the mountains. Even when we do get snow, it rarely sticks around.
Them: Really? What a surprise!
Me: Yeah. Winter's really mild here. Snow's usually gone the next day, it's sunny, 50 degrees, and everyone's back to their Tevas and climbing shorts.

These last few weeks, I've been at a loss. [more]

Boulder Business Special Report

I attended the Boulder BarCamp on Friday and Saturday (See ColoradoStartup.com's great writeup here). The idea for the BarCamp is rooted in the notion that a typical conference presentation could be just as interesting and productive if the presenting panel were replaced with a random sampling of folks from the audience. Some call it an (un)conference; others BarCamp. The only rule seems to be... [more]

Local Tech Start-up to Change the Way You Surf

A few weeks ago, a local Web 2.0 startup called Me.dium quietly began sending out invitations. I scored one after running into Kimbal Musk and his wife while standing in line to see Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians at the Boulder Theater. The line was too long and a drink at Trilogy was more promising than the opening band. I can't remember exactly how it came up-we spent most of our time discussing a recent installation Kimbal's wife Jen did at a Javits Center Wired event-but at some point Kimbal Blackberried an invitation to me and I started playing around with the tool a day or two later.
What's it all about? "It's about illuminating people and activity in a way that affects behavior." [more]

Monday Business Roundup

I can remember ganging up on on my father to try and bring him in line with then-current fashion trends. We'd make fun of his zip-up boots, his too-wide pants, or his preference for 15-year-old ties. He would inevitably relent, go shopping, and return home with...the exact same thing...only newer. When it comes to clothes, proven formulas are a recipe for embarrassed children. In business, however, proven formulas are apparently a key to success. To whit, Crocs heeded analyst advice to diversify their holdings and purchased Italian footwear manufacturer EXO Italia. What does EXO Italia do? They manufacture a unique compound that's used in a variety of athletic shoe applications. Sound familiar? Me, too. Stock folks liked the idea, though; the market rewarded the purchase bumping the stock a few dollars higher last week.

Item #2: What do you do after you found a healthy soft drink company (Izze) and sell it to a big unhealthy soft drink company (Pepsi)? Something completely different. [more]

Monday Business Roundup

Colorado banks are doing well. So says the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as reported in Thursday's Denver Business Journal.
Heritage Bank certainly did well this week. Albuquerque-based First Community Bank, a subsidiary of Albuquerque-based First State Bancorp., bought locally owned Heritage Bank this week for $72M. Colorado Gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez stands to net over $16M from the sale.
In other recent acquisition news, [more]

Boulder Fest with Big Ambitions Takes a Big Step

Boulder's Toofy Film Fest 2006 runs Thursday through Sunday this week at several venues in downtown Boulder. The backstory on Toofy's name has been fairly well documented, so I'll leave it to your googling self to discover. I'm into the movies! In 2004, Toofy debuted with 15 films on one night's program. 2006 brings the 3rd Toofy with over 50 films shown over three days and two extra days of fashion, fine art, and music thrown in for good measure.
I spoke with Toofy Festival Director Jeff Siebert last night about the history of the festival, its future, and this year's offering. [more]

How to Make a Livid Landord Laugh

Boulder landlord Doug Roberts recieved a comical apology last month after a hellish year with Colin and his roomates. The letter (see the larger photo below the fold) chronicles a year worth of waste, damage, depravity, general bad sense, and-I hate to admit it-extreme amounts of fun. As a consolation, his "favorite tenants" offered Doug the letter and a $30 bottle of Scotch to ease his pain. [more]

Boulder Business Roundup

Several encouraging reports in this week's business news point to the fact that Boulder-area folks have more options than others might. The Rocky Mountain News reports that the Denver Technology Job Market is creating more jobs than most of the country, and that the Rocky Mountain Region as a whole, outpaced the national average by 11%. Even better (or at least, more tangible), a U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report released early this month placed Boulder 7th in the country for highest per capita income. How a person earning the Boulder average of $45,944 can afford Boulder's average home (I'm sure that I read a recent report that put the average home price at $500K, though I can't find a link to support this) is another matter entirely.

More jobs, more money, equal more options, right? What to do with the windfall? [more]

Monday Business Roundup

Business probably isn't on the top of everone's mind this 11th morning of September. But in a country where distinctions between personal, community, political, and economic life are virtually nonexistent, I'm sure most of us remember the fog in the office five years ago, the frantic calls between the home office and stranded road warriors, the bewildered gestures of bosses more used to leading Tuesday-morning sales meetings than encouraging emotional staff-members to take solace in family, faith, and national solidarity. And so, while Boulder's high-end housing market and anxious preparations for 29th Street's opening still get some coverage, it's no surprise that much of the past week's business press chronicle's how local companies adjusted in Q4 '01.

Saturday's Rocky Mountain News tells a tale of one Colorado company's survival. [more]

Monday Business Roundup

Boulder Coffee shops got extensive coverage this week, from the perspectives of both students and the Camera-coined "wireless working class" (My personal favorite is the under-reported back patio at Espressoria on East Pearl).

Salon's Andrew Leonard (premium membership or two-minute ad viewing required) evaluates Crocs from an environmental perspective, while Boulder County Business Report's Commercial Real Estate Source Book looks at the impact that Crocs' expansion is having on Niwot/Gunbarrel's commercial and residential real estate prospects. Leonard cites a recent Treehugger analysis which looks at the material (petroleum: bad), construction (one material: good), recycle-ability (not very: bad), manufacturing locations (some US and Canada-based manufacturers: good; 50% based in China: bad), and practices of a growing number of Crocs imitations (100% manufactured in China: bad). [more]