Neil Pollard, Professor of Management, presenting at Colorado Startup Week
Neil Pollard, Professor of Management, presenting at Colorado Startup Week

Colorado Startup Week is all about bringing people together to learn, share ideas, and get inspired. This year, CBUS was right in the middle of the action! Thanks to our very own Becky Prater and Neil Pollard, who submitted three different sessions, MSU Denver had the chance to engage with hundreds of entrepreneurs, community leaders, and curious minds from all over.

Here is a quick recap of the events:

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition: The Startup Path You Didn’t Know You Were Ready For
Led by Neil Pollard, with guests from DU, the Colorado SBDC, and the SBA, this session gave students and community members a fresh look at how buying a business can be a path to entrepreneurship. The room was packed with over 120 people in a space that seats 70! Attendees included folks who had just gone through career changes, physicians rethinking their approach to medicine, and even people traveling in from out of state and abroad.

Mindful Money: Financial Strategies for Wellness Entrepreneurs
This one was all Becky Prater! She walked wellness-focused entrepreneurs through smart ways to manage money while staying true to their values. It was all about finding balance between financial health and personal mission, a theme that really resonated with the audience.

Beyond the Mission: Nonprofit Management
Becky Prater, in collaboration with alumna Maria Gonzales of Adelante Community Resources, co-created this impactful session. Together, they convened several distinguished nonprofit leaders to discuss the realities of leading and sustaining mission-driven organizations. Students and community members gained meaningful, behind-the-scenes insights into how to ensure the longevity and impact of purpose-driven work. Maria played an instrumental role in bringing this event to fruition, and her leadership, vision, and dedication were key to its success.

By the numbers:

Across all three sessions, there were 760 total registrants and an estimated 225 in-person participants. The turnout underscored the relevance of these topics and the hunger for community and insight among Colorado’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Bringing ETA into the CBUS Curriculum

Building on this momentum, we’re excited to share that our MBA program will launch a new Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) course this spring. Inspired by the incredible response to Neil Pollard’s ETA session, the course will explore how buying and growing an existing business can often be more sustainable and successful path than starting one from scratch. This is another way CBUS is helping students gain real-world insight and stay ahead in an evolving business landscape.

Colorado Startup Week gave our CBUS community a front-row seat to real-world conversations about entrepreneurship, money, and mission. We’re proud that MSU Denver could be part of such a dynamic event and grateful to Becky, Neil, and all the amazing panelists who made it possible.

CBUS is excited to keep bringing opportunities like this to our students!

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