“What can you do to help our community’s growth?”

Why West Slope Startup Week? We wanted to bring to light the riches of the western slope and the gritty resolve of the folks who live here. To celebrate our “slope” – a unique mix of communities nestled between mountains, ranchlands, farms, desert open space, and rivers, with small towns and one BIG city (or we like to think so), Grand Junction. In this enlightening endeavor, bringing the first West Slope Startup Week to life, we wanted to tap into our collaborative density to share resources among our geographically dispersed communities.

Towns like Durango, Trinidad, Vail, Montrose, Paonia, Telluride, Craig, Steamboat Springs…are creating lifestyle-centric communities that bring to its citizens the ability to flourish outside of urban population centers. These towns are rising up and creating their own story by diversifying, working together, capitalizing on their uniqueness, and implementing the tools of entrepreneurship. Startups, small businesses, and growth companies are able to thrive all across the region, and give back to their communities.

There is work to be done, for sure, and there always will be. We invite you to join us in Grand Junction to be part of that work – building a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem that will help us continue to be able to start, grow, and succeed in the places we have chosen to call home.

I like to deal in outcomes and not ideology, and so I pose this challenge: What can you do to help our community’s growth? Let the activities commence on June 5th.

– Bryan Wachs