West Slope Startup Week Extends Impact as Regional Event

This October, West Slope Startup Week (WSSW) returned to Durango for the third year in a row, attracting a record-breaking 533 registrants, the highest participation in the event’s history. Powered by Startup Colorado, the free, five-day event featured 70+ educational sessions designed to support entrepreneurs across industries and business stages.

Now in its seventh year overall, WSSW continues to evolve alongside the needs of rural founders, small business owners, creatives, and community leaders across the state. The latest numbers tell a compelling story of growth, reach, and impact; which we’re sharing in this year’s 2025 West Slope Startup Week Event Report. 

The data confirms what participants already know: WSSW is more than a local event—it’s a regional movement.

A Growing Regional Impact for Rural Entrepreneurs

While about 49% hailed from Durango, the remaining 51% traveled in from other places across Colorado and the Four Corners region. This near-even split shows that the event has successfully maintained a strong local foundation while extending its reach to neighboring communities and even metro hubs.

This year’s participants came from 78 unique cities, including 56 within Colorado. While Denver and Boulder continued to be the top sources of urban attendees, many came from across the Western Slope, with strong representation from Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, and Salida. The event also showed signs of growing regional influence, drawing attendees from out-of-state communities in New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.

Top Cities Outside of Durango

Building Momentum as a Community Incubator

West Slope Startup Week’s impact lies not only in its educational offerings, but also in its ability to foster meaningful connections. Many attendees cited networking and relationship-building as a primary reason for showing up—whether to meet fellow founders, potential partners, mentors, or local business leaders. The event creates space not just for learning, but for building trust and community across the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In a post-event survey, 75% of respondents said that they made important contacts, collaborations, or partnerships during the event.

“I have a full couple of weeks of connections set up – some potential new clients and collaborations as well. It was the most fruitful WSSW yet for me,” one attendee said. 

Attendees engaged both in person and online throughout the week, using the Whova event app to connect, share ideas, and plan additional gatherings. Highlights include:

• 1,450 private messages exchanged between attendees
• 1,201 Community Board posts across various discussion topics
• 11 additional in-person meetups scheduled through the app

In terms of who showed up, the entrepreneurial ecosystem was well represented this year. 

Over half of this year’s attendees (51%) identified as entrepreneurs, small business owners, or service providers actively working to start or scale a venture. 

Nearly one in four attendees (24%) represented chambers of commerce, local governments, SBDCs, and other business support organizations. These are the people who work year-round to sustain rural entrepreneurship in their communities, and are vital to ecosystem building events such as WSSW.

There was also notable growth in attendees working in capital access, as well as those offering mentorship, with 18% of attendees serving as coaches, advisors, or experienced professionals giving back to the community. This underscores the underlying, “Give First” ethos behind the event. 

“In a very small way I left feeling I’d helped some folks out. This was my key reason to attend. It’s a true culture of inclusion the organizers have fostered,” another attendee responded.

In practice, this means that most attendees are peers—entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, and community partners—not vendors. The event is intentionally designed to be non-transactional, creating a space that feels safe, honest, and focused on genuine connection rather than sales. While many service providers are present and accessible, the goal of West Slope Startup Week is not to pitch or be pitched to, but to foster meaningful relationships across the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

One of the most unique aspects of WSSW is its ability to serve business owners at every stage of their journey. This year, the majority of attendees (58.3%) were in the growth stage of business—actively scaling, building teams, or expanding to new markets. This highlights a common misconception about the term “startup,” which is often assumed to refer only to early-stage or idea-phase companies. Our ethos—at both Startup Colorado and West Slope Startup Week—is that “startup” is a verb, embodying a critical energy and mindset for business growth.

“We are frequently reminded of how rapidly rural Colorado is advancing in business,” Brittany Romano, Executive Director at Startup Colorado said. “The founders and companies are far more sophisticated than many expect. This is why we continue to advocate for and tell the real story about rural entrepreneurship.”

The event also brought together a diverse group of founders from a wide range of industries. Technology and innovation made up the largest segment, accounting for 26% of attendees. This included businesses in software, artificial intelligence, and climate tech, reflecting the growing presence of digital and data-driven innovation across the Western Slope.

It’s worth noting that as the division between tech companies and “non-tech” companies begins to blur—because every business needs to leverage digital technology to some extent—we anticipate seeing this remain a large percentage of attendees. 

Creative and marketing businesses made up nearly 8%, confirming the growing demand for storytelling, branding, and content creation.. The health, wellness, and beauty industry followed closely at 7%, reflecting lifestyle and personal service businesses that are thriving in the region.

This year also marked the launch of the event’s first Climate Track, which introduced sessions on sustainability, innovation, and capital access. The addition helped expand participation from founders working in sustainability and environmental sectors, bringing that group to 3% of total attendees.

WSSW Continues to Drive Local Economic Impact

As more than half of attendees traveled to Durango for the event, we can report a notable impact on the local economy. Our post-event survey revealed an estimated $571,164 direct spend during the event. This includes hotel, restaurant, and other shopping. We calculated:

• An average hotel stay of 3 nights, and an average spend of $302 cost per night, totaling an estimated $215,628
• $142,076 estimated restaurant spend (over an estimated three day period)
• $189,215 estimated additional spend on shopping and other services – including at the new Maker Night Market at the Powerhouse! 

This equates to an overall increase of 4% over last year’s event. 

Durango’s role as the host city for West Slope Startup Week has elevated its position as a rising startup hub in the Four Corners region. While the event delivers tangible benefits to the local economy, it also fosters entrepreneurial growth and collaboration. As the event returns in 2026, its continued growth is poised to deepen Durango’s identity not only as a vibrant mountain town, but also as a center for rural innovation and business development.

Showcasing Rural Ventures and Investment Opportunities

West Slope Startup Week also served as a platform to highlight the maturity and potential of rural businesses, as well as the opportunity for capital investment in these ventures. The Startup Colorado Pitch Competition featured six founders from across the state and drew an audience of more than 120 attendees, including founders, funders, ecosystem builders, and potential mentors.

The finalists represented a diverse range of industries, from outdoor recreation and software technology to sustainability and food and beverage. Each founder delivered a compelling pitch that reflected strong market insight, community impact, and clear growth potential.

Notable outcomes included:

• Mighty Mike’s Foods raised $11,000 through an interest-free Kiva crowdfunded loan and then received an additional $5,000 award from Startup Colorado (a mix of loan and grant).
• Sky View Tents received a $10,000 0% recoverable grant from Startup Colorado and successfully completed an initial raise of $175K that inspired further funding from out-of-state. Startup Colorado will also contribute to Sky View’s upcoming Kiva campaign.
• Nearly $20,000 in in-kind prizes and support were distributed to the participating founders.
• issho and Onalytics entered due diligence conversations with Howdy Partners and the Kickstart Fund, exploring potential investment opportunities.

issho and Onalytics entered due diligence conversations with Howdy Partners and the Kickstart Fund, exploring potential investment opportunities.

This year’s Startup Colorado Pitch Competition at West Slope Startup Week surfaced important takeaways for the future, notably: we need more opportunities for rural founders to pitch. In response, Startup Colorado will launch a quarterly pitch practice and demo day series in 2026. These opportunities will offer smaller pools of capital and increased access to investors and advisors, allowing for more frequent, lower-stakes opportunities to gain exposure and funding.

We also learned that preparing for a pitch and going through due diligence is a significant lift. To support founders through that process, we’ll be launching due diligence sprints in 2026. These programs will help entrepreneurs get pitch-ready, understand investor expectations, and move through the fundraising process with greater confidence.

If you’re interested in learning more or getting involved, sign up for more information here.

Looking ahead to 2026

Rural Startup Days:
Startup Colorado is excited to announce the launch of a new event series: Rural Startup Days. The first event will take place in La Junta in February 2026. More details and registration information can be found here.

Additionally, entrepreneurs can take part in another startup-focused gathering during the final stop of the Startup Colorado Roadtrip, happening March 3–5 in Weld County.

West Slope Startup Week:
West Slope Startup Week will return to Durango for a fourth year in 2026. The event will continue to focus on elevating rural entrepreneurship via building meaningful connections, strengthening the sense of belonging within Colorado’s entrepreneurial community, and addressing resource gaps for rural founders. Organizers also plan to build on WSSW’s growing momentum in the Four Corners region, with efforts to engage even more founders from neighboring states.
For more information about the 2026 event, please contact event organizer Olivia Reed at info@startupcolorado.org.