Top down organizations like the CS department, or even Silicon Flatirons for that matter, have a hard time encouraging students because many simply aren't exposed to enough cutting-edge web technologies through the curriculum to see where they could take them. ATLAS has done a really good job at doing this, and a number of their most promising students come from the CS department to explore more web and design related courses.

David, I have full confidence that you can really help the department to understand what it can do to bridge to the community and encourage students. Clearly the community is more than willing to help. Keeping students interested when they are young is key - I have heard of far too many CS students with less than positive experiences, and losing interest because their are too few "end goals" that the curriculum presents them with. CU Div was able to catch a number of seniors (as well as some younger students) who had already found their way to web development, however, fall semester freshman year is really the time to engage kids.

Jim - you have to be careful with this. CS students have their own ideas - you can't simply seek to pair them up with business-savvy "idea guys". Students can make this connection themselves, once they see what Boulder has to offer them, however, from the ones I have spoken to, many are wary of getting pulled into some venture where they are treated like code-monkeys and given no room to architect on their own.

Bottomline: focus on grassroots (student up) initiatives and giving students the options they need in the curriculum to see all the great entrepreneurial opportunities on campus and in Boulder.

Take a look at http://entrepweek.org - updated on a timely basis with all of the above

Not ignoring this...:P

A CU Entrepreneurship Week website is currently in the works - will post that link here soon!

I can't wait - the first event was incredible fun! Putting together a contingent of CU web developers from div to attend.

For any CU students out there who might get a glance at this, I want to add one more event to the roster - the first meeting of cu div, CU's new web development club, Jan. 28th @ 6pm, Discovery Learning Center - grab all the details at http://cudiv.com/

Evening class -> HackSpace -> Startup Drinks. I couldn't have planned a better Thursday night!

Dave, I am in a similar boat - I decided to go full throttle down the startup parth about 2 years ago, even though I was on track for a very solid finance position. Like David, I had quite a bit of pressure from people telling me that I could "do it later."

I think that weighing one's choices, options and desires can be really tough at times, however, it is best to go with your gut desires. My biggest lesson has been not to take too many side projects/interests on - drop what you need to in order to focus on your passion - this is far easier said than done - I struggle with it everyday.

Not quite sure how I made it on here, but force-directed layout sounds great to me! Will be watching to see when you touch down in Boulder, Pete!

Awesome blog Austin! I agree with Brett, SW was amazing. And big props on the Intense Debate gig & acquisition. Can't wait to see how the new blog develops - I'm sure a lot of people will like to see where you head off to for college.