Our Culture

After a classic day of powder skiing, lunch is served to our Boulder Ventures clients at the Vail Powder Guides Yurt, Vail Pass, Colorado.  Photo by Topher Donahue.

In every valley of the alpine regions on Earth, there is a distinctive culture – it’s one reason why these places are marvelous to visit.  After a guided trip, Clients can accurately describe the differences between the cultures in the Val Gardena and Arco, or between Aspen and Telluride.  Mountain Guides embody the culture of their valley.  They are responsible for curating it for clients and for maintaining it for the next generation of Guides.

Culture in these valleys evolves over time, the result of the people, cuisine, and mountain topography that combine to give each its distinctive flavor, a lifestyle unique to that place.  Some are born there, but every Guide finds his Valley and becomes a part of its culture over the course of his career.

Venture Capitalists help create the culture of their valleys as well, whether it’s a place like San Francisco, or a market like biotechnology.  Over time, a few VC Firms dominate their valley by investing in the most successful companies and gathering the most assets to invest, but because the goal of these professional relationships is money and status, it’s harder to define the culture of a VC Valley and how it differs from one place to another.

Over the past thirty years at Boulder Ventures, we’ve developed a culture in the Boulder Valley that’s modeled more on Mountain Guiding than on Venture Capital.  As a result, we’ve formed authentic relationships with entrepreneurs and investors that have endured for decades.  We point to that culture in working with aspirant entrepreneurs and VCs. In turn, they embrace our lessons and our best practices around risk management in the mountains and in business.

We believe that Culture is the only sustainable advantage in the venture capital business. The Culture of Boulder Ventures is what makes guiding so enjoyable for us all.

In the Haslital Valley in the Canton Berne, Urs Wellauer, the President of the IFMGA, enjoys his copy of our new book about the culture of Boulder Ventures, High Exposure.  Urs is the subject of Chapter 4.