Building Thriving Mountain Town Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Welcome to Mountain Minds Monday
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facebook.com/groups/SiliconMountain
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#MountainMindsMonday

MMM Helpful Info
• Schedule
• Turn off cell phones
• Always use a mic to speak
• No swear words
• Finding food/drinks
• Let’s get the livestream started!

Quick Introductions
• Name
• Job Title / What you do
• If relevant: How TSM has helped you recently

Programs
Mountain Minds Monday
An educational topic & speaker
2nd Monday of the month
6-8pm, Pizza on the Hill
First Friday at Five
Entrepreneurs helping each other
1st Friday of the month
5-6pm, The Lift
bit.ly/FFF-Truckee
TahoeJS
JavaScript, all abilities welcome
3rd Tuesday of the month
6-8pm, The Lift
bit.ly/tahoe_js

Announcements
• Next month’s MMM
o May 13th, 6-8p, Pizza on the Hill
o Speaker: Dave Sick
o Topic: Entrepreneurship

Announcements
• Tahoe Pitch Camp & Showcase
o August/September 2019
o Sign up: info@tahoesiliconmountain.com

Startup Weekend
Truckee
• Info Sessions
– Truckee
• Lift CoWork
• Tues, April 16, 6:00-7:30
– Incline Village
• Mountain Workspace
• Wed, April 17, 6:00-7:30
– http://bit.ly/SWTahoeFB

Startup Weekend
Truckee Apr 26-28
• Participate (Fri-Sun)
• Pitch/Demo Viewing (Fri and/or Sun)
• Mentor (Sat and/or Sun)
• Volunteer
(ellen@tahoesiliconmountain.com)
• Tickets HTTP://bit.ly/SWTruckee
• Discount: TSM20

Announcements
• Keeping informed!
o Email newsletter – read it
o Facebook group
o YouTube – archives of all events / intros -
bit.ly/YouTubeTSM

Announcements: Making TSM Events Accessible
• Livestream / Fireplace Room
• Pay what you can
• Free: Local high school students w/ ID
• Free: MMM Volunteers
o Sign up to volunteer: bit.ly/VolunteerTSM

Meet the Volunteer Board
Dave
DePuy
Retired
Entrepreneur
Rachel Arst
McCullough
McCullough Web
Services
Garrett
McCullough
Virta Health
Ellen Raynor
KeepOnMovin’ Connie
Gallippi
BitGive

Volunteer Openings
• Mountain Minds Monday –Speaker Co-Coordinator:
• Startup Weekend – ellen@tahoesiliconmountain.com
• Mountain Minds Monday (during event):
bit.ly/VolunteerTSM

Thank You!
For being generous with
pay-what-you-can
Our dedicated volunteers
Sponsors (more later!)

Watch the Rest of MMM
Return to our YouTube channel:
bit.ly/YouTubeTSM
Get an email when we go live!
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• Subscribe button top-right
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Networking Time!
Be seated at 6:43pm

Gold Sponsor Silver Sponsor
Community Partners

Become A Sponsor!
bit.ly/SponsorMMM
sponsorship@tahoesiliconmountain.com
OR
Ask Me!

Thank You Individual Sponsors!
• Entry to all MMM events
• Pizza and salad
• 1 Beer/Wine or 2 Sodas
• No line!
Become one for $150/yr ($12.50/event): bit.ly/IndSponsorMMM

Building Thriving Mountain
Town Entrepreneurial
Ecosystems
Colleen Dalton Truckee Chamber
Pam Hobday, Truckee Tomorrow

PLACEHOLDER - MTN VENTURES
22
MTN. VENTURES SUMMIT
(Feb. 27-March 1) - KEYNOTE SUCCESS

(Feb. 27-March 1) - TRUCKEE, KEYNOTE
* 41 Mountain & Gateway Communities (U.S./Western)
* 150 Attendees - 3 Days (Council members, local government,
entrepreneurs, environmental organizations)
◦ Truckee Mountain Housing Council, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (Stacy)
* 300 Attendees - Public Panel Session
23

A network of leaders building entrepreneurial ecosystems in
mountain towns… Mountain Venture Summit Vision
● We are focused on building sustainable entrepreneurship
ecosystems in mountain towns.
● The world of work is changing - people can work from anywhere and
create companies with international reach from their coffee table -
we (mountain towns) need to leverage this shift by attracting
startups and smart/interesting people.
● If you can start a business from anywhere, why not start it steps
from the ski slopes.

Summit Workshops had 3 Tracks
Sustainable Recreation: Both the draw and backbone of what brings people to
mountain towns. How do we preserve, protect and leverage our natural resources in
a responsible fashion?
Infrastructure and Community: Infrastructure innovation in housing, broadband, and
physical working space is critical for supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems. Creating
and leveraging an entrepreneurial culture is essential to starting and maintaining a
vibrant community.
Innovation and Investment: Most mountain communities are dependent on snow fall
and tourism to sustain their economic vitality. How do we create the third leg of that
stool and galvanize our communities around supporting innovative businesses to
relocate, stay and grow?

Should you launch an Accelerator or an
Incubator?
Definitions: Accelerators = Incubators on steroids!
Proverb: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go
far go together!

Accelerators
● Later stage companies
● Usually will end with capital offering in exchange for
equity convertible note
● They are often themed: Retail, Niche
● Lots more invested in the relationships
● Investors are commonly looking at the funds targeting 3x
plus returns

Accelerators
● Get caught in the funding cycle of needing another
round of finance
● Every round of funding can mean giving up 15-20% of
business
● Telluride established four boot camps six weeks long- did
not work
Lesson Learned from Telluride- Moved to two week boot
camps and focused on developing their Incubator model

Incubators
● Companies at an early stage of development. “I have an
idea, what do I do?”
● Step above coworking
● Usually pay $1500-$2000 to participate for 2 week
bootcamp
● Telluride built on start up week-end and developed
intensive 2 week boot camps for Incubator participants

Telluride Incubator
● Married housing for incubator company participants
through property management collaboration
● Model is quicker for investors
● Found female entrepreneurship goes up 50%
● Easier for Angel Investors to become involved
● Funding $ from the Greater Colorado Venture Fund

Greater Colorado Venture Fund
Our Mission
We are a venture capital fund investing in early stage
startups headquartered across the state of Colorado,
outside of the Front Range. We are working to inspire
innovation in places formerly overlooked by venture funds.

Greater Colorado Venture Fund
IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED FOR INVESTMENT BY THE GREATER COLORADO
VENTURE FUND, COMPANIES MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
● Headquarters or significant operations located in Rural Colorado*
● At least two full-time employees based out of Rural Colorado*
● Committed to being located in Rural Colorado* for at least five years
● Seeking first institutional investment or "growth" capital funding
● Serving customers well-beyond the company's locality, or is raising funds to
scale to customers beyond the company's locality

Telluride
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem focus is:
To recruit 5 companies per year that will grow to $30
million with no more than 30 employees
Note: Using their Incubator and Colorado Venture Fund as
their vehicle

Truckee Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurial
Ecosystem

Exercise: Milestone Mapping
Recommended goal setting process. Important to do this with your entire start up team
1. Draw your goal posts
2. Define your long term goal
3. Insert hash tags - and list the three most important things to get there
4. Create a time box- Using sticky notes: do a retrospective. In the last 3 months what have
been your key moments?
a. How did these key moments make you feel? (different color sticky)
b. What did you learn? (different color sticky)
c. What are the key goals to move your company forward in the next 3 months
(discussion)
5. Set Goals : Specific, Measurable, Aggressive, Realistic and Time Phased
6. Every 3 months go back and see if your goal posts have changed.
7. Define your key customers at each new iteration

(Feb. 27-March 1) - TRUCKEE LEADS THE U.S.
UNIQUE TO MOUNTAIN TOWN COMMUNITIES, TRUCKEE:
◦ Established the first Quality of Life Survey System.
◦ Developed the first Socio Economic Metrics.
* Majority of attending Towns pledged to join the “Mountain Town
Quality of Life Project!”
36

● Truckee Town Council Official acceptance of the Truckee Socio
Economic Metrics as official database of record.
● Press Release, Promotion & Awareness
● User-friendly representation of the data
● Remeasure, improve in summer 2019
37
TRUCKEE SOCIO-ECONOMIC METRICS
WHERE WE ARE AT TODAY

TODAY
● HOW AND WHY DID TRUCKEE CREATE A
SERIES OF QUALITY OF LIFE SURVEYS?
● HOW AND WHY DID TRUCKEE RESEARCH
AND DEFINE 91 SOCIO ECONOMIC
COMMUNITY INDICATORS?
● PLAYBOOK FOR YOUR MOUNTAIN TOWN

NOT SETUP FOR
ECONOMIC SUCCESS
● “YOUNG” TOWN - INCORPORATED 1993
● OUTDATED AND DISPERSED WEBSITES
(TOURISM, DISTRICTS, AGENCIES)
● NO BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (BID)
● NO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
● LAKE TAHOE DOMINATED “TRUCKEE WHO?”

PHASE I
2015-2016
Public /
Private
Partnership

PRIVATE
INVESTORS
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
CHAMBER
OF
COMMERCE

WE CONDUCTED
FOUR COMMUNITY
WORKSHOPS

NEVER START
YOUR TOWN SWOT
WORKSHOP WITH
“WEAKNESSES…”

Big Life
Videos –
Annual
Awards
Dinner

WE ACHIEVED BUY-IN
FOR THE NEW BRAND,
BUT THERE WERE
MAJOR UNEXPECTED
CONSEQUENCES

She has a “real” job.
He’s a Truckee Renaissance MAN
ARE THEY A FLIGHT RISK?

“AIRBNB IS RUINING MY
NEIGHBORHOOD”
SAID THE LOCAL

TOURISM IS THE BACKBONE OF
TRUCKEE’S ECONOMY
TRUCKEE TOURISM BUSINESS
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
(TTBID) STARTS UP 2016

two hoteliers, two property managers,
one nightly rental owner, one inn owner,
one chamber board member

TRUCKEE POSSE GOES
MT. VENTURES #1

PHASE II
2018-2020
Public /
Private
Partnership

WE CAN’T PROTECT
WHAT WE DON’T
MEASURE

Challenge:
Decreasing loyalty trends cause flight to competing towns and cities, in
addition to painting a negative reputation for prospective residents
and business owners.
Solution:
Measure and track community sentiment about living in Truckee to
understand trends in our community’s feelings about their quality of
life in Truckee, measure the degree of feeling economically secure,
optimism about their future and faith in our core values.

1. COMMUNITY BUY-IN (TWO MONTHS)
– Public Input on approach.
– Stakeholder Interviews – Chief of Police, Fire District, Community
Foundation, Town Government, Homeowners Associations...
– Consultant/Software researched. Sought Town Gov. input.
2. PROJECT LAUNCH to COMPLETION (FOUR MONTHS)
– Feasibility, Proof of Concept, Testing
– Public/Private Partner Convening
– Community Outreach (print ads, email broadcast, social media)
– Launch + Campaign (FOUR SURVEYS)
– Results/Reporting.
QUALITY OF LIFE - TIMELINE

WE BUILT THE
FLASHVOTE TRUCKEE
COMMUNITY
TO OVER 1,600
CITIZENS

1. LISTEN How do Locals feel about their quality of life?
Are Locals evangelists for Truckee, if not why not?
2. LEARN What is impacting their quality of life?
What is actionable? Will perception change next year?
THREE OBJECTIVES
1. Achieve statistically relevant feedback.
2. RESULTS WILL prioritize Truckee’s socio-economic metrics.
3. REPORT to Truckee Tomorrow Investors & to Citizens.
TWO GOALS

FOUR SURVEYS
What Matters, Live, Work, Play

RESULTS CAN BE FILTERED
● Locals (year-round residents)
● Owner/Non-Owner (renters vs. homeowners)
● Residency (primary, part time, non-residents)
● Age – (30 and under, 31-45, 46-60 and 60+)
● Gender

What’s important when choosing where to live?
LOCALS
● 33% HOUSING
● 30% SAFETY & SECURITY
● 63% RECREATION/AMENITIES
● 73% ATTRACTIVENESS COMMUNITY

What’s important when choosing where to live?
LOCALS
● 33% FRIENDS / FAMILY
● 35% HOSPITAL ACCESS
● 31% CULTURE
● 71% WEATHER/CLIMATE

Which best describes how you work?
LOCALS
35% work in Truckee.
18.6% work location is virtual.
46% agree, good town to work virtually.

How easy or difficult, would it be to
find a similar or better job in Truckee?
46% Very Hard
21% Somewhat Hard
67% HARD

Which statements do you agree with?
65% happy with work
58% work is meaningful
62% flexibility is important

2.8% agree there are lots of professional jobs
18.2% agree there are lots of entry level jobs.
18% agree, lots of entry level jobs.
3% agree, lots of professional jobs.
Which statements do you agree with?

Would you recommend working in Truckee to a
friend or colleague?
135 (21.7%) would recommend
working in Truckee.

19.4% (9s+10s) would
recommend doing
business in Truckee
Net Promoter Score -34.5

THE ULTIMATE QUESTION
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND YOUR TOWN TO
(LIVE? WORK? PLAY? VISIT?)
TO A COLLEAGUE OR FRIEND…? (0-10)
NPS SCORES FORECAST INTENT

THE ULTIMATE QUESTION
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TRUCKEE...
LIVE? (75%) NPS= 14.8
DO BUSINESS? (46%) NPS= -34
PLAY? (86.6%) NPS = 59.4

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE
TO RAISE YOUR SCORE?
796 Comments
215 (27%) Traffic, Roads, Infrastructure

DISCUSS AT YOUR TABLE
IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?
WHY OR WHY NOT?

Challenge:
Lack of a central repository of socioeconomic data.
Night sky quality?
Fire calls?
School rankings?
Commercial space inventory?
Hospital Infection
Rates?
Solution:
Identify, measure, track key
socioeconomic indicators that have a
direct correlation with Truckee brand
loyalty and economic strength.
© Jeremy Jensen

American Community Survey
(ACS)
Annual Social and Economic
Supplement to the Current
Population Survey (CPS ASEC)

Public Records Data (online)
Sensor Data (automated)
Manually Measured Data
Crowd Sourced - (Surveys)

1. FIND METRICS - WHAT CITIZENS TOLD US IN QUALITY OF LIFE SURVEYS
2. RESEARCH HOW (OR IF) BEING MEASURED?
THREE OBJECTIVES
1. Centralize Truckee Data. Easy public access.
2. Develop a dynamic dataset (that is updated annually).
3. Ensure consistent methodology and community adoption.
TWO GOALS

QUANTITATIVE
How do we measure?
Metrics: lead, copper, radon,
giardia…we’re doing good!
QUALITATIVE
Truckee’s water
tastes great!

COMMUNITY INDICATORS
UNIQUE
TO MOUNTAIN TOWNS
DOES NOT EXIST

WE SET A HIGH BAR FOR QUALITY
1. Metric
2. Recorded Date - MOST CURRENT POSSIBLE
3. Qualitative or Quantitative
4. How Measured - BEST METHODOLOGY POSSIBLE
5. Relevant Comparisons
6. Other Conditions
7. Who Measures
8. Where Published

WE RESEARCHED ONLINE AND
TALKED TO KEY STAKEHOLDERS

Truckee Violent Crime Index 10.8
U.S. Violent Crime Index 31.1

74% BELOW NATIONAL AVERAGE
# OF FIRE CALLS, PER CAPITA
EMS CALLS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING

TRUCKEE’S AIR QUALITY IS 50%
CLEANER + HEALTHIER
THAN NATIONAL AVG.

64% rate “Sense of Community” as
top reason to live in Truckee.
64% SAID “SENSE OF COMMUNITY”
TOP REASON TO LIVE IN TRUCKEE
73% SAID “ATTRACTIVENESS”
IMPORTANT (streetscaping, roads, lack of blight).

LET’S TALK ABOUT
HOUSING METRICS

Public Records
Compliance
Monitoring
OUT OF 13,368 HOMES
Since July 1, 2017
● 1,390 or 10.25% of all housing
inventory is ACTIVE on STR market.
● 100 or .748% are Locals.
ACTIVE IS DIFFERENT THAN
REGISTERED. THAT COUNT IS 2K+

HOW TRUCKEE TOMORROW IS
GALVANIZING A COMMUNITY

TRUCKEE TOMORROW IS
FILLING THE NEED FOR AN
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ORGANIZATION

PROMOTE OUR
TOWN BRAND
STARTUP, RELOCATE, GROW

RESOURCES & TOOLS
● Truckee.com/qualityoflife
● Truckee.com/socio-economic
● Truckee.com/bizsurvey
● PropertyRadar.com
● Flashvote.com
● Hostcompliance.com

Colleen Dalton, Brand Communications
Director, Truckee CA
● Truckee Tourism Business
Improvement District (TTBID)
● Truckee Chamber | Truckee Tomorrow
colleen@ truckee.com
530-412-7090

Building Thriving Mountain Town Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

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