New faces. Business names. Alcohol. Business cards. Early mornings and late nights was the story of this past Denver Startup Week.

Being my first week in the marketing and PR professional world, it was initially overwhelming. Monday night was the Tech Cocktail and my mind was blown by all the technology advancements being delivered by these incredible startups. One stand out was Pivothead’s recording sunglasses. They recorded me standing right in front of them then connected the glasses to their phone and showed it to me within seconds. I was in awe.

By Tuesday I had my new business cards; the first I have ever owned. I found it difficult to balance my purse, drink, sweater, shake hands and then somehow hand over a business card in the middle of a conversation. With this experience, I recommend having a business card holder that easily slides open and can deliver a card with one hand. For women, use a smaller purse if at all possible. Keep it simple.

Startup Cribs was the first event I attended on Wednesday and I was blown away by their setup to encourage creativity in a modern environment. The speakers made me especially excited to be a part of a flourishing community of entrepreneurs and startups right here in Denver. PaySimple created a space that follows their motto “bring your passion. Bring your love. Bring what makes you, you.” Slice of Lime and Ibotta addressed the issue of having enough bathrooms as you grow in size. We are taking steps in the right direction by adding Poo-Pourri to our bathroom accessories.

My favorite event was Who Doesn’t Want to be a Millionaire hosted by Heinrich Marketing at Mile High Spirits. We drank their delicious Mile High Mules while answering Colorado trivia.  Mile High Spirits was the perfect intimate atmosphere for the game. My coworkers and I won lifetime memberships with car2go! Here I witnessed my amazing coworkers engaging with other companies who became interested in our phone solution.
Friday night we had the exciting privilege of hosting the cornhole tournament at the closing event at Galvanize. Twenty-four teams competed for the prize of the illustrious cornhole trophy and $100 to Argonaut Wine & Liquor. Third place was iTriage, LohiLabs came in second, and first prize went to two strangers who came together to dominate as team Corn. Other great companies that were able to participate were Convercent, Slice of Lime, EdgeLink and FullContact. We all thoroughly enjoyed the delicious beverages generously provided by Red Bull and Great Divide Brewery. Hosting the event gave us the great opportunity to engage with peers and other companies to help create brand recognition.

Now that my whole team has taken the weekend to detox and catch up on lost sleep, we are reflecting on the incredible networking opportunity that last week provided. I am thrilled to continue my involvement in the Denver startup community and share my experiences with companies next year.

And special thanks tooooooo iTriage, Commerce Kitchen, PivotDesk, FullContact and Lark IT for letting us use your boards for cornhole!