Photon Mountain outpost
Photon Mountain Connector
An unpaid volunteer role.
Go to the startup events in Boulder, Denver and Golden, meet everybody, and connect the founders of all three cities.
- Boulder
- Denver
- Golden
What you get
Built into your career
- Your name, photo and bio on the Colorado Startups Team page.
- A title you can list on LinkedIn under Volunteer experience, and a LinkedIn recommendation from Paul at the end of your term.
- Coffees with founders and event tickets reimbursed against receipts, within a budget we agree when you start.
- A one-year term. At the end, we both decide whether to renew.
- Claude Academy badges, and the skills behind them.
On LinkedIn, list the role under Volunteer experience with Colorado Startups as the organization. Colorado Startups is not your employer.
82%1(source 1: Deloitte survey, 2016)
of people who help choose new staff are more likely to pick an applicant with volunteer experience (Deloitte survey, 2016)
92%1(source 1: Deloitte survey, 2016)
of people who help choose new staff say volunteering expands a person's professional skills (Deloitte survey, 2016)
27%2(source 2: CNCS study, 2013)
higher odds of finding work for unemployed people who volunteer (CNCS study, 2013)
How it grows your network
Every intro runs through you
- Show up at startup events
- Introduce founders to helpers
- Link Boulder, Denver and Golden
- Coffee with new helpers
- Invite people to the Slack
- Follow up on every intro
20 million+4(source 4: Science study, 2022)
people in LinkedIn experiments that found moderately weak ties, and the ties with the least interaction, led to the most career moves (Science study, 2022)
35(source 5: per coloradostartups.org)
weekly threads in the Colorado Startups Slack: Monday Welcome, Wednesday Asks and Offers, Friday Colorado Wins
How it helps Colorado
Forge one Photon Mountain
A Golden founder meets the Boulder engineer they need. That is the heart of the role.
Who we are looking for
Connectors at heart
What you bring
- You love meeting people, and you love introducing them to each other.
- You love building, and you like being around people who build.
- You can get to events in Boulder, Denver and Golden.
- You are curious about what people are building, and you ask good questions.
In the interview, Paul looks for
- You make people feel welcome, especially the person standing alone.
- You ask about the other person first, and you listen.
- You follow through. When you promise an intro or a next step, it happens within two days.
- You know what to handle yourself and what to send to Paul.
Ground rules
- Everyone is welcome. No one should leave a conversation with you feeling like an outsider.
- Never promise Paul's time, money, investment, sponsorship, event slots or a role.
- Send VIPs, investors, sponsors, press and elected officials to Paul, with one line on what they want.
- When someone asks about Startup Hikes, Startup Ski Days or the Welcome to Boulder and Denver events, point them to the Startup Community Project's Luma calendar.
How to apply
Open the bronze doors
Tell us why
Write a few lines on why this role excites you and what you would bring to it. Excitement is the first requirement.
Earn the Claude Academy badges
Take each course for your seat on Claude Academy and pass its quiz. Each badge is free with a free Claude account. When you pass, open the badge and copy its verification link.
Meet Paul
Send your note and your badge links. If it looks like a fit, Paul sets up an interview, and you walk through the role description together.
The courses
| Course | Length |
|---|---|
| Claude 101 | 2.5 hours11(source 11: Claude Academy course pages) |
| AI Fluency: Framework and foundations | 4 hours11(source 11: Claude Academy course pages) |
| AI Fluency for small businesses | 3.5 hours11(source 11: Claude Academy course pages) |
| In total | 10 hours11(source 11: Claude Academy course pages) |
Badges in hand? Apply here.
The form asks for your note and the link to each badge. A person reads every application.
The other volunteer seats
Slack Community Lead
Make the Colorado Startups Slack the first place a Colorado founder goes to ask for help and share a win.
Space Peak Connector
Be the friendly face at Colorado Springs startup events, meet everybody, and connect Space Peak founders with each other and with the rest of the state.
Fusion Canyon Connector
Be the friendly face at Fort Collins startup events, meet everybody, and connect Northern Colorado founders with each other and with the rest of the state.
Sources
82% of people who help choose new staff are more likely to pick an applicant with volunteer experience (Deloitte survey, 2016). 92% of people who help choose new staff say volunteering expands a person's professional skills (Deloitte survey, 2016).
Source: Deloitte 2016 Impact Survey of 2,506 employed adults in 13 US metro areas who influence staffing decisions, via CSRwire. Read October 18, 2026.
27% higher odds of finding work for unemployed people who volunteer (CNCS study, 2013).
Source: Corporation for National and Community Service study, Volunteering as a Pathway to Employment, 2013, via OneStar Foundation. Read October 18, 2026.
16.7% saw the contact who led them to new work often, at least twice a week (Granovetter study, 1973). 55.6% saw that contact occasionally, more than once a year but less than twice a week (Granovetter study, 1973). 27.8% saw that contact rarely, once a year or less (Granovetter study, 1973).
Source: Mark Granovetter, The Strength of Weak Ties, American Journal of Sociology 78(6), 1973, page 1371: 54 Boston-area professionals who found new work through a contact. Read October 18, 2026.
20 million+ people in LinkedIn experiments that found moderately weak ties, and the ties with the least interaction, led to the most career moves (Science study, 2022).
Source: Rajkumar and others, A causal test of the strength of weak ties, Science 377(6612), 2022, study abstract via PubMed. Read October 18, 2026.
3 weekly threads in the Colorado Startups Slack: Monday Welcome, Wednesday Asks and Offers, Friday Colorado Wins.
Source: Colorado Startups, Community page. Read October 18, 2026.
24 straight-line miles, Boulder to Denver.
Source: Computed from USGS GNIS points 178680 (Boulder) and 201738 (Denver) as geodesic distance (Vincenty formula, WGS84 ellipsoid), rounded to whole miles. Read October 18, 2026.
18 straight-line miles, Boulder to Golden.
Source: Computed from USGS GNIS points 178680 (Boulder) and 202837 (Golden) as geodesic distance (Vincenty formula, WGS84 ellipsoid), rounded to whole miles. Read October 18, 2026.
13 straight-line miles, Denver to Golden.
Source: Computed from USGS GNIS points 201738 (Denver) and 202837 (Golden) as geodesic distance (Vincenty formula, WGS84 ellipsoid), rounded to whole miles. Read October 18, 2026.
86,458 new business applications filed in Colorado (Census data, 2019).
Source: US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, Colorado, sum of the 2019 monthly counts. Read October 18, 2026.
143,807 new business applications filed in Colorado (Census data, 2025).
Source: US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, Colorado, sum of the 2025 monthly counts. Read October 18, 2026.
Course lengths, from Claude Academy's course pages: Claude 101, AI Fluency: Framework and foundations, AI Fluency for small businesses. Read October 18, 2026.