Boulder named best Colorado city for starting up business

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to business, especially when starting one. And according to BusinessWeek magazine, Boulder is among the best of smaller cities in which to do just that.

In fact, with a population of 91,000 residents, Boulder is just as good of a place to start a business as San Francisco (population 733,000) and New York (8.2 million), according to research conducted by GIS Planning for BusinessWeek.

According to the magazine, Boulder has 4.72 startups per 1,000 people and 73 small businesses per 1,000.

“What sets Boulder apart is the collaborative spirit of the town. When you start a company in Boulder, instead of every other startup in town trying to beat you, every other startup in town instantly becomes your biggest fan,” says Rob Johnson, co-founder of conference social networking company EventVue, in touting the benefits of starting up a business in Boulder to BusinessWeek.

Cost of living and quality of life are drawing entrepreneurs to small cities, and those communities are recognizing entrepreneurs as an important part of their economy by helping retain existing jobs and attracting large corporations, according to the magazine.

In smaller cities, businesses don’t face the competition and higher costs as they would in bigger cities, and they also enjoy a higher profile to attract workers and may receive government incentives to create jobs.

GIS Planning weighed 11 factors to gauge an area’s entrepreneurial climate, including the number of small businesses and startups, the quality of the work force, how many universities were in town, and measures of innovation such as the number of patents issued and the amount of venture capital invested. It sought out one small city (with a population between 20,000 and 200,000) in each of the 50 states to name the best in which to start a business.

BusinessWeek then asked entrepreneurs in each city what people should know about starting a business there. Many said factors such as affordability, availability of talent, existence of a thriving business community and quality of life helped them choose where to open shop.