The first rule of founder fight club is… tell everyone.
The second rule of founder fight club is … make money.
A handful of the city’s tech legends are stepping into the ring to raise cash for charity, in a fully sanctioned boxing match to cap the end of Boulder Startup Week.
The idea was born from the brain of David Mandell, who turned to boxing after the pressures of running his startup, Pivot Desk, caused his health to decline.
“I had been spending a lot of time on airplanes or sitting behind a desk,” Mandell said. “My back was a mess, I was overweight — I was truly broken and trying to figure out a way to fix myself.
“Then someone sent me to Carrie.”
That’s Carrie Barry, founder and coach at The Corner Boxing Club in Boulder. A former captain of the USA Boxing national team, Barry quickly whipped Mandell into shape. Then she told him: Bring your friends.
“We’d been having the conversation about how we get the tech guys into our gym,” Barry said. “Then one day, he comes in and just said, ‘Founder fights.’”
The sport appeals to entrepreneurs because, in many ways, the sport is similar to the business.
Like startups, boxing is “something most people tell you you’re going to fail at,” said Brain Schroy, founder of B Dot Media Group and a former semi-professional snowboarder.
Schroy and his brother will both be fighting in the May 20 event, being held at New Vista High School — but they won’t be boxing one another.
“His brother’s too big,” Barry said.
None of the matchups have been decided yet, but the names will certainly be familiar to many in town: Brad Feld of the Foundry Group, Jerry Colonna of Reboot, Graham Forlong of Made Movement, and former NFL linebacker Ariel Solomon (now with Premier Mortgage), to name a few.
“This is a great, really hilarious way that an event came about where a bunch of people were trying to get in shape and found out they had a passion for a sport they had never tried,” said Startup Week founder Andrew Hyde. “We’re a volunteer-run, community driven event, so when somebody says ‘I have an idea,’ we try to support that.”
Founder Fights also fits with the philanthropic spirit of Boulder’s business scene. Proceeds from admission will go to Blue Sky Bridge, a nonprofit working to prevent child abuse, and New Vista High School, which already has a relationship with Corner Boxing.
Each entrepreneur will also be raising money for a charity of their choice via a sponsorship model.
After 11 weeks of training, Schroy and Mandell are ready to put on the gloves, raise some dough and spread the gospel of boxing to the local tech community.
“There’s no time you find out more about yourself than when you step in the ring,” Schroy said.
“It’s very much an analog to the daily work I put in the office,” Mandell added. “There’s so many times I want to stop. But you can’t quit. You’re never out of the fight.
“And you get to hit stuff.”
Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, castles@dailycamera.com