Dear Boulder

My friends at Boulder.me are putting together a collective list from local Boulder bloggers on "What Does Boulder Mean To You? Of course I wanted to participate, because the very premise of this community project is part of why I love Boulder.

Dear Boulder,

You enticed me so much, I packed up my car (job-less and apartment-less), drove across the country and decided to call you my home this past August 2008. Here I am, March 2009 with a job I love, nestled in the start-up, tech community living in a house looking out at the Flatirons, just moments from hiking trails.

For this and many more reasons, I want to thank you for:

Your Community: It's eclectic by being mixed with locals and transplants who want a life with more balance and harmony. There's a surge of power here. People ask how you're doing and care to hear the answer. Upon moving here alone, I didn't feel alone because I found many groups and organizations focused on niche interests from Boulder Outdoor Group to New Tech Meetup.

Your Weather and Geographical Location: Nice spot to land. You're nestled so nicely against the Flatiron mountains and the Rockies are just at your back. I can snowboard each weekend on some of the country's best resorts within a few hours or hike moments from my front door. With 300+ days of sunshine and summers that are not humid (coming from New England this is amazing), it's a deal breaker in itself.

Technology, Wit and Smarts Oh My!: As I work for Lijit Networks, Inc., I'm thick in the midst of the start-up and technology scene. There's a lot of intelligence and creativity weaving through Boulder. The pulse is beating. There's something in the air and it's not just based around technology. It's no wonder The American calls Boulder the, "Start-Up Town."

Delicious Morsels: Mmm, from The Black Cat to Mountain Sun the culinary range makes a foodie like myself happy, rivaling other city's cuisine selection, per Boulder's capita.

Thank you again Boulder and all that you have given and supported me. Your fresh air, beauty and intelligent people keep me going each day.

Yours truly,

Grace

Too Lijit, Too Lijit To Quit

Drum roll please...yesterday I started my job at Lijit .

Lijit is a hot start-up in downtown Boulder, Colorado that offers a free service to publishers (mostly bloggers). This is how is works: We offer a search-powered web application that allows readers to access all of the publishers' online social media content (ie: Flickr, Facebook, Delicious, Twitter, your blog, etc.) We also include your extended trusted network in this search. This means when someone does a search, they will get results from your blog, all your online content, and the content of your network. It's a much more personalized and relevant search component. If people are coming back to your blog because they trust what you're writing, they will also trust what you're bookmarking and writing about in the wild world of the WWW.

I'm doing Business Development and personally reaching out to Bloggers, and segmenting who we're forging new relationships with. I love the environment, the people are great, it's a progressive start-up, and right now at my desk, I have a view of the mountains and downtown Boulder!

Regarding landing the job, as I talk with Career Services at Champlain, I say network, network, and then lots of research. I didn't even know they were specifically hiring, but then the fit for Business Development ended up being just right. In the morning I met with Micah Baldwin, VP of Business Development to chat about the 'local market' and see if he knew of any employment opportunities. It turned into an impromptu interview with the COO, Walter, and that same day (Friday the 12th), I was hired, and Monday the 15th I began work.

Here's an office tour of our downtown digs. This was a little while ago, so there are recent renovations and new decorations but you get the idea. Tara, one of my colleagues in the Biz. Dev. team (her title is Community Catalyst) is the wonderful hostess. Enjoy!

Check out the widget to the right for my blog ---->

Any questions? E-mail me here: gboyle@lijit.com