Denver’s campus for business startups and entrepreneurs, The Commons at Champa, is in the midst of its second year with an open sign hanging on the door. Diversification of clientele has become a major focus for the organization’s leaders as they try to encourage more people to take advantage of its free and reduced-cost resources.

The Commons at Champa is a nonprofit created by a public/private partnership between the city of Denver, the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Colorado Technology Association along with numerous other sponsors. The Commons, which opened May 2015 at the corner of 13th Street and Champa Street, provides free programs, business meetups and mentorship along with access to high-tech conference rooms and meeting spaces at a free or reduced rate.

Also there’s free coffee in the center’s lounge. After all, anyone starting a business needs coffee in copious amounts.

“We wanted to create a center where entrepreneurship is an available option for all segments of our community, really removing the barriers to entry,” said Tami Door, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. “Even as a startup ourselves, we were able to engage several thousand individuals at meetups where they can collectively come together and learn from each other. We had panels, training sessions and the city also did a tremendous job of integrating their (economic and small business) programs here as well. We learned a lot and figured out things that work in our first year.”

Someone can come into The Commons with an idea for a business or product and find guidance from staff on what path they need to take to see that idea into fruition. And along the way, the Commons can provide a place for those ideas to grow from the tables in the first-floor lobby to the second floor office space that the center provides at a highly reduced rate.

While business incubators exist across the country, The Commons is a unique place in part because of its public/private partnership aspect and the integration of the city’s entrepreneurship community with the center, said Amy Wofford, the program manager at The Commons.

On numerous occasions clients of the center have connected with one another to help fill in gaps of knowledge. Woodford told The Statesman that in one case, a younger client was able to work on a new website design for an older client in exchange for being mentored by someone who had been in the business world for decades.

“Mentorship is actually a huge request we receive. We’re always looking for people to help connect to our members. If you don’t have a connection like that, it can be intimidating to work your way through the process of starting a business,” Wofford said. “That period from the idea phase to growing a business is difficult. You can get excited about an idea but you don’t know anything about what it takes to get it started. We can help guide them to the right resources and answers.”

Organizers say the center has done a good job of establishing its presence not just in the startup world but also as a vital piece of selling Denver as the city to do business in. But a new focus in 2016 is to bring in more women, minorities and military veterans to take advantage of the space.

“Minority and women entrepreneurs are a huge focus for The Commons in 2016 and beyond,” said Jenna Espinoza, spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Hancock. ” We want to gain the awareness and trust of our communities who are eager to launch businesses to secure their families’ futures. This year, we’re examining ideas to literally take The Commons into the neighborhoods, whether literally or figuratively, so that coming into 1245 Champa Street does not have to be the only way to access the wealth of the free resources we offer.”

Part of increasing access is breaking down stereotypes of what an entrepreneur is, Door said. Too often when people hear about a new startup business now, they think of young, white and male.

“People have a certain vision about those who start companies now, they are young and completely connected to technology. But that’s not the case at all. That’s why making those connections to community is really important for us,” Door said. “We want to make entrepreneurship a very clear option for everyone.”

Having a strong and diverse entrepreneurial community is a boon to Denver on numerous fronts. Not only do startups in the city help create jobs, having a thriving and innovative business culture in the city is also extremely important in recruiting and maintaining large companies, which are some of the main drivers of employment and economic activity.

“The Commons acts as a catalyst for economic development in Denver by providing new business owners and entrepreneurs a place to come together to learn, share ideas, network and inspire each other,” Espinoza said. “Learning together and mentoring each other, Denver’s startup stars can take their dreams to the next level while solidifying Denver as one of the best places in the nation to start and grow a company. Within the last year, serving more than 17,000 people at a wide range of events and daily offerings, I believe The Commons has done just that.”

And while the economy has improved since the last recession, there still is a deficit of new businesses to make up for those that had to shut their doors during the economic turndown, said Ryan Heckman, chairman of the Quarterly Forum and co-founder of the Denver-based private equity fund the Colorado Impact Fund.

“Business creation has not recovered since ’07. If you look at the metrics of companies created verses companies going out of business, we’re still running on a defect today nine years after the peak in ’07,” said Heckman, who is also a member of the Colorado Technology Association and is himself an investor in The Commons. “For the good of the economy and the state of Colorado, we need more places like Champa that encourage new company creation. Because companies being created leads to jobs being created which ultimately becomes revenue which is the livelihood of our state.”

– ramsey@coloradostatesman.com