Greater Colorado Venture Fund

Howdy Partners (Formerly Greater Colorado Venture Fund) - Research Document Howdy Partners is a specialized early-stage venture capital firm focused exclusively on backing exceptional founders building in overlooked markets outside major metropolitan hubs, particularly in rural Colorado. Originally founded in 2018 as Greater Colorado Venture Fund (GCVF), the firm rebranded to Howdy Partners in September 2025 to reflect its expanded mission and evolved approach to venture investing. Investment Thesis Howdy Partners operates on a contrarian and conviction-driven thesis: the most compelling entrepreneurial opportunities exist in geographic markets that traditional venture capital overlooks. The fund believes that exceptional founders who deliberately choose to build in rural communities—rather than relocating to coastal tech hubs—create stronger, more resilient companies with superior returns. Their core philosophy is that "place matters." Founders building where they've chosen to live make deliberate, values-aligned decisions that strengthen company culture and longevity. The fund targets founders with vision, grit, and roots who understand that overlooked markets offer distinct strategic advantages: stronger talent retention, deeper community support, freedom to focus on sustainable growth over short-term hype cycles, and distance from conventional thinking that enables differentiated approaches. Geographic Focus and Target Market Howdy Partners invests exclusively in rural Colorado-based companies , defined as any Colorado county with a population under 170,000. This represents a massive underserved market: 1.87 million Coloradans live in rural counties (31% of Colorado's 5.96M population) 54 of Colorado's 64 counties are rural Despite representing significant population, rural Colorado receives less than 1% of venture capital ($70M of $6.8B total VC invested statewide in 2022) 80% of Colorado startup funding comes from out-of-state investors The fund explicitly requires at least one founder to live in rural Colorado and commits to being located in Colorado for at least five years. Stage Focus and Check Size Howdy Partners specializes in first-check capital to exceptional founders. Their typical investment range is $250,000 to $500,000 , with opportunity to increase over time. The fund targets companies seeking first institutional investment or ready for growth capital to scale existing operations. Investment Criteria Howdy Partners has transparent, specific investment criteria: Must-Have: At least one founder lives in rural Colorado Committed to remaining in Colorado for 5+ years Seeking first institutional investment or growth capital Serving customers beyond company locality, or raising to scale beyond locality Not a service-based business Not a real estate-based business Sector Flexibility: The fund maintains broad sector flexibility across high-growth industries including AI, Aerospace, AgTech, Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Advanced Manufacturing. Team and Leadership Cory Finney - Founder, Managing Partner: Sixth-generation Coloradan from Durango. Serial entrepreneur who co-founded SnowGate (acquired), served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Boomtown Accelerator, co-founded Kokopelli Capital (Colorado's first pre-seed fund), and co-founded Greater Colorado Venture Fund in 2018. Marc Nager - Founder, Managing Partner: 20+ years building entrepreneurial communities globally. Co-founder and former CEO of Startup Weekend (reached nearly 1M entrepreneurs across 5 continents), Chief Community Officer at Techstars, Managing Director of Telluride Venture Accelerator. Originally from Mammoth Lakes, CA; now resides in Durango. Jamie Finney - Founder, Venture Partner: Co-founder of Startup Colorado and Kokopelli Capital. Focuses on fund investing and finance operations. Writer on future of capital and equitable capitalism. Based in Durango. Kiki Hooton - Community & Events: Leads founder-facing programs including Founders Summit and Pitch Series. Background in environmental technology and sustainability. Program and Membership Director at Local First. Investment Approach Howdy Partners emphasizes relationship-first investing with focus on authentic long-term partnership. Their approach includes: first-check confidence for early validation, network activation connecting founders to co-investors and resources, value-aligned growth that preserves founder authenticity, and a vibrant founder community through annual Howdy Ski Days, SkiSO Cyber Summit, and The Roundup blog. Portfolio Highlights Recent and active investments include: Agile Space Industries (Durango) - Advanced in-space chemical propulsion BOPA (Florence/La Junta) - Autonomous agricultural robots Cloudrise (Grand Junction) - Data protection and cloud security (acquired 2024) BettrData (Black Hawk) - AI Data Operations platform SmartMedia (Carbondale) - Enterprise Web3 platform Sky Peak (Fruita) - Mobile data optimization via AI Kamiwaza (Silverthorne) - GenAI orchestration for enterprise Process and Timeline The fund's investment process is transparent and efficient. Founders submit via Google Form for review. The team has personally visited remote founders across Colorado, sleeping in vans and traveling backroads to understand unique challenges of building in rural markets. Philosophy and Impact Howdy Partners rejects the notion that exceptional founders must relocate to coasts. The firm believes an emerging demographic shift is creating opportunities: people are deliberately choosing to build lives and companies in rural communities, prioritizing where they want to live. This intentionality translates into values-aligned, resilient organizations that outperform. Both Cory and Marc live in Durango and are deeply embedded in rural Colorado communities, walking the walk of their investment thesis.