Nearly 200 people and over 35 teams participated in Go Code Colorado’s 2016 Challenge Weekend, held April 1-3 in Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins and Grand Junction. Teams spent the weekend in intense and focused environments drawing up or fine-tuning their business and app ideas that make meaningful use of public data.

And wouldn’t you know it?  Tech talent does live here within the Vail Valley and in other mountain towns across the state.  Not a surprise to those of us who live in these communities, but perhaps news to some.  Avon-based developer Doug Clayton’s, along with Durango-based team members Kimberly Pennington and Emily Shirtz, were named as one of 10 finalists across all the events held in the state.

Doug, Kim and Emily won with StartUpIn.co, a simple-to-use web portal that allows anyone to create a new business in Colorado. It has contextual and relevant advice driven by the user’s input.

All ten finalist teams advance to an expenses paid Mentor Weekend from April 15-17 in Boulder, and then will prepare for the Final Event on Thursday, May 26, at the fabulous Seawell Grand Ballroom in downtown Denver, where the finalist teams will compete for a chance to win one of three $25,000 awards.

Congratulations Doug, Kim and Emily!  We’ll be rooting for you.