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Newsletter — Issue 16 — June 9, 2026
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This newsletter has been published by Engage Colorado.
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The Innovation Vision for Colorado — Now Live
This Engage Colorado Newsletter reflects the personal opinions of Dan Caruso, written with the support of the Caruso Ventures team. The Ensuring Colorado's Innovation Future Coalition did not review and has not endorsed this Engage Colorado Newsletter.
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Today, visionforcolorado.org is live and open to the public. I am writing to ask you to read it — and to give you the context behind what is on the site.
The Innovation Vision itself is a single statement:
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Colorado will be the most attractive innovation ecosystem in the world — and every Coloradan will share in the economic and cultural prosperity that leadership creates.
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What follows is the back story and context.
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The Back Story
In March 2026, 435 Colorado business and community leaders signed The Open Letter — addressed to Colorado's senior elected leadership, including Governor Polis, Senator and Governor Candidate Bennet, and Senator Hickenlooper.
The Open Letter represents the broadest coalition of Colorado business leaders assembled on a single economic competitiveness initiative in recent memory. The signatories — a bipartisan coalition of Colorado tech and business leaders representing founders, investors, and operators across the state, who love Colorado, want to build their companies and lives here, and want nothing more than for Colorado to succeed — expressed deep concern that the direction Colorado is heading threatens the long-term prosperity of the people who call Colorado home.
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435
Signatories
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179
CEOs
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91
Investors
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26
$1B+ Builders
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The signatories carry the operating, investing, and building experience that defines Colorado's innovation economy: 179 current or former CEOs, including 20 from publicly traded companies; 129 founders and 74 co-founders; 91 investors across 41 venture capital, private equity, and investment firms; and 26 billion-dollar company builders. Ten Colorado IPOs are represented in the coalition alongside a total of 20 publicly traded companies.
The coalition spans twelve major sectors of Colorado's economy:
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Quantum · Space and Aerospace · AI and Software · Energy and Climate · Robotics and Autonomy · Digital Infrastructure · Health and Biotech · Financial Services and FinTech · Real Estate and Built Environment · Consumer and Lifestyle · Creative and Media · Civic and Public
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The Action Items
The Open Letter set forth a series of action items, two of which are listed below:
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Action Item #3 — The Honest Assessment
Conduct a thorough and honest assessment of the structural, regulatory, legislative, and rhetorical factors influencing Colorado's competitive position. You can read The Honest Assessment at thehonestassessment.com.
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Action Item #2 — The Innovation Vision
Develop a twenty-year strategy to ensure Colorado earns, sustains, and extends its leadership as a premier innovation ecosystem. You can read The Innovation Vision for Colorado at visionforcolorado.org.
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A Personal Note
In the spirit of advancing that work rather than waiting for it, I led the preparation and publication of both documents. The plan and the assessment are mine in execution; their substance is the product of conversations, observations, and frustrations shared across the state by people who care deeply about Colorado's future. However, neither has been reviewed nor endorsed by the full coalition that signed The Open Letter.
I invite Coloradans of every party affiliation to read both documents, share them, and help shape what comes next. I will share more of the substance in upcoming Engage Colorado newsletters.
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