I attended the Naturally Boulder conference last week that brings together the organic and natural product gurus, industry leaders and entrepreneurs that reside in Boulder. This was the fifth year of the event and it was amazing to see how much happens from the LOHAS cradle of Boulder Colorado when it comes to the natural and organic market. I guess you could equate it to the Silicon Valley of organics.

To give you an idea of the concentration here are some Boulder based companies you may have heard of or seen on shelves (I am now inhaling deeply to include them all in one breath…)

Izze Soda, Rudis Bakery, Celestial Seasonings, White Wave, Horizon Dairy, Aurora Dairy, Gaiam, Pharmaca, Pangea, 3rd St. Chai, Sounds True, Eco Products, Pixe Mate, Wild Oats Markets, New Hope Media, Twist, Lumia Candles, Greenmont Capital, Larabar, Chocolove, Boulder's Best Organics, The Organic Center, Bakti Chai, Organic Vintners, Evol Burritos...and the list goes on.

The event had about 280 people attend and among them were pioneers such as Steve Demos, Mo Seigel, and Mark Retzlof mingling with younger 30 something entrepreneurs.

Magic Mark Retzlof was honored with the lifetime achievement award for his efforts in the organic world. Everything the guy touches seems to turn to gold. He co founded the beloved Alfalfa's market the was bought by Wild Oats, Horizon Dairy and Aurora Dairy, Rudi’s Bakery and also Greenmont Capital just to name a few of his achievements. Kudos to a well deserving person for the award.

There was a very interesting presentation on the state of the nutrition industry economy by Nutrition Business Journal's Patrick Rea. What was most interesting is the rapid growth of the pet supplement industry that is up 11.6%. Personal care is also a strong segment of the market. NBJ estimates the growth of the natural and organic space to be around 8-9% which is not the double digit growth people are used to but - hey any growth is good growth these days.

The other interesting panel I saw was moderated by Steve Hoffman, the president of the Organic Center. The members of the illustrious panel were Official Natural Products Legend  Steve Demos founder of White Wave who tried over 200 product lines before discovering Silk soy milk, the drummer of Rage Against the Machine, who’s now founder of a yummy lemonade stevia drink suitable for diabetics and health-conscious, sugar-avoiding families; the man behind Bear Naked granola, and Tami Simon, founder of Sounds True, who talked about her calling to provide service and crystals. She made a few good jokes, too. It was good to hear what they had to say about hanging in there during tough times we are facing today.

Coming out of this I was once again awestruck at the concentration of successful entrepreneurs that are locally based. If you didn't know any better you would think that moving to Boulder and starting a natural and organic oriented company would be easy. But it is a lot of blood sweat and tears that many have had that make them successful. One key phrase that Demos said that stuck with me is that our society is based on the success of achievement rather than fulfillment. I feel this is so true and that many in this industry work to carry that mantra. It is a very supportive community of people who look to help each other and better the industry. Not to say there are not problems but this event does not focus on that.  I would have liked to have seen more Colorado based companies attend the event instead of the usual Boulder crowd. I also see tremendous opportunity for cross pollination of other Boulder based groups to learn from each other - i.e. the Outdoor Industry, Naropa University, clean tech and other groups that target the same audience.

But it was definitely a good reason to meet great people and share an organic beer.
 

I attended the Naturally Boulder conference last week that brings together the organic and natural product gurus, industry leaders and entrepreneurs that reside in Boulder. This was the fifth year of the event and it was amazing to see how much happens from the LOHAS cradle of Boulder Colorado when it comes to the natural and organic market. I guess you could equate it to the Silicon Valley of organics.

To give you an idea of the concentration here are some Boulder based companies you may have heard of or seen on shelves ( I am now inhaling deeply to include them all in one breath):

Izze Soda, Rudis Bakery, Celestial Seasonings, White Wave, Horizon Dairy, Aurora Dairy, Gaiam, Pharmaca, Pangea, 3rd St. Chai, Sounds True, Eco Products, Pixe Mate, Wild Oats Markets, New Hope Media, Twist, Lumia Candles, Greenmont Capital, Larabar, Chocolove, Boulder's Best Organics, The Organic Center, Bakti Chai, Organic Vintners, Evol Burritos...and the list goes on.

The event had about 280 people attend and among them were pioneers such as Steve Demos, Mo Seigel, and Mark Retzlof mingling with younger 30 something entreperneurs.

Magic Mark Retzlof was honored with the lifetime achievement award for his efforts in the organic world. Everything the guys touches seems to turn to gold. He co founded the beloved Alfalfa's market the was bought by Wild Oats, Horizon Dairy and Aurora Dairy, Rudis Bakery and also Greenmont Capital just to name a few of his achievements. Kudos to a well deserving person for the award.

There was a very interesting presentation on the state of the nutrition industry economy by Nutrition Business Journal's Patrick Rea. What was most interesting is the rapid growth of the pet supplement industry that is up 11.6%. Personal care is also a strong segment of the market. NBJ estimates the growth of the natural and organic space to be around 8-9% which is not the double digit growth people are used to but - hey any growth is good growth these days.

The other interesting panel I saw was moderated by  Steve Hoffman, the president of the Organic Center. The members of the illustrious panel were Official Natural Products Legend
Steve Demos founder of White Wave who tried over 200 product lines before discovering Silk soy milk, the drummer of Rage Against the Machine, who’s now founder of a yummy lemonade stevia drink suitable for diabetics and health-conscious, sugar-avoiding families;
the man behind Bear Naked, and Tami Simon, founder of Sounds True, who talked about her calling to provide service and crystals. She made a few good jokes, too. It was good to hear what they had to say about hanging in there during tough times we are facing today.

Coming out of this I was once again awestruck at the concentration of successful entrepreneurs taht are locally based. If you didn't know any better you would think that moving to Boudler and starting a natural and organic oriented company would be easy. But it is a lot of blood sweat and tears that many have had that make them successful. One key phrase that Demos said that stuck with me is that our society is based on the success of achievement rather than fulfillment. I feel this is so true.  
I would have liked to have seen more Colorado based companies attend the event instead of the usual Boulder crowd. I also see tremendous opportunity for cross pollenation of other Boulder based groups to learn from each other - i.e. the Outdoor Industry, Naropa University, clean tech and other groups that target the same audience.

But it was definitely a good reason to meet great people and share an organic beer.