We believe today’s startup ecosystems are due for a refresh.
Over the past decade, the world of work has changed dramatically, first with the globally disruptive onslaught of COVID, followed by the ever unfolding advancement of AI technologies. In a historical context, our lives are undergoing exponential disruption in months instead of years, unlike anything any living human has experienced.
Our local economies and entrepreneur communities are changing, no longer built solely around dense urban hubs, requiring high-risk capital in winner-take-all, zero sum stakes. For the present-day endeavoring entrepreneurial spirit, there is no single etched-in-stone playbook or sure path to success. More than ever before, there are many routes to one’s success. Even the idea of success is (finally) being challenged, allowing people more agency than ever before to choose a path in closer alignment with their personal and familial aspirations instead of those of distant shareholders hoping for an exit event.
Clearly, we’re in a rapidly evolving, and uncertain, future of work.
Two things seem to be true: 1) Humans aren’t great at uncertainty, and 2) humans are wired for purpose and meaning. We seek it out in every endeavor throughout our lives, in both relationships and, more recently, in work. More people than ever before are demanding a meaningful purpose from their work.
What is also true, and has been known across cultures for millennia, is that we as humans are good at cooperation, particularly when we’re aligned under a common, collective pursuit. The Greatest Generation, generally defined as people born from 1901 to 1927, knew this all too well following the Great Depression and World War II.
Enter Colorado, an agricultural and mountain state shaped by vast geography, diversity of place, and deep local knowledge.
Opportunity has often depended on where you live—not on your ideas, skills, or ambition. However, we don’t subscribe to the notion that success is a solo or location-dependent pursuit. It simply doesn’t represent the current state of work, and certainly not the future of work.
Instead, we believe innovation and economic resilience grow through cooperation—by pooling resources, sharing knowledge, and investing in one another across geographic, cultural, and economic divides.
Forwardkind exists to build inclusive pathways to ownership, meaningful work, and economic mobility.
For entrepreneurs, creators, and independent professionals alike, we’re building a member-owned space for connection, learning, and collective growth. We’re pooling resources, sharing risk, and investing in one another—supporting many paths to sustainability, not just venture-backed scale.
Whether you’re building a business from a main street storefront, a home office miles from the nearest city, or a co-working space along the Front Range, the Forwardkind cooperative is intentionally designed to meet you where you are.
Guided by the belief that a healthy Colorado depends on interdependence, we see work not just as a means of survival, but as a pathway to dignity, agency, purpose, and belonging.
We invite you to join us on this collective journey.
