When you have grown up in Menlo Park, the venture capital capital of the world, it's easy to feel snobby toward VCs outside of Silicon Valley. But I have to say that I was very impressed last week with three Colorado-based VCs who sat on a panel I moderated at Red Herring's Portfolio:Denver event, held at the Brown Palace Hotel. Read on to meet three pretty smart dudes.

TECH TRENDS TO BET ON With the tech stock market down and the IPO window shut, it can be tough to get pumped up these days about the future of technology. In particular, hanging out in San Francisco, Red Herring's home town and ground zero for the dot-bomb era, can be downright demoralizing. That is why, in spite of trepidation about air travel, it's still a pleasure to blast out of town regularly and keep a fresh perspective.

Last week, I was in Denver for Red Herring's Portfolio event, hosting a panel with Rick Patch of Sequel Venture Partners, Kyle Lefkoff of Boulder Ventures, and Steve Halstedt of Centennial Ventures. All of them showed up with both guns blazing (better than most interviews I have conducted lately). These three VCs came up with some very promising technology sectors for new companies.

1. Broadband deployment, particularly the last mile. This would include innovations in fiber, DSL, cable modems, third generation (3G), and fixed wireless 802.11(x). 2. Multiservice provisioning platforms (MSPPs) that connect legacy and newer, advanced networks. 3. Managed service providers (MSPs) that enable dynamic services using MSPP platforms. 4. New network appliances incorporated into homes, automobiles, bicycles, and kiosks that enable anywhere, anytime access to personal and business information. This area will continue to be driven by the convergence of Internet protocols with voice, email, video, audio, and other digital data. 5. User interfaces that incorporate basic speech recognition for mobile Internet devices, and provide work groups with easier networking, file-sharing, and collaboration. 6. Broadband digital content on demand. 7. Internet efficiency applications, including supplier integration, workforce management and training, customer self-service, and general information-sharing. 8. Software sold by application service providers, by the seat or by the minute. 9. Storage for mobile and real-time computing. 10. Security applications that help with identification, monitoring, and protection.

As I have often said, Red Herring firmly believes that the vast majority of the entrepreneurial opportunities that will be associated with the Internet are still in front of us. The VC cowboys in Denver affirmed this bold view last week.

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When you have grown up in Menlo Park, the venture capital capital of the world, it's easy to feel snobby toward VCs outside of Silicon Valley. But I have to say that I was very impressed last week with three Colorado-based VCs who sat on a panel I moderated at Red Herring's Portfolio:Denver event, held at the Brown Palace Hotel. Read on to meet three pretty smart dudes.