�鶹��Ѱ�����

Recently retired Colorado Law Professor Emeritus has made more than just an impact at CU. The entrepreneurial programs he created and fostered shifted I&E as a whole in Boulder. Today, the close friend of Erick Mueller and the Deming Center still exercises his entrepreneurial mindset in a very different setting: the tennis court.

During his 21 year �鶹��Ѱ�����tenure, Bernthal inspired learning, within and outside of the classroom. Perhaps most notable is his unlikely path to becoming part of Boulder's entrepreneurship community. In collaboration with others at CU, Bernthal helped permanently shift the way that the campus and startup community interact.

Although his time at �鶹��Ѱ�����may be over, Bernthal still works with the next generation. Now it's on the tennis court, where he's currently a mental performance coach, working under his brand Brain Cramp Camp. Bernthal works primarily with high school and college tennis players. He is also finishing a book and doing graduate work in applied sports psychology.

The Power of Listening

Bernthal is best known, among those in the I&E space, for his contributions at . His work on campus included collaborations with campus leaders – including Leeds' Erick Mueller, , and former – as well as standout student leaders like (Computer Science), (JD/MBA, 2010), (MBA, 2009), (MBA, 2020), and (JD/MBA, 2014).

Bernthal's path to entrepreneurship was accidental. "I was not an entrepreneur, nor had I worked with startups,” said Bernthal. “So I thought, 'I should probably get out and meet some of these people.'"��

Founded in 1999 by , now Colorado's Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate, Bernthal joined Silicon Flatirons as a fellow in Fall 2005 through an entrepreneurial law clinic. One of his first key insights came from a skill as simple as listening. When local entrepreneurs felt disconnected from CU, he took their frustration as an opportunity rather than getting defensive, and worked to bridge the university and the startup community.

This became the angle he and Silicon Flatirons attacked. With support from the Deming Center and the Venture Partners Office, they slowly changed that dynamic. Twenty years later, Silicon Flatirons stands as one of the most important entrepreneurial programs at �鶹��Ѱ�����and in Boulder, helping shape the vibrant startup community it is today.

Facilitating Entrepreneurial Growth

Some of Bernthal's most prominent work within Silicon Flatirons was with the infamous program, which is undoubtedly a hit among the Deming Center and other I&E programs.

What sets Startup Summer apart is its deliberate inversion of the traditional classroom model. Rather than a professor dictating content, students arrive with their own problem, and the program bends entirely to serve their vision. Bernthal's two decades of relationship-building in Boulder meant he could also bring in top entrepreneurs and technologists from across the Front Range as mentors, giving students access to one of the country's most celebrated startup communities.

"We build everything in the service of the problem and the topic that they have selected. And it's just incredibly energizing and motivating for participants - that's the secret sauce."

Bernthal understood that not every company coming out of Startup Summer makes it, but the program's impact is best measured in the people it shapes. Fletcher Richman saw his initial company fail before going on to co-found HALP, which earned a highly successful exit. , founder of , is another standout, as Bernthal describes having leveraged every resource available and continuing to grow his company to this day.

For Bernthal, Startup Summer is a reflection of what makes Boulder's entrepreneurial ecosystem tick. Once students get what he calls the "entrepreneurial hook" in them, almost all carry it forward in some form.

Giving Back Through Character Development

Beyond his work at Silicon Flatirons, one of Bernthal's most meaningful involvements has been with . The program uses entrepreneurship for personal development and business skill-building among incarcerated individuals. Participants develop a solution to a problem of their choosing and pitch it to business volunteers who come directly into the prisons.

Bernthal got involved around 2018 through his colleague and longtime Venture Capital co-teacher , who along with his wife Jen became early champions of the model. For Bernthal, it connected directly to that core purpose of helping people flourish, and he's since inspired graduate students to volunteer and get involved as well.

Leeds students have become leaders in promoting Breakthrough. Leeds MBA student has taken Bernthal's involvement with Breakthrough a step further, leading a team of other MBA students in a partnership with Breakthrough Alliance to help build a stronger corporate volunteer network for their 32-week reentry program.��

What makes Breakthrough particularly powerful is what happens after release. Re-entry is a challenge most people don't fully appreciate due to the significant barriers. Breakthrough has built a meaningful support network to help graduates navigate that transition, addressing the systemic obstacles that often lead people back into the system.

"I don't think most people appreciate how challenging it is after release from prison. When many people won't hire someone with a felony on their record, it can be a real challenge to get a driver's license, to find a place to live, to have any money to buy basic necessities."

The results speak for themselves. While Colorado's general recidivism rate hovers around 60%, Breakthrough Colorado graduates have shown a recidivism rate of nearly zero, pointing to the intervention's remarkable efficacy regardless.

Helping Others Flourish

The impact Brad Bernthal made in the Boulder entrepreneurial community cannot be stated in a single article. Startup Summer was just a small part of his impact at Silicon Flatirons, and Silicon Flatirons was just a small part of his impact at CU.��

What's perhaps most striking is that Bernthal is only just beginning his next chapter. Trading the classroom for the tennis court as a mental performance coach, he's approaching this new venture with the same entrepreneurial mindset he spent 21 years teaching.

His main ideal to help people flourish, paired with his understanding that entrepreneurship is never a solo endeavor, has left a lasting mark on �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder and the broader Boulder community. In many ways, his entire career has been a lived version of his own definition, finding the intersection of a need in the world, and working to build something meaningful at that crossing point.