BOULDER - On the second Thursday of every month, green technology entrepreneurs, investors and enthusiasts meet to network, advance ideas and perhaps find business partners.

The gathering is called the Colorado Green Tech Meetup, and Boulder is the perfect location for it.

"It started as a place where early business, maybe even just ideas ... could get in front of a bunch of investors and a bunch of other people with business skills ... and talk about their idea and generate some excitement," said Kris Wiesenfeld, founder of the meetup. "It's just very gratifying to see those hopes grow out."

Since the first meeting in January attendance has steadily grown from 11 to approaching 100, and Wiesenfeld said the group might eventually move from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business to a CU building with more space.

Size of the group doesn't matter to the 48-year-old software consultant who has a strong interest in green tech. What does matter is that people can establish ideas in a comfortable environment.

"It really is that place where anybody can come and talk to anybody," he said.

There are three facets to a successful business, Wiesenfeld said: entrepreneurs who are excited and committed to a new idea, investors who can financially support those ideas, and partners who can assist with marketing, engineering, sales and other business necessities.

He tries to invite all three when the group meets every month.

While he doesn't know of any companies that have received money from investors as a result of the meetup, Wiesenfeld is sure he's helped connect people.

"I know that a number of the presenters have met with a number of the investors," he said.

During the roughly two-hour meeting that starts with a social hour of beer, wine, crackers and cheese, local business leaders, venture capitalists and aspiring entrepreneurs have a chance to rub elbows.

Dan Friedlander, who considers himself a clean-tech adviser and avid Colorado Green Tech Meetup attendee, said he uses the time to establish new relationships and learn about other companies.

After the social hour, Wiesenfeld invites four presenters to talk about their ideas and new developments. He tries to invite a mix of individuals with mere ideas and research to established businesses with a profit.

One recent presenter, Tom McKinnon, said the meetup has helped his company. Fellow attendees were willing to review business plans and act as a green tech support system that wasn't previously established in the Boulder area.

As the group formed, Wiesenfeld thought he'd have a tough time enticing investors to attend the meetings. But to his surprise, they needed little convincing to join the group.

There's a stigma that investors form an intimidating group that is hard to penetrate, he said, but in reality many investors want to get involved with a startup early in the process and are looking for green-tech companies to financially assist.

Presenters, on the other hand, were standoffish at first because some were afraid to present in front of investors without their company logistics worked out or ideas tweaked enough. Others felt, because it was a new group, there was no point to presenting, Wiesenfeld said.

That's an entirely different story now, though. He went from working on the meetup about 20 hours per week trying to find presenters and making sure people attended to about eight to 10 hours per week now and much less stress.

"The effort is reduced so it's not too bad," Wiesenfeld said.

Instead of seeking presenters every month, people now approach him wanting to talk about their company. And as word-of-mouth spreads, he's less worried about having people show up and more worried about having enough space.

Presenters first go through a screening process. He said companies have approached him hoping to showcase a "green" product, but upon further review, Wiesenfeld decided the product wasn't new and wasn't related to green technology.

With the three keys to a successful business in tact, Wiesenfeld thinks Boulder is a perfect location for a group like this, and he thinks he started it at a perfect time.

If he started it a year ago, he doesn't think many companies would be interested. But if he started it later, he thinks something else would have filled the green tech void.

"What Kris is doing is creating a community," Friedlander said. "I think he's providing a lot of leadership, and he's pulling people together."

As local residents, business owners and government leaders continue to emphasize green technology, Wiesenfeld wants to embrace that community.

"The ultimate goal is to be part of the Front Range becoming known as a world leader in green technology," he said.