Every business owner takes risks and faces fears of failure. Startup survivors reflect on on the early years and how risk impacted them.

What if entrepreneurship could play a role in diversifying the economy by creating more middle class jobs?

After the father-son duo received several inquiries from retailers, they didn’t see it as a fit for their business, they instead decided to launch their business online and immediately orders started flowing in.

The Locavore motto, “Fresh Inspired Food,” is conveyed throughout the open, light-filled restaurant. Spring green walls display oversized photos of vegetables, and a large map shows diners exactly where their food comes from.

Tanner McGraw started Apto in 2012 to provide a cloud-based CRM and deal management platform for commercial real estate brokers. Five years later, Apto holds enterprise agreements with five of commercial real estate’s top seven brands, and has 85 full-time employees — up from 27 in 2015.

Josh Dorkin had a long list of real estate related inquiries, and when he couldn’t find the answers in the public domain, he started BiggerPockets, a one-of-a-kind social network for real estate investors.

Greg Gamet has been busy since 2009. That was the year he launched DANK, a medical marijuana dispensary that became one of Colorado’s first recreational dispensaries on Jan. 1, 2014. While getting DANK off the ground, Gamet founded Kush Bottles, the state’s leading supplier of packaging solutions to the cannabis industry.

The consumer business centers on a smart algorithm that understands, through a survey, what a customer wants. It then plays matchmaker, putting a designer on the job. Clients can purchase their furniture and flourishes through the site’s shopping cart and the service tops out at $199 per room.

The Mile High City positioned itself on the global stage as an actor of responsibility, stewardship and business-building March 31 through April 2, showcasing what grit and determination – often met with minimal capital – can achieve to change the world.

Creating good food is all about creating good flavors. I’ve learned a lot of tricks over the years to create flavor without using meat or butter. That’s why I gravitated toward Asian cuisine.

In 2007, after school and the starts of their careers, Brent, 40, decided to launch a real estate development business, acquiring properties in Denver. Brad, 35, jumped on board Elevation Development Group in 2014.

When the two young women met in 2013 through mutual friends, they were “instantly best friends,” Ros recalls. Indeed, the co-founders laugh constantly, finish each other's’ sentences, and assign credit and compliments to each other incessantly.