Current Issue
September 2009 Issue
Cover Story
Small Biz: Waste farmers—redemption for the throwaway mindset
By Mike TaylorJohn-Paul Maxfield envisions the day when hauling trash to a landfill is as unthinkable as smoking on airplanes is now. But that day, he concedes, is 10 or 20 years down the road.
In the here and now, Maxfield cites a disturbing stat from the Colorado Association of Recycling.
“In Colorado, our recycling rate is 12.5 percent,” he says. “Nationally it’s 28.5 percent. And that’s not a coincidence. The reason that happens is it’s very cheap to throw things away here.”
Supporting his point, Maxfield says landfill costs in Colorado range from $10 a ton in metro Denver to...
Articles
Small Biz: Waste farmers—redemption for the throwaway mindset
By Mike TaylorJohn-Paul Maxfield envisions the day when hauling trash to a landfill is as unthinkable as smoking on airplanes is now. But that day, he concedes, is 10 or 20 years down the road.
In the here and now, Maxfield cites a disturbing stat from the Colorado Association of Recycling.
“In Colorado, our recycling rate is 12.5 percent,” he says. “Nationally it’s 28.5 percent. And that’s not a coincidence. The reason that happens is it’s very cheap to throw things away here.”
Supporting his point, Maxfield says landfill costs in Colorado range from $10 a ton in metro Denver to...
Colorado Cool Stuff: Create your own superhero
By Eric PetersonELOPE’S CREATE YOUR OWN SUPERHERO KIT
Brothers Keith and Kevin Johnson started elope - an acronym for “everybody’s laughing on planet Earth” - in 1993 selling mad hatter-style hats to ski and snowboard shops. In the years since, they’ve started a plant in China that manufactures exclusively for elope and grown to offer more than 1,000 products.
“It’s a tight relationship. We depend on one another for the success of our businesses,” says Kevin, the company’s CEO - chief excitement officer.
New from elope this Halloween: the Create Your Own Superhero Kit. “We supply...
Small biz: Backyard chicken better than a squirrel, at least
By Mike Taylor
My friend in San Antonio called one recent Saturday while I was in the backyard watering my corn and tomato plants, some of the produce I had set out to subsist on for the month of August. He had seen the video on cobizmag.com of me interviewing David Bravdica of Northern Colorado Poultry, and he was alarmed how skinny I was looking.
“Your experiment is failing!” my friend said. “You need to take your bb gun and shoot some squirrels, man. You’re not getting enough protein. ”
Seventeen days into my month-long backyard-only diet, I’ve largely succeeded in my...
Power glide: Bill Ritter has bet his future on the new energy economy
By Robert SchwabAbound Solar’s new factory on Interstate 25 near Loveland is the antithesis of gritty traditional manufacturing. From the white interior to the casually dressed workers making components in air-conditioned comfort, it embodies the cool, clean look of a 21st century workplace – a linchpin in Gov. Bill Ritter’s “new energy economy.”
Now 200 workers strong, Abound plans to double its work force after it completes the renovated factory. The solar panels it makes are recyclable; their development is a spinoff from research done at Colorado State University. The company is...
Guest column:42 percent interest rates…are you crazy?
By Mike WiesnerEvery morning Maria gets up at the crack of dawn to the sound of babies crying and roosters crowing. It’s another blistering day in her small village of Santa Rosa, Honduras, one of the poorest areas in Central America.
Maria is a single mother of five, abandoned by her husband. Each day is a struggle for survival. It would be easy to give up, but Maria is a fighter, dedicated to improving her life and the lives of her children with microloans to start her own business. She has seen in her village the global effects of the recession, and her neighbors have less...
Sustainability spotlight: etown of Boulder
By Mindy Pantiel
Nick and Helen Forster are no Johnny-come-latelies to the green movement. It has been almost two decades since their weekly radio show “etown” began broadcasting before a live audience from Boulder. Their mission was to both entertain and shed light on important issues like global warming and sustainability.
That aim has never wavered and neither has their format – a well-orchestrated blend of music and banter. “We’ve been having this environmental conversation on a national level since 1991,” says Nick Forster, former member of the Grammy-nominated group Hot Rize and...
Cote’s Colorado: Bill Ritter has no time to sit down
By Mike CoteGov. Bill Ritter stood on the steps inside the Capitol, patiently posing as a photographer got inches away from his face. You can see the gubernatorial result on this month’s cover.
We had been working with Ritter for about 20 minutes, and everything was cordial — though he didn’t much like our art director’s request to sit on the steps for a couple of shots, saying it didn’t seem “appropriate.”
But the governor complied. He didn’t explain, but perhaps he thought the image would be too informal at a time when there’s serious business at hand — like trying to ignite a...
Executive edge: Bob King
By Lynn BronikowskiIt didn’t take long for Bob King to get back into the swing of the corporate world after taking time off from a diverse career most prominently marked as CEO of Corporate Express – which over seven years he took from a $50 million regional office supplier to a $4.5 billion international company acquired by Staples.
“You think taking some time off is going to be fun,” said King, 59, a native of tiny Haileyville, Okla., who grew up loving sports, pitching for small colleges and took up pharmacy at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. “But you can only play so much...
On management: Convincing people your idea has wheels
By Pat WiesnerThe would-be entrepreneur was taking yet another class on how to start a business and was pondering whether he would take the plunge this time.
“I have taken lots of courses on business and particularly on starting a business, but I have never really gotten up the courage to do it,” he said. “Many times I have learned how to put together a balance sheet or “guesstimate” a profit and loss statement for a startup. But I have always had so many unanswered questions that I somehow lost interest because I was unsure of myself.”
The speaker was beginning to realize it...
State of the state: Health
It’s hard not to sweat during these uncertain economic times. Literally.
Although the recession has taken its toll on countless businesses across the state, Colorado’s health club industry continues to expand.
“I think don’t think we’ve been hit as hard as retail businesses because people still value their health,” said Ed Williams, president of Denver-based Wellbridge, which owns and operates four Colorado Athletic Club locations and has plans to open two new clubs in Boulder and Denver. Nationwide, the brand has 20 locations.
One of the new Colorado Athletic Club...
Top Company Finalists 2009
In a year of great economic challenge, being selected a Top Company finalist carries a deeper significance — it’s as hard to stay on top as it took to get there.
Top Company is Colorado’s most competitive business awards program, judged on the basis of sustained financial performance, operational excellence and community involvement.
Companies submit or are nominated to the program. Long-time sponsor Deloitte selects finalists after rigorous evaluations. Then a panel of business professionals and leading policy officials convenes to determine winners in each...
Small biz: tech Startup: Boundless Corp.
By Eric Peterson
COMPANY
POROUS POWER TECHNOLOGIES LLC
INITIAL LIGHT BULB: As co-workers at the Boulder-based Boundless Corp., Kirby Beard and Tim Feaver helped develop a new separator material for lithium-ion batteries out of a PVDF polymer similar to Gore-Tex. When Boundless, a leading supplier of lithium-ion batteries, opted to go in a different direction, the pair decided to spin off a new company based on the technology: Porous Power.
“It’s different than any other battery technology,” says Bernard Perry, the company’s VP of business development. “It has very high porosity and...
State of the state: By the numbers
46,000 – Number of attendees at last year’s Great American Beer Festival, the second straight year all four of the festival’s sessions were sold out. For this year’s 28th annual GABF, Sept. 24-27, the Colorado Convention Center hall has been expanded and more tickets made available.
750 – Number of jobs Colorado Gaming Association members said they’ve added to the existing 9,000 jobs as a result of gaming-law changes allowing higher bet limits, 24-hour gaming and new games that went into effect June 2. The CGA represents casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple...
VINE: Recession-proof brewing
By Jay DedrickThere’s an old axiom that alcohol is one of those consumer goods that’s recession proof. So the confirmation that breweries in the country’s unofficial beer capital, Colorado, are weathering the current storm isn’t surprising.
What has many brewers pleasantly surprised – if not outright shocked – is that they’re not merely maintaining the status quo, but growing. Growing big.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that anything is recession-proof,” says Julia Herz of the Boulder-based Brewers Association. “But craft beer from craft brewers is proving to be very strong in...
The Economist: Should I worry about deflation, inflation or both?
By Tucker Hart AdamsAlmost two years ago I wrote a column on inflation, quoting the photographer who’d said to me, “It isn’t inflation people worry about. It’s prices going up.” Today, the talk is about the risk of deflation.
The World Bank warns that the global economy will fall into a “deflationary spiral” unless urgent action is taken to reduce high levels of excess capacity in industry.
Deflation – a decrease in the general price level of goods and services – is a serious problem. We learned this in the U.S. during the Great Depression, when prices fell for all but four years from...
Colorado cool stuff: Belletare Skincare
By Eric PetersonBELLETARÉ SKINCARE
A self-described “recovering lawyer,” Kim Nolan has a passion for skin care. “I started in 2004, mostly for friends, family and myself, in my kitchen actually,” she says. From there, she found a contract manufacturer for her all-natural, mostly organic recipes, which include such exotic ingredients as acai pulp oil, pomegranate seed oil and olive butter.
The line includes three products — Crescendo Bath and Shower Gel, Intermezzo Body Polish and Brava Body Lotion — available in three different essential oil blends. Filling a premium niche combining...
Guest voice: How to save money going paperless
By K.J. McCorryDo you know how much it costs your company per year to manage paper?
A study by Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) estimated the cost of paper management to be about $50 per document. This could include the cost of paper, printing costs, fax/copier equipment and supplies, distribution, mailing costs, courier services, filing supplies and cabinets, storage space, as well as staff time handling, managing and filing paper.
Implementing paper reduction measures could save a company more money than they think. Through simple paper reduction methods, an office...
Sports biz: Beering with Bowlen
By Stewart SchleyHappy anniversary, Patrick Dennis Bowlen!
Grab a seat and order whatever you want from Clancy over there at the bar. There are two-fers on Fat Tire until 6 p.m. Anyway, it’s good to see you. It’s been what? Twenty-six years, almost, since you and your mom and siblings cobbled together $65 million or so and bought the Broncos from that fellow Canadian Kaiser who had gotten himself a bit strapped for cash.
Pretty good investment you guys made. By some accounts, Team Invesco is now worth something like $1.1 billion. I’m just tossing out rough numbers here, but I think...
State of the state: Awards
When Barry Cooper, chairman and CEO of Cooper Tea Co., made the list of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalists for the third year in a row, he didn’t write an acceptance speech. After being nominated twice without victory, he was doubtful he would win.
“After my first two nominations, I wrote an acceptance speech, which I thought jinxed me, so this time I didn’t write one,” Cooper said. “When my company’s name was announced, I was stunned.”
Ernst & Young held its Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Banquet for the Rocky Mountain Region in June at the Grand...
State of the state: Tourism
A few years ago, Ed Mumm, a New Zealand-born fence-builder, was building his own Steamboat Springs home and excavating the foundation with an excavator. As he moved the earth, a smile spread across his face. Soon he was euphoric, sitting in his machine, laughing out loud.
“I thought that people would love to do this sort of thing if there was a facility available,” Mumm says. He wrote a business plan and launched Dig This LLC in late 2007.
Today, Dig This owns five Caterpillar-brand earthmovers — two 15-ton track excavators, two 10-ton bulldozers, and a skid steer...
State of the state: Executives
In early August, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce picked a replacement for outgoing CEO and president Joe Blake, who recently joined Colorado State University as chancellor. But new chamber leader Kelly Brough didn’t take the helm right away.
Brough, who edged out chamber vice president and economic chief Tom Clark for the job, won’t be joining the seven-county business group until Oct. 1. As chief of staff for the city and county of Denver, Brough wasn’t about to leave Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper in the lurch as the city wrestles with budget issues, including...
