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Posted 06.01.2009

50 Colorado companies: Fueling the economic fire

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COLORADO YURT CO.
www.coloradoyurt.com
SNAPSHOT: Montrose-based Colorado Yurt Co. manufactures permanent and semi-permanent engineered fabric structures — under 1,000 square feet — including yurts, tents and tepees.
WORK FORCE: Managing partners Daniel and Patricia Kigar direct a team of 26 full-time and six part-time workers. The company was founded in 1976, and its first customer was a public school.
PITCHING A TENT FOR GROWTH: Over the past five years the Colorado Yurt Co. has exported to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Fiji, Greece, France, England, Mexico, Belize and Canada. The Province of Manitoba has 49 Colorado Yurts in its park system. Export sales made up more than 20 percent of gross sales in 2008.
MARKET NICHE: “The company has successfully established new markets in the burgeoning eco-travel and nature-oriented hospitality industries. From organic farms in Idaho to the beach in Baja, Mexico, travelers can stay in our structures and participate in outdoor activities of all kinds.”
MADE IN COLORADO: Employees work in teams, building the entire product under one roof from raw materials. The company makes its products entirely in the state.

COMBAT TRAINING SOLUTIONS INC.
www.combattrainingsolutions.com
SNAPSHOT: Combat Training Solutions Inc. makes explosive device simulators and battlefield special effects for live military training and hands-on situational exercises. The company’s patented technologies are used to improve the skills and life-saving knowledge of military, law enforcement and security organizations.
LEADERSHIP: The Colorado Springs-based company, founded in 2005, is a service-disabled veteran-owned business. CEO Antonio Colón leads a team of 16 full-time and 10 part-time workers. The company expects to add five full-time workers this year.
BUSINESS IS BOOMING: The company recently deployed a 26-man battlefield special effects team to train more than 3,000 National Guard in Fort Chaffee, Ariz. “The team integrated non-pyrotechnic special effects that turned a $20 million mock Afghan village into a full-fledged simulated battleground complete with gunfire, mortar explosions, smoke and the chaos of live urban warfare.”
MARKET NICHE: “CTS has stayed on the forefront of the modeling, simulation and training industry by continually developing new products that simulate current world threats. The company designs, engineers and releases new simulators based upon input from war fighter veterans with recent experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

DANIELSON DESIGNS LTD.
www.danielsondesigns.com
SNAPSHOT: Trinidad-based Danielson Designs creates home decor products, including picture frames and decorative signs.
HOMETOWN ROOTS: The company was founded in 1991 by Annie and Mark Danielson, who moved to Trinidad to raise their family in the old mining town. Since then, Danielson Designs, which employs 85 people, has become one of the largest employers in Las Animas County.
FIGHTING GLOBAL COMPETITION: “We began in 1991 offering high-end, hand-painted home accessories. With the explosion of Asian imports, we had to develop a strategy to lower cost, find the middle market, and raise perceived value.” So the company began incorporating elements of screen printing to replace hand painting and moved to a fully screen-printed product. “The goal was to offer customers the ability to create fully custom product at a unit of one.”
HOMETOWN CHAMPION: The Danielsons say they founded the company to bring jobs to economically depressed Trinidad. As unemployment waned, they turned their attention to quality of life issues, such as giving downtown a boost. “After helping to defeat two gambling initiatives that we felt threatened our town’s survival, we renovated a historic building and opened a retail store on Main Street as an example of how downtown could come to life.”

ECOPRODUCTS INC.
www.ecoproducts.com
SNAPSHOT: EcoProducts makes environmentally friendly food service products, including biodegradable cups, plates, cutlery, straws and food containers all made from renewable resources.
WORK FORCE: The Boulder company employed 48 workers in 2008 and expects to reach 63 in 2009. It was founded in 1990 and is led by president Steve Savage.
GROWTH FOR BIODEGRADABLES: Revenue has more than doubled over the last three years. “The global disposable food service product industry is estimated to be more than $30 billion annually. Biodegradable products are the fastest growing segment in the industry and are estimated to exceed $1 billion by 2008, up from $500 million in 2005.”
GREEN BY DESIGN: “Each year mankind contributes to the toxic load on our planet by sending millions of pounds of paper and plastic takeout containers to the landfill. In fact, most of the packaging used in the food-service trade today is made from either petroleum — a nonrenewable resource, or contains little to no recycled content. At EcoProducts, we believe these solutions are neither sustainable nor represent good packaging design.”
GOING RETAIL: In November 2008, EcoProducts opened Ellie’s Eco Home Store, a 9,700-square-foot environmental products department store in Boulder.

ELOPE
www.elope.com
SNAPSHOT: Colorado Springs-based elope designs and manufactures costume accessories such as hats and glasses for holidays such as Halloween, Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day. The company, founded in 1993, develops nearly 200 products a year.
LEADERSHIP: Kevin Johnson, president and creative chief, leads a team of 35 full-time and three part-time workers. The company expects to add several workers in 2009.
FROM SNOW TO GOBLINS: “Our first major test came in our second year in business. We were primarily marketing our hats to the snow sports industry. When there was a year without much snow, sales dropped. We had to think fast and find a new market, which we found in the Halloween industry. We have had double-digit, percentage increases ever since.”
WHIMSY GOES TECH: The company puts UPC codes next to each product in its catalog, which allows customers to scan each item and enter it into their systems. It also uses UPC scanners at trade shows to take orders. “It cut the time to take an order in half and increased order size by over 37 percent. We also use scanners in our warehouse to check that orders being shipped are correct. This has helped us achieve an average accuracy rate of 99.7 percent.”

EVOLVE
www.evolveprograms.com
SNAPSHOT: Evolve designs and produces customized branded apparel and merchandise. The company extends its clients’ brands through its custom corporate uniform programs for blue chip clients such as DIRECTV, Chipotle and Qwest.
WORK FORCE: The Englewood company, founded in 2002, employs 32 workers and expects to grow to 40 in 2009.
UNIFORM GROWTH: Evolve has experienced double-digit revenue growth every year since its inception, when it was made up of a single worker in a basement operation.
MARKET NICHE: Founder/CEO Joel Wochner reworked how companies order uniforms. “Instead of offering pre-made uniforms from a catalog, Evolve creates its uniforms from scratch, allowing for total customization. For DIRECTV, Evolve created uniforms with reinforced knees and extra-long shirt tails to accommodate techs who often crawl in tight spaces.”
GAME CHANGER: “Our single-source philosophy keeps our supply chain lean and our value high by eliminating middlemen. Our e-commerce platform provides easy ordering, payment, fulfillment and reporting.”
PLANET – PROFIT: “We are committed to the triple bottom line – profitability, sustainable practices and social responsibility. Our unique business model delivers a superior product through a very efficient supply chain.“

FOUR WINDS INTERACTIVE
www.fourwindsinteractive.com
SNAPSHOT: Denver-based Four Winds Interactive develops digital signage software. Features include broad media playback capability, sophisticated data integration and interactivity.
WORK FORCE: The company, led by president David Levin, employed about 52 workers in 2008 and expects to grow to 75 this year. It was founded in 2005.
GROWTH CURVE: Annual gross revenue in 2008 was 25 times what it was in 2005. It doubled its revenue last year.
CUSTOMER BASE: With more than 500 clients, the Four Winds digital signage system is used to power thousands of signs both domestically and internationally. The company’s customers include Courtyard by Marriott and the University of Phoenix. It has become a preferred digital signage provider for Starwood Hotels, Hilton Hotels and other hospitality institutions.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES: GoBoard, an interactive digital concierge that serves as a digital information center for guests, has a planned roll-out of 150 Courtyard hotels by the end of 2009. The University of Phoenix uses the FWi software package to display class schedules and school information.
GOOGLE STAR: Since February 2009, Four Winds Interactive has consistently showed up on page 1 of Google for the search term “digital signage” and has frequently been in the top 5.

GEVO
www.gevo.com
SNAPSHOT: Gevo is developing biofuels designed to replace petrochemicals like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The Englewood-based company was founded in 2005.
LEADERSHIP: CEO Patrick R. Gruber leads a team that included 50 workers in 2008 and is projected to grow to 62 this year. The company’s majority owner is Khosla Ventures LP.
FUEL FOR GROWTH: Gevo expects to have renewable fuels, including gasoline jet and diesel blend stocks, as well as renewable chemicals, such as isobutylene and paraxylene, available in commercial quantities in the first half of 2011.
COLLABORATIVE STRATEGY: “Gevo develops technology utilizing a diverse mixture of resources including the brightest young scientists, seasoned industry veterans and external collaborations from leading universities, government laboratories and Fortune 500 companies.”
CRACKING THE CODE: Gevo says it is succeeding where others have failed over the past 50 years: to find a cost-effective way to produce isobutanol.
AGENT OF CHANGE: “Gevo’s next-generation biofuels will deliver the performance of gasoline without the environmental impact, help to eliminate supply scarcity and reduce our dependency on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gases and emissions.”

GORDON COMPOSITES INC.
www.gordoncomposites.com
SNAPSHOT: Gordon Composites manufactures high-tech fiber reinforced polymer materials used in automotive and aerospace components, sporting goods and protective armor. The Montrose-based company was founded in 1953.
WORK FORCE: The company, led by CEO Michael Gordon, had 85 workers in 2008 and expects to grow to 99 this year.
MARKET NICHE: Gordon Composites describes itself as a “material science” company. “The foundation of the business was built upon the ability to provide a high-strength fiber reinforced composite material for various sporting goods products where lightweight, strong, high-fatigue life was required.”
EVOLVING WITH THE TIMES: Several years ago, the company recognized that the composites of the future would require recyclable materials that could be manufactured in an environmentally responsible manner.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: One of the company’s pivotal moments was in 1995 when it moved from San Diego to Montrose, where it opened a 50,000-square-foot plant. “The most noticeable gain was a much improved business-friendly environment in Colorado combined with significant work ethic improvement in the work force.”
TAKING A RISK: In 2004, the company built a second 50,000-square-foot plant to develop Polystrand, the next generation of composite materials targeted for the green marketplace.

HANDS-ON LABS INC.
www.LabPaq.com
SNAPSHOT: Hands-On Labs designs, develops, produces, and distributes science LabPaqs, which are course-specific science equipment and supplies that allow college and high schools students to conduct science experiments.
LEADERSHIP: CEO Linda G. Jeschofnig leads a team of 14 full-time workers and three part-time workers. The Englewood-based company,
incorporated in 2000, expects to add several workers in 2009.
MARKET NICHE: Labpaqs bases its design and packaging upon green, microscale chemistry technology. “This provides a safe yet effective laboratory experience that uses the same types of chemicals and supplies used on campuses. LabPaqs enjoy a 14-year 100 percent safety record and can be legally shipped anywhere in the world.”
GROWTH CURVE: Average annual sales have increased more than 55 percent since 2000. “Nationwide studies document the past decade’s dramatic growth in online education and anticipate continuing 15 percent to 20 percent annual growth for the next decade.”
CHANGE AGENT: Most of the company’s users are online students. LabPaqs enable them to complete their work without having to attend campus classes and lab sessions. “These students use computers to access, complete and submit course assignments; they communicate electronically with instructors and classmates.”