Free Newsletter
Made in Colorado 2014: Food
Colorado makes certain things remarkably well. The list includes: Spacecraft, beer and burritos – to name a few. In other words, we’ve got some serious range. And the state’s manufacturers are an increasingly nimble lot. A group of companies as diverse as Omerica Organic (jewelry), Guerrilla Gravi...
Tech startup: Zen Planner
Zen planner INITIAL LIGHTBULB: Ben Pate started Zen Planner in 2006 after realizing how much of a pain point scheduling was for the martial-arts studio where he was a student. Due to a lack of effective booking software on the market, he developed his own in Zen Planner. With a résumé that include...
Made in Colorado 2014: Sports, agriculture
Sports Crescent Moon Snowshoes Snowshoes crescentmoonsnowshoes.com Boulder Jake Thamm and Tamara Laug went snowshoeing in 1997 and the experience led the husband-and-wife team to start a snowshoe company. “It was really and truly one of those sitting at a bar, thinking about our snowshoeing day,” says Thamm. “We said, ‘W[...]
When you’re married to work — literally
Business partners, married and parents – how do you do it? That question is asked of every spouse partner in business ownership. The logistics of keeping 50 employees straight, in addition to maintaining customer volumes, plus keeping an organized home life with children, caregivers, animals and...
Spirited disruption
The American craft distilling industry is experiencing profound growth, and Colorado is one of its spirited success stories. In the past 10 years, the number of active U.S. artisanal distilleries has spiked from 60 to about 400; Colorado went from zero to 46 in just a few years. “Colorado has prob...
Internet marketing and trademark trouble
Whether it’s a local search or nationwide, search engines can provide the answer. There are some drawbacks, however, to this brave new world of marketing. Most obvious is the enhanced competition and the increased amount of time and money spent on optimizing a website. The less obvious disadvantag...
Avoiding the back-pay double whammy
Historically, liquidated damages were only collected when the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) won a court settlement. Now, the WHD has begun assessing liquidated damages administratively along with back wages during a final conference with the employer. This year will probably see a giant leap in the...
Parenting a business
My experiences in parenting and business have taught me the importance of weathering the storm. There will be rough patches. Those in business should invest the time in teaching and guiding now, and let the mistakes happen — because they are definitely going to happen. The mistakes that may seem l...
State of the state: Retail
Specialty retailers across the state are grappling with customers taking photos of their merchandise – including bar codes – then shopping the Web for a lower price. They say the practice, known as “showrooming,” results in decreased sales, and some fear it could mean the end of small retailers that have been in busines[...]
Ready Foods: A Colorado success story
In 1972, Luis Abarca had a notion that only in retrospect seems obvious: Mexican food would become mainstream in the U.S. the same way Italian food had, and restaurants were going to need help preparing it. That was the impetus for Ready Foods, a Denver-based food processor that has expanded its p...
Celebrating the spirit of snow
Seasons come, and seasons go. But in Colorado, there’s a special enthusiasm reserved solely for winter, which is treated like an art form in and of itself. Hence, the Art of Winter — the urban festival of art and design intended to engage community members in a comparable fashion to Denver Startu...
In search of a great exit: Part One
Steven Covey says, “Start with the end in mind.” At the recent Colorado Capital Conference, Peter Adams, Executive Director, Rockies Venture Club (RVC) said, “For entrepreneurial ventures, that end is typically an exit.” For more than 27 years, RVC has advanced Economic Development in the Rocky M...
