Understanding potential problems and opportunities for adaptation before companies even know what is wrong is what Stream specializes in. Stream is the best-in-class, enterprise-grade chat and activity feed provider that serves more than a billion end-users. Creating application programming interfaces that are easily integrated by developers allows Stream to stay ahead of the game and create solutions when problems do arise.
The marquee solution that Stream provides is its Stream Chat. This chat service has become inherently valuable as online operations have broadened to include employees’ remote environments, and the service is being utilized in health care, education and live events. In 2020, revenue from the Stream Chat grew by 500%. Stream also likes to support tech companies that are starting up themselves by way of its Maker Account. This provides those that qualify with free access to Stream technology to use as they start their own journey in the tech world.
The company’s clientele base ranges from sports to social media to pages that showcase upcoming events. The chat itself allows for an easily accessible news feed that is maintenance-free, allowing you to talk to your co-workers about business rather than why your chat isn’t working.
As players and coaches adapt to technological advancements, the ways that players train and the analytics available to them seem to be endless. Sports VTS aims to be at the forefront of this change as it looks to help players simulate actual game play to get the most out of their training, without any of the physical risk. Sports VTS develops proprietary technology that creates mixed reality football simulators for professional training and fan entertainment. “As we inch nearer daily to a world where fully immersive simulation is a standard for entertainment, we are on the front lines pushing technologies to do things that we only before imagined in movies,” said Mike Wagle, the company’s CEO.
The company’s Quarterback Simulator allows a quarterback to train by passing a real football in a mixed reality environment and provides real-time performance data. But Sports VTS is not just developing technology for athletes. Its program Monday Morning Quarterback takes a football approach to what customers have loved about screen golf. Using a real ball, 360-degree immersion and realistic visuals, customers can take part in a two-minute drill, a game-like offensive drive, or a skills challenge, in order to test their abilities.
Growth sometimes requires a relocation for new opportunities to be realized. For the GROWL Agency, this meant uprooting from Denver to move to Grand Junction. Not only wanting to capitalize on a growing economy in Western Colorado, GROWL wanted to become a key member of the community that was able to provide employment opportunities for the people of Grand Junction. GROWL emphasized technology early in its history, and it has continued to grow as a technological marketing firm.
What sets GROWL apart from competitors is its willingness to evolve, adapt and partner with other leaders in the marketing industry. “GROWL’s technology-solution partnerships with HubSpot and Sprout Social give our team the ability to become certified experts, technology consultants, and impressive strategists, giving GROWL a robust competitive advantage,” a company spokesperson said. “As GROWL has grown, we’ve prioritized tech as a tool.”
The true difficulty of analyzing and capturing airborne pathogens has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but thanks to Aerosol Devices and its patented water-based condensation growth tube collection (CGTC) technology, these concerns may be a thing of the past. The company’s technology is expected to continue to be a valuable asset in the fight against COVID-19.
The unique technology captures whole-cell airborne particles and preserves them for further analysis. Due to this ground-breaking capability, Aerosol Devices has received more than $4.5 million in grant money from five federal agencies. The versatility of this technology has government agencies, industrial partners and the aerosol research community interested in what Aerosol Devices has to offer. While its products are changing how aerosol research is conducted, the company is also financially committed to assisting two research consortiums in Australia and the United States to help teams continue to work on enhancing indoor air quality.
Outside the lab, the company also prides itself on creating an inclusive and flexible work environment. Aiming to retain top talent, Aerosol Devices gives its employees the freedom to design and create products that will directly affect real world problems.
Many flock to the mountains of the Western Slope to enjoy the clouds of snow that descend upon the various ski resorts and mountain towns. However, Aspen Technology Group capitalizes on a very different type of cloud that is now a mainstay in the world of remote work. Specializing in Amazon Web Services, the Aspen Technology Group understands the importance of cloud computing and its ability to exponentially lower the technological overhead costs for companies looking to join the cloud revolution.
Director of Operations Buddy Webster says none of this growth would have been possible without the Aspen Technology Group’s secret weapon: its employees. “We want our employees to enjoy where they work without the ‘corporate’ culture that many disfavor,” Webster said. “Our employees without contention are our most valuable asset, and we go to great lengths to appreciate them.”
In the initial stages of Barn Owl Tech’s development, the company focused on providing sensor systems that would aid agricultural professionals in monitoring their water resources. But a consultation with customers prompted a vast shift – to developing remote camera systems. Whereas some companies would find a complete shift in product development difficult, Barn Owl Tech was able to use this transition as a way to catapult into new avenues of business.
With a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the United States Air Force for its work, Barn Owl Tech is providing a service that has immediate application across multiple industries. Barn Owl provides affordable products for anyone looking to utilize a security system that provides real-time notifications.
“The Barn owl team is hungry, humble and kind. We are a remote-first company and operate in a high trust environment,” CEO Josh Phifer said. “We hire top-notch talent and give them the freedom and resources to do their job.”
StratusIQ has provided fiber-to-the-premises high-speed internet services to the Colorado Springs and El Paso County areas since 2003. StratusIQ is a completely independent internet service that is embedded in Colorado literally and figuratively. Literally, as it runs over 100 miles of transmission fiber throughout Colorado Springs on a network that stretches from Monument to Ft. Carson and Falcon.
Locally owned and operated, this is a company that prides itself on the longevity it has experienced and continues to support the community that allows it to thrive. The company’s 40 gigabit ethernet backbone provides residential services, business services, telephone services and online service for multiple K-12 education sites. StratusIQ has its hand, or wires, in all aspects of Colorado business and community and with its exceptional customer service, it is easy to see why it has been around for as long as it has.
“Our extensive fiber backbone, fiber-to-the-premises technology and excellent customer service creates an unmatched customer experience for residential and business customers,” the company’s website states.
The way a company navigates hardship is often an indication of how primed it is for future success. For Dietrich Partners Executive Chair and founder Celia Dietrich, this came in 2018 when she was forced to rebuild her team from the ground up in order to re-establish a transparent culture she deemed vital to the company’s future. Dietrich Partners is a nationally recognized management consulting firm for middle market Fortune 500 companies.
Dietrich Partners prides itself on bringing out the best in the management groups it works with in order to maximize the potential that a company can be worth, especially when considering mid-market companies that have not had traditional avenues of support to stimulate growth.
Not only excelling in business, Dietrich Partners makes continuous impacts on Denver communities. Devoting significant amounts of time to work with nonprofits such as Food for Thought and Mile High United Way, employees at Dietrich Partners make sure that their company is known for what they do outside of the office, not just their successes that have come from their evolving business.
House of Revenue provides companies with proven revenue scaling strategies and recommendations for new lines of business, diversification of revenue streams, and enhancements to their brand ethos.
Company CEO Mary Grothe also believes that a welcoming and nurturing company culture is one of the largest assets an employer can provide, and this realization has shaped her outlook on success, profit and client feedback, all of which has benefitted House of Revenue clients as well as employees. Grothe implemented a set of core values – “serve ourselves, serve our teammates, then our clients” – to ensure employees are recognized for their immense value.
In 2020, House of Revenue helped nine small businesses between $1 million and $15 million on average double their monthly revenue returns within 10 months, resulting in an ROI of 1,454% and average annual revenue growth eclipsing $3.2 million.
“With a 100% success rate, we believe that by bringing recommendations for new innovative products and services for our clients to market and sell, we allow them to rise above the competition quickly and profitably, smashing through revenue ceilings,” Grothe said.
Insight Designs has been in the web development business since 1999, so one might think the company has grown comfortable with the way it operates. Not so. The company believes its best asset is its ability to continuously innovate. “Developing complex, custom software solutions is a capability that sets us apart from other web development shops,” a company spokesperson said. A prime example of this is Insight Designs’ development of the cloud-based photo and video-sharing service, ThisLife. Bought by Shutterfly in 2012, this project was far outside of Insight Designs comfort zone, but executing this project successfully gave it the confidence to continue to tackle new technologies and projects to this day.
New projects are not the only thing this company seeks, as Insight Designs is constantly looking for new ways to get involved in their community. Whether it is raising almost $100,000 for cancer research at the Children’s Hospital Colorado by taking part in the 155-mile Courage Classic bike ride through the Colorado Mountains or doing pro-bono work for the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, giving back to their community is at the heart of Insight Designs’ values.
“Our founding vision is to be a world-class, modern B2B growth agency filled with incredible people and an incredible culture,” Intelligent Demand Chief Financial and Operating Officer Joel Mischke explains. Intelligent Demand is a full service, integrated marketing agency. Maintaining a focus on this vision is “pivotal, because while much has changed in the last 10 years, that originating vision hasn’t changed,” Mischke added. “We’ve just gotten more clear and better at knowing who we are as an organization and then becoming it.”
Intelligent Demands’ biggest key to success? Mischke believes it to be the company’s ability to identify how best it can serve a client, then apply that expertise to clients to help them realize their maximum potential. Intelligent Demand can thus operate as a full organization to the benefit of a client, not just separate branches of sales and marketing. With a focus on their integrated revenue program that “addresses needs not just in the marketing campaign but tangentially in the sales process, senior and executive consulting, and all other aspects of the revenue process,” Mischke and Intelligent Demand are expecting growth to continue for years to come.
Few things have ever tested companies and their workforces like the COVID-19 pandemic. For Lobo Logistics, this was a testing time that saw many of its competitors’ crumble, but for Lobo Logistics it was more of a validation of its way of doing business and its ability to take care of employees. Coming through the pandemic with zero layoffs and a hand in the manufacturing of pandemic protective equipment, Lobo Logistics has taken adversity in stride and prospered.
In the energy sector where the majority of Lobo Logistics’ operations take place, the company not only provides clients with ESG savings, but leads by example. In the second quarter of 2021, Lobo Logistics planned to reduce carbon emissions by roughly 1.8 million pounds of CO2, the equivalent of the CO2 that is removed by 37,500 trees a year. Further, Lobo Logistics recently started working with a tech company that will allow Lobo Logistics to flex its logistical expertise and help to reduce its new partner’s environmental impact.
Constant innovation is what On Beat Digital thrives on. On Beat Digital develops, delivers and deploys reliable and sustainable custom analytics-based software products, solutions and services. The company’s research and development program and its reliance on analytics acts as a catalyst for creating innovative techniques. But it hasn’t always won over prospective clients. For example, when On Beat Digital created a customer-centric deep learning model for a customer, the concept was rejected because it didn’t follow a traditional technique. Undeterred, On Beat continued to push the technology and eventually saw another customer use the model and experience an increase in forecasting accuracy by 50%.
The company is driven by its commitment to excellence. Whether that is a small business or a new market, On Beat Digital creates solutions that help to establish enduring relationships with customers.
“As a small company, we have been able to help small business that had not been previously able to have advanced digital marketing or analytics while also displacing large consulting at enterprise customers,” CEO Jesse Craig said. “We believe that the core of our success is our commitment to learning our customer’s business and becoming experts on their businesses and in their verticals.”
You can learn a lot about a company by the people it employs. You can learn even more when the company’s first employee is still with it 23 years later. Packaging Express designs and manufactures custom packaging such as shipping containers, retail packaging, subscription boxes, point of purchase displays, catering trays, marketing boxes and more. Prioritizing the hiring of the best people creates a culture in which individual value is paramount and teamwork is second nature. At Packaging Express, employees are given the autonomy to experiment with new processes and embrace the spirit of entrepreneurial industry, and if they fail, the team knows the next solution is just around the corner. It helps that Packaging Express was created by Coloradans, employs Coloradans and continuously gives back to communities within Colorado. So, when customers see this first-hand, it encourages them to come back. It also helps that Package Express’ slogan is, “When yesterday is not soon enough!”
Packaging Express is involved with, among others, Discover Goodwill of Southern Colorado, Arrupe High School, and The Children’s Hospital of Southern Colorado. Loving the state you were raised in is one thing, but giving back and growing with your state epitomizes the concept of leading by example.
Phoenix Haus believes healthy homes are the way of the future and that more and more homebuyers will begin to flock to the home qualities Phoenix Haus has to offer. The company designs and builds pre-fabricated single family homes. Boasting dedicated fresh and filtered air systems, quality recycled or wood-based materials and spaces that are planned for multi-purpose use are the main elements of what put Phoenix Haus’ healthy homesteads ahead of the competition. According to the company’s website, its houses are 100% electric based and with the aid of solar panels can net zero energy use annually.
The most intriguing part of the healthy homesteads are the multiple customizable options that branch out from the base options provided. “We’ve been able to effectively shift the focus from traditional building methods to a standardized and customizable design and building platform,” CEO Bill McDonald said.
Data operations and marketing have long been a synergistic duo, but few companies are able to blend the two as seamlessly as the Pin Business Network (PIN). PIN aims to grow its clients’ businesses through the use of Prometheus Intelligence Technology, which privatizes clients’ data and provides analytics that act as the catalyst areas of growth. PIN exemplifies the idea that companies should be able to learn and grow with other companies, but not be forced to share mountains of data to do so. “We are more than just another marketing agency because of the breadth of our services combined with our machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities that we’ve built,” a company spokesperson said.
PIN is also heavily involved in charity, so much so that it created its own foundation called PIN Gives. The foundation supports causes such as the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the Children’s Heart Foundation. Employees also do their part as many helped to create digital marketing tools that restaurants and other small businesses could utilize free of charge as they rebounded from the effects of COVID.
Think doughnuts, but healthy. At least that’s what Fernandez Marquez did when The Dough Bar was created. The protein-based doughnuts have the iconic donut hole but provide glaze and toppings in the size for customers to control the less healthy parts of the donut themselves. After starting in the pricy Bay Area, the company began looking for alternate locations to locate the company. Clearly The Dough Bar considered Fort Collins a good location, as it can serve the active population of Colorado that still may have a sweet tooth.
Eye-catching and irregular, The Dough Bar won over “Shark Tank’s” Barbara Corcoran as an investment opportunity. This brought an investment and a social media presence – one that has garnered 200,000 followers on Instagram – that has propelled this company’s growth. Utilizing the newfound brand recognition, The Dough Bar has placed a heavy importance on advertising and data-driven advertising as a result.
“The commitment to advertising and opening new locations has paid huge dividends for us over the past few months,” a company spokesperson said. “Since December of last year, we have nearly doubled our employee numbers and retail locations, while seeing our first quarter revenue increase by 70% over the prior year.”
Corporate gifts are always shrouded in awkwardness because no one wants to overstep any boundaries when getting something for their co-workers, but often this results in presents that are disingenuous, lacking pizzazz, and ultimately just fall short of what our co-workers and employees really deserve. So, when Sugarwish realized its gift helped squash all of those problems by creating a box of sweet treats that would certainly boost a mood but never go too far, the company realized it had a perfect gift.
Sugarwish is a fast growing Denver-based gifting company with a unique “receiver picks” digital-to-physical delivery model. Each recipient gets exactly what they want because their gift is filled with their own personal selections.
It only makes sense that kindness is at the top of what makes up a gifting company. Whether it is kindness toward vendors, customers, partners or just a person passed on the way to the office, Sugarwish emphasizes the importance of this characteristic from the beginning of the hiring process to your final day of employment. A chart that outlines the accountability expected from each position at the company creates a heightened sense of transparency as coworkers help to keep each other accountable. “The enthusiasm is palpable and there is a definite buzz in the air that can be felt the minute you walk through the doors of Sugarwish headquarters,” co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Leslie Lyon said.
Documented as the most pivotal moment in Sam’s history, the move and development of the new location in 2016 allowed Sam’s to display triple the amount of exotic game meat, spices, rubs, sauces and specialty items across 72 feet of counter space. This transition changed Sam’s from a local butcher shop to a veritable work of art. Adapting the layout changed the atmosphere, but it was the company’s change in technology that helped to change the business practice. With six point-of-sale terminals, both stationary and mobile, clients can be served throughout the store in order to mitigate traffic and wait times. What’s next for the company’s growth? Social media. While currently handling all social media internally, Sam’s Meats hopes to eventually hire an external professional to bolster its online presence.
Sam’s also works with numerous local food banks and churches, as well as supporting schools and various community events. “We love supporting other local businesses and showing off the local artisan sauces, rubs, honey and jams,” company President Debra Sam said. “It’s an honor to show off their craft in our place of business.”
Coloradans everywhere were excited when full-strength beer was allowed in grocery stores at the onset of 2019. However, few may have been more ecstatic than Karen Hertz, the founder of Holidaily Brewing Co., as she quickly found her award-winning, gluten-free craft beer popping up in places like Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, King Soopers and plenty of others. With Holidaily Brewing Co.’s Hertz’s bottles flying off the shelves, there was an immediate need to up production. In 2019, the same year that
Holidaily Brewing Co.’s product first appeared on shelves, Hertz opened a 10,000-square-foot brewing facility that allowed production to surge from 20 barrels to 620 barrels. In doing so, Holidaily Brewing Co. has become the largest gluten-free brewer in the country, continuing to establish Colorado as a mecca for beers of all kinds. Gluten-free beer may have started in obscurity, but Hertz and the team at Holidaily Brewing are making sure their beer is a mainstay for years to come.
While most business saw a decrease in revenue during the pandemic, Holidaily Brewing actually generated a 13% increase in taproom sales in 2000. Thus, a second taproom was opened in The Landmark at Greenwood Village in August 2021.
Gone are the days where food delivery drivers are chosen at random, at least when you use Nosh Delivery. Starting in Fort Collins, Nosh Delivery wanted to create a new delivery service that allowed drivers to feel like an integral part of the process, not just another cog in the wheel with no idea how much their pay would be. With this model in mind, Nosh Delivery found local eateries far more inclined to sign up when it presented its proposition in the face of other food delivery services. Nosh Delivery makes it worth the while of restaurants that join as they charge member restaurants roughly half the rate of other companies. During the pandemic, Nosh Delivery provided an outlet for restaurants that would have shut down to continue service. Over a three-week period in Northern Colorado, Nosh Delivery brought 70 restaurants into the fold, saving numerous small eateries.
“We like to say that at Nosh we took the shared economy concept one step further by giving the main stakeholders actual ownership not only over the process but also of the company,” said Gleidson Gouveia, co-founder of Nosh Delivery.
When an industry has years of set guidelines, it is often difficult to continuously innovate and engineer new ideas. However, when innovation is the largest driving factor for continued success, like it is for DALYTE, competitors are hard-pressed to keep up. DALYTE’s unique architectural and structural expertise in the daylighting industry allows for output that only a minimal group of competitors can replicate.
Recent projects include a new Human Services building in Wisconsin that included over 50 skylights and 30- by 50-foot ellipse. DALYTE’s ability to tackle large and unconventional projects makes it a go-to company for customers looking to evolve their daylighting resources. “We disrupt the daylighting industry through innovation and being able to design, build and install skylights that most competitors simply cannot build, and we will continue to innovate the way skylights are designed and built,” DALYTE President Patrick McFarlen said.
Promoting a culture that operates from the top down, DALYTE’s management team looks to reflect the qualities of trust, commitment and accountability in order to empower employees to do the same.
When a company invests in perfecting its process, it shows a willingness to adapt and nurture a culture of growth. When Banner Signs and Decals (BSD) implemented a technology that allowed clients to track their project during the development process, it also enabled the company to identify inefficiencies within its workflow. More than that, the company also heavily invests in educating its employees through an incentive-based program that cross trains its workforce on all aspects of the company’s operations. By investing in employees, BSD actively showcases its core company values of quality, teamwork, commitment, innovation and passion.
Specializing in the markets of education and restaurants, BSD has used experiences gained from working with Denver Public Schools (DPS) and Chipotle to entice new customers like Regis University and Parry’s Pizza and has seen a 10% increase in revenue as a result.
BSD’s focus on promoting growth extends far beyond the company, as multiple community outreach programs have become mainstays in the company ethos. Working with Denver Public Schools, BSD has established two $1,000 scholarships to be awarded to two DPS students.
Identifying a need is important, but providing the solution is the true measure of success. When that need is pharmaceutical drugs specifically developed for children, the importance is often lifesaving.
STAQ Pharma partnered with the Children’s Hospital of Colorado to help identify numerous products that could help support various children’s hospitals across the country. To do this, STAQ Pharma revised the pharmaceutical manufacturing process in three steps: build compounding facilities as manufacturers first, not pharmacies; increasingly automate various steps along the production process; and develop drugs via a process that directly serves the less-considered paediatric population. Hiring a diverse and adaptable workforce at STAQ Pharma has been a catalyst for ideas like this, as the company firmly believes that boasting a wide range of viewpoints creates a culture that is more conducive to creating solutions.
This innovative shift in the development process has earned STAQ Pharma a favorable position in the eyes of the FDA. “Our engagement with the FDA and the need for automation has driven the peers in our industry to place orders for similar automation equipment,” a company spokesperson said. “The long-term effect of this will be improved patient safety across the industry.”
When Soulvation started as Leah Krabbenhoft’s $300 investment in fabric, shipping supplies and a website in 2019 to sell workout-inspired headbands, it would have been hard to imagine that the company would evolve into a brand that brought in $1.8 million in sales in 2020. Even more impressive is that Krabbenhoft has required zero investors and has taken on zero debt to get this far. Soulvation’s hair accessories have received mass acclaim for their style and comfort. Since its Hair Tie Bracelets hit the market, they have sold over 20,000 units. One of the company’s largest clientele demographics are nurses, and when Krabbenhoft learned of this, Soulvation donated 5,000 butter-soft headbands to Sanford Health in her hometown of Fargo, North Dakota.
Continuing its upward trend, Soulvation has begun to experiment with apparel options such as its new compressive tank tops. Soulvation has been featured in Forbes and is a semi-finalist in the upcoming “Shark Tank” season.
“Patient-centric innovation is of the utmost importance when creating new devices and products in today’s world,” a SmartTab spokesperson said. Prioritizing the needs of patients is SmartTab’s way of advancing new technology, and it allows the company to promote a patient-first culture. The wireless nature of its technology allows SmartTab to re-engineer the way drugs are delivered. “Innovation at SmartTab is the confluence of wireless technology and pharmaceutical drug delivery. We’re advancing drug delivery technology into the 21st century for precision medicines to personalize treatments and improve outcomes.”
SmartTab has produced three variations of its product: the TargetTab, InjectTab and the MultiTab. The TargetTab was created for targeted delivery of colon-related drugs, while the InjectTab was created to help inject capsules for larger molecules, essentially looking to make needles irrelevant. The MultiTab is the company’s most ambitious project and will begin with pre-clinical animal studies in 2022 in hopes of creating a multi-compartment capsule that can live in the stomach and release active ingredients over a given timeline. These ground-breaking technologies have the potential to completely revolutionize how we monitor and intake drugs of the future.
Black Swift Technologies has overcome multiple financial hurdles to get where it is today. Once consisting of just three full-time employees, Black Swift Technologies has surged from its initial underdog status to become a leader in highly accurate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) capable of flying scientific payloads in extremely difficult environments. Focusing on purpose-built aircraft, Black Swift Technologies aircraft are used across the world to carry out research missions that include monitoring and assessing wildland fires, volcanoes, tornados and hurricanes.
The bold nature of the company’s technology is reflected in the company’s employees. Ski passes are available to every employee, and you’ll often find these adventurers on the mountain carrying out an enviable work-life balance. Outside of their employees, Black Swift Technologies also focuses on enhancing the educational opportunities for the next generation of STEM students. Partnering with the St. Vrain Valley Innovation Center, Black Swift Technologies has donated numerous resources in order to teach students about UAS.
“Our ability to continue to innovate at a rapid pace – we’re even working on an aircraft design for a NASA project to fly on Venus – has positioned us to be major players as the unmanned aircraft industry continues to evolve,” CEO Jack Elston said.
Emerging from the incubator that is CU Boulder, Double Helix Optics has taken the world by storm in the nano-scale 3D imaging and sensing sector. Its SPINDLE nano imaging module is an affordable, easy to use accessory that can bolster a microscope’s ability to produce super-resolution imaging and tracking. That is what first set Double Helix apart from its competitors. This product earned the PRISM award, fondly known as the Oscar of Optics, and gave Double Helix Optics first place honors in the Luminate competition, “the only international competition for optics, photonics and imaging startups,” according to the company. Alongside these awards, DHO also earned a nice $1 million investment that has only helped the company’s upward trend.
With 21 patents, the technology for applications covering life sciences, industrial inspection and machine vision. The SPINDLE2, the second generation of the original product, now allows multi-color and multi- modal imaging, which continues to open new doors for what this technology can discover. Despite all these gains, its product is still priced below that of competitors in order to make scientific breakthroughs as frequent and attainable as possible.
Amanda Gordon broke through years of societal barriers when she became the first Black female to get her auto dealer’s license in the state of Colorado. While most automotive dealerships tend to shield customers from their process, GoJo Auto prides itself on the transparency it provides to customers.
Gordon attributes this to the company’s incorporation of social media as an advertising platform, an approach that has gone untapped by auto dealers for years. Still, customer referrals remain king when it comes to GoJo Auto’s biggest ally. Some 65% of business is referral-based, reflecting the welcoming atmosphere GoJo Auto has created.
Part of the trust GoJo Auto has garnered in the community lies in how much the company gives back to its community. The company is a lifetime member of the Denver NAACP, and Gordon serves on the board for the economic development committee in an effort to raise awareness and support for Black business.
When you begin by selling your products at farmer’s markets, getting your name known in your community is one of the largest keys to local marketing. Seeing your products in the gift bags at the Oscars takes community recognition to a national level. For Green Goo, being a company so rooted in family has allowed its ascent to the national spotlight to be grounded in core values that keep their company honest and committed to providing quality, plant-based skin and health care products. It’s not often that three generations of the same family work together, but clearly when they do, good things can happen.
The team at Green Goo wants customers to understand that plant-based medicine is often an equal, if not better, alternative to what the public views as traditional medicine and wellness products.
“Specifically in the first-aid category, we have historically accepted that only chemical-rich over-the- counter products could be effective enough to heal our poison ivy or chronic eczema,” CEO and co-founder Jodi Scott said. “We wanted to prove that plant-based alternatives could not only perform better, but offer additional health and wellness benefits.”
In order to make your dream come true, sometimes you have to couch surf with your baby and pets, and that is exactly what Erica and Jason Feucht did in order to bring to life Pit Liquor, a new and healthy take on deodorant. While other companies use ingredients derived in a lab, Pit Liquor is special because all ingredients are active and are made in-house. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the process is that the main ingredients that whisk away the stench are over proofed vodka and whisky.
The product is already being well received in Colorado and has created a base of loyal customers. Erica Feucht hopes this will help them corner a niche market and eventually land larger distributors as they continue to replace toxic deodorant ingredients. “Our way to mainstream is to hit the niche area hard and take up the space we belong to,” Erica Feuct said. “Then, we’re going to find our way onto shelves when the world is ready for a mainstream sweep.”
Sustainability is an important factor in the Feuchts’ process. Their sustainability program includes refillable bottles that last a year and glass packaging that curtails the use of plastics.
ROXBOX truly arose from a dirt lot to where it is today. But when you have a product that works, humble origins don’t matter as ROXBOX quickly moved into a warehouse after taking on Adidas as a major client and has only continued its upward trend since receiving a major investment from the Denver Economic Development Office, which allowed ROXBOX to become one of the preeminent shipping container modification companies in the country.
“We’re constantly pushing the envelope on product designs and production methods to generate efficiencies in our process, which in turn help us stay ahead of our competitors,” a company spokesperson said. This ability to push the boundaries of technology and production can be seen in ROXBOX’s HELIOS product, a line of off-grid solar-powered containers that is not being produced anywhere else in the United States. This technology can be used to make containerized refrigerators and power generators, provide a hub for disaster relief, or even to hold and properly distribute vaccines in remote areas. This has allowed ROXBOX to begin to tap into new markets such as governmental, agricultural and medicinal.
Starting as a T-shirt printing company in 2004, Printfection pivoted and became a full-blown swag management platform and moved from a B2C company to B2B. Explosive growth ensued shortly thereafter. Swag supply companies often do ample business with the event industry. So, when COVID-19 all but decimated events of all kinds, it could have been argued that those printing all the event-related material were not far behind. However, Printfection was able to capitalize on its Giveaway feature, a way for companies to send swag to their employees and customers who were now at home, during a time when all other opportunities were shutting down. “As a result, we weathered the storm amazingly and are now in the position to double the size of the company,” a company spokesperson said. Pairing this with the fact that Printfection was entirely remote prior to the pandemic, it is safe to say it is positioned to succeed for the foreseeable future.
Although the swag supply business has been a fairly stagnant industry, Printfection makes it a mission to continuously use technology to modernize and update its platform. Whether it is eliminating needless email chains or constantly updating its item catalogue, Printfection maintains ties to customers with fresh ideas. When they have an excess of items, the company uses their product as an opportunity to give back by donating it to homeless shelters.
With Colorado boasting the nation’s top aerospace economy on a per capita basis, it just made sense for founder and California native Jennifer Halford to move to Colorado and start Caliola Engineering in Colorado Springs. In the past year, the company’s workforce has grown by 80%, largely due to its winning two Department of Defense Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts within an hour of each other. Totaling almost $3 million, those contracts made it clear Halford’s decision to relocate to Colorado had more than paid off.
Caliola Engineering’s OverKey product looks to make the process of encrypting messages more accessible and cost-effective and ultimately transition the market’s focus away from the suppliers who make encryption devices.
“We plan to continue to cultivate our current network, while also branching out into adjacent markets that have a need for low-cost reliable secure communications,” Halford said. “This growth will require even more new hires, whom we believe will value our company culture and join our team.”
What is the best way to turn a city into a technology hub? Do it yourself, which is exactly what Cloudrise is doing in Grand Junction. Working with Colorado Mesa University, Cloudrise wants cybersecurity and skills in technology-related areas to be at the forefront of students’ minds when they are considering possible career opportunities. Cloudrise’s move helped the company raise $3 million in funding from the Greater Colorado Venture Fund, which has since grown to $3.5 million.
In order to make sure this was not just a one-off success, Cloudrise partnered with Netskope, the fastest growing cybersecurity software company in the world, and created a joint-venture with UK- based CyberOrchard, to build the Cloudrise platform. With its funding secure, combined with the company’s commitment to building technological opportunities and improving cybersecurity curriculum, Colorado may have a new tech hub in no time.
“At Cloudrise, the culture is simple: Strive to disrupt the norm, innovate where necessary, and be as capital-efficient as possible, all in the mission of providing a better customer experience and greater shareholder value,” a company spokesperson said.
In the world of cybersecurity, versatility is key. For Rule4, versatility and the ability to tackle complex projects are what set it apart from competitors. Rather than offering a set package, the company tailors its skills and solutions to the needs of each client. “Rule4 customizes our services to each client and each project, and we’re often challenged with finding innovative solutions to problems that haven’t been solved before,” a company spokesperson said. “Our team is curious, agile and experienced, and we regularly stretch into new territory to help our clients.”
Rule4 prides itself on being “vendor agnostic,” which means the company doesn’t try to get an extra dollar by recommending certain vendors or cutting costs. Rather, it assists clients with the best technology for their situation, which seems to be working as Rule4 has maintained a Net Promotor Score of 89+, a measure of clientele happiness that averages around 50 in the tech industry.
Proper preparation is the true key to smooth transition, which is exactly what allowed Rule4 to prosper throughout COVID-19 as opposed to merely finding ways to stay alive. The company had already tested work-from-home availability, equipment and staff preparedness so when the inevitable switch happened, there was no drop-in client satisfaction.
Finding a company that shares your values is imperative when looking to establish a level of trust and professionalism, especially when it comes to upgrading your home. That’s why Harrison Home Systems (HHS) holds the core values of dedication, passion, care, and genuine authenticity to such a high standard and they’ve been rewarded for it. Earning the CEPro 2020 Home of the Year award and the 2021 Consumer Technology Associations’ Integrator of the Year award further communicates the quality level of work this company achieves.
HHS is undaunted by complexity. Often, integration companies are hesitant to tackle condo projects, but HHS dives into these assignments head on. “HHS developed custom-branded websites for each condo project, giving the developer/Realtors a complete resource to provide condo buyers for their education about technology options,” a company spokesperson said.
HHS’s willingness to do the difficult paid off in 2015 when it became the preferred audio-visual provider for 250 Columbine, a condo complex in Cherry Creek. HHS has since become a mainstay in providing luxury condo technology for projects such as The Coloradoan, Laurel, McGregor Square and The Lakehouse.
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