Recent Articles from Eric Peterson
Colorado’s ‘Small but Mighty’ International Tourists: A Powerful Economic Force
International visitors have historically represented nearly 2 percent of overall visitors to Colorado, but they pack a punch: The spending of the international tourist is about 8 percent of the overall tourist spending for the state. “We call them the ‘small but mighty crowd,’” says Andrea Blankenship, deputy director of international sales, Colorado Tourism Office […]
Inside the Colorado Semiconductor Industry Renaissance: CHIPS Act Sparks Manufacturing Revival
A $600 billion global market, semiconductors are omnipresent. They’re the chips used for memory, processing and other systems in basically every new phone, car, fridge, TV, computer and plane. When supply chain woes hit the semiconductor industry in Asia, U.S. companies paid the price for decades of offshoring. National employment in the semiconductor industry peaked […]
From Boardrooms to Bedrooms: How Denver is Turning Vacant Office Towers into Residential Properties Post-Pandemic
All across the country, office tower values have been doing their best Humpty Dumpty impression in 2023. In Denver, the valuation of Wells Fargo Center (aka the “cash register building”) dropped from $475 million in 2019 to $287 million in 2023. The bust is largely due to an office vacancy rate that has remained stubbornly […]
How Aspen Groves Are Driving Economic Growth in Colorado’s Mountain Communities
Sharing a massive root system, the aspen grove atop Kebler Pass between Crested Butte and Somerset is one of the largest living things on Earth. When its leaves turn from green to gold and red, it’s also a tourism engine. Andrew Sandstron, marketing director for the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism and Prosperity Partnership, says the county’s […]
Made in Colorado (Fall 2023) — Bison Leather Goods, biodegradable hemp clothing and more
All Made In Colorado’s winners and finalists have at least one thing in common: They all make products in Colorado. It underlines the sheer breadth of the products made in Colorado. While the Colorado manufacturing base is not as established as places like the Rust Belt and the Southeast, it is also unconstrained by tradition […]
Tech Startup: ThinkOrbital — Infrastructure For outer space
ThinkOrbital WHERE: Lafayette, CO WEBSITE: www.thinkorbital.com FOUNDED: 2021 INITIAL LIGHTBULB Co-founder and president Lee Rosen retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force in 2011 and embarked on a career in the commercial space sector. After a decade with SpaceX, Rosen came together with ThinkOrbital co-founders CEO Sebastian Asprella and CTO Vojtech Holub, Ph.D., […]
Colorado’s Labor Market Paradox: Plentiful Jobs, Mismatched Talent
At a mere 2.8 percent as of June 2023, the unemployment rate in Colorado is notably lower than the national rate of 3.6 percent. While the state rate remains close to an all-time low, it masks a paradox in the current labor market that started three years ago. Jobs are plentiful, so is talent, but […]
Revolutionizing Emergency Dispatch: How Locution Systems Fights Fires with Voice
Glenn Neal, founder and CEO of Golden-based Locution Systems, “started out of a basement from scratch” in 1993. Today, the company’s products are involved in emergency dispatch for a population of about 50 million people in all. To help his brother, a programmer for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, Neal developed software to bridge a […]
What is ThingVC? How Two Entrepreneurs Are Investing in Small Business Dreams
Serial entrepreneurs Mike Gellman and Chris Glodé want to pay it forward. Glodé was a client of Gellman’s Denver-based web development firm, Spire Digital, on a few different projects. Gellman sold Spire after 23 years in 2019, but the duo continued to meet for lunch and brainstorm about startups. A shared inclination “to give […]
Made in Colorado (Summer 2023) — Beer Can Art, Surfboard Wax and More
All Made In Colorado’s winners and finalists have at least one thing in common: They all make products in Colorado. It underlines the sheer breadth of the products made in Colorado. While the Colorado manufacturing base is not as established as places like the Rust Belt and the Southeast, it is also unconstrained by tradition […]
Tech Startup — Skyhook Solar: Solar-powered Charging Stations for E-bikes and Electric Cars
Skyhook Solar WHERE: Carbondale WEBSITE: www.skyhooksolar.com FOUNDED: 2019 INITIAL LIGHTBULB With a background in the Aspen hotel business, President and CEO Daniel Delano came out of a brief retirement to co-found Skyhook Solar with Chief Product Officer William Gilmore. He didn’t want to sit on the sidelines in the face of climate change. “I […]
Colorado Quality of Life Shines: Study Ranks Centennial State 2nd for Healthy Lifestyles
An oft-cited reason people and businesses relocate to Colorado is for quality of life, and a recent study by the online wellness publication LifeExtension.com backs up that perception, finding that Colorado has the No. 7 best outlook for life expectancy in the years to come. Colorado’s ranking is based on its No. 12 rank for […]