Recent Articles from Mike Cote
Colorado Business Hall of Fame: Jake Jabs
While some of his competitors have gone out of business during the tough economic climate of the past few years, Jake Jabs has expanded his American Furniture Warehouse empire to 13, with new stores open or under way in Grand Junction and Colorado Springs. The company - long known for its founder's...
Kinky Friedman’s “Hanukkah Tour” ain’t what you think (unless you know the K
If you go:Who: Kinky FriedmanWhen: 8 p.m. ThursdayWhere: Oriental Theater, 4335 W. 44th Ave., DenverTickets: $35www.theorientaltheater.com or 720-420-0030 Kinky Friedman wastes no time getting the work done during an interview from the road. “Let’s kill this turkey,” he says once he gets his bearings. From there, it’s like pushing a button. You can just sit […]
State of the state: Hospitality
As Wende Curtis celebrates the 30th anniversary of Comedy Works in downtown Denver and the third anniversary of her second club in Greenwood Village, she doesn't have more brick and mortar on her mind.What's next likely will be more on the creative side: books, speaking engagements - and a reality...
Crawling from the wreckage
Five years ago, economist Bill Greiner gathered with a dozen or so business-people from Colorado in a San Francisco hotel meeting room and talked about the “long, hard slog” – the sluggish period he and his colleagues could see coming around the corner. Greiner and his team didn’t predict the severity of the economic crisis […]
Cote’s Colorado: 24-hour giveness
“What a Difference a Day Makes.” If the Community First Foundation wanted to license a song to help promote Colorado Gives Day, the Dinah Washington classic would be a good place to start. Last year’s debut event – 24 hours of online contributions through GivingFirst.org – generated $8.7 million through 20,000 donations to 529 […]
Top Company 2011: CorePower Yoga
While the tough economy has made it a less than ideal time to grow a business, CorePower Yoga has benefited from another 21st century phenomenon: the growing interest in fitness. Since 2002, the Denver-based company has grown to 55 yoga studios in Colorado, California, Oregon, Minnesota and Illinois. CorePower plans to open 10 to 15 studios […]
Top Company 2011: DaVita
It doesn’t sound like a promising business model when the CEO says one of the company’s primary goals is to have fewer people need its services.Kent Thiry likely won’t see his company move toward that goal any time soon. The Fortune 500 dialysis company takes care of about one of every three of the 350,000 […]
Staying power
How do you explain a financial company enjoying the greatest success of its history in the worst economic climate of our lifetimes? Ask John Ikard at FirstBank. What does a chain of fitness studios have to do to nearly double its bottom-line revenue this year and stay on track to hit 100 locations in five […]
Top Company 2011: FirstBank Holding Co.
FirstBank President and CEO John Ikard got his start at the Colorado-based bank as a trainee 30 years ago. If that sounds surprising, it shouldn’t – that’s how FirstBank operates. Nearly all of the company’s 2,000 employees and 300 officers started as trainees, says Ikard, who joined the bank as a teller after graduating from college. “We […]
Blues babe delivers ‘80s style pop
OLGA Whatever You Want (219 Records) Olga Munding brands herself as a “blues babe” and has the track record to back that up, having spent much of the past decade working to raise awareness of pioneering blueswoman Jesse Mae Hemphill. So the big, full-bodied pop of Whatever You Want is definitely a departure and a […]
Cote’s Colorado: AEG launches ticketing service in Denver
If you really want to alienate your customers, try selling them a service as “a convenience” that saves you money and takes dollars out of their pockets instead. That was the rub when Ticketmaster began enabling customers to print tickets at home. For an extra $2.50, you could use your own printer, ink and paper – […]
Getting it right with “Nothing Is Wrong”
DAWES Nothing is Wrong (ATO)L.A’s Dawes has picked up considerable buzz since the band’s 2009 debut, North Hills, getting tapped by Robbie Robertson and Jackson Browne to serve as a backing band and earning the stripes that make them legitimate folk rock successors to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and worthy contemporaries to more eclectic […]