Women in Colorado are making an impact in every industry, enterprise and workplace role imaginable. They are CEOs, startup founders, strategists and irreplaceable employees who not only are instrumental in their own organization’s success; through their daily actions and achievements, they set a precedent of possibilities for the next generation of women in business to build upon. Every woman in business has her own story, and we present a few of them in this special advertising section with profiles specifically designed to show the person — the face, if you will — behind the business or organization that she has helped build or nurture.
Woman to Watch: Crestone Capital
Ronda Vitrano is Crestone’s champion of identifying, developing, and retaining top talent for the firm. For over a decade, she has expertly led Crestone’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and cultivated relationships. As a nationally ranked wealth management firm built exclusively for entrepreneurs, business owners and their families, Ronda’s leadership enables the firm to foster talent who are steadfast in their approach of protecting and enhancing clients’ wealth. Ronda is a key driver of people and culture for the 100% employee-owned firm that manages approximately $3.6 billion in assets and is honored as one of Outside magazine’s 50 Best Places to Work in America.
Since 2009, the Colorado Companies to Watch program has sought to recognize second-stage enterprises from around the state. These companies often fly under the radar of awards programs of this type, yet they play an enormous role in fueling Colorado’s economy.
From an economic-development perspective, the importance of recognizing second-stage companies — those beyond the startup stage but still developing — is obvious: As these companies grow, not only do they employ an increasing number of people, which benefits their local economies and quality of life; they also create a need for outside services, and thus opportunity for other businesses, from restaurants to accounting firms to pet boarders, to flourish. The ripple effect on the economy is sizable, to say the least.
This year, more than 1,100 companies from industries ranging from biosciences to fitness to food and beverage submitted nominations. A judging panel made up of business and economic-development leaders throughout the state whittled those candidates down to the finalists, and finally to this year’s select cast of 47 Colorado Companies to Watch winners.
Read on to learn more about our favorite Colorado Communicators and Educators.
Core Progression gives clients a 360-degree approach to their health and wellness. It offers nutritional guidance, physical therapy, chiropractic, massage and training.
The boutique personal training and wellness company boasts clientele ranging from professional athletes to executives to housewives – even owners of professional sports teams.
“The fitness industry has been flipped on its head in the last two years,” owner and CEO Jonathan Cerf says, citing COVID-19 restrictions and the resulting emergence of digital and virtual offerings. “We have seen a huge demand for people wanting to have the private training experience and social aspect but in a more one-on-one setting. I think the screen fatigue will push people to want to have a safe place to exercise and to get out of the house.”
In business since 2008, Core Progression has gone from two locations in 2018 to seven locations as of 2021, including six in Colorado. Revenues have more than tripled since 2019. The company owns the commercial spaces where it operates and is poised for more growth and national expansion. Providing a one-stop shop and combining rehab, exercise, nutrition and training into one enables the company to attract a wide range of clients.
“By only needing a handful of clients, we can tap into many markets, as our footprint isn’t huge and the population needed for our locations also isn’t massive,” Cerf says.
Founded in 2010, Intrinsic is a transaction advisory and valuation firm providing time-critical transaction support and sophisticated valuation advice to private equity firms, family offices, high net worth individuals and estate planning attorneys.
“Our business is shaped and guided by a highly informed group of investors, some of the most accomplished professionals and academics in the fields of private equity and entrepreneurial finance,” the company notes.
Along with transaction advisory, services provided by the firm include transaction opinions, valuation, financial reporting and tax reporting.
Intrinsic’s business is influenced by M&A activity and changes in the tax environment. Recent proposed tax changes and sunsetting tax policies, and the high M&A deal volume have had positive impact on the firm’s recent growth. With two offices in Denver and 30 employees as of year-end 2021, the firm expects to add significantly to its workforce in 2022.
“We believe we have the capacity to continue on our growth trajectory and continue to recruit high-quality individuals,” CEO Alex Hodgkin says.
Mike Lowe, President and co-owner of Knott Laboratory
Knott Laboratory provides forensic engineering and animation services for a variety of industries nationwide.
The company produces scientifically accurate graphics and animations to support its engineers in their expert witness testimony.
The company’s team includes mechanical engineers, fire and explosion investigators, forensic animators, accident reconstructionists and digital media forensics experts who have worked on more than 20,000 failure analysis cases for the legal and insurance industries as well as for local and national businesses.
Knott Laboratory has 11 divisions, each serving a unique market, and functioning like a diverse portfolio, helping protect the company from market shifts.
“Our recruitment has focused on building a diverse group of engineers, scientists, physicists, architects and law enforcement officers to form highly specialized teams for each division,” says Sarah Allen, Knott’s marketing manager. “Growth mentality is a huge part of our culture so that technical staff have a continuous stream of interesting and challenging projects.”
Knott Laboratory’s systems and programs support a remote workforce that facilitates relatively easy expansion of the team. This was in place before the pandemic, allowing the company to easily adjust during pandemic stay-at-home orders.
The company is headquartered in Centennial, with locations in Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Dallas and San Antonio.
ResultsLab is helping nonprofits and humanitarian-focused social enterprises harness the power of data.
The company works with organizations of all sizes, from large-scale state and government agencies and nonprofits to smaller, community-based grassroots organizations. Its goal is to make data approachable and deepen its clients’ ability to make informed decisions to create greater impact.
“I launched ResultsLab because I saw a real need for organizations to better utilize data and elevate voice to strengthen programs and drive real solutions that are centered to meet the needs of our communities,” CEO Cindy Eby notes on the company’s website.
Rising demand for greater transparency and accountability combined with greater expectations for organizations to listen to and elevate the voices of their community factors more heavily into the decision-making process.
ResultsLab walks its clients through a three-step process: design, measure and act. It’s geared toward helping social good organizations assess the performance of a project and make data-informed decisions.
Organizations that partner with ResultsLab are more confident and equipped to engage with data. They gain a clearer understanding of their goals and learn how to measure and use data to deepen their impact.
“Together we develop a culture of data that is sustainable and driving growth and transformative change,” Eby says.
Semantic Arts is breaking down silos by changing the way companies think about data.
Through its transformation programs, Semantic Arts helps companies change their relationship to their information systems. The company promotes a shift in the way its clients think about data and simplifies the data landscape so they can understand it.
“We help companies change their relationship to data,” Semantic Arts President David McComb said. “We call this shift the Data-Centric Revolution. Silos go away, systems integration goes away.”
The company also offers advisory services, including workshops to help businesses grapple with tough issues, and assessments where Semantic Arts reviews projects in progress.
Semantic Arts brought on a business development team in 2020 and has been growing at a rate of 25% annually since — the maximum growth Semantic Arts believes a specialized professional services company should achieve.
The company has published four books on the shift in how data is used. Company representatives also speak at many conferences and webinars.
“We are thought leaders in our niche,” McComb says. “We have a very cohesive and collaborative culture and are able to hire the very rare skills that are needed to do this type of work.”
Using videos to get a story across helps consumers feel more connected to a brand, and Storyvine, Inc. makes it easy for companies to create them using nothing more than a phone and its video-management platform.
Founded in 2012, Storyvine’s clients include multi-nationals, corporate marketing and communications, advocacy and nonprofit groups that want to use video to simplify storytelling to move their businesses forward.
Storyvine combines distributed capture, asset management and fully automated video editing to allow clients to capture, produce and share the insights, knowledge and stories that define their brand.
“The rise of professional, user-generated video platforms has given brands the opportunity to create authentic videos from a smartphone,” says Monique Elwell, president and chief operating officer. “There has been a massive shift to digital communications due to COVID-19.”
Many of Storyvine’s pharmaceutical clients began using the platform their sales people could no longer get into the doctors’ offices. They’ve been using Storyvine to film hundreds to thousands of videos per day to continue their relationships and schedule meetings with healthcare providers. Storyvine’s customizable templates with high privacy and security features allow the company’s pharma clients to create authentic content that still meets regulatory guidelines.
“The return on investment they have been seeing has made Storyvine move from a nice to have to a must have,” Elwell says.
Tilt is revolutionizing employee leave in the workplace.
Because of poor work-life balance, being passed over for promotions, a lack of support from management and mismanaged leave in general, 34% of women don’t return to work after going on maternity leave.
But Tilt’s platform and team of leave experts manages the entire lifecycle before, during and after leave.
Tilt helps companies to incorporate their existing leave management process into its proprietary leave plan management platform. Each client receives a unique URL, and Tilt makes the interface look, feel, act and communicate in the same manner as the solution already in place.
Tilt’s platform creates a collaborative, holistic experience personalized for each leave scenario — including parental and caregiving — communicating clear expectations for all parties involved.
The platform helps companies stay compliant while retaining top talent, improving employee engagement and enhancing employee health and wellness.
“Human resources dislikes leave management, so it’s ripe for tech automation,” Tilt Founder and CEO Jennifer Henderson says.
Since 2009, the Colorado Companies to Watch program has sought to recognize second-stage enterprises from around the state. These companies often fly under the radar of awards programs of this type, yet they play an enormous role in fueling Colorado’s economy.
From an economic-development perspective, the importance of recognizing second-stage companies — those beyond the startup stage but still developing — is obvious: As these companies grow, not only do they employ an increasing number of people, which benefits their local economies and quality of life; they also create a need for outside services, and thus opportunity for other businesses, from restaurants to accounting firms to pet boarders, to flourish. The ripple effect on the economy is sizable, to say the least.
This year, more than 1,100 companies from industries ranging from biosciences to fitness to food and beverage submitted nominations. A judging panel made up of business and economic-development leaders throughout the state whittled those candidates down to the finalists, and finally to this year’s select cast of 47 Colorado Companies to Watch winners.
Read on to learn more about our favorite Colorado Tech companies.
AppIt Ventures is a woman-owned custom software development company specializing in custom app development.
“The world of custom software is ever-evolving,” CEO Amanda Moriuchi says. “Every year, more and more companies of all sizes are moving toward developing custom and cloud-based solutions to better serve the needs of both their organization and their customers. This trend toward new app development is largely due to a massive shift in user behavior and user experience.”
As an example, Moriuchi points to mobile phones, which in a few short years have become a part of people’s everyday lives. “Creating a world-class user experience is something that top companies strive for to further engage their employees and users on a more frequent basis,” she says.
The Denver-based firm had 62 employees at the end of 2021 and is expected to add another eight this year. Software is the product, but it’s the people who make it happen at AppIt Ventures.
“Our top strength is our people,” Moriuchi says. “There are thousands of vendors that build custom software, but the key differentiator between AppIt Ventures and other developers is that we have a strong company culture. We are deeply committed to our values of diversity and inclusion, discipline and quality.”
AppIt’s revenues increased 37% year-over-year from 2019 to 2020 and another 4% last year amid the pandemic. The company expects a big jump in 2022, as it projects a year-over-year revenue increase of nearly 50%.
“We are gaining traction with enterprise clients this year and are growing rapidly and on track to have our best year yet,” Moriuchi says.
Darwin Biosciences specializes in the development of saliva-based diagnostics for the early detection of infectious disease. Founded in 2020, the company’s vision is to empower decision-making through diagnostics that are accessible to anyone.
Currently in development is its platform technology that reads molecules in saliva to detect if a person has contracted an infectious disease before the onset of symptoms. Designed to be fully portable, it will enable regular screening by untrained personnel in the field, or the comfort of one’s home.
Darwin Biosciences currently has the exclusive rights to three patents licensed from the University of Colorado Boulder. “Together, they provide protection in developing our platform technology that will enable the hand-held detection of nucleic acids from non-invasive biospecimens,” says Dr. Nicholas Meyerson, CEO of Darwin Biosciences.
Meyerson touts Darwin’s access to world-class scientific research from CU-Boulder and a rapidly growing team that has proven capable of executing on product development milestones.
The company quickly began generating revenue in 2020 by developing and deploying a saliva-based COVID testing service. For 2022, the company is projecting revenue growth of at least 20%.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about rapid change in the infectious disease diagnostics industry, with a heightened interest in bringing diagnostics out of the laboratory and empowering individuals with rapid and accurate results.
“Additionally, there is a growing need to prepare for the next pandemic,” Meyerson says. “Darwin Biosciences is perfectly poised to address these market needs with our platform technology, which is portable, rapid and intended to be used and interpreted by anyone. And because our device is agnostic to the pathogen being detected, it will be broadly applicable to the detection of pathogens beyond the current pandemic.”
Iron-IQ is a cloud-native platform that allows clients to remotely monitor and control any device from anywhere in the world.
With an expertise in oil and gas, Iron-IQ has built its flagship product, Patch-IQ, to make field-level data accessible to other modern oil and gas software products. This enables the digital transformation required for companies to meet environmental, production and ROI goals. With Patch-IQ, data can be fed in real-time between Iron-IQ’s systems the moment it comes in from the field – allowing clients to keep track of tank levels, potential leaks, thresholds, video feeds and more to ensure operations are running smoothly.
The traction the business is gaining is evident in the company’s growth. In 2021, the firm doubled revenues from the previous year and is on track to repeat that growth this year. The company also projects a 33% increase in its workforce this year compared to last.
As the oil and gas industry has evolved, Iron-IQ has adapted to fill emerging needs. “The biggest change is the need for high frequency, normalized data from the field that interacts with other modern software solutions,” Iron-IQ Executive Chairman Matt Showalter says, citing an increased focus industrywide on the environment and operational efficiency.
“Our strength lies in the team of oil and gas, SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) and software experts,” Showalter continues. “In order to fulfill the needs of oil and gas operators, it requires deep domain expertise in all three. Also, our founding team has a track record of building successful companies in Colorado.”
Iterate.ai helps companies build production-ready, low-code applications up to 17 times faster than traditional programming.
The company, which ranks No. 407 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, does not employ salespeople and has no marketing expenditures. Most of its business is initiated by word-of-mouth recommendations by existing customers.
“We build software, so we don’t own many physical assets — just some personal computers,” Iterate.ai co-founder and CEO Jon Nordmark says. “We own IP — patents, custom-written code, etcetera.”
Iterate.ai built two patented software platforms — Interplay and Signals — that enhance digital transformation and innovation initiatives for the Enterprise.
Interplay is an intelligent, low-code middleware platform that is also used for rapid digital prototyping.
Interplay is supported by Signals, which helps executives evaluate concepts. It monitors 15.7 million startups and hundreds of emerging trends.
“As organizations have embraced low-code strategies to leverage the most cutting-edge and competitively advantageous technologies, our maturing business has grown from small service retainers to now include seven-figure software licenses from global enterprises,” Nordmark said at the time the company was named to the Deloitte list. “Iterate has been at the forefront of enabling customers with low-code access to many of the most innovative technologies.”
Revaluate creates artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms with machine learning that help mortgage companies and real estate agencies identify people who are likely to move within the next six months.
Marketers in the software, real estate and mortgage industries use the targeted data to increase the efficiency of their campaigns.
Each Revaluate customer has a plan customized to the number of contacts in their database. The company builds profiles for its clients’ leads, prospects and former clients, measuring and scoring each prospect nightly, looking for data that indicates they may be more or less likely to move.
When the score is above 80, Revaluate notifies the user that via text message, email, its dashboard or the client’s customer relationships management system that the prospect is Very Likely to Move.
“Rather than buying new leads every month, mortgage and real estate brands are beginning to work their existing databases, reducing churn and improving the bottom line,” Revaluate CEO Chris Drayer said.
The technology works best for companies that have 2,000 contacts or more in their databases, although it does have benefits for those with less than that. Revaluate can also help its clients build their lists.
The success of a flourishing economy, community, and workforce is dependent upon child care that is both accessible and affordable. Yet the business model for providing child care services in Colorado has been strained for years, leading to an ongoing decline of both supply and access.
Consider the facts. From April 2018 to April 2021, a total of 913 child care programs permanently closed in Colorado but only 486 programs opened. As of the most recent data, Colorado has a child care gap of 94,887 children. This means that 38% of children in the state need a child care slot but their families cannot reasonably access one.
Without access to affordable child care, parents and, more specifically, mothers, are left with the difficult decision of continuing to work for a paycheck or staying home to care for their children. If Colorado’s May labor force participation rate of women was the same as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be 43,581 more women in the state’s workforce. While child care is not the only reason women are leaving the workforce, it is a significant one.
The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that affordable child care should cost no more than 7% of a family’s annual income. Yet Colorado families are spending closer to 18% of their annual income on child care, making Colorado the eighth most expensive state for child care in the nation. While affordability is an issue for Coloradan families, child care businesses are also struggling. Child care operators face high occupancy and fixed costs, leading to little to no flexibility in revenue generation.
Like almost all industries across the state, the child care industry faces the challenge of workforce recruitment and retention. Since the profit margins are so thin, it is difficult for child care businesses to compete with other industries’ wages. Policymakers and business leaders should look for opportunities to reduce ongoing facility expenses, like commercial property taxes, rent, debt, and other taxes for child care businesses. Underutilized real estate owned by public entities, political subdivisions, and faith-based institutions may present an ideal opportunity for child care businesses to thrive.
Child care businesses are crucial for enhancing early childhood development by teaching social, emotional, and behavioral intelligence skills to children while their parents are working.
The financial barriers to entry for a child care business are substantial. The exploration of new methods to offer a co-signing or guarantee program could be beneficial to the child care industry and allow more businesses and programs to enter the market.
On top of the significant financing that child care businesses require to get started, the regulatory environment is difficult to navigate as well. Those looking to start a child care business are often discouraged by the hurdles they have to jump over to get the proper licensing and meet all requirements. State and local regulatory partners should explore ways to streamline the application, review, and approval processes for child care businesses. Providing a single point of contact who can serve as a navigator and liaison throughout the child care business process could simplify the struggles and potentially allow for more child care businesses to get started and prosper.
The lack of supply of child care slots and the inaccessibility to affordable child care is a significant issue for Colorado families and the economy. If the challenges plaguing the child care business model are not addressed, the current system that provides child care in Colorado communities will quickly lead to less access for fewer children and families. To become sustainable, the funding and regulatory environment governing the child care business model needs to be overhauled.
Common Sense Institute (CSI) is a non-partisan research organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of Colorado’s economy. CSI’s mission is to examine the fiscal impacts of policies, initiatives, and proposed laws so that Coloradans are educated and informed on issues impacting their lives.
Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC) is a group of prestigious business executives partnering to serve as the business community’s non-partisan voice for early childhood. As leaders in their companies and industries, EPIC Members are leaving a legacy of true impact and lasting change by leading efforts to build infrastructure and advance policies that support the workforce of today while developing the workforce of tomorrow.
Kristin Strohm is President & CEO of Common Sense Institute and Nicole Riehl is President & CEO of EPIC .
Since 2009, the Colorado Companies to Watch program has sought to recognize second-stage enterprises from around the state. These companies often fly under the radar of awards programs of this type, yet they play an enormous role in fueling Colorado’s economy.
From an economic-development perspective, the importance of recognizing second-stage companies — those beyond the startup stage but still developing — is obvious: As these companies grow, not only do they employ an increasing number of people, to the benefit their local economies and quality of life; they also create a need for outside services, and thus opportunity for other businesses, from restaurants to accounting firms to pet boarders, to flourish. The ripple effect on the economy is sizable, to say the least.
This year, more than 1,100 companies from industries ranging from biosciences to fitness to food and beverage submitted nominations. A judging panel made up of business and economic-development leaders throughout the state whittled those candidates down to the finalists, and finally to this year’s select cast of 47 Colorado Companies to Watch winners.
Read on to learn more about our favorite Colorado Helpers.
Agile RF Systems specializes in the research and development of advanced antenna technologies for the Department of Defense and commercial and civil space applications.
The company built its technology toolbox with the help of Small Business Innovative Research grants from the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA.
Agile RF Systems specializes in four business segments: small, tactical radars for weather and counter unmanned aircraft systems (UAS); satellite communications on-the-move active electronically steered antennas; millimeter wave antennas for communications and remote sensing; space deployable antennas for communications, radar and remote sensing.
The company offers array-based radar with multichannel digital transceiver for weather and UAS surveillance and tracking; electronically steered antenna for millimeter wave applications; and space-deployable antenna innovations.
Agile RF Systems recently completed the construction of a state-of-the-art facility housing an antenna test range.
“The promise of low-cost systems to fuel the demand in distributed sensors and communications equipment can drive significant growth,” says Kim Kelly, the company’s chief operating officer.
Artifact Uprising strives to create joy by helping customers honor the “meaningful” in their lives through printed photo gifts, books and more. The Denver-based company has been profitable every year since 2013, the year after it was founded.
Artifact Uprising offers customers an assortment of customizable products that help commemorate the moments and people that are most important to them. Of one its most notable innovations is the Display Box, for which it earned a patent. It came about during the process of re-imagining how customers interact with photo goods.
“Most photo prints in people’s homes are stored in a plastic bin, or, at worst, a cardboard shoebox,” says CEO Brad Kopitz. “Our Display Box is a way for customers to both, keep their photo prints protected while also being able to display them in a way that blends in with and elevates their home decor.”
Through the years, Artifact Uprising has been quick to evolve with changing market trends and conditions, such as inflation and customers who are increasingly pressed for time.
“Our customers lead very busy lives, and demands on their time continue to grow,” Koptiz says. “We’ve had to evolve our marketing to also focus on how easy it is to create a project and to give our customers lots of inspiration by sharing not only what design experts in the field are making, but also what everyday customers are making.”
Wedding-related materials — guestbooks, photo albums and such — are a significant source of business for the company. With weddings widely expected to boom in the coming months, Artifact Uprising is well positioned to capture an even greater portion of that market.
Cloud Campaign is a digital platform that helps marketing agencies scale social media management so they can increase the number of brands they manage and charge a higher retainer with a leaner team. The platform is used by more than 1,000 marketing agencies managing social media for nearly 16,000 brands globally including Mazda, Hilton and E&Y, to name a few.
Founded in 2017, the company has seized on a shift in the market whereby more and more brands are hiring marketing agencies to help them with marketing in general. More specifically, “We’ve seen this trend become increasingly true for social media management,” Cloud Campaign CEO Ryan Born says.
From 2020 to 2021, Cloud Campaign increased both its employee count – going from 11 employees to 22 – and its revenues more than twofold. The company expects to double year-over-year revenues again in 2022 and plans to keep expanding its workforce as well.
“We are growing our engineering and go-to-market teams as we build new products,” says Born, who notes that the pandemic has accelerated the need for brands to “go digital” to stay in touch with their audiences as physical storefronts temporarily close down.
“We beat out our competitors when it comes to building a product that is loved by our target market,” the CEO says.
Comcentric, a leading provider of staffing solutions to health care, technology and telecom providers, isn’t exactly a newcomer – founded in 2003 and profitable for 19 straight years. But the Lone Tree-based firm has amped up business to a new level in the past two years.
From 2020 to 2021, Comcentric nearly doubled its workforce, from 44 full-time equivalent employees to 87 last year, while increasing revenues by 80% year-over-year during that period, to $10.5 million last year. The company expects a year-over-year revenue increase of 42% this year.
Having the know-how to identify and respond to what clients want in terms of workforce talent, is one reason for the company’s rise. Also, says founder and CEO Eric Grenier, “We are seeing fewer smaller competitors, as there has been consolidation in the industry.”
Comcentric strives to match people with the right organization – taking steps to learn whether that prospect prefers a fast-paced environment or one that’s more quiet – so that the staffer and company are less likely to part ways after six months.
“We have succeeded by structuring our business processes to meet our clients’ needs in terms of quick response, reasonable rates and quality of candidates,” Grenier says. “We utilize a best-practices approach and constantly refine our processes to lead the market in next-level recruiting.”
Grenier also cites social media as a factor in the company’s growth. “A lot of the talent pool we seek is out there on GitHub, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and some of the lesser-known groups and networks as well, so we have to really try to find them there,” he says. “The biggest benefit in social recruiting is in finding passive candidates — people who are not actively seeking employment.”
GavinHeath’s staffing model ensures its clients have the workforce they need to meet their business objectives.
Founded by Holly Steele in 2015, the company provides temporary workers, temporary employees to be converted to permanent staff, direct hire or permanent placement employees. The company recruits employees for positions at all levels, from entry-level and highly technical positions to executive leadership roles.
The company started as an information technology (IT) staffing provider but has expanded to support its clients’ administration and operations needs. It also serves the finance and accounting industry.
“Though GavinHeath has become more agile over the last two years, especially in seeking opportunities outside of the IT space, one of the firm’s greatest strengths still rests in doing what they do best — staffing IT professionals,” says Daniel Steele, the company’s president and chief operating officer.
Last year was the best in GavinHeath’s history. The company more than doubled in revenue year over year from 2020 to 2021. It also nearly doubled in size from an average of nine employees in 2020 to 16 employees in 2021, retaining several consultants covering bookkeeping, human resources and investment banking.
“While expanding offerings and seeking to alleviate pain points regardless of vertical, staying true to what the company does best in finding exceptional IT professionals remains GavinHeath’s strong suit,” Steele says. “Hiring recruiters and salespeople with IT staffing experience ensures GavinHeath can serve as their client’s go-to resource with reliable and consistent performance.”
GoQAV – Home Theaters, Golf Sims, Smart Homes and more.
Centennial
GoQAV provides design-focused technology solutions for homes and businesses – thinking beyond “smart homes,” to “pure homes.” The company’s Experience Center in Centennial is designed to help educate the design-build community about the latest advancements in energy-efficient interior lighting, hidden technology solutions, and wellness within the home. Then GoQAV makes it happen.
“Fifty percent of all homes in America by this year will be considered a ‘smart home,’” says GoQAV founder and CEO Tyson Rabani. “The term ‘smart home’ is changing quickly as there are many DIY products on the market for anyone to make their home ‘smart.’ We are seeing a big shift in focus on wellness in the industry, and it’s been said we are heading into the ‘pure home’ phase with smart home products that emphasize lighting solutions for mental health, clean air, clean water and fitness.”
The company, founded in 2006, regards its industry relationships as its greatest strength. That includes relationships with some of Colorado’s best custom homebuilders. GoQAV’s own workforce doubled from 2020 to 2021, and the company expects to increase its employee count by another 33% this year.
“We have an extended team of talented engineers, designers and professionals, helping us create a world-class client experience,” Rabani says. We pride ourselves on providing a great company culture for our growing team. GoQAV remains relevant by exploring the latest trends, consumer education, and providing education to our design-build partners. Our design-focused technology solutions emphasize the experiences that will come to life in the luxury home and the modern business environment.”
Journey Payroll and & HR offers the services its name suggests, and more: payroll tax services, onboarding, time-clock, EAP (Employee Assistance Program), workers’ compensation solutions and more.
Software advancements lead some businesses to believe that they can handle their own accounting, but they often learn that’s best left to the pros.
“We see a lot of businesses thinking they can take payroll in house and do it on their own to save on cost,” Journey Payroll CEO Kevin Welch says. “Businesses think the dot com world saves them money, but in fact, it usually costs clients more. That has been something we’ve seen change in our market over the years.”
Journey Payroll, founded in 2010, cites company culture and “heart” among its strengths. “Our infrastructure is only as solid as our team, and we have proven time and time again that our ability to adapt and change quickly, while always keeping heart in everything we do, is at the core of our business,” Welch says, adding that his Fort Collins-based firm is preparing to introduce a new technology that he believes will spur growth nationwide.
“We are excited about all of our growth over the past years,” he says, “though we believe that was just setting the foundation for 2022 and beyond.”
Kanso Software helps tribal and public housing authorities simplify how they manage and adhere to complex rules and regulations associated with providing housing to people in need.
The company’s Doorways tool transforms data into knowledge, giving organizations insight into all aspects of their operations and the people they serve. The software was built with affordable housing as the priority and the open platform easily integrates with third-party apps.
“We have developed the only product to manage subsidized housing for Native American and U.S. homelessness,” says Doug Chapiewsky, the company’s founder and CEO. “No other software vendor has been able to create a platform to manage this distressed problem domain.”
More than 250 Native American tribes and 270 U.S. public housing authorities use Kanso’s software to manage their business operations, including occupancy, finance reporting and maintenance, and make data-driven decisions.
Doorways also is well-suited for providers that manage services for the homeless. The software can be configured to manage the often unpredictable components of people moving in and out of homeless services and helps organizations ensure the careful distribution of limited resources while managing relationships with landlords, housing specialists and others who serve people in need.
“Our culture is one of high empathy and emotional IQ ,which allows us to support the underserved with technology,” Chapiewsky says. “We are very nimble and customer driven.”
Many people who need behavioral health therapy put it off because they think they’re too busy to go to a counselor’s office. But Start Talking is changing that dynamic, making it easier for patients to get the therapy they need thought its HIPAA-compliant and encrypted video platform for teletherapy.
Start Talking providers are accessible through the cameras of smartphones, tablets and computers, whether the patient is in the car, at work or at home. The company works through employee assistance programs (EAPs) at companies like Charles Schwab, which has 5,000 employees at its Denver headquarters.
The company generates $500,000 annual recurring revenue through the 400 therapy sessions it facilitates each month. It’s expected to increase that to $1 million ARR doing 1,000 therapy sessions per month by July 1.
“We are doubling and tripling our numbers some years,” Start Talking CEO Mark Nolte says. “We are adding new therapists every month.”
Real estate agents at The Christi Reece Group focus on customer relationships and building community — it gives 2% of its revenue to local nonprofit organizations selected by its clients.
The brokerage is gearing up for another strong year in real estate sales and development by adding up to 10 new agents to its ranks to help clients buy, sell or invest. The company has a full-time marketing manager and other support staff to ensure its agents stay focused on what they do best.
Founder and CEO Christi Reece says the Grand Junction area was on the cusp of being “discovered” before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Surprisingly, the pandemic accelerated real estate sales, she said.
“Demand for homes in our area is at an all-time high, while inventory is incredibly low,” Reece said. “New construction projects are attempting to provide relief to the housing shortage, but the planning and development processes are challenged by lack of staff. Technology continues to play a bigger part in our industry, making agents, and the buying and selling process, more efficient. But I believe this is still a relationship business.”
Xyleme empowers companies to transform how they create and deliver content across their organizations. In this area, Xyleme has become the service provider of choice to the Fortune 500, with a global customer base that includes Cisco, 3M, Kaiser Permanente and VMWare, to name a few.
The Denver-based firm enables customers to use their content as a competitive advantage to scale quicker, deliver products to market faster, and ensure their talent is always ready to respond to ever-changing market dynamics. Xyleme combines capabilities to deliver a scalable solution for collaborative content authoring, publishing, management, delivery and syndication, making it easy for large organizations to deliver the right content to the right audience on the right channel at the right time — anywhere in the world.
While Xyleme’s sole office and corporate headquarters are in Denver, fully remote employees operate across the U.S., Europe & Canada. In the past six months, the company has more than doubled its employee base and is actively hiring across a dozen roles.
In 2021, Xyleme received a major investment from Bow River Capital that will enable the company to accelerate growth and deliver on leading innovation to accelerate modern learning experiences in training and development, and scale operations globally.
The news that there are no longer any single-family homes in the Denver area for $300,000 or less is, frankly, horrifying. As the median price for area homes has crept to the $1 million mark, what these two facts together mean is that even a $500,000 home is in a sketchy neighborhood. At least sketchy now – this kind of price inflation in housing is a predictor that soon the $300k-to-$500k neighborhoods, or even higher priced ones, will soon begin yet another cycle of displacement.
People who can’t afford the higher-priced homes – heck, even the moderately priced homes – will either buy in the sketchy areas and displace the people living there now (we’ve seen this movie), which is not good, move farther out and expand what we know of as the exurbs, thus expanding the already awful sprawl, which is not healthy, or, they will choose to pick up their lives and move away to the state’s smaller towns or to less expensive cities in other parts of the country.
Trouble is, the state’s smaller towns – Fort Collins, Greeley, Glenwood Springs, Pueblo, you name it – are having their own housing inflation and are quickly becoming unaffordable as well, if they are not already there. I hate to point out the obvious, so I’ll let an old college friend do the honors: he hadn’t been in Colorado since our college days at DU, but on a recent trip here he observed that the Front Range, which used to be distinct cities and towns with farms and ranches in between, is now just one giant metroplex. And not in a good way.
And even other places that you might choose as an alternative to Colorado — Omaha, Topeka, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Charlotte, just to name a few — are also experiencing housing price spikes and housing crunches. In other words, it’s no picnic anywhere when it comes to affordable housing. And for the purposes of these options, I am talking about people with relatively good jobs and couples with attractive dual incomes. People of lesser means, well, I guess they’re up that famous creek without a paddle.
Like so many things in a wacky economy that is undergoing a massive and historic alteration – even before the onset of the COVID pandemic – this kind of housing market is simply unsustainable. I have been a keen observer of everything real estate in Denver and Colorado since the 1970s, and while I have never seen the market for single-family homes decrease, I think this time there is a real possibility of that happening, and relatively soon. My own house, according to Zillow, increased in value by 25% each of the last two years—more than 50% in 20 months—and in his environment, I’m not so sure it wouldn’t actually garner another 10% to 20% if it actually hit the market in an over-listing frenzy.
That’s a good word for all of this—frenzy. If you look that word up in the dictionary you’ll find it means “a temporary madness.” Hey, you can get away with murder with a “temporary madness,” so just think of the disruption as it applies to housing.
I have watched my grown children and other young people walk through this frenzied fire pit of a market, and it wasn’t pretty. Oh, we had it bad 40+ years ago – mortgage interest rates in the mid-teens – but geez!, what’s going on now is insane. If I were a young person looking to jump into the market for the first time or move up to my second home, I think I might just hold my horses. If I was an investor/speculator looking to take advantage of these price bumps, right now I would be reassessing and looking elsewhere for investment.
Jeff Rundles is a former editor of ColoradoBiz and a regular columnist. Email him at [email protected].
It takes a constant and coordinated effort to steady and direct the country’s economic future. And as the US remains a global leader in innovation, investments, and creativity, states like Colorado have proven fertile ground for national companies to invest, and homegrown startups to grow. But it’s no secret that we face continued economic competition with adversaries abroad, it has never been more important for Colorado’s leadership to protect our competitive edge.
While our greatest and most well-known global adversary may be China, we do not face one singular threat, but rather an array of global counterparts looking to outdo our products, inventions, and services. In the weeks, months, and years ahead, it is imperative that we champion the sectors of our economy that help establish and keep us as a leader, and that we do not sacrifice what gives us our global competitiveness.
Without question, the technology sector has given rise to some of the greatest developments in America. Through new products, both hardware and software, we have seen the industry grow to be a leader in our economy. Whether it be through employing residents of our communities, investing in our cities, or developing products that people are eager to buy, tech companies are driving the growth that allows our country to lead and succeed. And these companies have increasingly chosen to call Colorado home, with billions of dollars – and significant human capital – invested in our state.
These investments in our state are vital to keeping our smaller communities, like Adams County, thriving. Adams County is the 2nd fastest growing county in metro Denver, and companies are wise to locate here because of all the transportation advantages, abundant available land for business development, and major economic growth sectors, including food and beverage production, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, aviation, construction and life sciences. We need to maintain our competitive edge by continuing to attract and expand the high-caliber companies, jobs, and development that fuel prosperity in our diverse local communities and our state.
But to keep this place in the global order where competition is rampant, we need to give the industries that support our economy every resource needed to continue doing their work. And of course, avoid burdening them with needless regulation. For some reason, certain members of Congress appear to have an alternative take on this concept.
Right now, some in Congress are championing antitrust legislation that will actively hamstring technology companies and put them at a competitive disadvantage to foreign counterparts. Especially in a time of economic uncertainty that we face today, it makes little to no sense why our legislators, who claim to have the best interests of their constituents in mind, would push for legislation that instead works against our economic well-being.
Whether it’s a small Colorado town benefitting from digitally-enabled small businesses, or our state as a whole attracting billion-dollar investments, it’s clear that tech companies and the entire industry are playing a key role in allowing us to weather the current economic storm. It’s critical that our lawmakers in Congress avoid supporting legislation that would move us backward and will take away our ability to compete with global counterparts.
Technology companies are leading the way in giving the United States a leg up amongst our competitors across the globe. We would be wise to continue investing in these companies just as they have invested in our communities by bringing innovation, investors, and job opportunities to our state. It would be actively working against our own interests to restrict the capabilities, and subsequently the work done by these companies. Our best hope is that legislators will come to their senses and end a senseless crusade poised to do more harm than good for our economy and our country.
Lisa Hough is the President/CEO of the Adams County Regional Economic Partnership, or AC-REP, which is the place where business and opportunities meet in the north metro region. She brings more than 25 years of external affairs experience with global to start-up organizations to her new role promoting business opportunities in one of the fastest-growing counties in the U.S. Her expertise includes experience in all forms of telecommunications and energy. Before AC-REP, Lisa worked with the Metro Denver EDC as the Director of Strategic Initiatives, including efforts to expand the talent pipeline for the Colorado Investment Services Coalition.
D’Cota Dixon’s tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lasted less than two seasons. But Dixon was still fast, smart and, pressing 205 pounds, sturdy enough to take down NFL runners with names like Fournette and Henry. Which is why last summer Dixon was working out daily in Miami, determined to stay in game shape.
As suspected, the NFL came calling. Inquiries from the New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions confirmed that Dixon deserved a shot. So he took it.
Except it wasn’t with the NFL. It was with the American Raptors. Dixon is now a standout wing for the professional rugby team that recently inaugurated its 2022 season at Infinity Park, the 4,000-seat stadium built and maintained by the city of Glendale.
Glendale bet big on rugby 15 years ago as a foundation for revival, with then-mayor Mike Dunafon (briefly signed as a Denver Bronco in the late 1970s) theorizing the game and the stadium could elevate Glendale from a smallish enclave of cheap apartments to a vibrant community with a burgeoning tax base.
It worked. Glendale now boasts an impressive collection of upscale restaurants, gleaming office buildings and tony hotels – symbols of the renaissance Dunafon envisioned. Now, the city and the team it hosts are writing a similar script for the game itself. Rugby is getting reinvented, and players like Dixon are at the center of the transformation.
The concept is to recruit “crossover” players – athletes who typically grew up on a football field, not the rugby pitch. Nothing against the legions of rugby players from club and pro teams around the U.S., but Raptors director of recruiting Peter Pasque and Mark Bullock, the city’s GM and director of rugby, are convinced a new breed of athlete is needed. The end goal is audacious: Help infuse the U.S. National Team with enough talent to one day take on mighty international teams like New Zealand’s vaunted All Blacks.
The plan has its roots in a proof-of-concept from 2018. Inspired by a conversation with a Scottish rugby team, Bullock rounded up a group of ex-football players, and, in the space of a week, taught them the basics. Days later, they were holding their own by winning two of four games at the annual Aspen Ruggerfest tournament.
Bullock is now setting out to systematize the crossover concept. He and Pasque have been remaking the Raptors roster by tracking down professional and post-college football players who may not be NFL caliber, but aren’t far away either.
Dixon is one of them. He excelled as a safety at Wisconsin from 2014-2018, playing in 51 games and racking up five interceptions including a dramatic game clincher in a 2016 upset over LSU. The Buccaneers drafted him in 2019, slotting Dixon in at defensive back. Hobbled by a shoulder injury, Dixon lost his job in October 2020, but maintained faith he could still play among the elite.
It was Dixon’s roommate (and fellow Raptor) Justin Barlow who suggested Dixon think about playing rugby. Barlow had been tracked down by Pasque at one of the NFL’s regional scouting combines, and he was intrigued.
So was Dixon. Here was a chance to play professionally in a game that seemed to be rising on the sports scene. The Raptors weren’t offering NFL money by any stretch, but they were willing to pay: Roughly $40,000 per year plus help with living expenses, with a schedule that allowed for professional development. Dixon was intrigued by the chance to extend his athletic career and was impressed by Glendale’s facilities. There was also the game itself. It was fast-paced, it had fewer interruptions, it wasn’t as violent as the NFL, and it allowed Dixon a chance to do something he rarely got to do on defense: Run the ball.
“We recruit linemen and their eyes light up,” says Raptors head coach Paul Emerick, who played in three rugby World Cups over his career. “I get to tackle! I get to run the ball!”
Dixon also marveled at the scene that is rugby internationally. Raised in Miami, Dixon had not traveled outside the U.S. until last November, when the Raptors took off to Uruguay for a set of matches over two weeks. Dixon was stuck by fan fervor for a game that predates organized football (and, for that matter, basketball) in the U.S.
Making the Glendale dream real means more than winning games. Pasque hopes to forge closer ties with the metro-area business community, theorizing companies may want to sponsor players by offering professional opportunities. A chance to rise in the business world, not just the rugby pitch (that’s “field” to you and me) would represent one more lifestyle allure for athletes like Dixon, who earned an undergraduate degree in Rehabilitation Psychology.
Beyond the pitch, one positive force here is rising fan interest in rugby, especially among football fans. Pam Dunbar, Glendale’s director of marketing, targets NFL fans with geo-targeted digital advertising messages, aiming to build converts for the Raptor’s games, which are streamed live from the team’s website. And why not? To Emerick, there’s a built-in affinity between rugby and football. The key is to get the word out. “We have it in our sporting culture DNA,” Emerick says. “We just don’t know about it.”
Stewart Schley writes about sports, media and technology from Denver. Read this and Schley’s past columns on the Web at cobizmag.com and email him at [email protected]
The City of Pueblo, Colorado, and Brown and Caldwell today proudly announces receipt of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) 2020 Project Excellence Award for enhancements made to the James R. Dilorio Water Reclamation Facility (JR Dilorio WRF) to affordably and sustainably meet state nutrient water quality regulations.
WEF’s annual awards competition pays tribute to excellence and innovation in the execution of projects and programs in the water sector.
Treating more than 10 million gallons of wastewater per day (MGD) generated in Pueblo’s homes, businesses, and industries, the JR Dilorio WRF safely discharges reclaimed water to the Arkansas River, supporting numerous beneficial uses including aquatic life and agricultural irrigation in southeastern Colorado.
In 2012, Colorado introduced stringent nutrient requirements of point source nutrient dischargers, such as wastewater facilities, to reduce nuisance algal growth in the state’s lakes, rivers, and streams that will go into effect after 2027.
Taking advantage of an incentive program aimed at reducing nutrient discharges sooner, the City partnered with leading environmental engineering and construction firm Brown and Caldwell to implement an innovative nutrient removal and process intensification solution at the JR Dilorio WRF. Combining advanced aeration control and a hydrocylone-based wasting process, ‘Ntensify™’ is a suite of solutions developed by Brown and Caldwell to intensify the nutrient treatment process.
In adopting Ntensify, the JR Dilorio WRF has increased its treatment capacity by 50% with less energy, chemical, and disposal costs than traditional nutrient removal, and without expensive capital investment. The award-winning upgrades have enhanced secondary wastewater processing capabilities to substantially reduce nitrogen and phosphorus from the effluent discharged into the Arkansas River, bringing nutrient levels consistently below regulatory requirements.
“We started up the Ntensify system at our plant nearly a year ago, and we saw almost immediate positive results,” said JR Dilorio WRF Superintendent John Millard. “The system has been simple to operate, and it has proven to be a huge benefit to us. We no longer need to feed chemicals, and the plant is now running in a more stable and positive manner.”
Planning for the project began in 2016 and was completed in May 2019, well in advance of the incentive program deadline. As a result, the enhancements at the JR Dilorio WRF earned the City credits to extend its schedule to comply with the pending, more stringent nutrient discharge limits.
“I’m thrilled our successful partnership with the City has been recognized with this prestigious award,” said Brown and Caldwell Director of Process Engineering and Wastewater Innovation Leader Jose Jimenez. “Ntensify is just one example of how Brown and Caldwell stays at the forefront of technical innovation while leading effective planning and regulatory strategies to position our clients for long-term success.”
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