Top Company 2023: Startups

Now in its 36th year, ColoradoBiz magazine’s Top Company Awards program recognizes businesses and organizations based in Colorado or with a significant presence in the state that are leading the way in their fields, as demonstrated by financial performance, notable company achievements and community engagement.

To be considered, Top Company entrants submitted applications throughout the year online at ColoradoBiz.com. From those entries, which numbered in the hundreds, the magazine’s editorial board narrowed the field to three finalists (in most cases) in each industry category. A judging panel made up of area business leaders and ColoradoBiz staff then met to compare notes on the finalists and decide winners in 14 industries plus the Startup category, for companies in business four years or less.

Congratulations are in order not only to the 41 winners and finalists profiled on the following pages, but to all the companies that took the time to tell us about their achievements and obstacles surmounted over the past year that make them worthy of Top Company consideration.

READ: Fall 2023 Issue — Top Company Awards, Inside the CHIPS and SCIENCE Act, and More

WINNER

Titan CEO

Arvada, CO

Website: www.titanceo.com

Founded in 2020, Titan CEO brings together CEOs through private events and roundtables, along with private, in-person, instructor-led groups for Titan CEO members.  Titan CEO membership groups meet monthly and are designed to meet CEOs’ unique needs as business leaders by facilitating curriculum that helps to build business valuation and tackle everyday business challenges. The program offers a suite of resources, including networking and executive-level retreats. 

Within the Titan CEO organization is the Titan 100, a national program that recognizes the top 100 CEOs and C-level executives in a region. The Titan 100 are recognized at an annual awards event, published in the “Titan 100” book and given the opportunity to connect multiple times throughout the year with their fellow Titans. Titans must be nominated and selected annually with the pinnacle achievement of being recognized as an elite Hall of Fame honoree in their third year. 

In 2022, the Colorado-based Titan 100 program expanded to four additional markets after being picked up by a large national sponsor that believes in the mission, vision and value of the Titan 100 program. In the first year of major expansion, the organization recognized 500 Titans across the country — in Colorado, St. Louis, Georgia, Philadelphia and Phoenix. Collectively, the 2022 Titan 500 and their companies employ more than 472,000 and generate $149.7 billion in annual revenues. Titan CEO produced more than 32 corporate events for the Titans across the country.  

In 2023, the Titan 100 program continued expansion efforts, adding two additional markets: Wisconsin and Chicago. This year, the program will recognize 700 Titans of Industry and produce more than 36 corporate events. 

Titan CEO closed on an SBA loan at the end of 2021 to build an executive retreat facility in the mountains. The project broke ground in spring 2023 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. This facility will serve the many clients, executive leadership teams and community by bringing executives together for off-site leadership retreats. 

FINALISTS

Pretred Inc.

Aurora, CO

Website: www.pretred.com

Tire waste has become a worldwide environmental challenge, with more than 1 billion tires sent to the landfill or burned every year. At the same time, concrete is a resource-intensive material with a massive carbon footprint.  

Pretred addresses both issues, recycling and repurposing waste tires into sustainable industrial barriers and blocks that serve as a sustainable alternative to concrete barriers made from recycled tires. The product has applications in a myriad of industries and uses: construction sites, parking lots, playgrounds, roadways and highways; controlling erosion, perimeter and flood control, beach and rock fall protection and landscape design, to name a few. 

In May 2021, less than a year after launching, Pretred garnered $3 million in seed investment. In January 2022, Pretred was awarded the “Market Development Grant for Tire Derived Products” by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE), which is designed to support the development and expansion of sustainable waste tire markets in Colorado and regionally, assisting in the reduction of the storage and illegal dumping of waste tires. 

The CDPHE awarded Pretred $93,470 with a 20 percent match from Pretred ($18,694). With the funding, Pretred was able to come to market with a first-of-its-kind solution – making full-size industrial barriers made from 95 percent diverted scrap tires – marketing them to target markets and getting pilot units into the working market to identify feedback and demand for additional production.  

Rebalance Health

Boulder, CO

Website: rebalancehealth.com

Rebalance is a health and wellness company that focuses on natural and organic formulas to treat individuals suffering from menopause, low testosterone and anxiety. The company’s lozenges and Directline delivery technology to the body are designed for maximum absorption. 

Rebalance originally was branded to manage levels of cortisol, a “stress hormone” sometimes referred to as the “flight or fight” hormone or the body’s “built-in alarm system.” Cortisol can also affect the balance of other hormones, such as testosterone, human growth hormone, estrogen and melatonin.  

The company found this was difficult for the consumer to understand, as cortisol is not something the average consumer knows much about, nor is it easy to quickly explain. So the company went back to the drawing board and relaunched with a focus on low testosterone, anxiety and hot flashes. 

“Rebalance works with your body to help it maximize hormone balance and reduce the impacts of stress,” the company says. “We aren’t trying to replace what’s missing. We are helping activate what wants to be working for you.”