Hello, Friends and Colleagues-
Historically, the events/catering industry has been a very person-to-person business from the very first customer phone call to the catering van driving away after an event. When COVID-19 began sweeping through the United States, just about every business was forced to stop any in-person encounters, unless it was deemed essential for the community. The events/catering industry came to a grinding halt and even future bookings were eventually forced to cancel. With no revenue coming in for the foreseeable future, Riccardo Mazzeo, CEO of Three Tomatoes Catering, had to strip the company budget and surmise how long it could withstand the shutdown.
Honey bees play a vital role in our survival, in part, because the agricultural industry depends on pollinators for yielding healthy crops. Unfortunately, there are currently several factors that steeply affect the mortality rate of honey bees. In this episode, learn what those factors are and how an architect and a bee ecologist have teamed up to create a technology that supports a more hospitable environment for honey bee colonies. Matt interviews Kimberly Drennan, CEO of HiveTech Solutions about HiveTech's SMART apiary. This breakthrough technology has proven dramatic survival rate increases that can combat pollinator decline and help stabilize global food production!
If you are an entrepreneur or business leader, listen up, because this man, his organizations, and his story could be the keys to your success AND interpersonal growth! In this episode, Matt interviews Greg “Woody” Greenwood, Co-Founder of the Colorado Thought Leadership Forum, Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, and Co-Founder and CEO of SpiralMethod. (Incidentally, SpiralMethod is a call-back to episode 20 with Leslie Jones. And she coached Greg back in the day!) He has partnered with Leslie on the SpiralMethod, cultivating transformative leadership in organizations. Brimming with wisdom in building and managing businesses, Greg is now dedicated to serving the entrepreneurial community- leading with his heart, rather than his bank account.
If you do any business networking in Denver, there is a good chance you have met or heard the name Erik Mitisek. For over 20 years he has had an integral role in shaping the Denver business landscape through founding and developing multiple large-scale entrepreneurial networking groups. His superpower truly is designing collaborative networks of people. As Founder and CEO for the company Highwing, he does the same thing! Highwing is a digital platform for commercial insurance carriers, brokers, and clients to collaborate most efficiently with the best technology and data. Having this innovative technology also serves to form and strengthen the relationships between all parties involved in navigating the complexities of insurance.
Our Managing Broker, Matt Brower, recently had the opportunity to be a guest on the podcast SHOP TALK: The Real Estate Show! SHOP TALK discusses topics surrounding real estate with the intent to help other professionals working in the industry. The show was created by a company called The CE Shop, which offers real estate education, exam preparation, licensing, and continuing education courses online. In this episode, Matt offers a few suggestions for blooming entrepreneurs. Also, he and Jon Forisha, the host of the show, discuss some of the issues and possibilities that are surfacing for professionals amidst the pandemic.
Marketing and advertising is big business. Behind the business is an entire academic field of study focused on consumer behavior! This is where Dr. Peter McGraw thrives. He is a Behavioral Economist and Professor of Marketing and Psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
In this new era of connectivity, computer networks now have a greater strategic and economic impact than ever. Existing physical and virtual network appliances are extremely complex and are failing to meet the demands of data centers and their customers to have simple, scalable, and evolvable connectivity solutions. Stateless’ mission is to make network connectivity simple. It was founded by Murad Kablan and Eric Keller in 2017 as a spinoff of their PhD research. Stateless software platform enables data center operators to easily define and build a portfolio of elegant network connectivity solutions that can be cost effectively productized and operationalized at scale. Stateless is proudly based in Boulder, Colorado. Murad Kablan describes in layman’s terms how it all works. He also explains some of the triumphs and pitfalls of starting a new business. Learn more at www.stateless.net.
“I help people give themselves permission to show up exactly as they are.” -Erin Weed
When the cannabis industry was beginning to boom in Colorado, Josh Whitaker, already a seasoned marketing pro and entrepreneur, recognized this new industry had a critical need for his skill and experience. So, in 2015, Josh launched Team Maryjane, a company focused on developing and promoting cannabis brands, offering full-scale and fractional marketing packages. Team Maryjane soon managed to learn savvy tricks-of-the-trade to assist with sales, distribution, and order fulfillment specifically for CBD brands. Thus, Josh launched another company in 2019 dedicated exclusively to handling CBD clients. Fully Amplified is the first fully outsourced operations company for CBD brands! They have cultivated the best way to maximize their clients’ revenues and minimize expenses, hence “fully amplifying” every CBD brand. In this episode, Josh imparts how he plowed through the last several years of hard work building both niche marketing companies, navigated by his passion for marketing and incredible entrepreneurial spirit. (And somehow, through all of this, he still found the time to volunteer!)
