the business journal of the boulder valley and northern...
TRANSCRIPT
BizWest is an independent, locally owned business journal.
THE LISTS Utility Companies | laW FiRms | SUBMIT BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR FUTURE BIZWEST LISTS AT [email protected]
The business journal of The boulder Valley and norThern Colorado volume 35 | issue 7 | MarCh 18-31, 2016
›› M A Y Restore Colorado’s commitment to transportation 6
›› d i e r s c h o w Focus on invisible parts of your business 16
›› B o L A K you can’t change what you’re unaware of 19
›› P i N s K Y every minute of your life is an interview 24
Old Town’s little shop of science wondersOwner Matt Hannifin is part of the magic. Page 6
Colorado third in nation for tech concentrationNine percent of all private-sector workers. Page 29
Start the presses: cidery set to open in news buildingSt. Vrain Cidery to occupy former Times-Call site. Page 8
Ale honorsbrewers’ pre-flood tiesSpirit Hound, Upslope tout Scottish-style beer. Page 3
FORT COLLINS ECONOWaTChLONGMONTBREWING
For more information or to register, go to BizWest.com and click on events
Upcoming BizWest Networking EventsFood & ag summit
March 30The Ranch, Loveland
northern Colorado Women of Distinction
April 13Embassy Suites, Loveland
Boulder County Business Hall of Fame April 27, 2016
Plaza convention center, Longmont
UNWILLING DRILLINGLandowners who object to extraction face forced pooling, few options. Page 10
2 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
R E A D E R S ’ G U i d e Subscribe
Subscribe to BizWest, change your subscription or ask questions by calling 303-630-1953 or 970-232-3143. Get the award-winning BizWest print edition and all of our annual directories, including the Book of Lists. Visit www.bizwest.com/subscribe.
Upcoming lists & directories
n Harvest - Food and Agriculture directory: Publishes in March
n Northern Colorado Women of Distinction: Publishes April 15
Custom Publications
BizWest Media’s Custom-Publication Division can deliver turnkey publications to celebrate your company’s anniversary, highlight new products or services, or for any other purpose. Contact Sandy Powell, [email protected].
Reprints
See an article in BizWest that you want framed or mounted on a plaque? Want to highlight your company’s positions on one of our ranked lists? Call Missy Moss 970-232-3143 or 303-630-1953 to place your order.
Tips/press releases
Submit news tips or press releases to [email protected].
BizWest.com
Our website breaking business news from the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado, as well as content from our print edition and digital replicas of all our publications.
Boulderopolis.com
News, trends and insights from the startup community in the Boulder Valley.
Social media
Twitter: Follow us at @bizwestmedia Find BizWest and Boulderopolis on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
E-newsletters
Follow breaking business news in the Boulder Valley, Northern Colorado or statewide with BizWest’s daily e-newsletters. Or get weekly or biweekly recaps in the region’s key sectors with more than a dozen industry newsletters. Sign up at www.bizwest.com.
n Morning Report: A daily email aggregation of the top business-news headlines from around Colorado.
n Business Daily – Boulder Valley: The day’s top business news from Boulder and Broomfield counties, delivered right to your inbox.
n Business Daily – Northern Colorado: The day’s top business-news headlines from Larimer and Weld counties, delivered right to your inbox.
Register for these and a dozen industry newsletters at http://bizwest.com/subscribe-to-our-newsletters
Digital Services
Need help with SEO, search-engine marketing, content marketing or some other digital requirement? Contact Sandy Powell in the BizWest Digital Services Department at [email protected].
IN PrINT ONLINE & DIgITaL EVENTS & NETwOrkINgBizWest produces a variety of business conferences, networking events and award programs throughout the year, both in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado. Visit our website at www.bizwest.com/events to submit award nominations or to register.
n Food & Ag Summit March 30 The Ranch, Loveland
n Northern Colorado Women of Distinction April 13 Embassy Suites, Loveland
n Boulder County Business Hall of Fame April 27 The Plaza convention center, Longmont
CONTaCT USAdvertising
Contact Sandy Powell for information on advertising, event sponsorship, custom publishing, or for a copy our editorial calendar: [email protected], 303-630-1954 or 970-232-3144.
Visit our offices in Boulder and Fort Collins
n 1790 30th St., Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80301 303-440-4950
n 1550 E. Harmony Road, Fort Collins, CO 80525 970-221-5400
Volume 35 : Issue 7 March 18-31, 2016
Copyright 2016. BizWest Media LLC.
Reproduction or use of editorial or graphic content without written permission is prohibited. BizWest (USPS 18522, ISSN 1528-6320) is published biweekly, with an extra issue in January, by BizWest Media LLC, a Colorado LLC, 1790 30th Street, Suite 300, Boulder Colorado, 80301. Periodical Postage Paid at Boulder, CO and at additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER; Send change of address notices to: BizWest Media LLC, P.O. Box 270810, Fort Collins, CO 80527Circulation: 303-630-1965 | 970-232-3132 | [email protected]
QUOTabLE“We’ve also heard something about a ‘St. Vrain apple’ — a variety of apple that supposedly disappeared in the 1880s — so we’re trying to find out more about that.”
Cindy Landi, on the flavors of cider the St. Vrain Cidery wants to develop. Page 3
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 3www.bizwest.com
Barrel-aged ale honorsbrewers’ pre-flood ties
By Doug [email protected]
LYONS — A distillery in Lyons and a brewery in Boulder have collaborated to produce a beer aged in oak bar-rels that previously were used to age whiskey.
Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons and Boulder-based Upslope Brew-ing Co. have produced what is being called Barrel Aged Scottish-Style Ale in a limited release.
“The beer is a Scottish-style ale of around 9 percent alcohol by volume that is made with a little peated malt,” said Craig Engelhorn, Spirit Hound’s co-founder and head distiller.
The beer’s backstory covers three years when Spirit Hound was await-ing the arrival of its brew house for its Lyons-based distillery.
“I’ve known Upslope founder Matt Cutter for years,” said Wayne Ander-son, the distillery’s head of sales. “So I asked him if we could brew on the Upslope system while we waited on our own. He and his team were eager to help, and they let us come in on
a series of Saturdays to brew. It was extremely gracious of them.”
Engelhorn brewed five batches of distiller’s wash at Upslope. He trucked the wash to Spirit Hound, where it was fermented, distilled and then placed in five oak barrels to age and become the company’s first product, Straight Malt Whisky.
In September 2013, the distillery was shut down for six months by the flood that severely damaged Lyons and other parts of Colorado, but the barrels survived.
This past August, Spirit Hound released and sold out of the first bot-tles of its Straight Malt Whisky, aged for two years in those first “flood-proof” oak barrels.
In November of last year, Upslope
filled those now-empty barrels with a special Upslope beer. Upslope brewer Charlie Condon collaborated with Engelhorn and fellow distiller Steve Williams on the beer recipe.
“We brewed the beer on the same Upslope system that we used to make our first whiskey,” Engelhorn said. “So we’re completing a nice little circle with this beer and it’s pretty special. We would not have had any pre-flood whiskey without Upslope’s very gener-ous help.”
Condon said, “It was only right to design the beer after the original whis-key wash. I worked with the Spirit Hound team to craft a beer that is deep and complicated and highlights some of the unique flavors of the whiskey.”
The beer is on tap at both Upslope Brewery tasting rooms in Boulder — 1501 Lee Hill Drive and 1898 S. Flat-iron Court.
Doug Storum can be reached at 303-630-1959, 970-416-7369 or [email protected].
Spirit Hound, Upslope tout Scottish-style beer
Photos courtesy Wayne anderson/sPirit hound distillers
Craig Engelhorn, left, of Spirit Hound Distillers and Charlie Condon of Upslope Brewing collaborated to produce a limited-release beer aged in oak barrels that previously were used to make whiskey.
In August, Spirit Hound released and sold out of the
first bottles of its Straight Malt Whisky, aged for two years in those first “flood-
proof” oak barrels.
“We brewed the beer on the same Upslope system that we used to make our first whiskey. So we’re completing a nice little circle with this beer and it’s pretty special.”Craig Engelhorn, co-founder and head distiller, Spirit Hound Distillers
4 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
News DigestWhat follows is a compilation
of recent news reported online by BizWest.com. Find the full stories using the search window at the top of the homepage.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the largest producer of oil and natu-ral gas in Colorado, laid off about 1,000 employees companywide, although the Houston-based com-pany did not specify what portion of the cuts occurred in Colorado. The layoffs affected roughly 17 per-cent of the company’s overall work-force. As of March 10, the company had not filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice with the state. Anadarko has offices in Denver, Platteville and Evans, and Robin Olsen, public affairs manager for the company in the state, said Anadarko still has more than 1,000 Colorado employ-ees after the cuts. It’s unclear how many of those are based at the two Weld County locations.
Posted March 10.
Groundbreaking set March 22for $4.2M Timnath fire station
FORT COLLINS — The Poudre Fire Authority will host a ground-breaking ceremony marking the beginning of construction for its new Fire Station No. 8 in Timnath.
The ceremony for the project at 4800 Signal Drive will be at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 22. The $4.2 million station is being built in response to community growth and increased demand for services to those living in the southeast portion of Poudre Fire Authority’s response area, which includes the town of Timnath, the city of Fort Collins and unincorporated por-tions of Larimer County.
The project was designed by Fort Collins-based Belford Watkins Group LLC and is
being built by Brinkman Con-struction Inc.
Posted March 15.
Nest to grow Boulderpresence outside Google
BOULDER — The Boulder pres-ence of Google — or rather parent company Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq:
GOOG, GOOGL) — won’t be con-fined just to Google’s new campus when it opens near the corner of 30th and Pearl streets next year. Alphabet company Nest, which shares space in Boulder w ith Google now, will remain in its cur-rent spot upon Google’s move, and grow its own identity within the city, Google and Nest officials con-firmed. Nest signage already is in place at 2525 28th St., one of four buildings in town where Google has space. Google’s presence, including Nest, has grown over the past 10 years to about 400 people.
Posted March 11.
Loveland DDa wantsissues back on ballot
LOVELAND — Still hoping to jumpstart the “South Catalyst” project to help revitalize its cen-tral business district, the Love-land Downtown Partnership and Downtown Development Author-ity hope to try again in November to approve the property-tax hike and ability to borrow that voters in the downtown district turned down last November. Hoping that clearer explanations this time will carry the day, the quasi-govern-mental organizations’ boards are recommending to the Loveland City Council that the questions be
placed on the general election bal-lot again this November. One ques-tion would ask downtown residents and property owners to approve a levy of five mills in property tax, and the other would be a “de-Bruc-ing” measure that would authorize the DDA to issue debt and keep and spend tax revenue generated in the district.
Posted March 7.
Judge asked to tossBoulderado lawsuit
BOULDER — Attorneys for Trav-elers Indemnity Co. filed a motion to dismiss a lingering lawsuit filed by the owner of the Hotel Bouldera-do claiming the insurance com-pany failed to provide adequate insurance coverage for hail dam-age to the hotel during a storm in May 2011. Concept Restaurants is suing Travelers and several of its insurance carriers. The lawsuit was moved from Boulder District Court to Colorado District Court last month, according to court documents filed Feb. 24. Concept Restaurants contends the insur-ance company is failing to pay for the full extent of losses from the damage to the hotel at 2115 13th St. in Boulder.
Posted March 3.
Anadarko to lay off 17 percent of workforce
Miss this news?BizWest works every day to bring you the latest news as it happens. Sign up for daily updates and the latest industry e-newsletters at:
n bizwest.com/ subscribe-to-our-newsletters
EMERGENCY SERVICES
Friday May 6 6 pm
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 5www.bizwest.com
Boulder-Louisville tollingon 36 to begin March 30
Toll collection will begin March 30 on the final segment of the U.S. 36 express-lanes project between Boulder and Louisville. That mile-stone will mark completion of the project between Table Mesa Drive in Boulder and Federal Boulevard in Westminster. The project part-ners advised drivers who have not already done so to get an Express-Toll account and pass. For carpool-ers, the switchable pass is the only device that will allow them to travel in the lanes for free, and for single drivers, the pass saves them money by not having to pay a license plate surcharge. Both passes work on all Colorado Express Lanes, E-470 and the Northwest Parkway. Passes are available at expresslanes.codot.gov or expresstoll.com.
Posted March 3.
advocates, dealer partneron deep EV discounts
Motorists and businesses in Northern Colorado will be able to buy plug-in electric vehicles at up to 65 percent off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price this month, including federal and state tax cred-its, thanks to an expanded collabo-ration between a local advocacy group and an automobile dealer. Drive Electric Northern Colorado, a partnership between the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, Colo-rado State University and the Elec-
trification Coalition, announced its second group buy for the Nissan Leaf in collaboration with Tynan’s Nissan in Fort Collins. Through March 31, consumers will be able to buy a Leaf S for $11,400 or a Leaf SV for $14,100 after potential savings including state and federal tax cred-its and a pre-negotiated discounted price from Tynan’s. The dealer-ship, at 5811 S. College Ave., also has included a fleet pricing option through the group buy, allowing businesses to purchase a new Leaf S for $8,800.
Posted March 3.
Natural pet-food makerfetches $5.25M in funding
BOULDER — NatPets LLC — the Boulder-based maker of natural pet food that does business as “I and love and you” — recently raised $5.25 million in new equity fund-ing. The 4-year-old company dis-closed the round in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Com-mission, noting that the funds came from a pair of investors. The com-pany, majority owned by Boulder investment firm Revelry Brands, makes food, treats and supple-ments for dogs and cats that are sold at grocery stores such as Whole Foods, King Soopers and Lucky’s Market, as well as pet stores such as Petco. The company has revenue of between $5 million and $25 mil-lion, according to the SEC filing.
Posted March 15.
THANK YOUOur Cornerstone Partners help underwrite United Way’s operating costs so that your
gift can have the most impact in our community. Our sincere thanksgo out to these organizations for their continued support.
www.UnitedWayofLarimerCounty.org
TO OUR 2015-2016CORNERSTONE PARTNERS!
OUR SPECIALTIES THREE LOCATIONS
2500 E. Prospect Rd Fort Collins, CO 80525
3470 E. 15th St Loveland, CO 80538
1900 16th St, 3rd Floor Greeley, CO 80631
Main: 970-493-0112 Toll-Free: 800-722-7441
O R T H O PA E D I C I N J U R Y C A R E , W H E R E V E R Y O U R W O R K T A K E S Y O U
Whether your work is hockey, or it just feels like you’ve been �ying up and down the ice all day, we can help. Our care of hockey and other injuries gets employees, companies, and teams back on the ice. For details, call our Case Management sta�, (970) 419-7033.
Photo courtesy of Standout Imagery, Colorado Eagles
Foot & Ankle
Hand & Upper Extremity
Hip & Knee
Joint Replacement & Arthritis
Pediatric Orthopaedics
Shoulder
Spine Care: Adult & Pediatric
Sports Medicine
Sports Concussions
Trauma & Fractures
Work Injury Orthopaedics
Physiatry
1900 16th St, 3rd FloorGreeley, CO 80631NEW!
Specialists in the medicine of motionwww.orthohealth.com
6 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
New leadership at Otter Products
A new leadership team is in place at the Fort Collins-based company known for its OtterBox smartphone cases. Steve Nisbet has been appointed president of Otter Products and Jim Parke has been named chief execu-tive of the global firm, following the recent resignation of Pete Lindgren. Founder and owner Curt Richardson, who stepped away from daily opera-tions five years ago, will assume a more active role with the company as “chief visionary officer.” Lindgren joined Otter Products four years ago and held the role of chief operating officer before succeeding Brian Thomas as president and CEO in October 2014. After a career of more than 30 years of work mostly global companies, according to an Otter Products company statement, Lindgren is “taking time to pursue personal pas-sions, including spending more time with his family.” Nisbet started working with Otter Products in 2010, moving with his family to Hong Kong to open the company’s Asia-Pacific office. Parke will guide strategy for Otter Products while also continuing to serve as CEO of Blue Ocean Enterprises Inc., Otter Products’ parent company, a role he’s held for the last three years. He previously served as general counsel for both Otter Products and Blue Ocean.
New Belgium Brewing expanding distribution
New Belgium Brewing will expand into New York in May, bringing the Fort Collins-based craft beermaker’s prod-ucts into a 44th state. The company has signed agreements with 14 wholesalers for distribution throughout the Empire State. The move means New York City area consumers will be able to buy New Belgium beers on both sides of the Hudson River, since the company began distribution in New Jersey this month. Connecticut will come online later this year, said New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson. New Belgium waited until it had sufficient brewing capacity to enter that market, he said, but now can do it thanks to expansion of its brewery in Asheville, N.C. That facility now can produce a half-million barrels annually, he said, compared with 1 million barrels in Fort Collins.
Old Town’s little shop of magical science wondersBy Dallas [email protected]
FORT COLLINS — The space is just 6 by 12 feet. Some walk-in closets are bigger. But in those 72 square feet of retail space on Fort Collins’ Old Town Square, a tireless 58-year-old entrepreneur has jam-packed enough wizardry to make Albus Dumbledore envious.
“There are more toys we were first to sell in the United States than we have square feet in the store,” said Sci-ence Toy Magic owner Matt Hannifin, fresh from attending an international toy fair last month in New York. “Every toy we sell has to be durable, has to be the best of its kind and has to dem-onstrate principles of science as if by magic.”
What Hannifin doesn’t say is that what he calls the shop’s “wow factor” isn’t confined to the shelves of toys soaring on either side of the narrow space. The real magic is Hannifin himself.
On any given day, a few customers will crowd in to peruse the inven-tory, but even more will peer in from outside just for the joy of watching Hannifin perform, teaching hands-on physics to awestruck kids of every age as he sells his toys.
“I tend to sneak in a principle every time they visit,” said Hannifin, who employs costumes, rapid-fire banter and any other form of showman-ship at hand “to help them realize how special they are. Everybody that comes in has a special talent I haven’t learned yet. I want to turn that talent into a skill so they can live it, not just do a party trick. It reminds me of my own life.”
That life included wondering what to do after the Native American prep school where he was teaching closed, then running a store selling boomer-angs in Austin, Texas, and a toy store in Santa Fe, N.M., before opening in Fort Collins in December 2008. But teach-ing has been the common thread. He’s fluent in 10 languages and works to preserve endangered tongues such as Navajo, Gaelic and Hawaiian — and teaching science in all of them.
You might see him sailing boo-merangs or riding his self-balancing electric unicycle up and down the square, teaching at Fort Collins’ full-
immersion Global Village Academy, and in his shop selling special safety glasses for viewing a solar eclipse that won’t happen until August 2017.
The shop was as dark as that eclipse for nearly 10 months last year while the square underwent its $3.9 million renovation, after which Hannifin went on a mission to let the world know that businesses there were back up and running. “The business owners signed up for the risk,” he said, “but the wait-ers and waitresses didn’t.”
Hannifin has had dozens of offers to return to full-time teaching, he said, and “I can’t tell you that I’ll never be tempted away.” But for now, he’s feeding off the joy of discovery he spreads.
“It’s been a very sweet life.”
Dallas Heltzell can be reached at 970-232-3149, 303-630-1962 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DallasHeltzell.
NEWS&NOTES
dallas heltzell/BizWest
Teaching scientific principles as he sells toys, Science Toy Magic owner Matt Hannifin captivates the Hickman children from Denver — from left, Eile, 7, Enna, 5, and Eamonn, 7.
F o R T C o L L I n S B i z
“I tend to sneak in a principle every time they visit”Matt Hannifin, owner, Science Toy Magic
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 7www.bizwest.com
restore Colorado’s commitment to transportation
T he declining state of Colo-rado’s system of roads and bridges is a ticking time
bomb that threatens our state’s robust job growth and economy, wonderful quality of life and vibrant tourism industry. It’s time to make transportation the top funding pri-ority in the state, and 2016 is the time to rev up a new funding model to replace the outmoded one that’s been stuck in neutral for years.
Recent polling shows 90 percent of Coloradans believe our highways are in need of repair and expansion. But it doesn’t take a scientific poll; just ask anyone who lives here. It’s as obvious as the potholes under their tires and the brake lights from the stop-and-go traffic in front of them that Colorado has a road problem.
What most Coloradans don’t know, however, is that our state devotes no permanent general-fund budget dollars to transportation.
One of the primary responsibili-ties of state government is the state highway system, but since 2009, the Colorado General Assembly
has ignored it. This is a significant change of policy. Until 2009, Colo-rado dedicated up to 11 percent of its sales and use tax revenues to trans-portation funding before stopping that commitment.
For a while, the excuse was the poor economy. But since the Great Recession ended in 2009, state government revenue has grown by $3 billion, none of which has gone towards highways.
In contrast to Colorado’s approach, Utah and Texas — two of Colorado’s most aggressive eco-nomic competitors — have made significant investments in their transportation system, including miles of new highway capacity.
Businesses around the state rec-ognize the folly of not investing in the highway infrastructure system. One of the loudest voices has been raised in Northern Colorado by the Fix North I-25 Business Alliance (FixNorthI25.com). Fix North I-25 leaders have come to realize that to get Interstate 25 widened between Colorado Highway 14 in Fort Col-lins and Colorado 66 northeast of Longmont, we need to help the entire state meet its transportation funding problem. While problems on North I-25 are acute, every corner of the state has unmet needs. Thus, the creation of Fix Colorado Roads
(FixColoradoRoads.com).Our goal at Fix Colorado Roads
— a growing statewide coalition of business and civic leaders — is to create a permanent, predictable and reliable funding stream for the state’s roads and bridges.
During the current session of the Colorado General Assembly, we believe two things need to happen. First, the Legislature should commit to a guaranteed source of funding from the state’s General Fund. We believe $200 million is appropriate.
Second, a bonding mechanism needs to be adopted to ensure that the Colorado Department of Trans-portation can jumpstart delayed maintenance priorities and build large-scale road expansion pro-grams across Colorado sooner rather
than later.The bonding approach has been
used before. Low interest rates pres-ent the state with a historic opportu-nity to renew the successful TRANS bonds from the 1990s, which would generate approximately $3.5 billion in proceeds to accelerate transpor-tation projects that touch literally every legislative district in the state.
We’re asking the Legislature to refer renewal of TRANS bonds to the fall ballot to let voters decide.
Our approach is a positive and proactive way to address Colorado’s growing transportation crisis. It is increasingly clear that the “no action” approach over the past seven years is not working. We believe that this is the year when the realization of the current and future effects of the transportation funding crisis meets the political will in both par-ties to take action. Colorado can’t continue to be stuck in neutral on transportation funding. It’s time to come together to put the issue of transportation funding in the legis-lative fast lane where it belongs.
David May is president and chief executive of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, convener of the Fix North I-25 Business Alliance and a founder of Fix Colorado Roads.
FoRT CollINS VoICEDAVID MAy
Bob and Cathy Toomy, OwnersEvergreen Landscape andSprinkler Company
Growing Colorado businesses forover 60 years.Guaranty Bank and Trust helps local businesses like Evergreen Landscape grow every day. From business banking, to loans and treasury management solutions, Guaranty Bank is a community bank that has served Colorado for over 60 years. We’re here to invest in you and our community.
303.293.5500970.454.4220GuarantyBankCO.com
Member FDIC
Utah and Texas — two of Colorado’s most aggressive economic competitors — have made significant investments in their transportation system, including miles of new highway capacity.
8 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Start the pressesBy Dallas [email protected]
LONGMONT — A couple plans to unveil Longmont’s first hard cidery in mid- to late-May in part of the build-ing that until recently housed the city’s daily newspaper.
Dean and Cindy Landi are working to open St. Vrain Cidery and Taproom in 2,300 square feet of the former Times-Call building’s first floor. The building is at Fourth Avenue and Terry Street, but the cidery’s entrance and patio will be off the alley on the east side, toward Coffman Street, Cindy Landi said.
The taproom will have 25 taps, she said, featuring five of their own brews and 20 from other local businesses including Stem Ciders, Colorado Cider Co., Wild Cider, Scrumpy’s, Big Bs and more.
T he L a nd is met a long the Mississippi Gulf C o a s t , w he r e D e a n w a s a marine biologist with the Nation-al Oceanic and A t m o s p h e r i c A d m i n i s t r a -tion. They took up home brew-ing while living in Austin, Texas, and the idea of opening a cidery was born after they moved to Longmont and met Dan Daugherty, who runs a blog called Cider Sage.
“We’ve always talked about it, but it was just kind of a fantasy,” Cindy Landi said. “So this just seemed like the right step to take.”
The couple started laying the groundwork for the business in January 2015, she said, then set about finding a space. “We went to this amazing work-shop in Portland, Ore., and met some of the leaders in the industry. We learned a little more about what the industry was doing, and signed a lease at the end of last year.”
Raising the money to start the busi-ness involved selling a condo they owned in Austin and working with High Plains Bank on a small-business loan. Then there was a GoFundMe page.
“We were hoping to raise some extra money for the patio and outdoor seat-ing with that page, and we raised a little over $5,000 from friends and family,” she said, “but we haven’t pushed that very hard.”
The Landis just received their liquor license and are working through the final permitting process, she said, add-ing that the couple plans to be open from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sat-urdays and from 11 a.m. or noon until 6 p.m. Sundays.
The majority of the space will be public, she said, “but off to the north of the taproom will be an area segregated for our tanks. It’ll be visible, but behind a barrier.”
She said she’d like to preserve some of the building’s newspaper past as part of the taproom’s décor. “We’ve asked them if we can keep one of the Times-Call signs to honor the history. We still have to talk to an electrician about it,” she said. “We’d also like to take the old
globe lights from the warehouse and see if we can convert them to LED. We’re really trying to honor the space.”
T he Ti mes-Call moved its s t a f f to 18 6 0 Industrial Circle last yea r. The n e w s p a p e r ’ s longtime head-quarters was sold to investor/devel-oper Jamie St. John for $2.4 mil-lion in Septem-ber 2014. The sale
included the 48,310-square-foot main newspaper building, a 39,673-square-foot parking lot on the southwest corner of Fourth Avenue and Terry Street and an 11,875-square-foot parking lot to the east of the building along the alley, where the entrance to the taproom will be.
The Landis are in the process of developing recipes for the ciders they’ll offer.
“We’ve come up with some interest-ing flavors,” Cindy Landi said, “flavors like poblano pepper, grapefruit, ginger lime, basil lavender and a traditional apple. We have a barrel from Still Cellars and would like to develop a barrel-aged cider.
“We’ve also heard something about a ‘St. Vrain apple’ — a variety of apple that supposedly disappeared in the 1880s — so we’re trying to find out more about that.”
Dallas Heltzell can be reached at 970-232-3149, 303-630-1962 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DallasHeltzell.
“We’ve come up with some interesting flavors ... like poblano pepper, grapefruit, ginger lime, basil lavender and a traditional apple. We have a barrel from Still Cellars and would like to develop a barrel-aged cider.”Cindy Landi, St. Vrain Cidery and Taproom
dallas heltzell/BizWest
St. Vrain Cidery partners, from left, Dean Landi, Cindy Landi and Dan Daugherty hold a tasting at the site of their new taproom, the former home of the Longmont Times-Call newspaper.
L o n g m o n T B i z
City’s first cidery to open in Times-Call’s former home
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 9www.bizwest.com
Oskar Blues acquires brewery in Florida
Longmont-based Oskar Blues Brew-ery is acquiring Tampa, Fla.-based Cigar City Brewing for an undisclosed sum. The purchase comes one year after Oskar Blues bought Grand Rap-ids, Mich.-based Perrin Brewing. The Cigar City deal, however, figures to be much larger. Cigar City brewed 60,000 barrels of beer in 2015, about four times what Perrin was putting out at the time of its acquisition. Oskar Blues, by comparison, brewed 192,000 bar-rels last year. Both acquisitions were made possible by a major investment last year from Boston private-equity firm Fireman Capital Partners. Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis sold what has been widely reported as a con-trolling stake in Oskar Blues to Fire-man, although the brewery never has confirmed the exact size of Fireman’s stake. The association with Fireman has allowed Oskar Blues not only to get into the acquisition game but also accelerate its own growth — includ-ing expansions of its Longmont and Brevard, N.C., breweries, as well as construction of a new brewery slated to open in Austin, Texas, next month. The deal for Cigar City will allow the Florida brewer to tap into Oskar Blues’ expansion expertise and provide growth capital. Cigar City founder Joey Redner will remain as chief executive of Cigar City. Primarily, the idea behind acquiring other breweries has been to share expertise that Oskar Blues officials have gained through their own rapid growth to help others
find a smoother path to expansion. Oskar Blues earlier this year expanded distribution to its 49th state and soon will be in all 50.
City tapping reserve funds to pay Village at Peaks debt
The city of Longmont will have to use money from its emergency fund to make this year’s debt payments on money it borrowed to help pay for the construction of the Village at the Peaks shopping center. To pay the $636,227 due on June 1, city staff is planning not only to use $205,251 from Longmont’s emergency fund but also to seek city council approval to use $117,076 in property tax revenue. The shortfall comes from a shortage of sales tax to be collected due in in large part to the delayed openings of Whole Foods and Sam’s Club. BizWest reported in December that Whole Foods’ deci-sion then to delay its opening at the center by 11 months would cost the city about $1.04 million in sales-tax revenue.
Colo. Latino fest set for June 26
The inaugural Colorado Latino Festi-val, spotlighting Latino and Caribbean culture and sponsored by the Long-mont-based Boulder County Latino Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for noon to 7 p.m. June 26 on Main Street in downtown Longmont. The event will focus on entertainment,
hands-on activities, information resources and Latin cuisine. In addi-tion to the main stage headline band, the event will feature a parade of flags where participants from each Latin American country will be invited to march behind their perspective coun-try’s flag from one end of the festi-val to the other. Organizers are inviting the business community to participate as vendors, sponsors or collaborators for this event, which they expect to draw more than 10,000 people. More information is available from the cham-ber at 202-423-7060, thelatinocham-ber.com or thelatinofestival.com.
Cinema gets boost in liquor-license appeal
Regal Cinemas’ quest to sell booze at its new Longmont movie theater has gotten a lifeline from a Boulder District Court judge. District Judge Maria Berkenkotter filed an order indicating that the company’s appeal of Longmont Municipal Judge Diana VanDeHey’s denial of a liquor license will move forward. VanDeHey had denied the license around the time the theater opened in November because of concerns about the possibility for underage drinking at the theater.
LEDP, Longmont create small-biz grant program
LONGMONT — The Longmont Eco-nomic Development Partnership and the city of Longmont have created a
new small-business grant program in order to broaden the base of business-es that are eligible for city funding.
The new Advance Longmont Small Business Grant will replace the cur-rent Start Up and Business Improve-ment Grants that were previously only available to retail businesses. The new grants can be awarded based on either retail sales tax generation, or new job creation in the community.
Grant funds are available to busi-nesses for making permanent upgrades and improvements to their properties, or for startup costs such as utility connections, licensing fees or marketing costs. The grant will provide up to 25 percent of eligible property improvement costs up to $7,000, or up to $2,000 for eligible startup costs. A business must be a brick-and-mortar business located within a targeted investment area in the city to qualify for a property improvement grant and can be located anywhere in the city to qualify for a grant to help fund startup costs.
The city of Longmont began offering grants to retail businesses in 2006 as part of an effort to support the retail base of the economy and to diversify the local economy. Longmont City Council voted to allocate $50,000 from the general fund to the new grant programs, which at the time were part of the Longmont Economic Gardening Initiative. Existing or startup business-es in Longmont could participate in the LEGI program, which also included peer consulting, research and market data and small-business workshops for no or low cost.
NEWS&NOTES
USE US for energy e� ciencyinformation.
© 2015 Xcel Energy Inc.
xcelenergy.com
Whatever business you’re in, Xcel Energy’s team of energy effi ciency specialists can help you save energy and save money. Contact them at 1-855-839-8862 or visit xcelenergy.com/Business.
10 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Unwilling drillingBy Doug [email protected]
As low prices for crude and nat-ural gas continue to hammer the industry, oil and gas companies are turning to a 65-year-old state law that allows them to extract minerals, often against the will of a landowner who has mineral rights.
Oil companies have been beating a path to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission apply-ing for permission to “force pool,” a process that allows operators to drill a well to access a pool of resources, often called a drilling unit, from under a parcel of land that has mul-tiple owners with mineral rights.
It usually involves horizontal drilling, a technique that runs pipes underground at a depth of 2,000 to 7,000 feet from one well to capture resources in a pool area that can be as large as 640 acres — the equiva-lent of one square mile, a more eco-
nomical approach than drilling an area with multiple vertical wells.
“Forced pooling has skyrocket-ed since horizontal drilling began allowing for larger drilling units,” said Matt Sura, an oil and gas attor-ney based in Boulder who has clients in Northern Colorado. “Most people are unaware of this law even though it’s been around for a long time,” he said, leading to angst and confusion among mineral-rights owners.
Keeping trackThe commission doesn’t track
the number of forced-pooling order
applications by month or coun-ty, but commission director Matt Lepore agreed that there has been an increase in applications in Northern Colorado, especially in Greeley and Windsor. “It’s hard to aggregate that specific data with our system,” he said.
Lepore said the uptick in applica-tions likely is a result of the transi-tion to larger units that will have more owners involved and because owners don’t always respond to operators’ request to make lease or working-interest ownership deals.
Oil companies are allowed to use forced pooling only as a last resort. They first are required to offer min-eral-rights owners the opportunity to voluntarily lease their rights in return for royalty checks, or become a working-interest partner and pay a portion of production costs before realizing a portion of the well’s prof-it. There always is the possibility for an unprofitable well.
an offer they can’t refuseMineral-rights owners can say no
to an offer to lease their rights to oil and gas companies. They can say no to the offer of becoming a working-
Landowners who object to extraction face forced pooling, few options
What is it?Forced pooling: The act of being forced by state law into participation in an oil and/or gas producing unit. Pooling is a technique used by oil and gas development companies to organize an oil or gas field.
Joel Blocker/for BizWest
Carl Erickson, a mineral-rights owner in Greeley, contends that oil companies have made “low-ball offers because they can always go to the COGCC and get an order to force pool. That is dirty pool! Forced pooling is taking my minerals by eminent domain.”
SURA LEPORE
“We don’t get that many requests from people objecting to forced pooling to address the commission.”Matt Lepore, Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission director
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 11www.bizwest.com
Falling pricesLow oil and gas prices make forced pooling more economical for oil and gas operators, but also make mineral-rights owners hesitant as they wait for prices to rise.
3.4
3.2
3.0
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
USD
per M
illio
n M
etric
Brit
ish Th
erm
al U
nits
USD
per B
arre
ll
A M J J A S O N D J F M
A M J J A S O N D J F M
$1.817
$37.24
Natural gas prices, 2015-2016
Crude oil prices, 2015-2016
BizWest graphic | Source: Nasdaq
interest partner in a well. But they can’t say no to forced pooling if the order is approved by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Once the commission declares an area is a pool or unit, oil compa-nies can ask to force owners to par-ticipate in a well operation after they decline the first two options.
Some states require that oil and gas companies secure a majority of volunteer lessors for a designat-ed pool, but Colorado has no such requirement, Lepore said. “All it takes is for the oil and gas company to own a portion of the pool. Opera-tors tell us that they don’t get many responses to election letters.”
Such certified letters are required from oil and gas companies to min-eral-rights owners, requesting to lease their rights or make offers to them to become working-interest owners in a well. Recipients usu-ally find them hard to understand
because they are filled with legalese.At least a dozen oil companies in
the past 12 months, led by Denver-based Extraction Oil and Gas LLC, have applied with the commission for forced-pooling orders in North-ern Colorado.
Extraction Oil and Gas, which recently applied for 10 forced-pool-ing orders, declined a request to be interviewed for this story.
Please see Pooling, page 12
The forced pooling lawBefore you are force pooled, an oil company must follow good-faith efforts before
being granted a forced pool order by the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission.
The oil company must notify you with multiple certified letters of an intent to
negotiate a lease.
The efforts must be made in good faith and be in line with current market condi-
tions.
If you still resist the lease attempts, the COGCC probably will call you in to con-
vince you to agree to a lease agreement in good faith.
If you resist all good-faith attempts to lease, the COGCC may rule in favor of the
oil company and force pool your minerals. If that happens, you will become a mineral
interest owner in the well. you will receive a royalty of 100 percent of your mineral
acreage/unit size of the oil from the unit only after 200 percent of the cost of the drill-
ing has been recovered by the operating company. — Doug Storum
Mineral-rights owners can say no to an offer to lease their rights to oil and gas companies. They can say no to offers to become a working-interest partner in a well. But they can’t say no to forced pooling if approved by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
“Forced pooling has skyrocketed since horizontal drilling began allowing for larger drilling units. ... It borders on condemnation.”Matt Sura, oil and gas attorney
Joel Blocker/for BizWest
This well site, owned by Synergy Resources Corp. and called Kelly Farms Well, sits behind Northridge High School in west Greeley.
12 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Earlier this month, the Greeley City Council approved Extraction’s request for permits for 22 wells with-in city limits, going against recom-mendations by the planning com-mission and opposition from some residents.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone available to speak on the record w/ [sic] regard to pooling,” an Extraction spokesman responded by email.
Other companies applying to force pool include PDC Energy Inc., Synerg y Resources Corp., Great Western Operating Co., Anadar-ko Petroleum Corp., Chesapeake Exploration LLC, Cub Creek Ener-
g y, Ward Petroleum Corp. and Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore.
Few applications deniedLepore said the commission sel-
dom denies an application for forced pooling, but it would deny an appli-cation if a mineral-rights owner goes before the commission and shows that the oil company is not offering a “fair market price.”
He said the commission approves “about 99 percent of applications. ... We don’t get that many requests from people objecting to forced pooling to address the commission.”
Carl Erickson, one of the few who has testified before the commission objecting to being force pooled, said
he feels oil and gas companies are making “low-ball offers,” treading on his rights, and that forced pooling is unconstitutional.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Con-servation Commission determines
the “pool” area, which can have mul-tiple mineral-rights owners. Because drilling in a pool drains the entire pool, a l l mineral-rights owners must be compensated. That works for willing mineral-rights owners who want to earn royalties, but it’s forcing unwilling owners to give up their mineral rights at the bequest of privately operated oil and gas com-panies.
“It borders on condemnation,” Sura said.
Erickson is the chairman of Weld Air and Water, a nonprofit that is an advocate for health and environ-mental safety, including issues sur-rounding oil and gas development in Weld County.
‘Dirty pool’“I have been harassed by Mineral
Resources and Extraction for sev-eral years, threatened with forced pooling, and when they figured they weren’t getting anywhere with me, they started sending the assign-ment of mineral-rights papers to my father,” Erickson said. “He’s been dead for five years.”
Erickson contended that oil com-panies have made “low-ball offers because they can always go to the COGCC and get an order to force pool. That is dirty pool! Forced pool-ing is taking my minerals by eminent domain. … My minerals are a part of my estate and, as such, are mine to sell or not, when I see fit. Until the industry develops a truly safe way to extract, my minerals should stay where they are. This is just good stewardship.”
Erickson is concerned about safe-ty factors beyond leaks that could lead to contamination of water sources.
“It’s not only the leaks, it’s the allowable activities, like empty-ing tanks, opening thief hatches to check levels, purging valves, clean-ing out trucks, overfilling and so on.”
Doug Storum can be reached at 303-630-1959, 970-416-7369 or [email protected].
Pooling, from 11 “Forced pooling is taking my minerals by eminent domain. … My minerals are a part of my estate and, as such, are mine to sell or not, when I see fit.”Carl Erickson, mineral rights owner
The business journal of the
boulder Valley and northern Colorado.
Two great markets — one great
business newspaper.
To advertise: 303-630-1954 970-232-3144
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 13www.bizwest.com
PrintPlusBOGOBuy a PrintPlus subscription and get another
for a colleague or associate for 1 year!
Or split it and pay
about $30 each!
Only $59.99
With BizWest PrintPlus you get the print newspaper, access to our robust online offerings and all industry directories,
including the Book of Lists!Call 303-630-1953 or 970-232-3143 today!
The Business Journal of the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado
Expires 3/31/16
Utility ProvidersRanked by number of customers
Rank Company nameNo. of customersNo. of employees
% electric% gas
% water% sewer
WebsiteEmailPhone/fax
Person in charge, TitleYear founded
1Xcel Energy*
1800 LarimerDenver, CO 80202
2,792,4363,783
51%49%
0%0%
www.excelenergy.com303-245-2254/303-245-2292
David Eves, president, Colorado1909
2Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District220 Water Ave.Berthoud, CO 80513
800,00090
0%0%
100%0%
[email protected]/970-532-0942
Eric Wilkinson, general manager1937
3Platte River Power Authority2000 E. Horsetooth RoadFort Collins, CO 80525
154,000**
237100%0%
0%0%
[email protected]/970-229-5244
Jackie Sargent, general manager1973
4City of Greeley Water & Sewer Department***
1100 10th St., Suite 300Greeley, CO 80631
125,000105
0%0%
100%100%
www.greeleygov.com/[email protected]/970-350-9805
Lory Stephens, office manager1870
5Fort Collins Utilities700 Wood St.Fort Collins, CO 80522
77,098400
91%0%
44%45%
www.fcgov.com/[email protected]/970-221-6619
Kevin Gertig, executive director1882
6United Power Inc.500 Cooperative WayBrighton, CO 80603
76,629171
100%0%
0%0%
[email protected]/303-659-2172
Ronald Asche, CEO1938
7Atmos Energy Corp.1200 11th Ave.Greeley, CO 80631
51,00043
0%100%
0%0%
Darwin Winfield, manager of public affairs1942
8Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association Inc.7649 REA ParkwayFort Collins, CO 80528
39,50085
100%0%
0%0%
Jeff Wadsworth, CEO1939
9Longmont Power & Communications1100 S. Sherman St.Longmont, CO 80501
38,238103
100%0%
0%0%
www.longmontcolorado.gov/[email protected]/303-651-8796
Tom Roiniotis, general manager1912
10Loveland Water & Power200 N. Wilson Ave.Loveland, CO 80537
35,215132
100%0%
71%71%
www.cityofloveland.org/[email protected]/970-962-3400
Steve Adams, director1887
11Fort Collins - Loveland Water District5150 Snead DriveFort Collins, CO 80525
16,60026
0%0%
100%0%
[email protected]/970-226-0186
Mike DiTullio, district manager1963
12Town of Estes Park - Water and Electric170 MacGregor Ave.Estes Park, CO 80517
11,00035
75%0%
25%0%
Frank Lancaster, town administrator; Bill Pinkham, mayor1917
Regions surveyed include Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties.customers.* Customer and employee numbers are for all of Colorado. Researched by Chad Collins
14 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Law FirmsRanked by number of attorneys
Rank Company name
No. of attorneysNo. of partnersNo. of employees
No. of associatesNo. of paralegalsNo. of offices in region Firm Specialties
WebsitePhone
Managing partnerNationalheadquartersYear founded
1Holland & Hart LLP1800 Broadway, Suite 300Boulder, CO 80302
472093
1461
Transactions/Securities/Capital Markets/Wealth Transfer/Counseling/Enforcement/IP/Trademarks/Patents/Licensing/Technology/Real Estate/Finance/Resorts/Hospitality/Employment/Business Litigation/Appeals
www.hollandhart.com303-473-2700
Chris GunliksonDenver1947
2Cooley LLP1
380 Interlocken Crescent, Suite 900Broomfield, CO 80021
421378
2781
Venture capital, technology and life-sciences law. www.cooley.com720-566-4000
Mike PlattPalo Alto, Calif.1993 - Colorado Office
3Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP1712 Pearl St.Boulder, CO 80302
311657
1231
Alternative dispute resolution, appeals, business, construction,criminal, environment, government, litigation, real estate, trustsand estates, trademarks.
www.bhgrlaw.com303-402-1600
George BergBoulder2001
4Caplan and Earnest LLC1800 Broadway, Suite 200Boulder, CO 80302
241142
2471
Education, health care, litigation, estate planning, immigration,small business, corporate, and real estate.
www.celaw.com303-443-8010
James BranumBoulder1969
5Hutchinson Black and Cook LLC921 Walnut St., Suite 200Boulder, CO 80302
231435
321
Corporate and intellectual property work, complex commercialand personal injury litigation, real estate development andleasing, estate planning and employment law.
www.hbcboulder.com303-442-6514
Carla SledgeBoulder1891
6Lyons Gaddis Kahn Hall JeffersDworak & Grant PC515 Kimbark St., Second FloorLongmont, CO 80501
181033
462
Accidents, personal injury, business, taxation, estate planning/probate, water, education, special districts, government,employment, real estate, land use, development, oil & gas,family, litigation.
www.lgkhlaw.com303-776-9900
Anton V. Dworak andCatherine A. TallericoLongmont1975
7Dietze & Davis PC2060 Broadway, Suite 400Boulder, CO 80302
181128
271
Business and commercial, estate planning a, real estate, waterrights, civil litigation, zoning and land use, environmental,energy, municipal, employment law and family law.
www.DietzeDavis.com303-447-1375
David ThrowerBoulder1972
8Frascona, Joiner, Goodman &Greenstein PC4750 Table Mesa DriveBoulder, CO 80305-5575
17734
6111
Real estate, association law, family law, divorce, business,securities, corporations, employment, estate planning, probate,wills, litigation, foreclosure, bankruptcy & mental healthprovider law.
www.frascona.com303-494-3000
G. Roger BockBoulder1974
9Lathrop & Gage LLP4845 Pearl East Circle, Suite 201Boulder, CO 80301
15639
431
Intellectual property, IP litigation, transactions, patents,trademark, copyright, biotech, technology, corporate.
www.lathropgage.com720-931-3000
Curtis VockKansas City, Mo.1873
10Coan, Payton & Payne LLC103 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 200Fort Collins, CO 80524
15328
1262
Banking, bankruptcy & reorganizations, business/corporate,creditors' rights, commercial litigation, employment, estateplanning, IP, international, land use/zoning, M&A, oil & gas, realestate, tax.
www.cp2law.com970-225-6700
G. Brent CoanFort Collins2013
11Faegre Baker Daniels LLP1470 Walnut St., Suite 300Boulder, CO 80302
15924
421
Handles a full range of business issues, transactions andlitigation.
www.faegrebd.com303-447-7700
John MarcilDenver/Boulder1863
12Otis, Bedingfield & Peters, LLC1812 56th Ave.Greeley, CO 80634
14523
942
Real estate, business, estate planning, environmental, oil andgas, tax, commercial litigation, probate and trust litigation andappeals.
www.nocoattorneys.com970-330-6700
Fred Otis, JenniferPeters, Jeff Bedingfield,Tim Brynteson, JohnKolanzGreeley, CO2010
13Sheridan Ross390 Interlocken Crescent, Suite 890Broomfield, CO 80021
12418
841
Intellectual property, patent, trademark, copyright, litigation. www.sheridanross.com303-863-9700
Gary Connell and ToddBlakelyDenver1954
14Bryan Cave LLP1801 13th St., Suite 300Boulder, CO 80302
11921
231
Venture capital and emerging growth, technology transactions,intellectual property, litigation, real estate, clean tech,corporate, mergers and acquisitions, securities, environmentallaw.
www.bryancave.com303-444-5955
Christopher HazlittSt. Louis1873
15Cochran, Freund & Young LLC2026 Caribou Drive, Suite 201Fort Collins, CO 80525
11316
242
Patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret law andtechnology licensing.
www.patentlegal.com970-492-1100
William W. CochranFort Collins2000
16Wick & Trautwein LLC323 S. College Ave., Suite 3Fort Collins, CO 80524
10218
873
Civil litigation, general business, business formation, domestic,family law, estate planning.
www.wicklaw.com970-482-4011
Robin WickFort Collins1978
17Vranesh and Raisch LLP1720 14th St., Suite 200Boulder, CO 80302
10614
411
Water rights, environmental, real estate, special districts,litigation.
www.vrlaw.com303-443-6151
Eugene RiordanBoulder1978
18Jorgensen, Brownell & Pepin PC900 S. Main St., Suite 100Longmont, CO 80501
9517
432
Construction law, mechanic's liens, real estate, family law,divorce, child support and custody, estate planning, probate,elder law, guardianships and conversatorships, criminal law,personal injury.
www.jbplegal.com303-678-0560
Anne JorgensenLongmont1993
19Fischer, Brown, Bartlett & Gunn PC1319 E. Prospect RoadFort Collins, CO 80525
9714
001
Estate planning and probate, trust administration, water rightsand environmental law.
www.fbbglaw.com970-407-9000
Margaret A. BrownFort Collins1996
20Gast Johnson & Muffly PC323 S. College Ave., Suite 1Fort Collins, CO 80524
8514
211
Real estate, business planning and formation, banking law,employment law, will and trusts, civil litigation, communityassociation law.
www.gjmlawfirm.com970-482-4846
Dan MufflyFort Collins1997
21Metier Law Firm LLC4828 S. College Ave.Fort Collins, CO 80525
7424
372
Automobile, motorcycle and trucking accidents and injuries, oiland gas field accidents, insurance claims, unsafe products,bicycle accidents, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries andwrongful death
www.metierlaw.com970-377-3800
T. Thomas MetierFort Collins2002
22Kottke & Brantz LLC2975 Valmont Road, Suite 240Boulder, CO 80301
7611
131
Estate planning, probate, real estate, business law, corporate,domestic relations, tax law.
www.kottkeandbrantz.com303-449-6161
Jon KottkeBoulder1996
23Winters, Hellerich & Hughes LLC5401 W. 10th St., Suite 201Greeley, CO 80634
6412
231
Civil trial, trials, appeals, litigation, estate planning, family law,oil and gas leases.
N/A970-352-4805
Thomas HellerichGreeley2004
24Witwer, Oldenburg, Barry & Groom LLP822 Seventh St., Suite 760Greeley, CO 80631
6511
121
Real estate, banking, commercial transactions, civil litigation,probate, wills, oil and gas.
www.witwerlaw.com970-352-3161
Stow L. Witwer, Jr.Greeley1965
25Shoemaker Ghiselli + Schwartz LLC1811 Pearl St.Boulder, CO 80302
546
111
Business litigation, regulatory and internal investigations,appellate practice.
www.sgslitigation.com303-530-3452
Andrew ShoemakerBoulder2009
Area surveyed includes Boulder,Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. All numbers are regional.1 Did not respond, 2015 information. Researched by Chad Collins
16 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Focus on the invisible parts of your businessO ur economy and our daily
lives run on utilities. They’re so critical, in fact,
that government plays a major role in ensuring their reliability and perva-sive availability. But they also suffer from invisibility.
When something is reliable and universal, we don’t spend much time thinking about it. Until something inter-rupts it, of course, such as a flood or major storm or a human-caused event.
This happens a lot in business, too.
If you have your financial trans-actions under control so that things work smoothly 99 percent of the time, congratulations! This is a fun-damental part of running any suc-cessful business.
But don’t get lulled into compla-cency by the fact that it’s working so well. Don’t let your folks think that it’s unimportant because you don’t talk about it much. Your house will fall apart without regular attention and maintenance, and your finan-cial house can degrade when you are distracted.
We tend to get pulled into solv-ing issues. That’s understandable. If something is working well, why change it? Spend your attention on the things that do need to change because they’re broken.
When I work with clients, I try to have a balance. We need to focus attention on what’s important, which may or may not be what’s urgent. It may or may not be “bro-ken.”
Perhaps you’re concerned because there’s been an uptick in customer complaints recently. You might be tempted to call up each customer in an attempt to smooth things over.
But that’s just putting out today’s fire. It does little to help lay a solid foundation for the future. Instead, as a leader, your role is to ensure your team understands the impact of this problem, give them the tools they need to address it, monitor progress and keep attention on the issue, and help out when it will really make a difference.
This can be tough for business owners who are quite capable and intelligent, who seem to worry more about the long term-health of the business than anyone else.
But your role isn’t fighting fires. You worked hard to hire people to do that. Your job is to train them,
and to prevent fires. In our world, that usually means creating and managing an organization that attends to the details, not doing it yourself.
But sometimes you could do it much faster yourself! Working through others who are less capable is so … messy! That’s a dangerous trap.
I’ve been working with a number of owners looking to retire from their own companies. This is when it becomes painfully apparent just how reliant a business can become on a single person — especially a person who has the power and inclination to take over the reins whenever they want.
Here’s a useful exercise to work on. Imagine that in four months you’re going to take that wonder-ful holiday you’ve always dreamed of. Let’s make it an African safari,
so it’s difficult for you to stay con-nected with your company on a daily basis.
And, really, would you want to? It would destroy the whole experi-ence! This is a vacation, after all. Now, what would fall apart if you were gone for that long? Would employees become disengaged? Would you lose customers? Would an important process (such as ensuring that invoices get paid) come to a halt?
Start creating an organization that pays attention to these things. They might be invisible to everyone else, but that doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.
Develop job roles with enough redundancy that things won’t break if someone is out of commission for a period of time. Someone could leave. There might be an extended medical leave.
Or you might actually get to go on that wonderful vacation you’ve never been able to have.
And maybe, just maybe, you might be able to retire from your business and have it be successful without you — with a buyout valua-tion that you’re happy with.
Carl Dierschow is a Small Fish Business Coach based in Fort Collins. His website is www.smallfish.us.
SMAll BUSINESS ADVISERCARL DIERSCHOW
We need to focus attention on what’s important, which may or may not be what’s urgent. It may or may not be “broken.”
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 17www.bizwest.com
I ’ve always considered myself a tree hugger. I haven’t owned a car for years. We compost,
recycle and have LED lights at the office.
A couple of years ago, I went to a workshop held by the B Lab team. Their mission is to serve the global movement of peo-ple using busi-ness as a force for good. They have a certification a business can get so it can say to the world, “We are a B Corp.” Sounds fun. Let’s give it a whirl.
Until this time, I was quite proud of the practices we have here at iSupportU. Proportional to our size, we’ve got some great employee benefits, a fantastic gender balance with a constant awareness of our impact on the planet. This assess-ment knocked us down a couple of notches. Hosted on SalesForce, this B Lab assessment goes through focus areas such as governance, workers, community and environ-ment. Within each one of these sec-tions, there are questions that show the measurable impact of the busi-ness on the world.
The first time we went through
the assessment, we were 20 points short. My staff and I were disap-pointed that we did not stack up to a third-party certification system. We were not to be defeated. The test gives you a list of areas to improve. This list can be sorted by changes that are most impactful (largest points) or by the easiest things to change. Upon reviewing the list, we enacted the following changes:
We secured the ability to offer six weeks of maternity leave through our short-term disability coverage, which we offer to all employees. Score (points).
In the past we have always ordered our office supplies from Amazon. We chose recycled materi-als, but we were not working with a local vendor for this need. Easy fix. More points.
It turns out that Xcel offers a wind-generated energy program. It costs a bit more, but it means that all electricity for our building comes from wind power. Winning.
After these and many other reflections and changes, we got above the 80-point threshold for a B Corp. The total process took eight to 10 months for us from the time we took the first assessment. Total actual hours would be in the 20 to 24 range.
Why does the B Corp thing mat-
ter to us? We are always looking to align ourselves with companies that would be a good cultural fit. We like to feel proud of our clients and vendors. This program is a way to increase the chances of cultural compatibility with another com-pany.
Since becoming a B Corp, we have connected with some truly inspiring companies at events and via social media. These are the kinds of organizations we want to align ourselves with. B Corp is an example of marketing by thought leadership. Business is a vehicle.
That vehicle could be a Hummer or it could be a Tesla. The type of vehi-cle you build your business to be reflects to the world. We like being a Tesla. Teslas are quietly amazing. They are sustainable without com-promising performance. They are disrupting a stagnant industry. We want the world to see us as a Tesla. Getting B Corp certified helps to clarify that picture for the world.
Shaun Oshman is founder and chief executive of iSupportU in Boulder. He can be reached at 303-630-9974 or [email protected].
Brewers: Acquisition game not all bad for craft industryDavid Fritzler, BBVA Compass; Will Herdrick, co-owner, Abso-lute Threshold Brewery; Josh Grenz, co-owner/head brewer, Verboten Brewing; Angie Grenz, co-owner, Verboten Brewing; Neil Fisher, co-owner/head brewer, WeldWerks Brewing; Chris Banks, CFO/co-owner, Odell Brewing; Chris Otto, EKS&H; Luis Ramirez, BBVA Compass; Mike Grell, EKS&H; Jim Sampson, Hub International; Russ Henninger, Hub International; Tim Cochran, co-owner, Horse & Dragon Brewing.
For more information about the CEO Roundtable contact Sandy Powell at 303-630-1954 or [email protected]
Sponsored by EKS&H LLLP, Hub International Insurance Services and BBVA Compass.
Go to http://bizwest.com/ceo-roundtable for details
business goes organic through b Corp process
WoRk/lIFESHAUN OSHMAN
18 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
APRIL 26
In-kind Sponsors
BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust Leadership Sponsors BBB Center for Character Ethics Sponsor
18TH ANNUALBBB TORCH AWARDS FOR ETHICS
Celebrating three exemplary businesses and one outstanding nonprofit
in Northern Colorado and Wyoming
2016
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.Embassy Suites Loveland
Purchase tickets and learn more at go.bbb.org/wynco-torch2016
APRIL 26JOIN US
for the
Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsors
Media SponsorsBizWest
Wyoming Business Report
Silver Sponsors
University Partners
American Furniture Warehouse Capitol Roofing Inc.
Dairy SpecialistsFlood and Peterson
Gallegos Sanitation Inc.Home State Bank
Otis, Bedingfield & Peters LLCProfessional Finance Company Inc.
Advanced MediaEmbassy Suites Loveland
Palmer Flowers
Colorado State University College of BusinessUniversity of Northern Colorado Monfort College of Business
University of Wyoming College of Business
Tech spars: Founder Fights added to Startup WeekBy Joshua [email protected]
BOULDER — When the word “valu-ation” enters the pre-bout boxing trash talk, you know it’s a pair of seasoned entrepreneurs stepping in the ring.
“Winner gets to pick valuation,” Piv-otDesk chief executive David Mandell tweeted to Brad Feld, the Techstars cofounder and Boulder venture capital-ist whose firm, Foundry Group, is an investor in PivotDesk.
Fightin’ words. Boulder-style.Both men are signed up to partici-
pate in Founder Fights, a new event on the Boulder Startup Week calendar this year aiming to match up founders, venture capitalists and other local busi-ness owners to raise money for charity. The event will be held in the New Vista High School gym on May 20, the final night of BSW.
It’s an event dreamed up by Mandell, who has been training with The Corner Boxing Club cofounder Carrie Barry for well over a year. The relationship started as a way for Mandell to rehab a bad back but quickly morphed into his newfound love of boxing.
Entrepreneurs are notorious, after all, for being consumed mentally, and often physically, by the pursuit of their companies. What better way to escape than by taking — or rather trying not to take — a few punches.
“With boxing, all of that stuff disap-pears,” Mandell said of the stresses of running a startup. “You’re so focused for that hour, it’s almost meditative because you don’t think about anything else. … Not only that, you get to hit stuff.”
“It’s completely changed my life over the year and a half I’ve been doing it.”
The idea of Founder Fights is one that’s quickly resonated in Boulder’s startup community. Barry said 18 peo-ple have signed up to participate so far. Noted startup coach Jerry Colonna is among them, as are Made Movement partner Graham Furlong and Premier Mortgage Group’s Ariel Solomon, a for-mer University of Colorado and NFL football player. Techstars’ Nicole Glaros is one of the latest to throw her name in the ring, tweeting, “ok. I’m in. how do I join?”
Of course, Mandell, Feld and the oth-ers will have to make it through Barry’s training regimen before they’re allowed to settle their fiscal feuds with gloves.
Far from your average strongman competition, Founder Fights will be
a USA Boxing-sanctioned event run by Barry, a former U.S. national team captain.
Barry said fighters will be matched according to age, weight and ability, with plenty of emphasis on athlete safe-ty. They’ll also be meeting at the gym at 5:30 a.m. a couple of days per week in the coming weeks to learn the basics of boxing and get ready. Nobody will box under the lights on May 20 with-out making it through the training and proving to Barry they’re ready, she said. Bouts, for the most part, will consist of three 1-minute rounds. About two weeks before Founder Fights, projected com-petitors will spar to make sure people are evenly matched.
Because who’s going to run the city’s startups if a bunch of ill-prepared found-ers get knocked out?
“Just because they sign up doesn’t mean I’m going to let them box,” Barry said.
Ideally, she said she’s hoping for about six or so founder bouts intermin-gled with four regular amateur bouts featuring fighters who train at her gym squaring off against fighters from other gyms.
Sponsor tables are going for between $1,000 and $3,000, with individual tick-ets also available at www.founderfights.com. New Vista will receive some of the door proceeds for hosting. But a title charity will also be selected to receive
proceeds from the event. And partici-pants themselves will be raising money, box-a-thon-style, for the charities of their choices as well.
“It’s a really cool opportunity for them to get their health back and get back into shape if they’ve gotten out of shape … do something competitive, and do something to give back to our com-munity,” Barry said.
Barry cofounded The Corner Boxing Club, 5500 Central Ave., with her wife, Kirsten Marshall, not quite two years ago. The two coaches — Marshall is also an active competitor — also have Khu-miso Ikgopoleng, a three-time Olym-pian from Botswana, on their staff.
While The Corner Boxing Club might be the first to stage a Founder Fights event, the club might not be the last.
Mandell said he’s gotten inquiries from other cities around the country that host their own startup weeks about staging similar events.
“We don’t want to commit to any-thing before we get through this one,” Mandell said. “But it could have a lot more legs.
“It’s certainly turned into a lot big-ger event than we thought it would be at first.”
Joshua Lindenstein can be reached at 303-630-1943, 970-416-7343 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @joshlindenstein
MANDELLBARRy
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 19www.bizwest.com
Choose Businesses Invested in the
Children of Our Community
Realities For Children provides for the unmet needs of children who have been abused,
neglected or are at-risk.
Whenever you shop, dine or hire a Realities For Children Business Member,
you become part of the solution to child abuse in our community.
Your membership fee is a tax deductible business marketing expense that allows the charity to maintain 100% distribution of donations.
We will provide you with comprehensive marketing benefits
AND you will be giving back to the
most vulnerable members of
our community.
For more information on becoming a Business Member or for a listing of all Business Members, please call 970.484.9090
or visit www.RealitiesForChildren.com.
We Welcome These New Business Members!
You can’t change what you’re unaware of
W hat makes us do the things we do?Skill assessments can
help us identify unproductive behaviors that we may not even be aware of. Once aware, we can them explore the underlying reasons for those behaviors.
The easiest way to figure out why we behave in certain ways is to pay attention to our thoughts and feelings that trigger our behav-iors. Most of the time employees take actions and respond to stimuli with-out knowing why they are responding that way and wheth-er or not that sub-conscious response is the best one for the situation. Often when we engage in training and professional develop-ment, we’re exposed to a variety of new routines, tactics and strategies for change and growth, but none of that will produce the desired results unless we have true self-awareness.
As an individual works to be more candid and open to their strengths and weaknesses, that gives them a deeper perception of themselves and what makes them tick. It also highlights your indi-vidual communication style apart from your environment and team.
Psychologists call this concept humility; an honest appraisal of what we’re great at and the areas where we’re weak or tend to strug-gle. In business, we might take it one step further and call it profes-sional humility; the admission that we are not a finished product and are open to looking at our blind spots to put strategies and tactics to work to improve upon them.
Self-awareness. It seems simpleSelf-awareness is a continuum;
it is not a binary quality. It can be identified through benchmarking assessment. While recently iden-tifying a client assessment where his self-awareness score was low, he challenged the validity of the assessment. Our trainer debrief-ing the assessment responded with a simple question: “Don’t you think it’s interesting that of all the qualities on your assessment that were measured, self-awareness is the one you’re contesting?” In other words, a truly self-aware and professionally humble individual would be much more likely to be open to the data in their own assessment. After all, it was they who completed the assessment and answered the questions.
So an individual on the higher end of the self-awareness scale will be much more open to recognizing and accepting how others perceive them, their attitude and responses. Sometimes others’ views of us surprise us. In the business world this can be eye opening. If there is a discrepancy between how others perceive you and how you want to be perceived, you can only work to close that gap through awareness.
Becoming more self-aware is easier said than done.
There are many steps you can take to raise your level of self-awareness. Start with paying atten-tion to your thoughts and feelings and becoming more conscious of what triggers them – particularly the ones that create problems of you in your work role with co-workers, direct reports, clients and prospects. The more you know, the easier it is to improve or change them.
Feelings are an important guide. Negative feelings such as anger and aggression are signs that you feel threatened or scared. Some-times people act like bullies in order to cover up hidden feelings of weakness and vulnerability. When you have an emotional meltdown is a great time to journal on what happened and objectively look to alternative responses the next time the stimulus or situation that pre-ceded the meltdown happens.
Defensive people typically deflect criticism or suggestions for improvement, even when it comes in the form of professional train-ing and coaching. The next time you are receiving less than positive feedback, work to listen objectively in your “adult ego state,” to clearly understand and process what is being said, rather than shutting down to protect your “child ego state” from feelings of inferiority and rejection.
Being candid, self-aware and open are the first steps to improv-ing the skills and characteristics that often cause us to engage in unproductive behaviors. When you’re able to embrace your posi-tives and growth areas, you’ll not only develop a new freedom, but you’ll grow in ways you never thought possible both person-ally and professionally. A positive “identity,” or self-esteem, is essen-tial for living a life filled with joy, zest, confidence and accomplish-ment.
So go ahead, look in the mirror and love the person looking back.
Bob Bolak is president of Sandler Training. Contact him at [email protected].
SAlES SMARTSBOB BOLAk
20 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
By Doug [email protected]
BROOMFIELD — Crews have reached the topping-out stage in the construction of a five-story, 90,000-square-foot mixed-used building at Arista in Broomfield.
8181 Arista Place is being devel-oped by Wiens Capital Manage-ment through the entity Arista Place II LLC. Plans for the building were announced in 2015 when construc-tion began.
The $12.6 mil l ion building, designed by Denver-based gkkworks, is going up adjacent to its sister office property, 8001 Arista Place, both of which are located near the 1stBank center. The first floor is for retail and restaurants, and floors two through five will be for offices.
The roof and exterior skin are com-plete, window installation is underway and interior finishes are beginning.
Construction manager/general contractor Pinkard Construction Co. based in Lakewood expects to com-
plete the project in July, according to Pinkard’s vice president Jim Mellor.
Pinkard constructed the 8001 Arista Place office mixed-use facility in 2008, which has been 100 percent occupied for several years.
When the overall 200-acre Arista development is built out, it will fea-
ture 600,000 to 800,000 square feet of retail space, approximately 1,500 units of multifamily residential and approximately 200,000 to 400,000 square feet of office space. A consid-erable portion of the project will have “urban” architecture, with minimal setbacks, and on-street parking.
By Doug [email protected]
GREELEY — Developers have sub-mitted final designs for a hotel and conference center that is being pro-posed for the corner of Seventh Street and Ninth Avenue in downtown Gree-ley on city-owned property.
The Greeley City Council is sched-uled to consider the development agreements for the project at its April 5 regular meeting.
Plans show a 147-room hotel in a six-story structure on the east half of the property, which also includes a pool and a full-service restaurant. That tower structure is attached to the con-vention center that anchors the west side of the property and faces the city’s 1700-seat Union Colony Civic Center, a performance hall. The conference center will have 14,000 square feet of meeting space, which includes a 12,000-square-foot ballroom.
The structure at 919 Seventh St. will be a blend of different brick materi-als and stucco, and features a glass curtain around the main floor with a prominent view and relationship to the city’s adjacent historic Lincoln Park.
The development/ow nership group behind the project is made up of prominent Greeley businessmen including brothers Dick and Char-lie Monfort, owners of the Colorado Rockies; Scott Ehrlich, a longtime auto dealer in Greeley; Bob Tointon,
a longtime property owner; and the Richardson family.
Ehrlich said earlier this year that the investment group has been nego-tiating to bring a Hilton brand hotel to land adjacent to Lincoln Park.
Hensel Phelps has been working on design options and costs for the hotel and conference center while negotiat-ing for the construction contract to build the project, which initially was estimated to cost about $20 million.
Hensel Phelps represents the devel-
oper/ownership group that will own and operate the hotel.
Hensel Phelps has been the city’s point of contact relative to the devel-opers’ response to the city’s earlier request for proposal, site design and financial negotiations.
Hiring Hensel Phelps to serve as general contractor for the hotel/con-ference center is at the discretion of the ownership group, Greeley’s assis-tant city manager Becky Safarik said in an email.
R E A L d e A L s
Denver firm pays $34 million for apartments in Longmont
LONGMONT — A Denver-based prop-erty-management firm has purchased the Stonebridge at Twin Peaks apartments east of the Twin Peaks Golf Course in Longmont for $34 million, or $197,674 per unit.
Holland Residential of Denver bought the 172-unit complex on 10 acres at 2424 9th Ave., from Littleton-based Stone-bridge LLC, according to public records. Stonebridge had purchased the apart-ments in 2006 for $18.5 million from Hous-ton, Texas-based ATID Interests LLC. The complex was built in 1998.
The complex consists of seven, two- and three-story buildings. The apartments include one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The complex includes a fitness center, business center, pool, hot tub and laundry facilities. Occupancy was 99.4 percent when the deal closed Feb. 24.
David Potarf, Dan Woodward, Matt Barnett and Jake Young of CBRE’s Denver Multifamily Investment Properties repre-sented the seller.
Eldon James Corp. makes plans for facility in harmony tech park
FORT COLLINS — A manufacturer of components for medical equipment that left Loveland and Fort Collins for Denver in 2013 is planning a facility in Fort Collins.
Eldon James Corp. has submitted conceptual plans for a 90,000-square-foot office/warehouse building at the northeast corner of the intersection of Technology Parkway and Precision Drive in the Har-mony Technology Park.
Eldon James manufactures a wide range of standard and custom hose fittings, including adapters, couplers, elbows, reducers and bulkheads at its headquarters and 74,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Denver’s Stapleton business development area. The company invested $12 million in the facility, moving from 47,000 square feet in Loveland and 9,000 square feet in Fort Collins in 2013.
In 2012, Eldon James pulled the plug on plans to build a large facility in Timnath, east of Fort Collins, where it would have consolidated operations in Loveland and Fort Collins. A year later, it moved opera-tions to Denver.
According to Larimer County public records, the 34-acre parcel on which the project would be built, is owned by Harmony Technology Park LLC, an entity registered to Vlasic Properties LLC c/o MAV Development Co. based in Ann Arbor, Mich. HTP LLC purchased the par-cel from Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2007 for $14 million.
Leprino gets paperwork rolling for plant expansion in Greeley
GREELEY — Denver-based Leprino Foods Co. has submitted preliminary plans for the third phase of its plant build-out at 1302 First Ave. in Greeley.
The third phase would cap the develop-ment project that was started in 2010 to eventually build an 880,000-square-foot plant run by nearly 600 employees. Com-pany officials said there is no timetable to start construction.
The maker of cheese and whey prod-ucts has nine manufacturing plants in the United States and a joint-venture with Glanbia Cheese Ltd. in the United Kingdom. It sells products to customers in more than 40 countries. The company claims it is the largest producer of moz-zarella cheese in the world.
ProPertyLineFinal plans in for Greeley hotel
building at arista on track for July completion
courtesy Johnson nathan strone
An architectural rendering shows what is being called the Greeley Hotel, a proposed six-story, 147-room hotel and conference center in downtown Greeley.
courtesy Pinkard construction co.
8181 Arista Place, a five-story mixed-used building at Arista in Broomfield, is on track to be completed in July.
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 21www.bizwest.com
You are invited to the 9th Annual
2045 10th Ave., Greeley
Tickets: $35 Per Person or buy a Diva Table(10 reserved-seating tickets) for $400
Contact 970-304-9970 or [email protected] for tickets
Sample decadent desserts and enjoy other sweet
activities all to help women and girls in our
community.
Sat., April 30th2:30-4:30 p.m.UNC Ballroom
Proceeds from this event will be used to make grants to improve the lives of women and girls in Weld County. �e amount of your gi� that is tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes is the excess of your donation
over the fair market value of $20 per ticket.
Silver Sponsors:Anadarko EKS&H Sears Real EstateSue Helfrich & Associates, Inc. Allstate
�ompson Advanced Dentistry
Gold Sponsors:
Media Sponsors: BizWest KUNC 91.5 �e Best of Greeley Magazine
Friend Sponsor: Dr. Julie Kavanaugh, DDS
DIAMOND SPONSORS: SHARON HERDMANSHSHSHSSHSHSHSHSHHSHSHSHSHSHSHHSHSHSHSHSHSHHHHHARARARARRRRRARARAARARARARARARARARARAARARARAARARARRROONONONONONONOONONONONONONONONONONONONONOO HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHERRERRERREREREEREEREREERERERERERERERERERRERERERERERDMDMMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMANANANANANANANANANANNAANANANANANANANNANANAN
Tight inventory keeps driving housing-price gains
W e’re still early in the year, but the signs are pointing to another red-
hot rise in Northern Colorado hous-ing prices for 2016 — possibly even over and above last year’s double-digit rate of home-price apprecia-tion.
In Febru-ary, the average sale price was $329,776 across the region, up 8.5 percent over the month last year. But for two of the region’s submar-kets, Fort Collins/Wellington/Tim-nath and Love-land/Berthoud, the rate of increase is approximately twice the regional average.
Last month, average prices in Loveland/Berthoud were up 17.2 percent, and up 16.4 percent in Fort Collins/Wellington/Timnath. Gree-ley/Evans, which experienced 13.8 percent growth in average prices for all of 2015, saw prices go up 11.2 per-cent over last February.
Note that these price hikes are following a year in which four Front Range metro areas were among the top 11 nationally in home price appreciation. Greeley was No. 5,
Boulder No. 7, Denver-Aurora No. 8 and Fort Collins-Loveland No. 11. At this rate, the Front Range might rule those rankings again this year.
What’s fanning the flames? Last month, we pointed out how the lack of housing supply was not keep-ing up with demand. That short-age remains a factor that will force homebuyers to compete for avail-able houses, which in turn increases the likelihood of bidding contests over the limited inventory.
It bears repeating: With demand outstripping supply, prices will con-tinue to stay under pressure. And homebuyers who have been waiting to get in the market are paying a price for their patience.
Here are some additional obser-vations we’d like to share, based on this home price data as well as mar-ket statistics that we’re seeing:
• Comparing February results, average prices in both Fort Collins and Loveland increased more than $100,000 from February 2014.
• The average sales price in Estes Park jumped $100,000 from a year ago, to $396,626. It should be noted that one of the 18 sales last month in Estes Park fetched $1.025 million.
• Windsor/Severance actually experienced a slight price decline, from February 2015, but the average is still up nearly $80,000 over Febru-
ary 2014. • Employment growth is a leading
indicator of real estate demand 12-18 months later. From June 2014 to June 2015, Northern Colorado (Larimer and Weld counties) added 10,100 jobs to its labor force — a gain of 4.1 percent. With that information, it’s reasonable to expect that demand will stay strong over the coming 12 months.
Now let’s see how February hous-ing sales reflect on Northern Colo-rado’s submarkets:
Fort Collins/Wellington/Tim-nath: Similar to January, sales in February declined from the same last year, once again attributable to shrinking supply. Sales for the month totaled 201, down 6.9 per-cent. But at the same time, average prices increased 16.4 percent.
Greeley/Evans: Unlike other submarkets where sales totals are up only slightly or even below last year, the number of sales here actu-ally jumped 16.6 percent to 161, with an average price of $234,472, up 11.2 percent.
Loveland/Berthoud: Total sales nudged up by 6.3 percent, but aver-age prices surged by 17.2 percent over last February. The average price last month was $358,508.
Windsor/Severance: Previously the most expensive submarket in the
region, average prices slipped by 1.5 percent to $383,237. Total sales for the month, which were down in Jan-uary by 19.5 percent, ticked up 15.7 percent in February to 59 closings.
Estes Park: Understanding the sample size is smaller, but Estes Park registered an average sales price of $393,626 in February, surpassing Windsor. The average price was up nearly $100,000 over February 2015.
Ault/Eaton/Johnstown/Kersey/La Salle/Mead/Milliken: As a group, Weld County’s outlying communi-ties experienced a 19.7 percent drop in total sales last month. Addition-ally, the average price slipped to $292,973, down 5.4 percent.
Longmont/Weld County-Boulder County: We’re tracking sales in two parts of Longmont — where it crosses into Weld County, as well as its larger Boulder County territory. While it’s hard to draw conclusions from the small amount of activity on the Weld County side (eight sales with an average sales price of $286, 824) the chart shows that sales totals were down in February in Longmont while prices held steady.
Larry Kendall co-founded associ-ate-owned The Group Inc. Real Estate in 1976 and is creator of Ninja Selling. Contact him at 970-229-0700 or via www.thegroupinc.com.
RESIDENTIAl REAl ESTATELARRy kENDALL
22 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Innosphere incubator releases 2015 metrics
Startup incubator Innosphere gradu-ated a record number of companies in 2015, sending 18 of the 42 clients it served out into the world. Fort Collins-based Innosphere charges startups a fee for what is generally a two-year relation-ship in which companies get help with things like access to test facilities, finding product market fit and sales channels, and accessing capital. Innosphere, which is in the process of onboarding 12 new startups this year, saw its 42 client start-ups generate $12.2 million in revenue and raise $31.8 million in capital. Of those 42, nine were in the digital health industry, 10 in bioscience and medical devices, 10 in energy and advanced materials and 13 in software/hardware. Of the 18 graduates, meanwhile, four gained venture backing and three were acquired. Client companies also had 17 patents issued and filed for dozens more. The compa-nies employed a combined 221 full-time employees and 75 part-timers.
Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge changes name
The Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge business pitch competition is leaving its Fort Collins roots and going Hollywood. Officials for Blue Ocean, the investment company founded by OtterBox founder Curt Richardson and his wife, Nancy, announced that the $250,000 challenge is being renamed the Capital Champion-ship and aligning with a series of RECESS Music + Ideas Festival events this spring. The finals will be held in Los Angeles, with semifinal events in six different cities around the country, including Denver.
CU startup Mallinda to enter Berkeley incubator
Mallinda LLC, a University of Colorado spinoff, was one of six startups chosen to participate in the Cyclotron Road incuba-tor run by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. The selection means an early exit from the Fort Collins-based Innosphere incubator’s two-year program, but that was partially by design. In fact, it was Innosphere officials who turned Mallinda’s founders on to the idea of applying to Cyclotron Road in the first place.
Mallinda is an advanced materials company that has developed a novel plastic and advanced composite technol-ogy that the founders envision being used in the manufacturing of everything from moldable athletic gear and batteries to automobiles and wind turbines. Cyclotron Road, launched last year, is a program geared toward helping cleantech compa-nies advance their technologies and raise funding.
Startups make pitches at angel Capital Summit
Boulder-based Neat Capital, SQFT and SwimLane, Longmont-based Purewater Therapeutics, Colorado State University-based IgnoreU and University of Colorado Boulder-based Surya Conversions were among 22 that pitched March 14-15 at the Rockies Venture Club’s annual Angel Capital Summit at the University of Den-ver’s Sturm Hall.
Solar-financing startup raises $3.6M
By Joshua [email protected]
BOULDER — Wunder Capital, a Boulder startup aimed at connecting accredited investors with medium-sized businesses looking to install roof-top solar equipment, closed recently on a $3.6 million Series A funding round that will help the company continue to expand its reach.
Boulder-based Techstars Ventures, Washington-based Fenway Summer and New York-based Fintech Collective led the round.
The cash infusion comes as Wunder is fresh off of a move from Galvanize’s Boulder campus to a new office at 17th and Walnut streets. Chief executive and cofounder Bryan Birsic said the seven-person company will grow by three or four employees over the next couple of months and likely double to 15 by the end of the year, adding to its engineer-ing, design and marketing teams.
“We think even in a very conserva-tive case this gives us two years (to reach profitability or raise another round of funding),” Birsic said in a phone inter-view. “It’s a nice amount of time.”
Wunder, founded in 2013 and a 2014 graduate of the Techstars Boulder accel-erator, currently offers a pair of funds in which investors can place as little as $5,000 and have immediate diversifica-
tion across a number of large-scale solar projects.
The company’s first fund is aimed at lending directly to businesses installing solar. The businesses essentially receive a 6 percent loan paid back to investors in the fund over 10 years. The second fund, which launched in November, provides shorter-term bridge funding to installers and offers investors 11 percent annual interest over two years.
Wunder originates, underwrites and services the loans, making its money by charging an upfront loan origination fee and an ongoing loan-servicing fee to the borrower.
Wunder has brought in more than $1 million across the two funds that has been used to back an undisclosed number of projects to date. Birsic said the average investment has so far been more than $15,000.
The investment in solar is a strong one for investors, Birsic said, not only because of the increasingly strong mar-ket for the industry but also because the asset and structure of Wunder’s loans help reduce risk. In the case of the first fund, for example, part of Wunder’s original contract with borrowers is to grant the company a $1 per year site lease. So if the borrower defaults on the loan, Wunder still can access the panels to service and operate them, and can sell the power they generate either back onto the grid or to a new tenant of the building they’re installed on.
The model gives individual investors who might not have the capital to invest in major utility-scale solar projects an in to the solar industry.
But Jason Seats, a partner at Tech-stars focused on the organization’s investment arm, said the Wunder model also is providing loan capital for solar to businesses for smaller-sized projects for which large institutional investors won’t generally bother lending money.
“They’re aiming at a segment of the market of commercial solar that is typi-cally understood to be hard to under-write from a risk standpoint,” Seats said.
The model is particularly timely, Seats said, because as the cost of solar decreases relative to retail power costs, the financing payments start to feel more and more just like a monthly util-ity payment and less like a business is paying a premium for solar power.
“Eventually those curves are going to cross,” Seats said. “That’s started happening over the last year, and it’s just going to get more dramatic. There’s a lot of hunger in the market for this type of capital. It’s just figuring out the structure.”
Birsic, who cofounded Wunder with Dave Riess and Sam Beaudin, declined to disclose revenue for Wunder. He said he believes Wunder is fully capable of reaching profitability within the next couple of years and could stand on its own at that point.
“But my suspicion is we’re growing quite well,” Birsic said, “and would like to bring in more capital to grow even faster.”
Joshua Lindenstein can be reached at 303-630-1943, 970-416-7343 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @joshlindenstein
STARTINGLINE
Joel Blocker / for BizWest
From left, Dave Riess, chief technology officer and co-founder, goes over a reviewing plan with Bryan Birsic, CEO and co-founder, and Sam Beaudin, head of product, during a board meeting at the Wunder Capital office in Boulder.
S T A R T U P S
Wunder Capital moves, closes Series A round
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 23www.bizwest.com
Laws need not be clear as mud; clean them up
I have seen entrepreneurs over-come challenges that defy description, that would bring
an average person to their knees or that otherwise would represent an insurmountable obstacle. There is a level of pride in the sheer tena-ciousness of an entrepreneur to never give up. One of my favorite definitions of an entrepreneur is “a person who is too stupid to quit.”
But all entrepreneurs have their limits. Some of these limits are encoded in laws and regulations that govern how businesses may conduct them-selves. Some of these limits are the laws and reg-ulations. There is a need for rules that enable every-one to work with everyone else. But there is no need for laws and regu-lations that are “clear as mud.”
This expression came up occa-sionally when I was growing up in eastern Kansas. It might be attrib-uted to a politi-cal speech, a set of instructions or anything else that lacked clar-ity: including certain laws and regulations.
I recently engaged in a search for an answer regard-ing a legal issue involving secu-rities law. As a licensed attor-ney, I did not start this search unprepared and without a good start. However, I was working with two sets of laws that con-tradicted each other and made no provision for resolution. I asked other attorneys with more experience than myself and got a series of I don’t knows, nos, maybes and pos-siblys, but no yeses and no consen-sus. I found myself in a situation where I became frozen by the law. I wanted to obey the law, but it was impossible.
Entrepreneurs have to face this same challenge every day when dealing with more and more laws and regulations. Many of these laws are conflicting, confusing and simply beyond comprehension. Like a medical patient who is tak-ing a number of prescribed drugs
from different doctors, there is the potential for a negative interaction.
Having participated in draft-ing new laws and regulations, I know the difficulty of being clear while creating something that is practically useful. My contribution to this process was greater as an entrepreneur that understood how the market worked than any of my legal training. I supported all of the individuals contributing to the wording of new legislation: giving input on how the legislation might work when applied in a variety of business situations. I provided context. You could say I served as a crash dummy. At the end of the day, the new laws and regulations were not perfect, but they were far bet-ter than many laws and regulations that are drafted within the input of the business community.
Entrepreneurs can help them-selves by contacting their legislators and offering themselves as experts. The Colorado Legislature is cur-rently in session. All of the proposed laws can be viewed at its website, www.leg.state.co.us. All of the con-
tact information for each legisla-tor also is on this site.
Contact your local chamber of commerce, pro-fessional or busi-ness association. Most of these organizations have a person, committee or even a lobbyist that tracks new legislation. Talk with them about which laws are proposed where you may contrib-ute your experi-ence to make them clearer and beneficial. Many of these laws will require new regulations that require a public posting and an
opportunity for public comment. Take this opportunity.
As much as our elected and appointed officials are our repre-sentatives, they do not and cannot know all the things that entrepre-neurs may have learned through all of their experiences. Without the input of entrepreneurs, some of the new laws and regulations may be clear as mud. Do your part to keep this from happening.
Contact Karl Dakin of Dakin Capi-tal Services LLC at 720-296-0372 or [email protected].
Contact your local chamber of commerce, professional or business association. Most of these organizations have a person, committee or even a lobbyist that tracks new legislation. Talk with them about which laws are proposed where you may contribute your experience to make them clearer and beneficial. .
You Are Invited To Attend the
2016 Induction LuncheonIn Honor Of The Boulder County
Business Hall of Fame
Congratulations! Class of 2016
Wednesday, April 27, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PMat the Plaza Convention Center, 1850 Industrial Circle, Longmont
Presenting Sponsors Platinum Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Copper Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
The Arnold family William Glenn Arnold, Jr.,
and deceased Arnold family members: William Glenn Arnold Edward Ryan Arnold
Sanders Gibson Arnold
Tom Kalinski Broker/Owner
Re/Max Boulder
Dr. Joel Montbriand CEO
Gastroenterology of the Rockies
Richard Polk President
Boulder’s Pedestrian Shops
Christine Ralston, and deceased husband, Steve
Owner Ralston Bros. Antiques, Inc.
Leonard Strear Former President Longmont Foods
Don and Lee Weakland Owners
The Flower Bin
2016 Boulder County Business Hall of Fame Inductees
Tickets: www.halloffamebiz.com
rouproupGGCol adro oCol adro o
Ed and Keith Kanemoto
ENTREPRENEURSkARL DAkIN
24 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
NOCOMSAVE THE DATE!
2nd Annual Northern Colorado Manufacturing Trade Show
A show for Colorado Manufacturers by Colorado Manufacturers
OVER 100 EXHIBITORS
Women in Manufacturing Forum & Luncheon11am WiM Forum at NOCOM - The Ranch12pm Luncheon at Budweiser Events Center($10 luncheon ticket in addition to NOCOM registration)
• Spotlight presentations • Speaker hall featuring
industry leaders
• Women in Manufacturing Forum
• Reception • B2B lounge
For exhibitor and attendee registration WWW.NOCOMFG.COM
Thursday, April 28, 2016 | 9 am to 5 pmFirst National Bank Building | The Ranch
Larimer County Fairgrounds5280 Arena Circle, Loveland, CO
Every minute of your life represents an interview
W hether you realize it or not, you are always “on.” People are reading
you, sensing you, feeling you. Based on how you make them feel, they will either lean in or back away. It’s human nature.
We constantly are being reminded of the importance of net-working. Making connections and building relationships is the single most important thing we can do to keep our careers healthy and vibrant. It’s who we know! And, it’s how we show up that matters.
Even very casual contacts can be quite powerful in terms of linking us to new ideas and opportunities. As we expand our circles and meet new people, we learn about different informa-tion, resources and companies.
We all need a keen awareness of being “on” before we step out the door. Even a trip to the mailbox and a chance encounter with a neighbor offers the possibility of meaningful connection that could lead to an interesting opportunity.
Success can seem like sheer coincidence and happenstance. In reality, people who understand that they are always “on” are more likely to turn seem-ingly random encounters into meaningful con-nections. The goal is to continually grow our circles and then work to take key relationships deeper.
To hone your sense of self-awareness, consider how you pres-ent yourself in different settings and situations. Are you showing up in the best ways possible? Do peo-ple tend to lean in or back away? Are you someone that others would feel comfortable recommending to a hiring manager or referring as a business resource?
I recently inquired about a training program offered by a local entrepreneur. By the time I got off the phone, I no longer wanted to enroll. Rather than engaging me about her unique offerings, the business owner spent most of the
call complaining about how hard it has been to make a decent living in this town.
I backed away. I decided to spend my money with a different provider. She not only lost out on my registration but on referrals I may have made. I doubt she real-izes that her negativity is what turned me off.
What about authenticity? Are we supposed to pretend that we are “doing great” when we are depressed or down to our last dime? Being “on” is not about fak-ing it. Meaningful connections can only form when we are genuine and real.
I am not advocating that people stuff their feelings, but there is a time and place to share our deeper fears and concerns. If you are try-ing to build a private practice or launch a business, hire a coach or create a support network of trusted colleagues to help you through times of discouragement. If you are a job seeker, process setbacks and frustrations in the safety of a coun-seling setting or with close family
members – not with a recruiter or at a network-ing event. If you are not ready to be “on,” then stay home.
Successful people know how and when to be vulnerable. They reveal mis-takes and share challenges in a way that builds bridges rather than burns them. It is gener-ally considered unattractive to speak negatively or blame outside forces such as a horrible boss,
our age or the state of the union for our situations.
For all these reasons and more, I truly believe that every single min-ute of our lives is an interview. Like it or not, we are always “on.” Set an intention to show up in the best way possible. You just might be the perfectly placed stepping-stone in someone else’s career journey. And, the very next person you meet could be the best thing that ever happened to you!
Carrie Pinsky is a freelance writer, job-search coach and training specialist. Reach her at Pink Sky Counseling and Career Services, 970-225-0772 or www.pink-sky.net.
Successful people know how and when to be vulnerable. They reveal mistakes and share challenges in a way that builds bridges rather than burns them. It is generally considered unattractive to speak negatively or blame outside forces such as a horrible boss, our age or the state of the union for our situations.
CAREERSCARRIE PINSky
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 25www.bizwest.com
AN ADVERTISING FEATURE OF BIZWESTAN ADVERTISING FEATURE OF BIZWEST
ThoughtLeadersBUSINESS ANSWERS TO PRESSING B2B MATTERS
Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab – A 5-Star Facility
Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab Facility is a Skilled Nursing Facility in Fort Collins. We specialize in short-term rehabilitation, Long Term Care, and Memory Care. We offer an array of on-site services including: Nurse Practitioner, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, Registered Dietician, 24-hour per day Professional Nursing, laboratory, and diagnostic tests. Transportation services are provided for appointments to off-site physicians and specialist appointments.
Our team of professionals strives to provide the highest quality care possible in a warm, friendly environment. We truly care for our residents and patients and we endeavor to possess the clinical and professional acumen to provide for the varied and individual needs of our residents and patients. Our culture is one of caring and accountability. Lemay Avenue has been consistently rated a 5-Star Facility by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and recognized for quality by the US News & World Report.
Do I need an Army Corps permit for my project?
This question touches many activities, from large residential and commercial developments, to stream or ditch bank repairs, to family home construction. Generally, one requires a permit from the Corps before working in wetlands and other protected waters.
The first thing to determine is whether your project involves a “water” protected by the Clean Water Act. This can be tricky since many protected areas are not always wet, while certain wet areas are excluded from coverage. Recent efforts by the Corps to clarify what constitutes protected “waters” has actually created additional confusion. Moreover, the Act exempts certain activities in protected waters from permitting requirements.
Guessing wrong on what is regulated (including pursuing a permit when one is not needed) can be costly. A knowledgeable environmental attorney can help answer your permitting question and, if one is required, help identify the best path forward for your project, saving time and money in the long run.
Caitlyn SheehanAdmissions Director
Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab Facility
John KolanzOtis, Bedingfield
& Peters, LLC
HEALTH CARE LAW
Caitlyn SheehanAdmissions Director
Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab Facility4824 S. Lemay AvenueFort Collins, CO 80525
970-482-1584
John Kolanz 2725 Rocky Mountain Avenue, Suite 320, Loveland
970-663-7300 [email protected]
Northern Colorado’s leading business, real estate and environmental law firm.Choose experience. Choose proven results.
Our Practice Areas:
Real Estate and Business Law
Environmental Law
Oil and Gas Law
Estate Planning
Probate, Trust and Commercial Litigation
Appeals
Tax LawBack row: Lee J. Moorehead, Lisa Szasz, Shannan de Jesus, Michael D. Stewart, Christian J. Schulte, Brandy E. Natalzia, Nathaniel Wallshein, Timothy R. Odil. Front Row: Timothy P. Brynteson, Jeffrey T. Bedingfield, Fred L. Otis, John A. Kolanz, Jennifer L. Peters. Not pictured: Corey W. Moore
Greeley Office | The Doyle Building | 1812 56th Avenue | Greeley CO 80634 | 970-330-6700Loveland Office | 2725 Rocky Mountain Avenue, Suite 320 | Loveland CO 80538 | 970-663-7300
n o c o a t t o r n e y s . c o m
Greeley Office
Loveland Office
INSURANCE
Small Business Insurance – why investing in commercial insurance is essential.
Whether you are a startup or an established business, you face potential risks everyday. These risks differ greatly from one industry to another and can often change due to revised regulations. It is important to ensure your business is properly protected when and if disaster strikes.
Insurance can be complicated. To make the insurance buying process easier, partner with a local insurance broker or agent who specializes in commercial insurance. This should be a longer-term relationship with an insurance professional who you trust as your partner and advisor.
When partnering with an insurance broker or agent, the following insurance coverages are recommended to be included in your discussion:
• General Liability Insurance• Property Insurance• Workers’ Compensation Insurance• Errors and Omissions Insurance• Automobile Insurance• Directors and Officers Insurance• Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)• Disability and Health Insurance
Jamie N. MaySmall Business Sales
Executive
Jamie N. MaySmall Business Sales Executive
26 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
For information about sponsoring and vendor booths please contact Sandy Powell at 970-232-3144 or [email protected]
Reserve your seat (includes breakfast & lunch) today
FOODandAG.BIZWEST.COMIndividual tickets - $49 n At the door - $59
food &agsummit
presents
First National Bank Building n The Ranch n 5280 Arena Circle n Loveland, Colorado
Come join us as we bring together Colorado’s ag and natural-food organizations and companies for the latest insights affecting the future of agriculture:
n Providing education and cutting-edge information on new technologies and trends industrywide.
n Networking with producers and providers.
n Encouraging discussion and collaboration on opportunities and challenges for ag and natural-food sectors.
Food Safety Modernization Act — The details of this act and how is it affecting food and agribusiness companies.
The Search for Talent — The challenges and strategies natural and organic companies have for finding the right people at the right price.
Regenerative Ag — Soil conservation is once again one of the most-important trends, bridging the natural and organic sector and agriculture.
Technology Trends — Users of the region’s emerging agricultural-technology products will discuss how new technology products are being applied.
March 30, 2016 • 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Check in: 7:30 a.m. Networking, Breakfast
Agenda with dual tracks addressing needs of all facets of the agricultural industry:
Devin Koontz, Lead Health Communications Specialist, Food and Drug Administration, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Office of Communications, Denver, CO
Aileen Rickert Ehn, Department Chair, Agriculture, Aims Community College, Fort Lupton campus
Haley Harms, President, ProTill
Emily Johannes, Sustainability and ResourceMax Manager, KCoe Isom
Peggy Shell, CEO/Founder, Creative Alignments
Weston McCary, GISP, Instructor: AA&E Technology, Agricultural technology— Aims Community College
Dr. Rich Conant, Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University
Dr. Wayne Dorband, CEO/Founder, Center for Ecolonomic Excellence and Development (CEED)
Carlotta Mast, Executive Director, New Hope Natural Media; President-elect, Naturally Boulder
Dr. Matt Wallenstein, Chairman, Growcentia; CSU Natural Resource Ecology Lab
Courtney Walter, Development Program Manager, JBS
Immigration Issues — The debate, challenges and prospects of immigration reform faced by agriculture.
Dr. Noa Roman-Muniz, Associate Professor of Dairy Management Systems, Dairy Extension Specialist, Colorado State University
Susan Moore, Co-owner, La Luna Dairy, Wellington
Michael Hirakata, Co-Owner, Hirakata Farms, Rocky Ford
Joe Petrocco, Owner, Petrocco Farms, Brighton
Dr. Tom McKinnon, Founder, CTO, Agribotix
GMO Debate — Hear expert presentations from all sides on this important topic.
Dr. Patrick Byrne, Soil and Crop Sciences professor, Colorado State University
Steven Hoffman, Owner, Compass Natural Marketing
Steven Hoffman, Owner, Compass Natural Marketing
Dave Eckhardt, Board president, Colorado Corn Growers Association
Rebekah Lyle, Director of Marketing, Silk plant-based foods and beverages, White Wave
Financing — Raising money: who are the key players and how do local companies find the money they need to grow their business?
Robert Heilbronner, Managing Director, Integris
Peter Martin, Finance and Growth Consultant, KCoe Isom
David Haynes, Managing Director, Greenmont Capital
Anne Misak, Healthy Foods program manager, Colorado Enterprise Fund
Kathay Rennels, Associate Vice President for Engagement, Colorado State University
L. Hunter Lovins, President/Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions
Global Trade — Large agribusinesses are important players in global trade. What can regional businesses expect from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other global trade trends?
Tom Lipetzky, Director of Marketing Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Colorado Department of Agriculture
Mark Gustafson, International Consultant, Meat
Dr. Amanda (Leister) Countryman, Assistant Professor, Agriculture and Resource Economics, Colorado State University
FoodandAg.BizWest.com
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 27www.bizwest.com
ConTRACTSBiopharmaceutical company AntriaBio Inc. is collaborating with a new specialty health-care firm based in Seoul, South Korea, allowing it to manufacture and sell one of its diabetes drugs, according to documents filed with the U.S. Se-curities and Exchange Commission. Under the agreement, AntriaBio (OTCQB: ANTB) will give pH Pharma Co. Ltd. an exclusive, transferable license to make and sell its drug AB101 in eight countries in Southeast Asia — but the license will become effective only after pH Pharma has purchased a minimum of $8 million in AntriaBio securities, according to the SEC document. The companies also agreed to work together to use AntriaBio’s proprietary microsphere platform for various therapeutic opportunities. Under the terms of the stock purchase, pH agreed to buy $1 million in AntriaBio preferred stock, then $1 million more by March 31, and to negotiate to buy at least $6 million of its common stock.
Danish wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S received an order for a 53-megawatt wind power project in Uruguay. Vestas, one of Northern Colorado’s largest em-ployers, with factories in Windsor and Brighton, will supply 16 units of its V126 3.3-megawatt turbine for the Vientos de Pastorale wind farm in Villa Pastora, in Uruguay’s southwestern province of Flores. The order was placed by TaxWay S.A., the Uruguayan subsidiary of the Spain-based Cobra group, which specializes in developing industrial infrastructure worldwide.
Mallinda LLC, a spinoff company from the University of Colorado Boulder, signed an ex-clusive licensing agreement with the school to market a novel polymer and composite tech-nology. The company initially is looking at the technology for use in moldable, custom-fitted athletic equipment, but longer term the tech-nology could be used in industries ranging from wind energy to automotive.
EARnIngSShoemaker Crocs Inc. (Nasdaq: CROX) closed out 2015 recording a loss of $83.1 million for the year, with $70.2 million of that coming in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31. The loss for Niwot-based Crocs was equivalent to $1.30 per share for the year and $1.01 per share for the quarter. Crocs had annual revenue of $1.1 billion, compared with $1.2 billion in 2014, and revenue of $208.7 million for the quarter, com-pared with $206.7 million during the same pe-riod a year ago.
Dynamic Materials Corp. (Nasdaq: BOOM) reported a loss of $23.9 million for 2015, with $16 million of that coming in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31. Boulder-based Dynamic Materials manufactures explosion-welded clad metal plates, which are used to make equip-ment used in a variety of industries, including oil and gas. The company has manufacturing operations in Germany, Russia and East Asia. The company had annual revenue of $167 mil-lion, down 18 percent from $203 million in 2014. For the quarter, it posted revenue of $41.9 mil-lion, down from $52 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. Earnings per share were at a loss of $1.72 for the year and $1.15 for the quarter.
Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) reported quar-terly net income of $117 million and announced a $100 million capital plan for the 2016 calen-dar year that includes upgrades at its Brecken-ridge, Vail and Beaver Creek resorts. Vail Re-sorts’ net income for the fiscal second quarter ending Jan. 31 amounted to $3.14 per diluted share, and was up slightly from $115.8 mil-lion, or $3.10 per share, for the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose from $530.2 million a year earlier to $599.4 million. That figure was boosted in large part by a 20.2 percent increase in total lift revenue to $287.7 million. Retail and rental revenue, meanwhile, rose 8.4 percent to $103 million. In addition to issuing guidance for the 2016 fiscal year that includes a net income range of $132 mil-lion to $152 million, the company also said it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 30 per-cent to 81 cents per share. That payment will
be payable April 13 to stockholders of record on March 29.
Broadcom Ltd. (Nasdaq: AVGO), the company created when semiconductor company Avago Technologies closed its $37 billion acquisition of rival Broadcom Corp. last month, filed a first-quarter earnings report for the period ending Jan. 31 that included results only for Avago’s last quarter prior to the merger closing on Feb. 1. But guidance issued for the second fiscal quarter ending May 1 projects the combined company to see $3.5 billion in revenue. Avago, which employed 1,450 people in Fort Collins at the time the merger closed, posted a first-quarter net income of $377 million, or $1.30 per share, up from $351 million, or $1.26 per share a year earlier. Quarterly revenue for the single company was $1.8 billion, up from $1.6 billion the year before. The company had $2.2 billion in cash as of Jan. 31. In addition to the revenue projections, Broadcom Ltd. officials they expect capital expenditures for the sec-ond fiscal quarter to be about $210 million. In addition to Avago’s Fort Collins operations, that company had a small operation in Longmont, and Broadcom Corp. also had small offices in Longmont and Fort Collins at the time of the merger. Combined, those three facilities had roughly 150 people.
Heska Corp. (Nasdaq: HSKA) doubled net in-come in 2015 and enjoyed record revenue for the year, according to the company’s year-end earnings report. The Loveland-based provider of veterinary diagnostic and specialty products reported 2015 net income of $5.2 million, or 74 cents per diluted share, up from $2.6 million, or 41 cents per share, for 2014. Revenue for the year climbed 16 percent to $104.6 million. For the fourth quarter, Heska saw net income of $2 million, or 28 cents per share, up from $829,000, or 12 cents per share, in 2014. The company finished 2015 with $6.9 million in cash and $22.4 million in working capital. The company grew stockholders equity during the year from $53.1 million to $63.5 million.
FLooD RELIEF The Weld County Housing Authority re-ceived a $708,582 community-development block grant to continue flood recovery efforts for residents who were impacted by the 2013 flood. Grant funds will be used to replace three homes destroyed by the flood, continue rent assistance for 16 families for the next 12 months and provide down payment assistance for five families.
KUDoSThe smartphone-controlled Star Wars BB-8 Droid toy made by Boulder company Sphero was named the top-selling U.S. toy in the Youth Electronics category by global information company The NPD Group. Based on dollar volume, Sphero’s BB-8 ranked eighth overall among top-selling toys for 2015.
Frederick-based roofing contractor B&M Roofing of Colorado Inc. won two awards for outstanding workmanship in the first quarter of 2016. For its work on the Thompson residence in Edwards, B&M took second place during the 15th annual Colorado Roofing Association awards dinner held Feb. 24 at the Omni Inter-locken Hotel in Broomfield. The company also won a Gold Circle Honorable Mention award from the National Roofing Contractor’s Asso-ciation for its work on the Belcaro Mansion in Denver, also known as the Phipps Mansion.
WeldWerks Brewing Co. in Greeley was voted the nation’s best new brewery by a readers’ poll conducted by USA Today. Nineteen nominees from around the country — all breweries that have opened since 2013 — were selected from more than 1,800 by a panel of experts assem-bled by the Tegna-owned national newspaper. WeldWerks, which has a taproom at 508 Eighth Ave. in Greeley, was the only nominee repre-senting Colorado.
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Love-land, managed by Spirit Hospitality LLC, won
Intercontinental Hotel Group’s elite 5 of 5 award for achieving green in all five Guest Experience Winning Metrics: Heartbeat, Problem Handling, Loyalty Recognition, Loyalty Enrollments and Guest Reviews for 2015.
Boulder-based sustainable pool sanitation company Clear Comfort earned B Corpora-tion certification, recognizing its company’s commitment to high standards of social and environmental responsibility.
Longmont-based Parascript, a software inno-vator in advanced data location, extraction and classification, was selected as one of the “100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Manage-ment” by KMWorld Magazine.
The Loveland-based Good Day Pharmacy chain was identified as “Best In Class” by Out-comesMTM for providing medication therapy management services.
mERgERS & ACQUISITIonSU.S. HealthWorks Medical Group, a subsid-iary of San Francisco-based Dignity Health, acquired Boulder-based Arbor Occupational Medicine. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Arbor Occupational Medicine oper-ates occupational care centers with ancillary physical therapy services. The acquired cen-ters are at 1860 Industrial Circle, Suite D, in Longmont; 1690 30th St. in Boulder; 290 Nickel St., Suite 200, in Broomfield; and 8200 E. Bel-leview, No. 428 C, Greenwood Village.
Boulder Orthopedics and Mapleton Hill Or-thopedics will rebrand April 1 as Boulder Cen-tre for Orthopedics, and bring Cathy Higgins onboard to run the company as chief executive. Higgins, the executive director of Boulder Val-ley Independent Practice Association, said the deal is a true merger of the two groups, with all 13 physicians — seven from Boulder Orthope-dics and six from Mapleton Hill — owning the new venture. Boulder Centre for Orthopedics will take up 22,000 square feet — the entire second floor — in the new office building at 4740 Pearl Parkway that is being developed by W.W. Reynolds Cos. The company will open in its new location April 4.
The meat-snacks division of Greeley-based Grass Run Farms was acquired by the mak-ers of Jack Link’s Protein Snacks. Financial terms of the deal between JBS USA, Grass Run Farms’ parent company, and Minong, Wis.-based Link Snacks Inc. were not dis-closed. But a Link Snacks media release said the transaction included trademark and distri-bution rights for Grass Run’s grass-fed beef snacks and fresh meat products.
An investment group headed by Halton J. Pe-ters acquired Fort Collins-based Front Range Internet Inc. from the father and son team of Bill and Brad Ward for an undisclosed amount.
Dallas-based Triumph Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: TBK) signed an agreement to acquire ColoEast Bankshares Inc., parent company of Lamar-based Colorado East Bank & Trust in a deal worth $70 million in cash. Colorado East Bank & Trust has 18 branches including operations in Dacono, LaSalle, Mead and Severance.
nAmE CHAngESWyoming-based Warren Federal Credit Union and Broomfield-based Community Financial Credit Union will become Blue Federal Credit Union in May after their merger becomes final April 1. The new credit union will exceed $800 million in total assets and serve nearly 70,000 members at 11 full-service branch locations in Broomfield, Boulder, Fort Collins, Wellington and Wyoming.
oPEnIngSVerboten Brewing, which is building a new brewery and taproom at 127 E. Fifth St., in downtown Loveland, is planning a Saturday, March 19, grand (re)opening. The brewery moved out of its original space at 1550 Tau-rus Court at the end of September with an eye
on growth and increased visibility downtown. To keep restaurants, bars and liquor stores stocked, Verboten has been contract brewing its beers at Snowbank Brewing in Fort Collins.
The new PearlWest development nearing com-pletion in downtown Boulder is adding some bling to its list of tenants. Colorado jewelry designer John Atencio will open a new store there this summer after a decade-long hiatus from the city. The new 1,350-square-foot store, dubbed the John Atencio Gallery, will sit on the ground level near the center of the project on the Pearl Street side.
Boulder-based marketing software company TapInfluence Inc. will open an engineering of-fice in Mountain View, Calif., in April.
What started off with Twenty Ninth Street offi-cials admiring The Barrel’s shipping-container bar setup in Estes Park — and picking the own-ers’ brains about different aspects of starting such an operation — has morphed into an ex-pansion opportunity for Loveland couple Ingrid and Lou Bush. The Barrel is planning to open a second location this summer as part of a plan by Twenty Ninth Street in Boulder to activate an underutilized outdoor plaza. Assuming the permitting, construction and licensing process-es go as planned, The Barrel is aiming to open its Boulder operation — in a pair of repurposed shipping containers — in late June or early July.
A pair of fast-casual restaurants will open in long-vacant spaces at the Twenty Ninth Street shopping district in Boulder in the com-ing weeks, and a replacement for the recently shuttered S.A. Elite sporting goods store might not be far behind. Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Shop (Nasdaq: PBPB) will take over a former Smiling Moose Deli space at 1685 29th St., while Five on Black is taking over a former Spooners frozen yogurt space at the north end of the shopping district. Both spaces have been empty since 2014.
Waltzing Kangaroo, an Australian-themed res-taurant, opened March 14 at 1109 W. Elizabeth St. in the Campus West area of Fort Collins.
O’Fallon, Mo.-based Nortek Global HVAC LLC, a manufacturer of heating and cool-ing equipment, will open a distribution center in the Loveland-Fort Collins Industrial Air-park in Loveland. Nortek Global has leased 18,900-square-feet of industrial space at 5802 Byrd Drive located west of Interstate 25 and east of Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport.
A Thornton couple has purchased the former home of the Isla Bonita and Vista del Sol Mexican restaurants in downtown Greeley with plans to open an Indian restaurant and bar there this spring. Peter Sitaula and Kathy Para-juli closed on the spot at 908½ Eighth Ave., buying it from Castulo Venegas for $510,000. Sitaula said he’s still determining a name for the restaurant. He’s hoping to open by mid to late April. He’ll also close soon on the purchase of a Shell gas station at the southwest corner of 54th Avenue and 10th Street.
Otto Pint, which opened March 11 at 1100 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins, near the south-east corner of Harmony Road and Lemay Av-enue, is the third restaurant for Brian Tessari, owner of Domenic’s Bistro and Wine Bar at 931 E. Harmony Road and Vincent Heavenly Pizza Pies and Pasta at 902 W. Drake Road.
The final segment of the 18-mile commuter bicycle route between Boulder and Denver is open. Completion of the second phase of the commuter bikeway between 88th Street in the Louisville-Superior area and Table Mesa in Boulder completes the connection between Denver and Boulder for bicyclists.
SERVICESKoehn Self Storage, 6200 W. 10th St. in Greeley, signed on as a U-Haul neighborhood dealer, offering U-Haul trucks, towing equip-ment, support rental items, boxes and in-store pick-up for boxes.
B r i e f C A S E
28 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
T i m e o U T
courtesy Greeley chamBer of commerce
Carl Dierschow of Small Fish Business Coaching celebrates a ribbon cutting for his home-based business in Greeley on Feb. 22 along with the Greeley Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors. Dierschow’s column appears periodically in BizWest.
courtesy mantooth marketinG
Dawn Paepke, Northern Colorado community benefit and relations lead for Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and Evan Hyatt, president of Pathways Hospice, hold a plaque recognizing Kaiser as a bronze partner in the Pathways Corporate Partner Program. The program makes it easy for companies to contribute toward providing emotional, spiritual and medical care and bereavement support to individuals and their loved ones facing end-of-life care or a life-limiting illness.
courtesy Greeley chamBer of commerce
From left, Holly Burns of Greeley Place meets Mason Tripp of the Residence Inn Love-land and Eric Crawford of Greeley Country Club at a March 3 Greeley Young Profes-sionals event hosted by the Greeley Guest House.
courtesy suPerior chamBer of commerce
From left, Lea Yancey, Matt Hannon, Zach Swank, Pam Milmoe and Ambra Sutherlin of Partners for a Clean Environment (PACE) host a March 9 networking event for mem-bers of the Lafayette, Louisville and Superior chambers of commerce.
courtesy Greeley chamBer of commerce
From left, Nanelle Edgren of Greeley Orthodontic Associates and Randy Andrade of MetLife network with Jennifer and Derek O’Hara, owners of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, on Feb. 25 at a Greeley Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event hosted by John Elway Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram.
N o N p r o f i T n E T w o R K
BRIEFS
Legacy Land Trust and Colorado Open Lands an-nounced the successful merger of their two nonprofit land-conservation organizations. Over the last 23 years, Fort Collins-based Legacy has helped more than 100 landowners permanently conserve nearly 43,000 acres in Larimer, Weld, Jackson and Wash-ington counties. Lakewood-based Colorado Open Lands has worked with landowners to conserve nearly 30,000 additional acres in the region since it
started in 1981. The two nonprofits began evaluating a merger last fall.As a result of the merger, Colorado Open Lands has taken responsibility for Legacy’s conservation ease-ments and Legacy has concluded its separate op-erations.
gRAnTSAn anonymous racehorse breeder donated $20 mil-lion to Colorado State University to build a regen-erative medicine research facility, fulfilling a $65 mil-
lion matching challenge from lead donors and fellow horse aficionados John and Leslie Malone. In De-cember 2014, the Malones pledged $42.5 million — the largest cash gift in CSU history — for the planned facility. The gift was prompted by their interest in stem-cell therapy and its effectiveness in treating equine joint problems; the Malones raise world-class dressage horses and thoroughbred racehorses. The donations allow construction of the CSU Institute for Biologic Translational Therapies, which prom-ises to tap the body’s healing powers for innovative
treatments that improve animal and human health. Groundbreaking will occur later this year; an exact date has not been set.
Fort Collins Habitat for Humanity was awarded $110,000 from Thrivent Financial to support the Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity program, an ongoing multi-year, multi-million dollar partner-ship between Habitat for Humanity International and Thrivent Financial that helps create safe, decent, af-fordable housing across the globe.
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 29www.bizwest.com
Region’s jobless rate hovers around 3%
The unemployment rates in three local counties remained below 3 percent in January, while even Weld County’s rate wasn’t far off the mark despite the increasing struggles of the oil and gas industry. The latest figures come from the monthly report released by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Weld’s unemployment rate was 3.3 per-cent in January, matching a 14-year low hit in October. That figure was down from 3.4 percent in December and 4.3 percent in January 2015. The county had 142,201 people employed and 4,918 looking for work. Boulder County’s unemployment rate decreased to 2.5 percent in January, its lowest since a 2 percent rate in Decem-ber 2000. The figure was down from 2.6 percent in December 2015 and 3.8 percent in January of last year. Boulder County saw 171,460 people employed, with 4,462 looking for jobs. Labor-force participation, however, was down by nearly 1,000 people from a year earlier, accounting for some of that county’s unemployment drop. Despite labor-force participation climbing by more than 4,000 people in Larimer County, that county saw its unemployment rate slide from 4.2 percent in January last year to 2.8 percent this year. There, 174,140 people were employed, with 5,102 seeking work.
apartment rents continue year-over-year rise in Feb.
Rent for a two-bedroom unit in Boulder was $1,850, according to the March 2016 Colorado Apartment List Rent Report based on the median price paid in Febru-ary. San Francisco-based Apartment List creates the monthly report using data from the several hundred thousand list-ings on its website. While rents in Boulder increased 3.3 percent since last year, Westminster showed the highest year-over-year growth of any Colorado city, up 11.6 percent compared with Febru-ary 2015. The median rent in Longmont reached $1,150 for a two-bedroom unit, an 8.8 percent increase from last year. Renters in Broomfield paid about $1,610 for a two-bedroom unit in February, a 5.9 percent increase compared with February last year. Fort Collins renters experienced a 4.5 percent increase year-over-year. A two-bedroom unit in Fort Collins was going for $1,380 in February.
The Ticker
E C o n o w A T c h
State 3rd in tech-worker concentration
Single-family home listings up in February
By Joshua [email protected]
The state of Colorado ranked 13th in the nation in the number of peo-ple employed in the tech industry in 2015. But as a percentage of the private-sector workforce, tech plays a larger role in just two other states.
That’s according to the latest annual Cyberstates report released by t he Comput ing Technolog y Industry Association, or CompTIA. The Cyberstates report, in general, includes in its definition of the tech industry sectors involved in mak-ing, creating, enabling, integrating or supporting technology either as a product as a service – but not indus-try sectors categorized merely as users of technology.
The report noted that Colorado’s 2015 tech industry employment of 187,242 accounted for 9 percent of all private-sector workers. The only states with higher concentrations of tech workers were Massachusetts (9.8 percent) and Virginia (9.5 per-cent). Maryland was fourth at 8.6 percent, followed by California and Washington at 8.2 percent. Nation-
wide, the figure is 5.7 percent.Colorado’s number of tech jobs
increased by 3,088, or 1.7 percent, in 2015. The state’s tech industry payroll was $19.9 billion, with the average wage in the tech industry in Colorado hitting $106,350.
That average wage figure is nearly double the private-sector average wages for all industries in Colorado, a number that stood at $53,400 in 2015.
The report states that the tech industry accounts for 11.5 percent of the state’s economy. That figure put Colorado third behind Oregon
(23 percent) and Washington (12.6).Applications software develop-
ers led the tech charge in Colorado with 22,800 employed in the sector in 2015, followed by computer user support specialists at 13,600 and sys-tems software developers at 11,500.
Compared with the nation, how-ever, Colorado’s space and defense systems manufacturing industry ranked highest. Colorado had 6,300 people employed in the industry, placing it fifth behind California (23,100), Arizona (11,400), Florida (6,700) and Massachusetts (6,600).
Nationally, There were 6.7 mil-lion people employed in the tech industry in 2015, up 198,200. The 3 percent growth rate from 2014 is the highest in more than a decade, according to the Cyberstates report. The 6.7 million figure doesn’t include an additional 1 million tech workers categorized as self-employed or sole proprietors.
Joshua Lindenstein can be reached at 303-630-1943, 970-416-7343 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @joshlindenstein.
BizWest [email protected]
Contrary to recent trends, the num-ber of active single-family detached home listings actually increased in four of the region’s five largest cities in February. Median prices, however, still increased year-over-year.
The figures come from the most recent monthly report from IRES Mul-tiple Listing Service.
Boulder, which had just 31 single-family active listings in January, had 127 in February, up from 102 in Febru-ary of 2015. The city’s median price of
$860,000 on 28 sales was down signifi-cantly from January’s mark of $989,000 but still up 27 percent from a year earlier.
In Fort Collins, the number of active listings rose from 506 a year ago to 522 in February of this year, with the median price climbing 10.5 percent year-over-year to $350,000 on 177 sales.
The median price in Greeley in Feb-ruary, including sales in Evans, was $237,500 on 125 sales. The number of active listings there climbed from 319 a year earlier to 328.
Loveland’s median price rose only slightly year-over-year, from $310,000
to $312,000 on 123 sales, including sales in Berthoud. But the number of active listings there shot up 9.9 per-cent, to 389.
Longmont was the only one of the five cities to see the number of active listings decrease year-over-year, from 144 in February of 2015 to 114 this year. The median price there climbed 10 percent to $332,500 on 60 sales.
As for the high country, meanwhile, the Estes Park area saw a median price of $357,000 on 15 sales, up from $314,950 a year earlier. The number of listings there lagged 35 percent from a year ago down to 101.
ProCampAfter an accelerator, then what?
The essential event is a two-and-a-half-day immersive retreat for seasoned entrepreneurs dealing with business scaling and acceleration challenges. Architected by professional entrepreneurs www.ignytelab.com and www.boulderpreneurs.com, it brings together the startup community and entrepreneurs facing life sensitivities and a unique hierarchy of needs not addressed by accelerators or incubators. • A model for growth-stage leadership.• Structuring the right governance for acceleration.• Fiduciarycontrolsandintegratedfinancialmodels.
Call today for more information: Ryan Ferrero 970.214.4433 Henry Wright 303.588.5093www.boulderpreneurs.com/procamp
State of technology in ColoradoTech Industry Employment 187,242Tech Business Establishments 14,847
Tech Industry Payroll $19.9B
Average Wage in Tech Industry $106,350
% of Private Sector Workers in Tech 9.0%
State Rankings: Tech Employment 13
State Rankings: Average Tech Wage 9
Primary Sources: EMSI; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
30 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Volume 35, Issue 7
Boulder Office 1790 30th St., Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80301 | Fax: 303-440-8954
Fort Collins Office 1550 E. Harmony Road, 2nd floor , Fort Collins, CO 80525
P.O. Box 270810, Fort Collins, CO 80527 | Fax: 970-221-5432
Copyright © 2016.
BizWest Media LLC. Reproduction or use of
editorial or graphic content without written permission
is prohibited.
Publishers
JEFF NuttaLL [email protected] 970-232-3131 | 303-630-1955
CHRiStOPHER WOOd [email protected] 303-630-1942 | 970-232-3133
Executive Editor CHRiStOPHER WOOd [email protected] 303-630-1942 | 970-232-3133
Vice President of Strategic Partnerships SaNdy POWELL [email protected] 970-232-3144 | 303-630-1954
Controller LORi FRaNkLiN [email protected] 970-232-3151 | 303-630-1963
Printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper
Colorado should return to presidential primary
March summit focuses on organic, traditional ag
Colorado deserves its place in the presidential pro-cess. More specifically, Coloradans deserve to have their voices heard as their political parties select delegates in favor of one presidential candidate or another.
The best way to do that is to abandon the ill-con-sidered caucus system and return to a presidential primary.
The state ran presidential primaries in 1992, 1996 and 2000. But primaries are expensive, and the Gen-eral Assembly opted to cut funding for the primary in a wave of budget cuts. Instead, Democrats and Republicans have opted for a caucus system that has — to say the least — been cumbersome, and partici-pation has been lacking.
The Denver Post reported recently that only 11 percent of registered Democrats participated in the March caucus, with only 5 percent of Republicans attending their party’s precinct gatherings. Republi-cans did not even vote on a presidential preference. Few people can afford the hours that the caucus pro-cess takes, meaning that a small minority of voters stated their preference on the Democratic side.
Party leaders from both sides seem to have got-ten the message, with an effort under way to revive a presidential primary in 2020. Caucuses would con-tinue to be held “to select delegates and qualify state and local candidates for the ballot,” the Post reports.
Meanwhile, the Denver Metro Chamber of Com-merce is promoting a November ballot measure through a group called Let Colorado Vote to open the primary process to unaffiliated voters.
The issue of unaffiliated voters stating their prefer-ence in a presidential primary is an important ques-tion. About 1 million voters in Colorado currently are unaffiliated. We would prefer a system that allows independent voters to easily change their party affili-ation.
But most important is creation of a presidential primary system that is adequately funded and pro-vides an easy means for the state’s residents to state their presidential preference, that doesn’t require hours of caucusing and that boosts participation far higher than 11 percent of a party’s registered voters.
Colorado’s lack of a presidential primary means that the state is missing out on countless chances to hear from candidates, and to express Colorado concerns on a myriad of topics. Opponents will once again argue about the cost — a president primary would cost $4 million to $5 million.
But being left out of the early stages of the presi-dential process is a far higher price.
Colorado’s natural and organic sec-tor has sprung out of the Boulder Valley, with national brands such
as Celestial Seasonings, White Wave and many others cementing the region as a center of healthy foods, with brands that have stood the test of time and consumer tastes.
At the same time, Weld County in North-ern Colorado ranks in the top five or six among counties nationally as a center for traditional agriculture. Think JBS, Agrium and many other producers and processors.
Overlap occurs with companies such as Boulder-based Aurora Organic Dairy, which operates a large dairy in Platte-ville in Weld County. Many other cross-county-line examples exist as well, with an increasing number of natural and organic companies in Larimer and Weld counties such as Meyer Natural Angus LLC in Love-land and Noosa Yoghurt in Bellvue.
Agricultural and natural-food compa-nies share many concerns or dilemmas, including implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, attraction of skilled executives and workers, raising money, trade issues, use of new technolo-gies and the bridging practice of regen-erative agriculture. An area of continued disagreement is in genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
Exploring areas of agreement and dis-agreement among agricultural and natu-ral/organic companies is the purpose of the inaugural Food & Ag Summit, taking place March 30 at the Ranch events com-plex in Loveland. The event will include dozens of speakers on a variety of panels
and is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.This event is intended to:• Provide education and cutting-edge
information on new technologies and trends industrywide.
• Enable producers and product compa-nies to network.
• Encourage discussion and collabora-tion on opportunities and challenges for ag and natural-foods executives.
• Provide a forum for respectful debate of areas of disagreement, such as GMOs.
Leading the discussion on the Food Safety Modernization Act will be keynote speaker Devin Koontz, lead communi-cations specialist for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Regulatory Affairs and Communications. This will be a must-hear presentation for anyone in the food business, including an overview of the act, implementation periods, what to focus on now and how it is affecting food and agribusiness companies.
Panel discussions will also be held on The Search for Talent, Immigration Chal-lenges, Financing, Global Trade, Regenera-tive Ag and Technology Trends.
Rounding out the day will be the GMO Debate, a panel discussion featuring Dr. Patrick Byrne, a soil and crop-sciences professor at Colorado State University; Dave Eckhart, board president with the Colorado Corn Growers Association; Steve Hoffman, owner of Compass Natural Marketing; and Rebekah Lyle, director of marketing, Silk plant-based foods and bev-erages, White Wave.
The Food & Ag Summit is sponsored by KCoe Isom. Registration is available at www.bizwest.com.
Christopher Wood can be reached at 303-630-1942, 970-232-3133 or [email protected].
Are employees at your company able to afford to live in the city in which they work?
BW POLL
Next Question: Should Colorado return to a presidential primary?
Visit www.BizWest.com to express your opinion.
No 73%
Yes 27%
PUBlISHER’S NoTEBookCHRISTOPHER WOOD
C o M M E N T A R Y
BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 | 31www.bizwest.com
Sky’s the limit for solar in ColoradoF ifteen years ago, flat-screen
televisions were a rare luxury item, a smartphone
was one with an address book, we kept our music on plastic discs, and video chats were a feature in “Star Trek” episodes. Now there’s wide-spread use of handheld devices that enable us to listen to music, watch videos, talk, text or video-chat with friends or colleagues, while also providing immediate access to a world of information.
Times have changed, and solar power is a case in point. Fif-teen years ago, solar was used by a small number of true believers. Now, because of advances in tech-nology and growing economies of scale, solar costs 25 percent of what it cost in 2000.
Solar panels are popping up
all over: on homes, businesses, places of worship and government buildings. In his State of the Union address, President Obama summed it up when he said, “Every three weeks, we bring as much solar online as we did in all of 2008.”
Boosting solar-energy power production is more urgent than ever. From massive floods to dev-astating wildfires, dangerous weather already is hitting close to home. Without action to stop cli-mate change, scientists say these extremes — and their impact on Coloradans — will only get worse.
Achieving a million solar roofs in Colorado would help move our country closer to the national goal of getting 10 percent solar by 2030. This would produce immediate and long-lasting benefits for our envi-ronment, including removing 280 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere by 2030 — the equivalent of taking 59 million cars off the road.
More solar isn’t just good for the
environment. It’s also good for our economy. Solar is the fastest-grow-ing industry in the country, adding 143,000 jobs nationwide in 2013. According to the latest solar jobs census from the Solar Foundation, the solar industry employed nearly 5,000 people in Colorado last year, 887 in Jefferson County alone.
Of course, 30 percent solar is just
a sliver of the possible. The state is home to more than 14 million square feet in commercial rooftops that could host solar panels, and it has enough technical potential to meet the state’s energy needs 50 times over, an energy offset that could save these companies $168 million annually on their electricity bills.
We’ve made progress. But we can’t take that progress for granted. Powerful interests, including the fossil-fuel industry and electric utilities are working hard to slow progress. To take solar to the next level, we’ll need a strong commit-ment from our local, state and national leaders. By adopting a goal of getting a million solar roofs, and working together, we can begin to move Colorado and the nation toward a pollution-free future; a future powered by the sun.
Katie Otterbeck is the solar-energy advocate for Environment Colorado, an environmental advocacy group.
GUEST ColUMNISTkATIE OTTERBECk
Just 16 cents a day. That’s all it takes to get more business-news content than all of the daily newspapers in our region combined.
The BizWest PrintPlus subscription delivers the print newspaper right to your mailbox, access to our latest online content, a replica “Flyp” edition of BizWest, access to our robust online offerings and every one of our annual industry directories, including the Book of Lists — all for just $59.99.
n Visit BizWest.comn Call 303-630-1953 | Boulder Valleyn Call 970-232-3143 | Northern Colorado
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF THE BOULDER VALLEY AND NORTHERN COLORADO
Sweet sixteen.
PrintPlus BOGOBuy a PrintPlus subscription and get another
for a colleague or associate for 1 year!
Or split it and pay
about $30 each!
Only $59.99
Expires 3/31/16
Solar is the fastest-growing industry in the country, adding 143,000 jobs nationwide in 2013. According to the latest solar jobs census from the Solar Foundation, the solar industry employed nearly 5,000 people in Colorado last year.
32 | BizWest | March 18-31, 2016 www.bizwest.com
Make an appointment (970) 821.4500 - Fort Collins (970) 810.0900 - Greeley or (970) 820.2400 - Loveland www.BannerHealth.com/CVI