Startup Colorado and Belonging Colorado are pleased to announce the cohort of our new business accelerator program for belonging. We received more than 100 applications from founders across the country, representing a wide range of industries and business models. Many brought thoughtful ideas for building belonging in their communities and beyond.
Our review team spent a month evaluating applications through a three-phase process designed to give each one careful consideration. We worked with experts in entrepreneurship and leaders with deep experience in the belonging space to guide the selection process.
“The founders not only brought thoughtful business ideas, but clear, strong visions for how their companies could strengthen connection, bridge differences, and create meaningful belonging in their communities,” said Brittany Romano, Executive Director at Startup Colorado. “It’s clear that there is real demand for this kind of support and real potential for entrepreneurship to become a powerful tool for social impact.”
“It’s clear that there is real demand for this kind of support and real potential for entrepreneurship to become a powerful tool for social impact.”
Our selected cohort will participate in a structured business development program, helping them validate, refine, and grow their companies through mentorship, technical training, and investment readiness support. They will benefit from Startup Colorado’s extensive network of business experts, investors, and advisors, as well as Belonging Colorado’s network of nationally recognized experts in belonging.
The program begins in mid-April with a four-week Idea Factory pre-accelerator, where founders will refine their ideas and build a clear business plan. They will receive support with their business model development as well as educational sessions focused on fostering belonging.
Founders who are ready will then move into the six-week Growth Challenge accelerator, where they will receive technical training from topic experts, prepare for due diligence and the possibility of raising funds, and participate in a Demo Day taking place in Denver this September. Qualified founders will also receive support with investor access and pitch competition applications.
“We were impressed by both the volume and quality of applications, with founders representing a range of industries and approaches,” said Erika Montes, the Belonging Colorado Program Lead. “Choosing this cohort was not easy, a testament to the growing momentum of entrepreneurs building businesses focused on belonging.”
MEET THE COHORT
Connor Moynihan — Karmy in Longmont, Colorado
What if helping others was as rewarding as scrolling your phone? Karmy is a platform where people earn points for doing good—helping neighbors, donating items, and supporting their community. Points are redeemable as real rewards from local businesses. Unlike traditional loyalty apps that reward spending, Karmy rewards generosity. We’re turning everyday kindness into a habit—and building stronger communities because of it.
Erick Burgos — Trailhead Strategies Group in Durango, Colorado
Trailhead Strategies Group helps organizations turn outdoor recreation into a powerful tool for connection, community impact, and growth. We design strategies, partnerships, and events that bring veterans, families, and outdoor brands together in meaningful ways. What sets us apart is our lived experience, relationship driven approach, and commitment to building programs that are practical, authentic, and built to last.
Jourdan DuFort — Sukai Inc in Denver, Colorado
Sukai is a micro-volunteering marketplace that turns everyday good deeds into human connection and funding for local nonprofits. When a neighbor helps a neighbor, a posting fee is then donated to a nonprofit for the service provided. Sukai brings community back into neighborhoods where every good deed gives twice. We never know who is silently suffering just a couple doors away from us, small connections can make a big impact!
Justin Simpkins — The Conversation Company in Boulder, Colorado
Most community leaders are stuck broadcasting content to silent audiences. We flip the script. The Conversation Company helps network leaders save time and grow revenue by turning passive members into active participants through AI-powered small group conversations. Our methodology diagnoses what members actually need, matches them into the right rooms, and delivers insights leaders can act on. Human-focused and AI-enabled, we don’t replace the conversation, we make sure the right ones happen.
Katie Kelly — Lifting Up in Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Lifting Up is a growth-stage SaaS company that supports trauma-responsive schools by facilitating the identification of students impacted by trauma. With this information, school staff can make connections, open communication, and provide resources to students who need them, when they need them.
Kyle Parker — SLED Outdoors in Littleton, Colorado
SLED Outdoors is a participation-first outdoor community platform designed to make it easier for people to find their place outside. We connect people through local adventures, small-group events, and community-led experiences across Colorado. Unlike traditional outdoor apps that focus on trails or content, SLED focuses on people—helping organizers host, lowering the friction to join, and turning shared experiences into lasting community. We exist to make belonging outdoors simple, local, and repeatable.
Megan Flanagan — BelongNow in Lakewood, Colorado
Loneliness is an epidemic and the apps we have are making it worse. BelongNow is a hyperlocal micro-connection app that helps people organize their existing friends, share real-time availability, and gather in Colorado’s Third Spaces: cafés, climbing gyms, parks, co-working spots. No feeds, no strangers, no chaos. Just the right people, at the right place, right now. Unlike Meetup or social media, BelongNow connects people : spaces : shared identities, turning one-off hangouts into weekly rituals.
Natalie Ipsen — Holaimpact in Fort Collins, Colorado / Bellvue, Washington
Language learning is broken, transactional and disconnected from real life. Holaimpact changes that. We connect Spanish learners with native women in Latin America through meaningful conversations that build fluency, confidence, and human connection. Every session creates dignified income opportunities for our mentors. We’re not just helping you improve your Spanish fluency, we’re redefining language learning as a tool for global impact.
Nichole Argo — TogetherUp Institute in Dover, Massachusetts
The TogetherUp Institute is a think-and-do tank dedicated to rebuilding the connective tissue of American communities. We partner with municipalities and local leaders to design and institutionalize “whole-of-society” civic hub networks—enabling members of different sectors and identity groups within a municipal community to build relationships and solve shared challenges together.
Rebecca Cohen — ShareMyJourney in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
There are times in life when you are going through something, and you just want to talk to someone who has gone through something similar, but there is no one to talk to…
ShareMyJourney connects caring people 1:1 (via phone and online) to give and receive knowledge and life experience to lift up one another. Simply connect about your preferences, confirm a match, have a conversation about a shared experience, and feel more supported. In addition, you can attend ShareMyJourney “wisdom circles” and events at your convenience to connect with caring people on shared topics of interest.
Richard Sherman — Kit in Durango, Colorado
Rural Colorado’s working parents are stuck between two broken systems: coworking spaces not built for families, and childcare not built for flexible work. Kit fixes both – a community-first coworking space with licensed drop-in childcare in the same building. No waitlists. No tradeoffs. Just a place where your whole life is welcome. Launching in Durango, built to replicate across the Mountain West.
Tyler Miget — Blue-Collar Belonging in Fort Collins, Colorado
In the next ten years, the trades will face well over half a million job openings and a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of workers annually, according to estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Leaders don’t just need to attract talent. They have to retain it amid systemic issues, mental health risks, and market volatility.
Blue-Collar Belonging helps leaders build and retain strong teams by treating culture as an operational system—because when identity, ownership, and community are clear, people feel like they belong, matter, and are able to perform. BCB is built in the trades, by people with dirty hands, for people with dirty hands.
A Test Kitchen for Belonging
We believe belonging can help address many of today’s most pressing challenges by strengthening communities, bridging differences, encouraging innovation, and expanding shared prosperity. This program is designed to explore how entrepreneurship can foster belonging in meaningful and measurable ways.
“We’re excited to explore how businesses can intentionally build belonging. By capturing what works and measuring impact, we hope to create practical strategies that other founders and organizations can use to strengthen communities,” Montes said.
The result of a partnership between Startup Colorado and Belonging Colorado, a special fund at The Denver Foundation, Belonging @ Startup Colorado has the potential to expand how we think about community development by positioning entrepreneurs as bridge-builders, problem-solvers, and drivers of long-term local impact. Throughout the program, Startup Colorado will document the methodology, outcomes, and lessons learned to create a repeatable playbook for interested organizations.
While Startup Colorado’s mission remains focused on rural communities, the partnership with Belonging Colorado enabled us to expand the program’s eligibility to founders nationwide who were willing to test their business in the state.
“When we invest in founders who are intentionally building connection, trust, and opportunity into their business models, we are not just supporting individual companies, we are helping shape stronger, more resilient communities,” Romano said.
To learn more about Belonging @ Startup Colorado, connect with any of the founders, or receive further updates about the program, contact margaret@startupcolorado.org.
Written by Margaret Hedderman
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