Startup Colorado’s Founder Coopetition is back with 15 rural startups participating in its September cohort. This 4-week program offers a unique blend of cooperation and competition designed to fuel the growth of early-stage businesses in rural areas. Startup Colorado will be running an additional two cohorts and is accepting applications on a rolling basis.
Now, let’s meet the founders:
BUTTNSKI - KELLY MAZANTI, SILVERTHORNE, CO
Buttnski makes stylish and functional apparel for humans who love to play outside in the mountains. As a women-owned and operated business in Summit County, Colorado, they know firsthand what it takes to live year-round in a harsh environment. This ultimate mountain playground serves as their inspiration and testing ground for everything they make.
LITTLE BIRD COMMISSARY KITCHEN, ANNE PASQUALE, GYMPSUM, CO
Little Bird Commissary Kitchen and Incubator isn’t just a kitchen; they’re the launchpad for culinary dreams. Located in Gypsum, this shared-use commercial kitchen provides a vibrant space where chefs, bakers, and food entrepreneurs spread their wings and create mouthwatering creations. They offer top-notch facilities, a supportive community, host pop-up events and cooking classes and provide all the tools you need to turn small businesses food passions into a thriving business.
GRAND VALLEY AVIATION - J. ERIC GRUMLING, BATTLEMENT MESA, CO
Grand Valley Aviation, LLC is changing the way cable broadband industry meets FCC requirements for preventing interference, using small uncrewed aerial vehicles (aka drones). They leverage established aerial mapping techniques to precisely locate damaged cable hardware that causes interference to communications for first responders, air traffic controllers and your cell phone.
BOULDER LEARNING INC. - JOHN RAMO, M.ED., CARBONDALE, CO
Boulder Learning was formed from the merger of Ramos’ company, Digital Directions, and Boulder Language Technologies. Combined, the two companies received over $20M in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation and others. Boulder Learning is now working to monetize the intellectual property from this funding by focusing on developing products using speech recognition, AI, and digital adaptive pedagogy.
ORNATE BLENDS - NATHAN SHAFER, WIGGINS, CO
Ornate Blends is a wellness company specializing in botanical and fungi based solutions. Ornate Blends is headquartered on Shafer’s farm, Ornate Acres, in Wiggins. Shafer plans to develop the farm as they grow, incorporating sustainable systems of agriculture that allow them to vertically integrate their resources and branch out into other industry sectors.