Erwin Germain thought he was on the right track. After earning a master’s degree in business administration and management, he began his career in finance in Paris. But the work never quite fit, and he found himself feeling frustrated and directionless. Looking for clarity, he started working with a professional development coach, who guided him through a personality assessment. The results pointed away from the narrowly defined path in finance and toward work that demanded range—entrepreneurship, for example.
The only problem? Erwin didn’t have any burning ideas for a new business.
That changed in 2015 when he moved to Denver. During his first Colorado winter, he headed for the mountains, up the I-70 corridor, eager to see the Rockies for himself. Well, you can imagine Erwin’s dismay. Having grown up in the French Alps, where trains and buses made it easy to reach ski resorts without a car, he was unprepared for the stand-still traffic.
“I thought there would be a need [for carpooling] in Colorado,” Erwin said, “because just to go skiing was a disaster.”
In Europe, carpooling has become commonplace, offering an inexpensive—and often more convenient—alternative to public transportation. It wasn’t typically how people got to ski resorts, but Erwin believed the model could work in Colorado, where getting to the mountains often meant sitting in traffic for hours. It could also be used for other mountain sports like hiking, offering a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to driving alone. Between 2017 and 2019, he found a technical co-founder and built the first version of TreadShare, an American take on the European carpooling apps he knew best. They launched in late 2019.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Before the concept had a chance to catch on, the business ran into two obstacles. The first was the COVID-19 pandemic, which froze travel and made ridesharing a tough sell overnight. The second was a state law that required carpooling apps to register with the Colorado Department of Revenue and the Public Utilities Commission and to pay an annual fee of $111,250 to operate.
By then, Erwin was working for the State of Colorado as a budget and policy analyst. He stayed put, but never let go of his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. In 2021, he teamed up with other ridesharing companies to press lawmakers for a fix. The result was HB21-1076, which eliminated the annual fee. TreadShare was back in time for ski season.
Over the next two years, Erwin continued refining the model. His first approach—an app built in the image of European carpooling platforms—wasn’t translating to the United States. In Europe, drivers are often more willing to share their cars with strangers; Americans, less so.
“Americans don’t trust to drive with someone else, which I can perfectly understand,” Erwin said.
The best way to lower that barrier, he found, was to unite people around community-building and a common interest. He began positioning TreadShare not only as an affordable, low-emissions alternative to solo driving, but also as a way to meet future ski partners or hiking buddies. The app soon added interest- and destination-based groups organized around specific resorts. To keep the experience safe, users are screened before they can join.
By 2024, Erwin was still working full-time for the State while trying to grow TreadShare on the side. The workload wasn’t sustainable and he felt himself burning out.
“So that was my sign,” he said. “Okay, you need to focus 100 percent on your business.”
After leaving Denver for Frisco, he committed to TreadShare full-time and began seeking business development support. He joined our Idea Factory pre-accelerator program in Summit County, run in partnership with the Summit Economic Partnership. The program’s condensed schedule and peer-based learning, he said, helped him sharpen his business model; and introduced him to entrepreneurs and mentors he has already begun partnering with.
“The support from the local community was great,” he said.
In 2025, Erwin entered the Startup Colorado Pitch Competition in Sterling, where he was awarded a brand audit from Magic Marketing and legal services from Nathan Lawrence of Principle Law in Salida—support he has already put to work as he continues to build the company.
IMPACT SNAPSHOT
Despite a slow start to the ski season, Arapahoe Basin employees made a measurable impact by using their private TreadShare carpool for work commutes:
- 150+ rides booked
- 5,300 miles saved
- 1,600 kg carbon emissions avoided
Today, TreadShare is expanding for the 2025–26 ski season, growing its winter carpool groups across Colorado and into Idaho. The company is also leveraging private groups for resort employees, working with three major resorts to coordinate shared rides. For Erwin, the next phase is less about convincing people to try carpooling once, and more about building partnerships that make it part of the routine. With detailed data on ridership and emissions reductions, TreadShare is positioning itself as a practical tool for resorts and employers facing corporate sustainability reporting requirements; and for the mountain communities doing what they can to reduce traffic and pollution.
Written by Margaret Hedderman
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