ESPRiT
A BOULDER CHAMBER enterprise
November 12, 2020
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ESPRIT ENTREPRENEUR 2020
ESPRiT ENTREPRENEUR SPONSORS Presenting Sponsor
Dragon Sponsors
Esprit Venture Challenge Partner
Unicorn Sponsor
Media Sponsors
Venture Sponsors ANTHEM BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD BOK FINANCIAL ZAYO GROUP LLC BOULDER CHAMBER
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A community that is better together.
Celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship when we need it most.
Making a difference, from a distance
Creating access to affordable local food
Helping entrepreneurs survive the COVID-19 economy
Our students, faculty and staff developed a platform, HumanKind, that connects CU Boulder students with local community members who need support during the COVID-19 crisis.
Farm Eats Direct (FED) is a student-founded startup that supports local farmers, reduces food waste and feeds the community. This year FED prepared and delivered meals to seniors and terminally ill customers affected by the crisis.
Designed amid the COVID-19 crisis, CU Boulder’s COventure Forward program connects small businesses, startups, scale-ups and entrepreneurs to a network of mentors, helping our collective community through these challenging times.
Innovatively overcoming challenges together. colorado.edu/innovate 2
ESPRIT ENTREPRENEUR 2020
ESPRiT ENTREPRENEUR AGENDA PRE-SHOW WELCOME TO ESPRiT AND SPONSOR RECOGNITION John Tayer, President and CEO • Boulder Chamber INTRODUCE ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE JUDGES ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE CONTESTANTS: StrideTech Medical Kegstand Mini Money Management LIVE VOTING Please see instructions below KEYNOTE Rule4 ANNOUNCE ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE WINNER
ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE TEXT-TO-VOTE INSTRUCTIONS Text BOULDERCHAMB774 to 22333 to join the session. To vote, text: • 1 for StrideTech Medical • 2 for Kegstand • 3 for Mini Money Management BOULDER CHAMBER
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Celebrating Our Longstanding Members Thank you for your support!
30 Year Member Anniversaries Advanced Probing Systems Inc ARB Properties LLC Aspen Eyewear Brookdale Meridian Boulder Domino's Pizza Environmental Communications Associates
Front Range Community College HofgardBenefits MESA Plumbing Heating & Cooling National Renewable Energy Laboratory Peppercorn Gourmet Goods Verticomm
20 Year Member Anniversaries Colorado Financial Management Eco-Cycle Inc Eide Bailly LLP Mr Pool Inc Pasta Jay's Percept Technology Labs LLC
RE/MAX Alliance Tundra Restaurant Supply Resource Central Schapell Jewelers The Boulder Wine Merchants Ltd
10 Year Member Anniversaries A-Ability Glass Co Inc Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Big Red F Restaurant Group Boulder International Film Festival Bridge House Clovis Oncology Inc Colorado Wilderness Rides And Guides Community Cycles First Western Trust Bank Front Range Anglers on Pearl Street HYATT House Boulder/Broomfield Colorado Klatt Moving & Storage Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery 4 National Institute for Trial Advocacy - NITA
Office Depot Raymond James & Associates Inc Robert W Baird & Co Shoemaker Ghiselli & Schwartz Smiley Inc Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch TechSupporters LLC The Bitter Bar The Carillon At Boulder Creek Todd Reed Inc Vaisala Inc West End Tavern Windhorse Community Services: Home-Based Recovery of Mental Health Inc YMCA of Northern Colorado ESPRIT ENTREPRENEUR 2020
ABOUT ESPRiT ENTREPRENEUR For over thirty years, trailblazers in the local business community have connected through the Boulder Chamber's annual Esprit Entrepreneur event. The event features the Esprit Venture Challenge, a live pitch competition in which three Boulder startups compete for a $10,000 grand prize. A panel of judges comprised of renowned leaders in the local startup community facilitate the competition. The winner is selected through a round of live audience voting. Last year's event had 2017 Esprit Venture Challenge winners and entrepreneurial leaders Tamar and Asa McKee of Khala & Co. deliver the keynote address. Startup Boogaloo Beds, which develops smart sleep solutions for people with special needs, received the top honor of Esprit Venture Challenge winner. "Since the Espirit Venture Challenge, we became FDA approved, launched with over $250K in sales in the past six months, and most importantly, have received life changing testimonials from the special needs families we impact," said Caleb Polley, CEO and founder of Boogaloo Beds. "This competition helped us invest in our prototypes, meet valuable business mentors and refine our pitch. We are forever grateful to the Boulder community." Thank you to our 2020 Esprit Entrepreneur attendees for supporting Boulder's vibrant startup community! Top: From left to right - Tamar McKee, Asa McKee, and John Tayer Second: Attendees voting for their favorite startup at Esprit Entrepreneur 2019 Third: 2019 Esprit Venture Challenge judges. From left to right - Matt Zweibel, Sharon Matusik, and Asa McKee Bottom: Caleb Polley of Boogaloo Beds accepting the $10,000 grand prize from John Tayer as the 2019 Esprit Venture Challenge winner
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ESPRiT ENTREPRENEUR KEYNOTE: RULE4
Since opening its doors in late 2018, Rule4’s cybersecurity advisory services have helped more than 50 organizations protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their systems and data. Their global client base spans four continents, and ranges from small nonprofits to global companies with over 50,000 employees. Rule4 is the first cybersecurity consultancy to become a Certified B Corporation, and is an active member of the B Local Colorado community. Through pro bono efforts, donations, sponsorships, and event hosting, Rule4 supports local missiondriven organizations and clients, including the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, Harvest of Hope Pantry, Humane Society of Boulder Valley, Community Food Share, Sister Carmen Community Center, Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, and the CU Boulder Infrastructure & Sustainability Office.
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ESPRIT ENTREPRENEUR 2020
ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE FINALISTS
TEXT "1" TO 22333 TO VOTE FOR STRIDETECH MEDICAL StrideTech Medical provides an attachment to walkers (mobility devices) delivering realtime haptic and LED feedback to users – while simultaneously collecting data to assist Physical Therapists with information on proper posture and usage. The feedback to users and healthcare professionals will help facilitate correct mobility device use and prevent falls. The inspiration behind StrideTech comes from Grandma Chris, Tim Visos-Ely’s grandmother. Grandma Chris uses a walker and has sustained multiple falls. While dealing with the difficult decline of his grandma’s mobility, Tim had the opportunity to work on a walker design project with Medline, a manufacturer of medical devices. It is through this experience that Tim learned about the problems with walkers not addressed by industry leaders. Using this insight, Tim developed the idea for StrideTech and utilized the next two years of his engineering degree, along with Co-Founders Humsini Acharya and Andrew Plum, to develop the technology behind StrideTech. Founders Humsini Acharya • George Douaire • Andrew Plum • Timothy Visos-Ely
PRESENTER Tim Visos-Ely is the CPO and co-founder of StrideTech Medical. As an entrepreneur he continues to learn all aspects of business and feels comfortable in leadership, self-motivating, and executing under stress. His engineering degree allows for detail-oriented and creative problem solving. Everything he does is human-centered from beginning to end.
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ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE FINALISTS
TEXT "2" TO 22333 TO VOTE FOR KEGSTAND Kegstand is working to reduce distribution costs for brewers through reinventing the traditional keg. We have achieved this by utilizing Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV) technologies commonly used in the aerospace and natural gas industries to help make our keg 40% lighter than the current industry-leading standard. On average, our customers can save $2.50 every time they ship one of our kegs over competitors because of the shipping weight cost reduction. We started Kegstand in September of 2019 in an engineering projects class where one of our original team members brought up that he had heard that his dad's brewery's biggest issue was the weight of kegs causing distribution and general handling problems. Since then we've talked to 112 customers to help understand this problem and industry, built prototypes, participated in the business accelerator Catalyze CU, and have been making sales over the past few months. Founders Eli Dzurino • Jimmie Hinkle • Daniel Strangfeld • Ashton Wagner
PRESENTER Daniel Strangfeld has always had a passion for finding innovative, simple solutions to common problems. He holds a B.S. in Engineering within Creative Technologies and Design from CU Boulder where he studied design, engineering, and entrepreneurship. At Kegstand, Daniel leverages his years of product management and early-stage business leadership to help guide the team and establish relationships in the industry. 8
ESPRIT ENTREPRENEUR 2020
ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE FINALISTS
TEXT "3" TO 22333 TO VOTE FOR MINI MONEY MANAGEMENT Mini Money Management is an app that gives parents and teachers the tools to educate their children on the importance of financial literacy using everyday experiences. MMM came from a childhood game that Ellen Ross (co-founder) played with her son Lorne Jenkins (CEO) to teach him about the fundamentals of money. Founders Lorne A Jenkins • Ellen Ross
PRESENTER
Lorne A Jenkins is the CEO and co-founder of Mini Money Management. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Campbell University while running division 1 track and field for four years. He then received his master’s degree in finance from the University of East London. After graduating, he worked in foreign exchange as a broker before moving back to Colorado to start MMM, a childhood game his mother and co-founder played with him growing up.
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ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE JUDGES Peter Adams is co-author of Venture Capital for Dummies (John Wiley & sons, 2013) and serves as the Executive Director of the Rockies Venture Club, the longest running angel investing group in the U.S. His broad investment experience also includes being Managing Partner of the Rockies Venture Fund I, L.P. (an early stage venture capital fund), and the Pandemic Impact Fund (supporting solutions for pandemics now and in the future), founding the Colorado Life Science Angels group, and leading Impact Investing conferences for the past eight years. Peter serves as an Officer on the Board of the Angel Capital Association, the North American association of professional angel investing groups. His professional career comprises over 30 years of business experience in corporate leadership (CIO and Economics Director) and entrepreneurial endeavors (CEO/Founder). Peter served as Adjunct Professor at Colorado State University, where he taught the Capstone strategy course for the Executive MBA program in Denver. He founded the Rockies Venture Institute, the Women’s Investor Network, and BizGirls, a non-profit CEO Development Program for young women. Peter holds a BA Degree from Colorado College and an MBA from Regis University.
Bhavna Chhabra is the Site Director at Google's Boulder campus. Her experience of over 25 years in the software industry has evolved from application to embedded development and finally to leading large, global, multi-functional teams. Bhavna’s forte is motivational leadership with an emphasis on relationship-building and nurturing diverse thought. Bhavna first joined Google in 2016 as an engineering manager and later served as the director of the Google payments team. Prior to her work with Google, she worked with Qualcomm as a senior engineering director. Originally from India, she attended the University of Colorado Boulder and graduated in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in computer science.
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ESPRIT ENTREPRENEUR 2020
ESPRiT VENTURE CHALLENGE JUDGES Erick Mueller is the executive director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. He started his career with DOT First Aid & Safety where he was promoted from a student intern to Vice President. He helped the organization grow from $2.2 million in annual sales to over $5 million in two years. Fresh from this experience, he founded Vision Co., a corporate training and consulting organization. As CEO and President, he grew the business to over $300,000 in annual revenue. Mueller then co-founded and was Vice President of Sales for Achieve.com, an interactive Web service. He created the new selling process and led its growth to over 10,000 customers. Mueller also co-founded Real Measure and EyeThink Corp., computer-based instrumentation businesses. He successfully negotiated and sold EyeThink Corp. to a Fortune 50 company. Currently, Mueller is Chairman and co-founder of Funovation, which creates heart-pounding addictive attractions that require brain and brawn. He has led the company from an idea to over 180 locations throughout 21 countries. Funovation has been awarded a Top Colorado Company to Watch and a Top Boulder County Company. In addition, Mueller is an award winning Adjunct Professor and Director of the Cross Campus Entrepreneurship Program at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has been rated by students among the top MBA instructors. He leads a Global Seminar each summer, Entrepreneurship & Empowerment in South Africa, helping disadvantaged businesses in the Townships. Mueller also helps with the Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, helping disabled military veterans start businesses. He graduated magna cum laude from Eastern Michigan University and holds an MBA magna cum laude from The University of Colorado Boulder.
Thank you to public speaking coach & storytelling expert, Johanna Walker, for her assistance with the 2020 Esprit Venture Challenge Finalist presentations. www.johannawalker.com
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