Found In The Rockies

In today’s episode, we have an incredible team, building data driven solutions to power Diversity, Equity and Inclusion change. It's practical, real and focused. This is going to be a great episode, I'm pleased to welcome Jason Thompson, and Justus Thompson co-founders of CAPE inclusion. Here’s a closer look at the episode: Introducing Jason Thompson and Justice Thompson. Jason’s career...

In today’s episode, we have another incredible story that takes us from Idaho, to the great State of Utah. I am excited to welcome Rilee Butters, who is the co-founder and CEO of Dónde the travel as a benefit company that is taking PTO to the next level.  Here’s a closer look at the episode: Rilee’s childhood in Idaho and looking for a place to belong How a trip to India started her love of travel...

In today’s episode, we have NFC’s very own. Kirsten Suddath. Kirsten is a General Partner at Next Frontier Capital. For the first episode of Season 3 are doing a crash course in Venture Capital - a “VC 101”. We are breaking down all the Alphabet soup of VC terms, the different positions in a Venture Capital firm, where the money comes from, and what kind of companies/founders are right for Venture...

In today’s episode, Abby Schlatter joins us, who is the CEO and co-founder of Bozeman based commonFont. CommonFont is a tech company that partners with the world's top companies to establish, evolve and optimize experience management solutions. Here’s a closer look at the episode:Abby’s start in Central Illinois, Harvard, Stanford Business School, Google, UNICEFThe decision to come to Bozeman...

In today’s episode, I talk with John Temte. He is a general partner with Temte Capital and the co-founder and chair of Wyoming's Governor's Global Technology Partnership. John talks about his background and how he turned from entrepreneur to investor. We discuss what Boulder was like in the mid 2000s. He shares with us a little bit about the Wyoming Tech Partnership, how it got started....

In today’s episode, I talk with Liz Giorgi, the CEO and co-founder of soona. We talk about how Liz 's journey began with a bootstrap company that works in content creation for large companies, and a pivot to a venture backed startup that created a novel and revolutionary solution for entrepreneurs and small businesses. We talk about the TechStars program. Liz shares her company’s growth from...

In today’s episode, we have an Timeri Tolnay, who is the CEO and founder of EdCuration. Timeri is an Edupreneur, who has built a company focused on connecting educators to the right curriculum and instructional resources to help their students succeed. Here’s a closer look at the episode:Timeri’s early career in education in CaliforniaMoving to ColoradoUnderstanding how schools purchase curriculum...

In today’s episode, Natty Zola, who is a TechStars founder travel startup EverLater. He's the former managing director of TechStars Boulder and now is an investor and partner at Matchstick Ventures. Here’s a closer look at the episode:From Colorado to Maryland for a bad track teamLeaving Finance to develop EverlaterHow travel inspired EverlaterThe early help with Everlater and the “give first...

In today’s episode, I talk with co-founders who deliberately relocated their early stage startup to the great State of Colorado. They are on a mission to curate learning paths for all of your interests. No more Google searches or expensive online courses. The co-founders of INDX - Susie Lira-Gonzalez & Thomas Cotter, are helping experts and tastemakers curate the best articles, podcasts and ne...

And on today's show, we have Harley Blakeman, who is the CEO of Honest Jobs. He is sharing with us one of the most authentic and powerful stories of inspiration you will hear anywhere. Harley founded Honest Jobs, to help people impacted by the criminal justice system. find meaningful employment. He is going to tell us his story, what circumstances landed him in jail, and where his passion cam...

In today’s episode, we have Heather Shoemaker, who is the CEO and co-founder of LanguageI/O. She’s a linguist, but she doesn't just speak multiple languages. She also speaks programming languages. As a matter of fact, she wrote the first version of her company's enterprise software, the epitome of a technical founder and CEO, meet one of Wyoming's most accomplished startup founders,...

In today’s episode, we are joined by Josh Nielsen, a founder who launched his tech career as a Hackstar in Boulder. He then traveled all over the world, only to return to the Rockies to build and grow something new and very exciting, Zencastr. Josh is here today to talk to us about the trajectory of the podcasting industry, what podcasters need and how his platform is innovating, modern recording...

In today’s episode, I am talking with Clay Gordon about a VC fund who is going outside their own firm, and hosting conferences and job fairs to help startups and job seekers in underrepresented regions of the country. Clay talks about how he got started in Venture Investing, what he sees in not only Colorado, but all areas of the country, and even in Canada. We get into what is going on with ventu...

In today’s episode, I speak with Mike Myer, who is the founder and CEO of Quiq, which is helping redefine the ways that customers are communicating with companies. Mike talks to us about the history of his involvement in the Bozeman tech community, the origin story of Quiq and what he thinks may be in store for the future of conversational AI. We also talk about the future of tech in the Rockies,...

In today’s episode, I talk with Dan DeCloss. He is the Founder and CEO of PlexTrac - PlexTrac is a revolutionary, yet simple, Cybersecurity platform that centralizes all security assessments, penetration test reports, bug bounty submissions, audit findings and vulnerabilities into a single location. He is going to share with us how he got started in cybersecurity, and his journey as the founder of...

In today’s episode, I talk with Jared Stack, the founder of Breakthrough 307, and the founder and CEO of Casper-based FlowState Solutions. We talk about Jerad’s deep family history in Wyoming, his early years as an entrepreneur, and moving to Silicon Valley when his company was acquired. We talk about what brought him back to WY, how he created Breakthrough 307 and what his unique perspective is b...

In today’s episode, I talk with Allison Kent Smith. Alison is the co-founder and CEO of Giide, which is a platform for creators and businesses to make and share interactive audio content, for learning, marketing, communications, and much more. Allison talks about her founder story, what got her started. She shares advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in the region. We talk about her ideas around fund...

In today’s episode, I talk with Kate Beardsley and Chris Calder from the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association, an organization who represents entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and the service providers who support them in the Rocky Mountain region. We talk about what exactly the RMVCA is, how it got started, and what the association's goals are. They talk about the benefits of the mem...

In today’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Otero, the CEO and founder of Ad Fontes Media. We talk about her background and how she transitioned from being a patent lawyer to a founder. We discuss news media bias, and how Vanessa is using the Media Bias Chart and Ad Fontes Media to help us all become better media consumers. We discuss her raising capital and crowdfunding. Vanessa shares why it is vita...

In today’s episode, I talk with Baylie Evans, . She shares her background and how she got into the VC world. We talk about the growth of Wyoming's ecosystem. We discuss the generator’s program and its benefits. We dive into the local Cheyenne ecosystem. Bailey shares some advice on joining the gBETA program. We talk about mentors and how to find them. We briefly discuss crypto and Wyoming. We...

In today’s episode, we have Amelia Wilcox, CEO and founder of Nivati. She is a founder who created a high growth mental health platform that provides the easiest way for employers to understand and manage employee mental well being. The app provides HIPAA compliant real time employee data to companies and on-demand holistic mental health solutions for employees. Amelia is here today to tell us all...

In today's episode, I wrap up the year by highlighting the topic of hearing “no” as a founder. I highlight some interesting stories of “no” by talking about the anti-portfolio for some funds. Finally, I wrap up with some perspective on why hearing no may not be the worst thing, and how founders can handle the nos and move forward. Here’s a closer look at the episode:The word Les hates saying...

In today's episode, I talk with Mo Parikh, the CEO and founder of Bandwango. He shares his background, going to biomedical engineering school, joining a PhD program to start his company. We talk about his journey and bootstrapping his first few years. We discuss some of the challenges that he faced, running and scaling the business. We talk about how as a travel company they manage to triple...

In today’s episode, I have the pleasure of talking with Keaton Brown. We talk about the farming industry and what their company does. We had a conversation about the selling process and differences within the farming industry. We also talk about the generational transition of the farming industry, the traditional ways and the tech infused ways. We discuss the roadmap of Farmstack. We talk about th...

In today’s episode, I talk with Doug Mandic and Dave Harris from the Rockies Venture Club. We talk about RVC’s history and both of their backgrounds. They give us the inside scoop on Angel Investing, and how it is different from traditional Venture Capital investing. We talk about the evolution of the entity. We dive into what it's like for new angel investors. They share with us the three pi...