PROCO360 | Best Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

“A 10-year cycle on billion-dollar projects wasn’t going to be sustainable… particularly given the threats we were seeing from our adversaries.” Dirk Wallinger, CEO, York Space Systems I went into my podcast recording with Dirk Wallinger hungry to learn about the business of designing, manufacturing, launching and managing small satellites.  In fact, in a pre-interview with Dirk, I asked for his p...

“I have friends at large companies trying to solve this problem sending me 200-page engineering drawings… We have an idea and we build it.” Jack Barker, Founder and President, Innovative Water Technologies I first heard of Innovative Water Technologies’ SunSpring water purification product when it was up for the People’s Choice for the Colorado Chamber of Commerce’s Coolest Thing Made in Colorado...

“A few food-tech startups reached out about their companies… when I started digging into it I was like, this is a STORY.” Nikki Wentling, Technology and Innovation Reporter, Denver Business Journal Despite having so many amazing tech sector CEOs on ProCO360, it’s really hard to stay caught up with Colorado’s tech sector.  One of my favorite tools is the Technology page of the Denver Business Journ...

“Seeing the amazement on customers’ faces, knowing that they will look through the dome and see the stars… gives me goosebumps.” John Gibson, Owner & CEO, Secret Creek I’ve always been drawn to yurts, tipis and tents – there’s something both novel and romantic about the structures, particularly today’s upscale versions, so I was eager to speak with John Gibson of Secret Creek.  I learned something...

“We strapped some cameras and sensors onto my old Cub Cadet riding mower and drove around.”   Jack Morrison, CEO, Scythe  I love a great niche (I’ve started about 50 posts with that phrase).  Even more, I love a business in a great niche that solves a big and PAINFUL problem that needs almost no explanation before a customer interrupts and says, “I WANT THAT!”  Scythe solves a huge pain point in a...

“We enable human beings to reach their potential all around the planet.”   Yancey Spruill, CEO, DigitalOcean  I’ve known Yancey Spruill when he was a leader at DigitalGlobe, at SendGrid where he was CFO/COO and helped take the company public, and now as CEO of DigitalOcean – a public company with revenue that will likely exceed half a $ billion in 2022. During our catching up conversation, we disc...

“Workers are drawn to, and most productive in, workspaces with which they identify.” Josh Freed, Founder and CEO, Proximity  When Josh Freed and I first did an Episode of ProCO360 in 2019, Covid was not yet a thing and coworking was just expanding from new and novel to an established niche option for conducting business. Ha, all that seems so long ago!  I wanted to reunite with Josh to see how Pro...

“Business and life are about happiness – and a lot of both are about suffering and getting through the hard times.” Matt Brown, Author, Entrepreneur and Podcast host   Matt is a super accomplished entrepreneur, author, and podcaster who is in the process of moving from Africa to Colorado, making ProCO360 is an early connection for him here.  He’s a high energy guy who’ll find a welcoming home in C...

“We are so fortunate – we have more subscribers than any other theater in the country.”   Janice Sinden, President & CEO, Denver Center for Performing Arts  The last time I spoke with Janice Sinden was pre-Covid, and I was fascinated to learn how DCPA had survived being shut down and losing $100 million during the pandemic. That was a great conversation! We also talked about lots of aspects of the...

“When you’re inventing something, there’s no end in sight until you get there.” Shea Gerhardt, Founder & CEO, Buderflys My friend and past guest on ProCO360 Colin McIntosh (Sheets & Giggles – No Bluetooth.  Just Fabric and Elastic. ) posted something about Buderflys that caught my attention. I did some research and found that this is a great story about one person so bothered by a problem that she...

“I’m a realist about the convergence of technology, culture and the outdoors.” Robin Thurston, Chairman and CEO, Outside, Inc. Do I seem a bit star-struck in this episode?  If so, it’s because I was.  I’ve been a fan of Outside Magazine since I moved to Colorado decades ago – and its many niche brands including Warren Miller Films, Ski Magazine and Backpacker.  I was eager to explore how Outside,...

“This episode is even richer in content than I’d hoped.” Dave Tabor, host, ProCO360 Putting four leaders of companies know for corporate culture together for a conversation about “Deliberate Culture” turned out to be better than I’d even hoped.  With so much talk out there about how in today’s war for talent, it’s more and more about culture, the question I wanted to explore was “What specifically...

“Your zip code is a better determinant of your health than your genetic code.” Dan Greenleaf, President & CEO, Modivcare I’m embarrassed to say that Modivcare is the largest Colorado-based public company I’d never heard of. It has over 30,000 employees and $2 billion in revenue.  My conversation with CEO Dan Greenleaf is a revealing look a company that is there “to bring equity, hope and healing t...

"It’s incredible how much we understand the subsurface a mile underground...” Brent Lewis, CEO, Carbon America   I’ve always wondered, with some skepticism, about the idea of addressing global warming by capturing carbon emissions and putting them underground… and how on earth (under Earth?) we could keep it there.  Exploring this topic with Brent Lewis, CEO of Colorado-based Carbon America was fa...

"We’re largely making a bet that they have the vision to build something great and special...” Chris Erickson, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Range Ventures   This is a very entertaining and instructive podcast episode!  It was a blast to hear the CEOs of two initially bootstrapped companies that recently received millions of dollars of VC funding talking with their VC about business.

"We score people based on attitude, effort and performance, and if attitude and effort are good, we’ll give a very long leash on performance.”  JB Kellogg, Co-founder & Co-CEO, Madwire  Madwire has been amazingly successful.  It now has 600 team members helping small businesses grow.  What intrigued me most about interviewing co-founder and co-CEO JB Kellogg is how one could possible scale to 600...

"It’s that moment that you say, if this thing matters that much to me, if I’m that passionate about it – that’s what gets me through...” Brian Egan, Co-founder & CEO, Evolve It took me a while during prep to understand the difference between Evolve and VRBO, AirBnB, Booking.com.  Then I didn’t understand that they aren’t competitors, usually.  Evolve sits on TOP of those and other platforms, servi...

"I had this realization that these people have an abundance of (sewing) skills and we’re teaching them to do janitorial work, or work in slaughterhouses.” Jeremy Priest, Co-founder, President & CEO, Knotty Tie Co. So many companies are aligning with causes with which they share an audience, often supporting those non-profits with a percentage of sales.  Colorado-based Knotty Tie is different – it’...

HE SAID HE WOULD NOT LEAVE HIS CITY – HE WOULD FIGHT BACK. Yulia, resident of Kharkiv, Ukraine I’ve gotten to know a freelancer in the Ukraine who sent me heart wrenching messages about his and his wife’s life. His home is in Kharkiv, just 20 miles from the Russian border and under heavy attack.  I went “off topic” and did an interview with his English-speaking wife last night.  Their story is com...

"It was rough… 3 months we were closed - $15M in earned revenue – GONE." Bert Vescolani, President & CEO, Denver Zoo Since I was a young boy I’ve loved the Zoo.  In 5th grade after school I’d sneak into the Buffalo Zoo by hopping a hidden fence, and I’d just watch the monkeys.  Interviewing Bert Vescolani was a thrill for me – so many questions… about managing the financial challenges during a 3-m...

"You would hope that businesses aren't thinking about this over the long run... they're not thinking about should I buy equipment now because I think it's going to be more expensive later."  Nick Sly, Denver Branch Executive, Kansas City Federal Reserve With all that’s going on in the economy, some key economic issues are top of mind, even in the entrepreneurial community where macroeconomics are...

“I am a disciple of Patagonia… Can we build a lifestyle-driven fast food restaurant?  If we can, it’s not going to be overnight – it will be by constantly going back to the mission.” Pete Newlin, CEO, Birdcall I was intrigued going into this episode with Pete Newlin of Birdcall.  I knew that Pete was (and is) involved in Park Burger – he started as an hourly employee and worked his way to becoming...

“Overall what really struck me most is that during all the challenges being faced in 2021, Colorado business leaders stayed KIND.”  Dave Tabor, Host, PROCO360 In this brief episode I’m not having a guest.  I’ll reflect on what I’ve learned from my guests, and from conversations with HUNDREDS of Colorado business leaders in 2021. It’s those in-depth interviews and conversations that have shaped my...

“There are only so many A-players out there and we’re doing what we feel is right for the people we work with… the more of those you have around you, the more successful you will be.”  Frank Bonanno, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, Bonanno Concepts   I reached out to Frank Bonanno after I read that his Bonanno Concepts restaurants and bars (10 in total) had instituted a policy which requires all emp...

“You may have 10 jobs and only 5 trucks… what are you going to do?”  Jimmy Eberhard, founder and CEO, Fluid Truck Jimmy Eberhard founded Fluid Truck as just “Fluid” – an app enabled way to rent all kinds of things on a peer-to-peer platform.  After discovering that the vast majority of demand was for trucks, Jimmy pivoted and focused the company to become what is now a business turning the truck r...