{"id":130793,"date":"2026-05-27T13:39:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/startup-colorado-holds-contest-for-business-plans-that-center-on-belonging\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T13:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:39:34","slug":"startup-colorado-holds-contest-for-business-plans-that-center-on-belonging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/startup-colorado-holds-contest-for-business-plans-that-center-on-belonging\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Colorado holds contest for business plans that center on belonging"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A discussion about driverless cars of the present and future takes place during Denver Startup Week, Sept. 27, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty\/Denverite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A dozen hopeful Colorado founders logged on to Zoom earlier this month to pitch their early stage business ideas to a panel of judges. It was a little different than most pitch contests. The assignment was to center human connection in their business plans.<\/p>\n

The event was organized by Startup Colorado, a group dedicated to supporting the state\u2019s startup ecosystem. The point of the challenge is to encourage entrepreneurs to think intentionally about what it means to belong.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses are just not economic engines,\u201d Tim Martinez, the director of program development with Startup Colorado, said during the call. \u201cThey create places where people gather, work, contribute, feel known, and feel at home. So we flipped the usual framing. We didn’t just ask, is business additive to belonging? We’re asking, is belonging additive to business?”<\/p>\n

Belonging in this context means creating tools to help people feel more connected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to witness one of these companies, if not even more, raise funds and scale beyond their initial customer base to truly pressure test this intersection of commerce and belonging,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Pitch to investors<\/div>\n

The judges will select three founders to pitch directly to investors during Colorado Startup Week in Denver later this year.<\/p>\n

Each business had three minutes to make their case to the judges during the Zoom call. The businesses represented a broad cross-section of what it means to belong.<\/p>\n

For instance, Sled Outdoors is building a platform to make it easier to coordinate outdoor adventures with friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many adventures die in the group chat; plans fall apart, gear becomes a barrier,\u201d according to Sled Outdoors founder Kyle Parker. \u201cPeople struggle to find the right crew, the right experience, or the confidence to try something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erick Burgos pitched the Veterans Outdoor Adventure Challenge to help veterans rediscover a sense of community when they re-enter civilian life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived that transition myself,\u201d said Burgos, who spent 22 years in the military. \u201cLike many veterans, there were moments where I felt disconnected physically, mentally, and emotionally \u2026 It’s about rebuilding something many lose after service, a team, a mission, a sense of belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other businesses centered on volunteer networks, the blue-collar workforce and connecting people who are going through similar life experiences.<\/p>\n

Martinez said the contest is an important experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can prove that belonging is additive to business and that business is additive to belonging, then we can have a powerful new way to think about entrepreneurship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A discussion about driverless cars of the present and future takes place during Denver Startup Week, Sept. 27, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty\/Denverite) A dozen hopeful Colorado founders logged on to Zoom earlier this month to pitch their early stage business ideas to a panel of judges. It was a little different than most pitch contests. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6410],"tags":[431],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-130793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-2","tag-business-general"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130793"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=130793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}