ColoradoBiz articles from March 2004

ColoradoBiz archives from March 2004

Private sector grabs state tech leader.(On Colorado)
March 1, 2004... CALL IT ANOTHER JOB LOST TO THE crashing Colorado tech economy. But John Hansen, former Colorado secretary of technology, wasn't laid off like a lot of people were from the tech industry over the past few years. A successful tech...

Giving back: money and fame can't match it.(On Management)(Column)
March 1, 2004... IT'S AMAZING HOW HAPPINESS SEEMS TO BE related to "giving back," much more than to money or fame. There are countless examples. Here are a few: Joan Kroc was wealthy beyond measure, but she will be remembered not for the money she...

HostWorks, Inc.(Corporate Advertising Profile)
March 1, 2004... Celebrating eight years of success, HostWorks, Inc. is one of the oldest Colorado companies in the web services industry. "Believe it or not, eight years is unusual in our industry. We're one of the few firms that offer a complete suite of web...

Dating service fills off-line niche.(Attitude at Altitude)(Kris Kenny Connections)
March 1, 2004... DATING SERVICES AND THE INTERNET HAVE BEEN A MATCH made in heaven, with the top 17 online dating sites generating $386 million in 2002, triple that of the previous year. But Kris Kenny saw a gap between what some Denver singles wanted and what...

A taxing proposition.(Attitude at Altitude)(Tax Recovery Group)
March 1, 2004... THEY DON'T THINK THEY'LL HAVE TO give away the money, but a Colorado Springs tax firm has challenged its own industry to produce empirical evidence that its fellow tax preparers generally are an accurate bunch. Considering that many small...

CEO critiques Trump TV.(Playmakers; Cynthia McKay)("The Apprentice")
March 1, 2004... CASTLE ROCK IS RECEIVING WEEKLY NATIONAL attention thanks to CYNTHIA McKAY, CEO of Le Gourmet Gift Basket Inc. McKay was chosen by USA Today as one of five CEOs to critique the behavior of the contestants and Donald Trump's management style on...

March coming soon.(business conferences)(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... 6 SATURDAY, the Rocky Mountain Stanford Association presents 14 leading thinkers offering insight into becoming a successful entrepreneur. 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Westin Westminster, 10600 Westminster Blvd. $89. To register, call (303)...

Insiders' Biz: an industry by industry log of selected developments at Colorado Businesses.(Attitude at Altitude)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... FINANCE * Shares of Encision Inc., Boulder, were approved for trading on the American Stock Exchange and started trading the week of Jan. 19 under the symbol ECI. Encision designs and manufactures surgical devices. * AmeriVest...

Destination ski country: resorts resume hunt for out-of-state guests.(Destination Ski Country)
March 1, 2004... In Crested Butte this winter, well-groomed and corduroy is not a dress code, but a new marketing message. A graphic on the Crested Butte Mountain Resort's Web site shows fresh powder groomed into thin ribbons of packed snow that the...

Summit County hometowns: cities built for permanent residents.(Who Owns Colorado?)
March 1, 2004... SKIING MAY BE THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND when you hear the names Dillon, Silverthorne and Frisco, but they are not ski areas. They are year-round towns, the heart of Summit County's full-time populace. So while surrounding resorts...

Vidiom flips the switch on interactive TV.(Hightech Coloradobiz)(Vidiom Systems Corp.)
March 1, 2004... AFTER A DECADE OF FALSE STARTS AND DEAD ENDS, INTERACTIVE TELEVISION looks like it's finally getting beyond mere strategic planning. Broomfield-based Vidiom Systems Corp.'s recent growth is one signpost of that progress. [ILLUSTRATION...

Tech startup of the month; Promantek Inc., highlands ranch www.promantek.com founded: July 2000.(Hightech Coloradobiz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... INITIAL LIGHTBULB: Over the course of 28 years selling tools for selecting and assessing employees, Joe Dowd witnessed a common organizational challenge time and time again. "Companies have trouble objectively determining (an employee's)...

Tech startup of the month; Promantek Inc., highlands ranch www.promantek.com founded: July 2000.(Hightech Coloradobiz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... IN A NUTSHELL: Built on a foundation of Microsoft and Java technology, Promantek's TrakStar is a secure, Web-based system that automates and improves the performance appraisal process. Managers customize TrakStar to fit their organization,...

Tech startup of the month; Promantek Inc., highlands ranch www.promantek.com founded: July 2000.(Hightech Coloradobiz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... THE MARKET: International Data Corp. pegs the HR-applications market at about $5 billion, but performance appraisal remains primarily analog. TrakStar's potential clientele includes virtually any company in any industry, said the elder Martin,...

Tech startup of the month; Promantek Inc., highlands ranch www.promantek.com founded: July 2000.(Hightech Coloradobiz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... FINANCING: Promantek's startup was self-financed, and its business plan calls for organic growth rather than an infusion of outside capital. Said Dowd about pursuing venture capital: "If we don't have to, we won't."

Fan introductions left for Martians.(Ebuzz)(Plasmon Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Colorado earthlings are leaving their imprint on Mars as NASA's two exploration rovers inch along opposite sides of the planet. Preparing for the launches last summer, a company called Plasmon, based in England but with operations in Colorado...

Tourist Web visitors bring cash.(Ebuzz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Visitors to Denver's tourism Web site www.denver.org are not just making a virtual visit. One of every three of the 25,000 registered users in the Web site's database actually made a visit to Denver in 2003, according to a recent study by U.S....

Alaska courts link up with XAware.(Ebuzz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Colorado Springs-based XAware Inc. is helping Alaska's state courts to share information securely across different criminal-justice agencies. The company completed a proof-of-concept phase of the implementation in December, automating an...

Company to Watch.(Ebuzz)(Breece Hill Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Breece Hill LLC, Louisville, a manufacturer of tape autoloaders, libraries, and integrated information storage appliances, was selected by CMP Media LLC's Network Computing as one of seven "Companies to Watch in 2004," in the category of...

Business done right: Ethics winners driven by values.(Business Done Right)
March 1, 2004... "The smaller your business, the less you can get away with," says Sam Cassidy, chairman of the Department of Business Ethics and Legal Studies at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. And good business ethics are just as...

Dot-com dynamo: eCollege profits from online education explosion.(Dot-com Dynamo )
March 1, 2004... When the tech bubble burst in 2000, Denver-based dot-com eCollege nearly went with it. But four years later, and after a change in management, eCollege is riding trends in outsourcing and online education to profitability. Yet it's been a...

Regis spinoff combines instructors, books, internet.
March 1, 2004... Non-academic corporate education and training has grown as an industry to a $40 billion market, and at the same time shrunk, most recently, from about 400 companies to about 40, say the founders of Regis. Learning Solutions, a private, for...

Route to venture funding has potholes.(Money Matters)(Column)
March 1, 2004... CARL FITCH LAUGHS AND CALLS THEM VULTURE CAPITALISTS, BUT even he admits there are times when they're an entrepreneur's only friend. Fitch and Brad Weydert have developed three companies together, two financed out of their own pockets and...

Cool Colorado stuff.(Small Biz)(Westone Laboratories Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... WESTONE: "Anything to make the world of listening better, we've got our hand in," said Randy Morgan, president/CEO of Westone (pronounced "wes-tone") Laboratories, a manufacturer of custom-fit ear molds. After selling hearing aids in the...

Cool Colorado stuff.(Small Biz)(Plastics Design & Manufacturing Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... PEAK FENCE SYSTEMS: In business since 1976, Plastics Design & Manufacturing built its name on custom plastic housing for medical equipment and other commercial applications. This year it's testing a different market: plastic fencing that looks...

Cool Colorado stuff.(Small Biz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... COPING WELL CD: Barbara Roehrig, a marketing consultant and former Echostar VP, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1992 while training for a triathlon. "I was in complete denial," she said of her initial reaction. As Roehrig's symptoms...

Cool Colorado stuff.(Small Biz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... JAKE'S JOE: "The whole point of what we do is that the coffee is fresh roasted," explained Jake Schroeder, the Jake of Jake's Joe. After three weeks, the taste of coffee sours, Schroeder noted; Jake's Joe is delivered within 72 hours of...

Pete Meersman: restaurant rep serves table of 1,400.(Executive Edge)
March 1, 2004... FROM COLLEGE BUSBOY AND BAR-tender to the CEO of one of the state's premier lobbying organizations, Pete Meersman knows the restaurant industry well enough to make decisions "on the fly" that can have big, effects on 1,400 member eateries of...

Rocks and a hard place.(Sportsbiz)(Column)
March 1, 2004... STOCK-MARKET PROS HAVE A WORD for the sort of nest-egg-devouring swoons that send everyday investors heading for the Maalox. They're called "corrections." Market corrections hurt, but they're presumed to be beneficial because they pave the...

The dishonor roll.(Rundles Wrap-Up)
March 1, 2004... I GREW UP AND WENT TO SCHOOL IN A FACTORY town, Flint, Mich., back in the days when everyone believed that the power of America was in American labor. Some guys I went to high school with couldn't wait to turn 18 so they could drop out and get...