This week Adam speaks with Raj Babu, partner at BFG Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in emerging food, beverage, and consumer brands. Prior to joining BFG, Raj served as President of Birch Benders, the #1 natural pancake and waffle mix brand and a BFG portfolio company. Under his leadership, the business expanded to four product lines in over 10,000 stores, leading to an acquisition by Sovos Brands. In this episode, Raj talks about the nuances of investing in the food sector, particularly consumer packaged goods (CPG), and the innovation from Colorado's natural food industry with companies like Bobo's Oat Bars and Caulipower as examples of standout successes. He also shares insights on identifying lasting trends versus fleeting fads and emphasizes that great ideas can come from anywhere within an organization.

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This week Chris speaks with private equity executive, entrepreneur, and Colorado native, Andrew Schremp, to discuss his journey across banking, entrepreneurship and investing. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Colorado PERA providing fiduciary oversight of $65B+ in assets for nearly 700,000 beneficiaries. Formerly, he was the Director at Bow River Capital and prior to that, he was the Founder and CEO of Health Sqyre, Inc., a health tech company acquired by The VGM Group. In this episode, Andrew's shares his unique perspective on the evolution of the Colorado tech ecosystem, valuable insights for navigating the startup scene, plus examples of his biggest lesson on the the importance of building genuine relationships

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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This week Adam speaks with Robin Thurston, the CEO and founder of Outside Interactive, Inc., the world’s leading creator of outdoor content and home to iconic brands like Outside Magazine, Warren Miller, MapMyFitness, and others. Through its network of 25 media, digital, and technology platforms, Outside reaches over 100 million active consumers worldwide. Before founding Outside, Robin worked at Under Armour and led a consumer genetics company in Silicon Valley. In this episode, Robin discusses how his entrepreneurial family background helped him navigate his groundbreaking career. He also shares his perspective on the evolution of Denver's tech ecosystem as a Colorado native, his biggest lessons for building sustainable businesses, and his vision for the future of outdoor content and lifestyle brands.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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This week Chris speaks with Perry Rosenbloom, CEO and co-founder of Motion.io, a cutting-edge client onboarding and collaboration platform for service-based businesses. Previously, Perry founded Brighter Vision, which he successfully bootstrapped and later sold to EverCommerce in 2020. On this episode, Perry provides insights into the ecosystem’s evolution, highlighting his frontline exposure at a startup in the Foundry Group's office to the significance of intentional culture building in startups, recounting his lessons learned while scaling Brighter Vision. With a focus on actionable takeaways, Perry underscores the importance of cultivating a defined company culture early on, tapping into attributes like speed to stay competitive in the fast-paced startup world.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn.

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This week Chris speaks with Andrew Antonio the Co-founder & CEO of Urban Sky, a stratospheric platform company developing a suite of connected hardware, software, and AI-centric products for defense and commercial customers. Recently, the company raised $30 Million in Series B Funding. Prior to Urban Sky, Andrew led Sales & Go-to-Market for the stratospheric space tourism company, World View, from Pre-Seed to Series C. On this episode, Andrew shares his experiences working on record-breaking high-altitude balloon projects like Stratex, how the Colorado tech ecosystem- especially in aerospace- is thriving and offers immense opportunities, plus his biggest lesson around the importance of adjusting to market pull versus push.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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This week Adam speaks with Seth Sternberg, the co-founder and CEO of Honor, the largest in-home senior care network in the United States. Seth has become an influential figure in the Colorado startup scene since moving to Boulder. Before Honor, Seth co-founded Meebo, an instant messaging platform which was acquired by Google. On this episode, Seth shares his experiences on the differences in the entrepreneurial ecosystem between Colorado and Silicon Valley- plus his lessons learned on how building a company around a core mission helps sustain motivation and attract top talent.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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This week Adam speaks with Andre McGregor, CEO and co-founder of ForceMetrics, a platform that empowers law enforcement with precision policing tools and innovative tech solutions. His experiences growing up in a marginalized community and as a former FBI Special Agent (in cybercrime and counterterrorism), shaped his commitment to creating safer, more informed interactions between police and the public. On this episode, Andre shares insights on user experience in real-world scenarios, the challenges/opportunities for startups in the GovTech space, and the importance of quickly adapting to feedback to meet customer demands.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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This week Adam Burrows speaks with Adam Kitain, the co-founder of Intelligems, a profit growth platform designed to assist e-commerce brands in making informed decisions through experimentation and personalization. The company is a Techstars 2021 Boulder grad and recently secured a successful funding round. Adam has a strong background in engineering and operations, having previously worked at the ride-sharing company (Via), where he contributed to the development of dynamic pricing models. Kitain shares his journey launching Intelligems and his decision to base it in Colorado over traditional tech hubs. He emphasizes the importance of customer-first strategies, including lessons learned from his experiences during the company’s evolution.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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This week, Chris speaks with Nicole Glaros, Co-Founder of ForDenverFC, to dive into her remarkable career and the growth of Colorado’s tech ecosystem. A key architect of Techstars' success, Nicole helped scale its portfolio from just 10 companies to over 2,500, with assets under management skyrocketing from $300K to more than $750M. In this episode, Nicole shares her journey from sports psychology to entrepreneurship, unique insights into Colorado’s tech evolution and he state's leadership in quantum computing plus practical advice for leaders on management and hiring. She emphasizes the importance of fostering team safety and reframing mistakes as learning opportunities.

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Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

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Check out more about what we're up to at Range.vc 

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This week Adam speaks with Kay Henze, Board Director and Strategic Advisor for Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network (BEN) and a prominent figure in the Colorado entrepreneurial scene. Newly transitioned from her executive role, she discusses the evolution of Colorado's tech ecosystem and her experiences from her board work and the strategic challenges faced by tech startups. Kay emphasizes the importance of collaboration and strategic guidance for entrepreneurs and how founders can effectively leverage personal and professional advisory boards to support their growth.

Listen now on: Amazon Music (Alexa) | Spotify | Apple Podcasts or wherever you get podcasts!

Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/range-ventures/

Check out more about what we're up to at Range.vc 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.