Success Stories

Keaunna Figgers, Denver’s newest fashionista, is raising awareness of Down syndrome and doing so in style through her company The C-21 Project, which refers to the extra 21st chromosome that she was born with.

Born with Down syndrome, Figgers faced obstacles from the start – she had open-heart surgery at just 3 months old and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at a very young age. Growing up with arthritis, Figgers would spend hours coloring in coloring books and doodling. Books of her detailed artwork would stack up. Her father, Phildale Billingsley, encouraged her to turn that creativity into a business.

Figgers launched her business at just 25 years old. She decided she wanted to use her creativity to teach others about Down syndrome and bring awareness.

“I love kids with disabilities. That’s why I want to make my clothing line, to teach kids how much I love them,” she told CBS4.

Figgers says that the best part about owning her own business is getting to work with her parents and the owner of the t-shirt printing company Out of the Blue, Blue Grimes.

The Denver Metro Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has been an intricate part of Figgers getting her business off the ground. She has received help with taxes, inventory, software, trademark, marketing, website assistance and much more.

“We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful resource in our city,” Figgers mom, Jennifer Billingsley, said.

Since working with the Denver Metro SBDC, Figgers has received help from the Denver Vocational Rehabilitation to start her own small business, and is also working with Out of The Blue, another Denver Metro SBDC client, a custom printing shop in Denver to help her merchandise the items she has for sale.

For more information and to see Keaunna’s merchandise for yourself, visit c-21project.com.

The awareness of the connection between health and natural ingredients sustainable for the environment is increasingly popular. Between spin classes, yoga, fitness trackers, and Whole 30, overall health is top of mind. Through her study of human health, molecular biology, chemistry and ecological studies, Bridget Molloy became inspired to start Bridget’s Botanicals, a business designed to promote and educate others of the synergy between environmentally sustainable products and natural health products.

Bridget’s Botanicals offers a glimpse of the benefits that come from the integration of botanical medicine with modern scientific research. Some of the products offered through the company include Awaken – a cacao bitter, an herbal first aid kit and a creamy healing salve.

She began seeing consultants at the SBDC in 2015, and soon joined Leading Edge for Entrepreneurs in spring 2016. “All of the consultants, with whom I have been working with for over a year, have been amazing.”

Through Leading Edge, she learned to focus – for her to make an impact on people’s health and connection to the planet, she had to learn to make her vision into a product. Molloy had to go deep and explore one idea, whether that’s marketing and creative aspects or through financials and logistics.

After she graduated from Leading Edge, Molloy launched three new flavors of herbal cocktail bitters (liquid extraction of herbs to flavor cocktails with digestive benefits). Molloy entered this product into SBDC’s latest Trout Tank Food Frenzy where she found herself to be a finalist. Her company is underway of becoming a certified B Corporation to “minimize environmental impact from partnering with local companies to monitoring energy and water usage during product production.”

Molloy credits her major successes to the resources found in SBDC’s Leading Edge.

“I am so thrilled to have been able to work with the SBDC. It has truly been a pivotal partnership in the success of my business thus far!”

In the next year, she looks forward to producing her product in a commercial kitchen, seeing Wild World Bitters at bars and stores around Colorado and working closely with the coral reef and rainforest conservation organizations that part of her proceeds will benefit.

Kent Dawson is no stranger to the hard work it takes to start his own business. He learned young as he and his brother Greg spent their summer breaks helping their grandparents tend to their farm.

“Spending time on ‘The Farm’ was no picnic: this wasn’t one of those grandparents spoiling the grandkids situation. It was exhausting!” Dawson recalled.

Dawson and his wife moved to Denver in 2008, looking to enjoy what Denver and Colorado had to offer, including opening his own family business – a brewery. And, it’s not a family business without Greg. “We got into this business because of a mutual love and appreciation for craft beer. We also wanted to live near each other and start a family business,” said Dawson. “Greg was the obvious choice to head the brewing program, and my role became the director of operations.”

The Dawson brothers wanted to pay homage to their childhood summers: “‘The Farm’ as we called it, and our grandparent’s tireless workmaintaining it well into their mid-70’s, were inspirations for both the theme of our brewery and the decision to become entrepreneurs.”

Dawson began engaging in the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center attending various start-up courses and the Funding Options Panel. He began to identify and refine his mission for their brewery, now called Briar Common. With a clear mission, they made substantial changes to their business model to ensure their classic and contemporary beers and globally inspired food were consistent with their core values.

“We’ve constantly modified our offerings to best reflect the desires of the consumer visiting a brewpub today,” Dawson said.

Dawson also took advantage of the financial consulting services that the Denver Metro SBDC offers at no cost. The consultants were instrumental in assisting him with financial statements, including projected balance sheets, income statements and statements of cash flow.

Briar Common opened in the Jefferson Park neighborhood in 2016 – establishing itself in Denver’s booming beer and dining landscape. Selling out of their seasonal beer pairing dinners and nightly specials, they have continued to see business grow. And, they continue to entice their customer’s taste buds as they just launched “Sour Seoul,” a Kimchi inspired beer, which Greg Dawson crafted in homage to his 12 years living in Seoul South Korea.

Dawson’s advice to anyone who is thinking about entrepreneurship: “Use resources from the Denver Metro SBDC and meet with as many consultants as possible. They all have unique perspectives and provide sound advice.”

If you want to learn more and take advantage of the consulting and classes offered here, visit our website.

In business, the sky is the limit for Big Sky Aerial Technology—literally. This start-up company captures high-resolution aerial images for use in precision agriculture, allowing farmers to analyze the health of their crops.

Founded in 2015 by Ron Lester and Jerred Lane, the idea to launch Big Sky Aerial Technology was inspired by the years Lester and Lane spent working with land and air-based remote sensing technologies in the Middle East.

“With some of the most amazing technologies being implemented for war, we wanted to take some of what we learned and work with it here at home,” Lester said.

But as the two started working on the business, they quickly realized that while they had plenty of experience on the technical side, they would need some help on the business side. That’s when they turned to Chamber affiliate the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center, where they enrolled in its LEADING EDGE business planning course.

“We can honestly say that in starting a business, we were lost in all the business formalities,” Lester said. While Lane and Lester have over 35 years of combined experience in aviation and engineering, when it came to actually starting the business and writing a business plan Lane says, “We had a long ways to go.”

“You have to have a solid product that you understand and is in demand within your market range,” Lane said. Lester and Lane are confident there is a demand for their product – which will both save the farmer money and reduce the amount of unnecessary chemicals into soils. Currently only five percent of farmers use this type of technology and interest in precision farming is continuing to build among the agriculture community. “Our customer base is out there,” Lane said. “[They’re] just waiting to have a system like ours that delivers a world-class product.”

Lane and Lester are in the process of laying out a well-defined business approach so they can “build a long-term sustainable business with a successful future,” Lester said. “While we are still encountering challenges along the way, with the help of the Denver SBDC we are able to overcome unexpected obstacles and continue on towards our goal of Big Sky Aerial Technology being a leader in the remote sensing industry.”

While taking the 11-week LEADING EDGE business planning course course, they purchased their first aircraft, fine-tuned their brand and market position and continued working on sensor design and software processing. They plan to start doing business this summer.

“The next few years are going to be very promising for us,” Lane said. “Precision farming is the way of the future and we intend to help it get there.”

Brittany Winkfield is like a lot of entrepreneurs. She saw a gap in the marketplace and instead of waiting for someone else to fill it, she went after it herself. Led by a belief and desire that a Christian lifestyle magazine existed within the community, she used her creative skills, business network, and the SBDC to create Back2Basics Magazine. And she did it with the grace and style of a dedicated entrepreneur that understands how important commitment to strategy is for every business.

Brittany began with the SBDC through our programs. Starting with our Start-Up Basics Track and a few individual seminars, but then went all in and signed up for the Leading Edge NxLeveL class that was facilitated in the fall. From then on, it was evident that Back2Basics Magazine was going to get started and be a successful venture.

The NxLeveL program put her into a position where she could take the natural step of leaving her job and move directly into a full-fledged commitment of making this business work. “After 11 weeks of creative thinking and business planning, I had a roadmap to guide me through the next chapter in my life,” said Brittany. The two and half month program built her confidence and understanding of how best to build her magazine and develop a logical growth plan for the business.
“If it had not been for the SBDC and the consultants who helped advise me, I would still be talking about starting this magazine and not actually working to make this dream come true,” she said. The entrepreneurial dream that she had experienced for many years is now a reality because of her effort and commitment to strategizing how best to develop the start-up, and by using the powerful resources of the SBDC network.

Back2Basics 2014 Year In Review: