After months of training, five Denver entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to a room full of judges, lenders, investors and community members. Each company brought their own unique products to the plate – from collaborative dry-erase boards to custom hand-made aprons. Two awards were given at Trout Tank this week: Melissa Gallic of Union Stitch and Design won the popular vote and Jimmy Archer and Will Kelsay of DirtTRI Magazine won the judges’ pick.
DirtTRI is an online magazine that has made off-road multi-sports its passion. Archer and Kelsay are both professional off-road athletes sharing their expert experience with readers. Olivia Rollene, marketing and program coordinator at the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center (SBDC), caught up with Archer and Kelsay.
Taking Care of Buisness: What is your reaction to winning Trout Tank?
Jimmy Archer: I feel stunned – I was literally making notes as to what everyone was doing well!
Will Kelsay: I was in complete shock. We are so excited about what we are going to do, but it’s really hard to communicate a vision with someone. It is exciting that people got and understood that. We are the experts in what we are doing, and you can trust us.
TCB: What is a take-away from working with the SBDC?
Archer: The real benefit of being a part of the SBDC and being involved was the not-sexy-cool stuff that you always hear about, but the things that are the foundation to developing a successful business. How to manage your taxes, how to hire someone – what does that mean down the road, how do you set up your business structure. All of those things that are absolutely fundamental. That was just huge for me because I know now so much more than I knew three months ago.
TCB: What would you tell someone who is interested in being a part of Trout Tank?
Kelsay: Anyone that has a business and wants to see it succeed, you need to be here. There’s so many things that we didn’t even know until we got here that (the SBDC) really helped establish what it takes to be a successful business. We don’t have holes in our business plan now.
TCB: What has this process taught you?
Archer: Right now in the finals, you have five very different companies and I see takeaways from each of the other four from what we’re doing. You look at what they are doing and then think “we could apply that.” Just being in there and getting feedback and hearing feedback that people are giving other companies
Kelsay: A lot of these other people are experts in their field. But you can tend to get the blinders on a little. But when you have all of these different people from the different walks of life coming together, the ideas just start flowing.
Archer: Especially when you are a small business starting up, you are so focused and you know everything that you are doing inside out. But you haven’t seen it from someone else’s perspective – getting someone’s opinion is huge and it just changes your paradigm in what you are doing and makes you a better entrepreneur. It helps your growth and foundation.
Olivia Rollene is the marketing and program coordinator of the Denver Metro SBDC.