The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Business Awards celebrate organizations from across the region who are leading in their field and making an impact in the community – writing our next chapter as a great community to live and do business.
Meet the 2019 Start-Up Business of the Year finalists, presented by TRELORA: ABBY&FINN, Agile Orthopedics and Prosono. With unique ideas, strong growth and passionate founders, these start-ups are bringing new energy to the region’s business community. The winner will be announced live on May 1.
Get your seat for the 2019 Business Awards Luncheon!
Making diaper duty easier for parents while helping families in need.
ABBY&FINN is a diaper and wipe subscription services. They seek to improve the lives of the children and families they touch by partnering with organizations that use diapers as incentives for participating in parenting and child wellness programs. With each monthly diaper box subscription, they donate a diaper a day to families in need, with 572,890 diapers donated to date.
“One in three families in the U.S. can't actually afford diapers – period,” said ABBY&FINN co-founder Lance Little. “For every box that we sell, we donate a pack of 30 diapers to families in need. We partner with organizations throughout the U.S., and we have two here in Colorado.”
This start-up is adding quality, and flexibility, to how parents purchase diapers. Founded by two Denver-based families, Lance and Amanda Little and Matt and Kyle Anderson, they noticed how much they were spending monthly on diapers and the diapers they’d waste when their kids had a growth spurt. ABBY&FINN which focuses on premium, chlorine-free diapers but at fraction of the cost.
“You can mix the sizes and patterns that you want in a box in case you have two kids or you're expecting a growth spurt,” said Amanda Little, co-founder of ABBY&FINN. “We built it to be friendly for parents and a subscription that can grow as your child grows.”
Meeting patients where they are – and disrupting an industry.
Agile Orthopedics has developed a unique and disruptive model within the clinical prosthetics industry, providing mobile, in-home and on-site prosthetic service. By combining convenience, cutting-edge technology, a patient-center approach and an uncompromised focus, they provide concierge service to patients across the Denver metro area.
“We just show up in Sprinter vans that are outfitted to do complete, start-to-finish prosthetic and orthotic service,” said Agile Orthopedics founder and owner Eric Neufeld. “It takes a traditional model and it just changes it to be way more patient-centric.”
Neufeld has spent 20 years in clinical prosthetics. Over time, he noticed that in-office visits would drop off in the winter. He suggested a mobile resource but didn’t get any traction with his employer. So, he started Agile Orthopedics.
That desire to make prosthetics accessible to more people transcend worldwide. Neufeld has run the Range of Motion Project since 2005, offering prosthetic services through clinics in the U.S., Guatemala and Ecuador.
“I started the Range of Motion Project with a partner in 2005, and this is a nonprofit organization, and what we do is provide prosthetic services to people without resources,” Neufeld said. “We've provided over 4,000 prosthetic limbs.”
Good business and doing good in the community go hand-in-hand.
Prosono is a business strategy and social impact firm. Headquartered in Denver, and serving clients nationwide, their experienced team uses organizational agility methods to collaborate with purpose-inspired clients who are looking to accelerate rapid growth or change. Delivering strategy and implementation, Prosono’s work drives measurable outcomes and positive impact for businesses and the community.
“Prosono means to let your purpose echo,” said Co-founder and CEO Jesus Salazar. “We do two things, we either help companies grow or change by figuring out how to be agile at scale or we help not-for-profits and social enterprises figure out how to be more sustainable in the long-term.”
They’re walking the talk with their 5X Social ROI program. For every dollar paid by a client, they want to show $5 of societal value through that work by 2027. But, they also ensure their team can give back now, whether offering 100 hours of service to a nonprofit or creating a philanthropy pool.
“As we reach our business objectives we fund a philanthropy pool that employees can choose where those funds go to,” said Julie Seltz, a principal at Prosono.
In 2018, Prosono made $30,000 available for their employees to support their nonprofits of their choice.
Laura James is the senior marketing and communications specialist for the Denver Metro Chamber.
