3 startups to share experiences at Dec. 16 event

FORT COLLINS — Three local startups will offer presentations about their successes and struggles on Wednesday, Dec. 16, during a “Best of 2015” event sponsored by the Northern Colorado chapter of 1 Million Cups.

Talks by officials from Turbo Tenant, The Food Corridor and Vortic Watches will be featured at the event, to be held beginning at 9 a.m. at Galvanize, 242 Linden St. in Old Town Fort Collins.

All 1 Million Cups events are free to the public and require no registration.

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Picking the presenters was no easy task, said the group’s co-organizer, Shane Anderson.

“We’ve had so many fantastic presentations,” he said, “but with only an hour for the event we had to narrow it down to just three.”

Those three companies and their founders come from different backgrounds, but share a passion for building businesses and all call Fort Collins home.

In June, Sarnen Steinbarth, a part-time landlord, founded Turbo Tenant, an online rental platform for landlords like himself. Ashley Colpaart couldn’t help notice commercial kitchens sitting idle, so she founded The Food Corridor to connect those kitchens with food businesses.

Not all startups are about building websites, however. RT Custer’s venture, Vortic Watches, refurbishes classic American-made pocket watches, giving them new lives as one-of-a-kind wristwatches.

Northern Colorado’s 1 Million Cups chapter, started last year, is one of 77 across the country and was the second in Colorado, after one in Denver. The organization, which was founded by the Ewing Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., provides venues for startups to pitch their companies and then field questions and advice from an audience of investors, entrepreneurs and curious onlookers.

More information on the local chapter is online here.