Bravo! Entrepreneur early-bird tickets, IQ Awards deadline expire Monday

LOVELAND — Early-bird ticket discounts have been extended for Bravo! Entrepreneur, a celebration of entrepreneurship scheduled for Aug. 22 in Loveland.

Discounted pricing of $79.49 has been extended to the end of day, Monday, Aug. 12, after which prices will increase to $84.49.

Bravo! Entrepreneur will run from 4 to 7:45 p.m. at the Embassy Suites, Loveland, located at 4705 Clydesdale Parkway. The event, which is reformatted this year, will begin at 4 p.m. with the Master Class, a presentation by successful business leaders and entrepreneurs. That will be followed by cocktails and heavy Hors d’oeuvres at 5 p.m., a pitch-slam competition for emerging entrepreneurs during the launch of a Northern Colorado version of BizWest’s IQ (Innovation Quotient) Awards at 6 p.m., with the Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards ceremony at 6:45 p.m.

The IQ Awards will include the IQ Awards Innovation Challenge, with three companies vying for a total of $22,500 in in-kind services from accounting, legal, marketing and other firms. Nominations are still being accepted for the program through Monday, Aug. 12.

Curt Richardson, founder of Otter Products LLC and Blue Ocean Holdings, will receive the lifetime achievement award at Bravo! Entrepreneur on Aug. 22. He will also deliver the keynote address, during which he will describe the unique Otter culture and explain how it helped lead to the success of the company.

The entire evening and Richardson’s keynote address will focus on achieving success in business, as told by those who have accomplished it.

Five individuals will receive Bravo! Awards this year.

Curt Richardson — Richardson set out to create a company that could operate without his constant intervention. In doing that, he created a culture that helps to perpetuate the creativity necessary to develop products that consumers want. To preserve the culture, he developed a hiring process that avoids those who could derail company success — namely those who don’t like what they are doing. Today, OtterBox sells half of all phone cases in the world and has begun development of other protective cases, such as those used to ship frozen food securely.

Dr. Don Wells, founder of Associates in Family Medicine — Wells began his medical practice in 1962 when Fort Collins had only 25,000 residents. With about six times that number today, AFM has thrived, with much of the credit due to its organizational underpinnings. AFM now has nine clinics and has branched out to Loveland and Windsor. It is independent and physician owned, unlike many other medical clinics these days. It’s diversity of services, which include primary care, obstetrics, pediatrics, sports medicine, geriatrics and more, permits it to treat patients from cradle to grave.

Leo Hayden, founder of Hayden Outdoors — Out of disaster came success for Leo Hayden, who began his life in real estate in 1976 after losing 500 head of cattle to a blizzard in Kansas. He left ranching to deal in the sale of farm and ranch properties in a company he formed called Property Exchange. His sons Seth and Dax joined him several years later and they gradually expanded the company to include outdoor recreational properties, thus resulting in the name change to Hayden Outdoors. From their Windsor office, they coordinate the work of 90 agents and 15 staff members who sell properties in 11 states. The company is currently one of the largest real estate brokerages by volume in the United States.

Brian Peterson, founder of ECI Site Construction — Peterson’s humble beginnings in business included a pickup truck and a wheelbarrow. The founder of Loveland company ECI first worked as a landscaper but morphed into a company that handles complex outdoor environments that might include waterway restoration, redevelopment of downtown properties, construction of athletic fields and more. Peterson is now semi-retired; his six partners run the day-to-day operations and he serves as chairman of the board.

Jon Turner, founder of Hillside Commercial Group — Turner, a property developer in Northern Colorado, says that his  marquee project — Heron Lakes and the TPC Colorado Golf Course in Berthoud — is not likely to be repeated at that scale for the remainder of his career. But it isn’t his only endeavor. Turner has created numerous residential projects in Windsor, Loveland, Fort Collins, Berthoud, Timnath and Severance. In all, he has created 35 companies to organize those developments. Turner got his education and business start in California but migrated to Colorado in 1993 when he and partner Christopher Frye developed Country Meadows in Berthoud. Other developments followed, culminating this year with the opening of the TPC golf course and the TPC Colorado Championship golf tournament just last month in Berthoud.

Tickets to Bravo! are still available at early-bird prices for $79.49. 

Bravo! Entrepreneur is sponsored by Flood and Peterson Insurance Inc., First National Bank and Linden, with the IQ Awards Innovation Challenge sponsored by LaunchNo.Co, PitchNo.Co, Innosphere, CSU Ventures and the Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado.

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