Fledgling Timnath chamber seeks members, ideas

TIMNATH — A real-estate agent and business development manager is working to round up support for the new Timnath Chamber of Commerce he founded.

When Dustin Peyser called a meeting at Timnath Town Hall last Wednesday to gather feedback from the business community, about 25 people showed up. However, he’s been laying the groundwork for nearly a year, and launched the new chamber as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit about eight months ago.

“Now I have a solid foundation to present to the general public,” Peyser told BizWest on Monday.

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“I’m originally from upstate New York, but bought a house in Colorado during COVID, and Timnath reminded me of my hometown,” Peyser said. “My fiancee’s a Loveland native who started a marketing company called Crystal Media, and we originally thought of opening a wine bar on Main Street. But then we thought of establishing a chamber and leveraging some of those tools from her company.”

He’s business manager for Crystal Media but plans to leave that position when the fledgling chamber is up and running, he said, “because as it grows, it’ll become a very much full-time job.”

He’s also been meeting with such entities as the Loveland and Windsor chambers of commerce and small-business development centers, not just to gather their ideas but also to put Timnath in front of them.

“There’s only about 125 businesses in Timnath right now, so I’d like to get memberships from surrounding cities as well. I’d like this to be a big play in other areas wanting to be in front of Timnath,” Peyser said. His first-year goal is to collect 125 memberships, he said, “and I think we could be somewhere around 500 within three years.”

He plans to hold meetings the first Wednesday of every month at Timnath’s town hall, 4750 Signal Tree Drive. The next meeting will be from 6 to 8 p.m. June 5.

“The idea is to get their feedback on the chamber’s new website and see what we can do to implement some of their ideas,” he said. “I wanted to get that public feedback before we start selling annual memberships.”

His initial idea is to offer a $500 basic membership, an $865 premium membership that would include Facebook and Instagram advertising for members targeted “within about a 20-mile radius,” and a $1,000 corporate membership.

Peyser said he would like to provide a membership directory and offer classes such as artificial intelligence for small businesses, protection of online assets and leadership training. “We’ll also do special events in time,” he said.

“I just love small business,” Peyser said. “I’ve been a member of chambers in California that I felt didn’t really provide the value, so I’d like to do better. There’s certainly a demand for a chamber in Timnath.”
A news release issued Friday invited businesses of all sizes to “join and reap the benefits of membership which includes advocacy, visibility and relationship-building opportunities. The chamber aims to serve as the collective voice, ensuring that business needs and economic priorities are heard and addressed.”