The Essential Project

Believing the traditional clinic model was missing a big section of the population, Dr. Susan Hansen created The Essential Project in late 2020 during the pandemic. The company’s mission is to deliver health and wellness services to communities across rural Eagle County through an innovative mobile care approach. Providing soft tissue therapy, therapeutic exercise, and chiropractic care, The Essential Project makes quality care accessible.

Through her work with the Northwest SBDC, Dr. Hansen completed her business plan and funding projections, and devised marketing which targeted employers in the region in order to bring healthcare services to essential employees on-site; the very people for whom the business is named. She’s an ardent supporter of the five-year Demystifying Entrepreneurship Rural Colorado Workshop Series facilitated by Northwest SBDC in partnership with CU Boulder and the Leeds School of Business, attending three years in a row.

Beginning with pop-up clinics early on, the Essential Project always had the goal of creating a mobile clinic van and it was finally achieved in 2023. Dr. Hansen’s new goal is to further spread this kind of health equity by opening chapters nationwide. The Northwest SBDC will continue to be there offering support and resources.

520-220-8972
https://theessentialproject.org/

Gracie’s Coffee

Gracie’s Coffee is a prime example of how Small Business Development Center services help entrepreneurs over the life of a business: from startup to exit. In 2022, at only 19 years old, Gracie Rounds reached out to the Northwest SBDC for assistance with legally establishing a 72 square foot walk-up and drive-through coffee hut on a busy corner in the rural town of Gypsum. After seven months of consulting and preparation, Gracie’s Coffee opened for

Meier Skis

“The whole idea is to keep it as local as possible,” says Matt Cudmore who started Meier Skis in 2009. “We emphasize home-grown, local wood and a product coming right out of Glenwood Springs.” Matt, who had been making skateboards for several years, began making the skis using primarily Colorado-grown beetle kill pine, working in a one-car garage. As the story goes, he gave up searching for “the next perfect ski” and decided to build

Grant Mader standing on a ledge, the photo was taken from a drone in flight

Mountain West Drone Services

The runway from small business idea to takeoff can sometimes be quite long. In the case of Mountain West Drone Services, based in Craig, there was nowhere to go but straight up. Owner and certified drone pilot Grant Mader realized there was a huge opportunity in Northwest Colorado to utilize modern drone technology in serving a variety of local industries. He turned to Northwest SBDC in 2023 to assist with finalizing the business plan and

Founder Erwin Germain sitting in the drivers seat of a car

TreadShare

When Erwin Germain immigrated to Summit County from France, one of the culture shocks he observed was the high traffic on I-70. After two winter seasons he was determined to pursue an environmentally- and socially-conscious solution: carpooling. In 2017 Erwin engaged Northwest Small Business Development Center to assist with strategic planning for an app platform connecting drivers and passengers: TreadShare. Over the next few years, he received support regarding entity formation, finding a co-founder, pitching,

StealthHunter Gear

Like that of many others, Brandon Duarte’s energy career in the coal-transitioning rural community of Craig will be coming to an end within the next few years. For Brandon, developing StealthHunter Gear seemed the best way to begin a new phase without leaving the rural Colorado home he loves. With 17 years of experience as a hunting guide in Northwest Colorado, he developed two innovative hunting products and initially sought Northwest SBDC assistance in 2022

Dynamic Roots Herbals

Dynamic Roots began laying down roots in 2013 with the SBDC. Dynamic Roots was inspired by 3 very passionate Rocky Mountain herbalists with the goal to grow, teach and share handcrafted herbal remedies that truly work! We now have over 40 products ready for market, a healthy membership, a distributors wait list and impressive first 2 years of sales. The SBDC helped facilitate taking our creative excitement and manifesting it into a business to be