BUSINESS IN THE BOX CANYON
A THRIVING BUSINESS COMMUNITY Telluride Venture Network impacts are felt in diverse ways BY ZANNY MERULLO STEFFGEN
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elluride is home to a diverse array of small businesses that bring great value to the community. Part of the support system that allows these businesses to succeed is Telluride Venture Network, an initiative of the Telluride Foundation that fosters a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Telluride, Mountain Village and communities in nearby Dolores, Montrose, Ouray and San Juan counties. TVN began in 2013 with the mission of diversifying a regional economy. While in the early days they focused their efforts solely on traditional 12-week business acceleration programs, TVN’s services have since expanded to include a series of bootcamps, including a Mining Reclamation Workshop and Latinx Entrepreneurs Program, Cómo Construir un Negocio. In addition to their bootcamps, TVN also provides capital funds, entrepreneurship workshops hosted in partnership with the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business and the mentorship program that pairs aspiring entrepreneurs with established professionals in the area. Further programs are in the works, promising even more growth for local businesses. TVN counts several success stories among its grantees and bootcamp graduates, including Lorena Ortiz, a former Eco Cleaners seamstress who
decided to start her own sewing business, Lorena’s Alterations. Ortiz used funds from Cómo Construir un Negocio to secure sewing machines and business cards, and has since partnered with town’s Two Skirts boutique. The other grant recipient from the first Latinx bootcamp was Jesus Calvo, who has expanded his painting business, My Family Painting. Calvo recently received a contract to do all the painting for the Telluride Foundation’s Rural Housing affordable housing project in Pinion Park. “Interestingly enough, with both of these success stories, their mentors were local,” muses Annemarie Jodlowski, interim TVN director while Bonnie Watson is on maternity leave. Recruiting bilingual, bicultural mentors has been an important part of this particular workshop, she adds. Additional projects, like the Rural Workforce Bootcamp set to debut in 2023, will amplify TVN’s impact, according to Jodlowski. The idea behind this bootcamp is to train and educate the local workforce, to allow for opportunities that are usually exclusive to larger communities. “We don’t have a lot of the resources you would have in an urban area,” she says. “So, the idea is what kind of technologies are out there to help support the type of folks who are here … and how do we help them with skills?”
In the future, the TVN also hopes to expand their support of mining reclamation technologies in the area. “We’re trying to be a thought leader in this area because it’s so near and dear to Telluride’s heart,” Jodlowski explains, adding that TVN has recently turned to companies like Genomines out of France (which breeds plants that naturally extract tailings and heavy metals from TVN COUNTS the soil) but hopes SEVERAL SUCCESS that a future dediSTORIES AMONG cated venture fund ITS GRANTEES will help bring AND BOOTCAMP the creation of GRADUATES. such technologies closer to home. With all their ambitious programs, it seems like the TVN singlehandedly keeps local entrepreneurs going. If it weren’t for the volunteer mentors, however, Jodlowski says, none of this would be possible. It’s the current 40 active mentors who “...get involved and get plugged into this vibrant community we’re trying to build.” Thanks to TVN’s presence, that vibrant and thriving community seems well within reach.
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