Galvanize Your Colorado Business
Galvanize is an early stage tech and triple bottom line venture capital firm and community of which I am very excited to be involved. It is the newest venture of tech guru and serial entrepreneur Jim Deters. This Colorado small business venture capital firm and community will be driven by the following capacities: Providing the earliest level of seed financing...
Women-Owned Business and Denver = Good Business
American Express OPEN, the small-business services unit of American Express, has put out a report based on Census Bureau Statistics called the State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. The report heralds some great news for Colorado small business. Metro Denver is ranked 13th among the nation’s top 25 metro areas in growth in the number of women-owned firms since 1997, and...
Sole Proprietorship: The Lone Wolf
A sole proprietorship is an entity owned and operated by a single individual.  This is often the simplest business formation option in Colorado, as there are no formal filing requirements. It is also the most often formed business operation. One has merely to register the name as a trade name if it is not the first and last name of...
Colorado: Entrepreneurial Hotbed
As a Colorado based business attorney, my attention is often focused on the innovative activity happening in the Rocky Mountain region. Colorado LLCs, S Corps and C Corps are being fostered and formed all over the front range. One great regional example is Boulder. Amongst other creative nicknames for this colorful city, “Silicon Flatirons” stands out as a beacon to...
PERA Injects Capital into Colorado
The Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) has defined a strategy where they will invest in venture capital or private equity linked to Colorado. They have just issued an RFP for a private equity manager to run $25 million to $50 million in an in-state investment fund. PERA has $38.3 billion in its defined benefit plan, with 9%, or 43,4...
If You Start Me Up, I’ll Never Stop: Colorado Small Business Lending Reform
Small businesses in Colorado take notice. Mark Udall, the U.S. Senator from Colorado, has been working to get a bipartisan bill passed through Congress which would increase access to capital for small businesses by lifting the cap on credit union lending. Historically, credit unions have not been able to provide the credit and lending opportunities that both the large and...
Business Regulation: Protective or Orwellian Big Brother?
The Economist recently published an article called “Over Regulation in America.” Its premise is that regulation established around business starts out with good intention, but become mired in endless detail. The article cites as example the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which started out on a good foot, trying to prevent another financial crisis, but became too burdensome and complex to...
A Small Business By Any Other Name….
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has recently changed the parameters of what it considers a small business for 34 different industry groups. This was a way for the SBA to allow more businesses to qualify as federal contractors and expand that universe. Under the Small Business Jobs Act 2010, the Small Business Administration is required to review its size...
LLC: Lessons Learned in Colorado
Often, what causes one industry to suffer has a positive effect on another industry. It could be a take on the “when a door closes, a window opens” philosophy of change. Take this weather pattern which has settled over Colorado this winter. Drought in the mountains and 60 degree days in Denver, and depending on whether you like to hike,...
Now for the good stuff: Affiliate Nexus Tax and Colorado Small Business
Take heed Colorado online small businesses: know and understand affiliate nexus tax and its implications for your online LLC, C Corp or S Corp. The Fine Print This tax requires out-of-state retailers that advertise through a Colorado based Internet marketing “affiliate” to collect and remit Colorado sales tax. As an example, Colorado-based Invisible Shoes which makes huarache-style running sandals, had...