Many books on startups and business talk about how there are right and wrong reasons for starting a business. So, we asked a handful of successful founders about their reasons and the thought-process behind starting their business.

Ben Madden | Owner & Pitmaster

For years I had been interested in starting my own business, specifically a restaurant. I am passionate about connecting with people through food and building my business around that gives me immense energy. Read more>>

Joseph Renda Jr | Artist/Muralist/Owner of ArtBuilds LLC

I started ArtBuilds in my Senior year of art school. I had just started to build out my own panels, canvases, and frames the year prior and very soon realized there was a need for custom high quality painting surfaces within the Chicago art community. Big art stores just didn’t have the quality or customization, and frame shops were too expensive. Read more>>

Mike Smith | Aclymate Founder & Climate Dad

My favorite joke about entrepreneurship: “We don’t do this because it’s easy. We do it because we thought it would be!” I think every entrepreneur, at some level, became obsessed with a problem and felt that they had not only the right solution but also the right person to see it through. In reality, that’s a combination of ego and naivety. But it’s also incredibly human because we all take the occasional leap into the unknown. Read more>>

Paige Griffith | Yoga Instructor & Psychology Professor

Ever since I started teaching yoga 4 years ago, I knew this was going to be a major part of my life. I thought I wanted to be a therapist and teaching yoga would be a side hustle or a hobby, but it turned out, I had a much deeper connection with the body than I did the mind. I knew then that this was going to be my path, and so I have been in the creative development stages of PG Yoga for about 3 years. Read more>>

Alexandra Macias | Owner & Clinical Social Worker at Coalta Therapy and Wellness

Starting my own business was a mix of goals, dreams, and an unwavering desire for freedom. It all began with the inspiration from my mom when I was a child. Immigrating from Italy as a teenager, she became an unshakeable realtor in Southern California, modeling what success and hard work could look like. On the day I was born, she was signing contracts and closing on a home for her clients. Read more>>

Christina Johnson | Cannabis Content Creator & business owner

My thought process behind creating my brand was an exciting and thoughtful process. It was important that I was comfortable & authentic with being out in the open with my cannabis consumption. It was also of major importance that I create a safe space for black and brown women who are suffering silently from various mental health conditions as well as to use my many platforms to educate advocate and entertain on this life saving plant. Read more>> 

Dante Kenner | Entrepreneur & Creator|

I started my business to help other brands become successful I believe helping others will help you go a long way in life. Read more>>

Noe Magdaleno | Co-Founder

The process behind developing UNDRGRND Golf was a gradual evolution over a couple of years and was sparked by our 3 founders becoming golf buddies during the pandemic. Some of us were new to the sport while one of us had been playing our whole life. We wanted to create a concept that not only expressed our unique fashion senses, but represented our community and made the game more relatable worldwide. Read more>>

Chelsea Kyle Gifford | Yoga Studio Owner, Sacred Scheduling Coach, Sophia Code Circle Facilitator

I was in Divinity school participating in a 2-week silent meditation retreat in Crestone, Colorado and I had a spark of insight. At the time I was working for a liquor marketing company as a promo girl, while volunteering in assisted living facilities as I was studying to become a chaplain. I felt incongruent with my values with my career choice and my job. Read more>> 

Andria Livingston | Entrepreneur: Hairdresser/Salon Owner, Holistic Wellness Practitioner/Wellness Center owner, Curandera/Church of Entheogenics Founder & Vacation Rental Owner

When I was 17 years old I had aspirations to go into the Fashion Industry. I was in an accelerated Cosmetology program through my High School when I made this decision. I had my application filled out to FDIM in San Diego and I was ready to set out to build my career. Read more>>

Tracy Doty | Photographer

I started as a hobbyist photographer. Mostly photographing my daughters growing up. Friends began asking me to take their Christmas card photos or high school senior photos and my photography business evolved! When my family moved to Colorado in 2014, I fell in love with wildlife photography! My business has now expanded to include; portrait, wildlife, landscape, live theater, product and real estate photography! Read more>>

Cheryl Corsiglia | Builder, Plasterer, and Co-owner of Living Craft and Living Plasters

My business partner and I had come to the world of natural building from different paths, but converged while working on a straw-bale house in the mountains west of Boulder. Our mentor and employer there, Ryan Chivers of Artesano Plaster at the time, was moving to SLC, so we saw an opening in the local plaster market. Read more>>

Samantha Barela | Co-founder & CXO of GreenDoor

Working towards something that I can create, build, and explore has always been appealing to me. And as a Colorado native, supporting local communities here in Denver is one of the most important things to me. With GreenDoor, we started with thinking about how we can create a better experience for consumers and build a sense of community. Read more>>

Jennifer Parker | Salon owner and stylist

I’m a salon owner and the thought process behind opening my particular salon is being able to choose what kinds of products and hair color I work with. In my case, it’s more niche as I choose to use organic based, non toxic color, keratin treatments, and haircare. I’ve been using these types of products since 2006 and never looked back. Read more>>

EmmaLee Babcock | Wedding and lifestyle photographer

I was homeschooled growing up, and taught to be independent and consider a trade as a career, so I always knew I wanted to be in business for myself. I had a lot of family close in my life who were into the photography world and drew inspiration from them. I discovered I absolutely wanted to be a part of the wedding industry about four years ago and sort of realized it was a no-brainer; Read more>>

Sam Lyles | Artist and Data Analyst

As I watched the canvases pile up in my kitchen of my tiny apartment, I thought wouldn’t it be a great idea to share this with the world? So Slyles Styles Art was born out of a practicality of need for more space to create more art but has turned into so much more. Read more>>

Ariella Forstein | Vocal Embodiment Coach & Songstress Priestess

Today I am a Vocal Embodiment Coach + Songstress Priestess, that’s helped thousands of people find & share their voices. 18+ years ago, I started teaching voice lessons on the side when I was touring the country with a folk ensemble. We’d be on the road for 2-3 weeks, and then back for 2-3 weeks, and then on the road again. Read more>>

Jacob Tegtman | Owner – Third Loft Marketing

I started Third Loft Marketing actually out of necessity. At the time, I was working sales for a company who wasn’t able to pay the commissions they owed to me. By that point, I’d been doing small marketing-related tasks for friends who owned local businesses, so it gave me sort of a “soft launch.” Read more>>

Connie Ruel | Chef and restaurateur

It was the logical next step. Being that my father owned restaurants for 40 plus years, it is all I really knew. I had drained all I could from holding a plethora of positions in the food and beverage and hospitality industry and knew I was ready to make a successful go at it. Read more>>

Ben Walker | CEO and Founder

15 years ago I was a part owner in a medical transcription company, and we were losing clients due to technology changes in the healthcare industry. I didn’t have a resume, and I didn’t want to go work for someone else. I started thinking about other industries we could do transcription for that had called our office over the years and asked for us to transcribe for them. Read more>> 

Dr. Deanna Zarei, Psy.D. | Licensed Psychologist

Even though I loved my supervisor, colleagues, and my clients at my previous workplace, the corporate environment left me feeling unfulfilled. After several years of working in a bureaucratic system, driven by productivity standards that favored quantity over quality, I found myself feeling stuck, burnt out, and wondering if this was the limit of my professional fulfillment and potential.  Read more>>

Courthney Russell | Social Entrepreneur / Civil Activist

I recognized that there was systemic problem while in medical school and deceided to be the cahnge needed to serve the vulnerable. Read more>>

Lindsay Nikolaeff | Wedding Planner, Designer, and Sustainability Advocate

Six years ago, I embarked on my professional journey as a Day of Coordinator for a prominent wedding company in Colorado. This experience ignited my passion for orchestrating events, especially weddings. My next step took me to a smaller, local company that emphasized sustainability, where I cultivated an interest in wedding design, sustainable practices, and locally sourced materials. Read more>>

Megan Smith | Dancer, Artist and Yoga Teacher

Throughout life I have always strayed from pre-paved paths to pave my own. Thus, my vision behind starting Astral Rose Dance, Art, and Movement is to create spaces with the vibe and training that I carry. I’ve had the immense privilege to train and study with yoga masters, incredible dancers, and intellectuals around the world, which has guided me to my own craft of offerings. Read more>>

Mike Moore | Marketing Manager

When my kids were little we gave a friend’s kid a birthday gift of admission to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Their kids had everything they needed as far as toys went. Later the parents remarked that they appreciated getting a gift of “something to do” with them. A light bulb went off! Read more>>

Cassidy Davis | Photographer

I’ve always had a creative spark somewhere inside me ever since I was little. As a kid, I was always trying to take my mom’s camera so that I could take pictures and videos of my younger siblings. Coupled with my passion for drawing, I knew that my career later on would end up being something that would utilize my creative skills. Read more>>

Matt Dean | Co-Founder, CEO – Dean&Co.

When I was a freshman at The Savannah College of Art & Design I quickly realized that my passion was focused on building great teams of talented individuals. This led to the idea that I wanted to own an agency by the time I was 30. Every decision I made in my career was aimed at this goal. Read more>>

Lillian Nikki” Hurley-Hines

The thought process behind starting my business was deeply personal and transformative for me. At the age of 16, I had the privilege of working with an incredible therapist who positively altered the course of my life. Through our sessions, I realized that meaningful change was possible, even in the face of adversity. This experience ignited a passion within me to help others reshape their lives too. Read more>>

Casaundra Kirchner (she/they)

I had been doing hair professionally off and on for 8 years and never really found that place that really fit and felt like me. At higher end salons it was people who loved to dress up super nice and always have perfect hair and makeup. I am a much more casual person and don’t really enjoy doing my own hair and makeup, I wear makeup maybe twice a year. Read more>>