The 2013 TechStars - Boulder class started this week, so for the Startup Tour we decided to do something a little different. We talked to three of the Denver-born tech companies that were accepted into the 2013 class: BrandFolder, Prediculous and Elihuu. All three profiles are included in this post. 

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BrandFolder, Founder and CEO Brian Parks

Brandfolder brings your brand identity together online so you can easily and confidently share it with anyone who represents your brand. 

What do you most hope to accomplish through your time in TechStars?

The big goal is to get our product to market; it's currently in private beta. We have a customer lined up and are looking to grow our customer base significantly over the next few months. I expect we'll also be looking to raise capital once we're done with the program. 

We're also really excited about the mentorship aspect - that can make such a difference in a company's success.

Basically, it comes down to refining the product, the market and sales strategy, and then just making it happen.

What do you think set you apart from the other companies that applied? 

Part of it is the simplicity of our business. What we’re doing isn’t rocket science – it always depends what kind of companies they’re looking for. Our concept that companies have branding assets that they’re using but no way to manage it is easy to grasp – everyone’s dealt with it. We had applied to NY but didn’t get in, so we were encouraged to apply to another TechStars program.

What are you most excited about?

The whole opportunity. I’ve been around TechStars companies for the past few years – those companies that have gone through the program have nothing but positive things to say about it. I don’t know the details all that much or what the day-to-day is going to be like; I'm just excited for the experience and for our team.

How does this change things for BrandFolder and what you've been doing up until now?

It's a big time commitment. But it affords you a lot of opportunities. We get to just focus 100% on our company for the next few months, without distraction. That's huge.

What was it like when you found out that you had been accepted?

Pretty damn exciting. The company was just my co-founder Paul and myself at the time (we've added two team memebers who will come to the program with us) and it was huge. I don’t think we thought we would be doing this six months ago!

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Elihuu, Founder Dorian Ferlauto 

Democratizing the process of design, invention, and manufacturing. We believe new technologies change the thinking around the production of consumer products.

In your own words, can you describe what Elihuu does?

We're basically an online matchmaking service for designers and manufacturers. When people have a product that is in demand that has surpassed their ability to manufacture it, they need to find a larger-scale manufacturer. They can come to our site, have a good user experience, and get matched with best manufacturers for their product.

Currently, the service is just domestic but we will be expanding overseas. It creates a really nice way for the manufacturers to diversify. There's a lot of disconnect in manufacturing – they don’t have a lot of branding or advertising. It can be challenging  to diversify into new markets and meet designers who have product and are looking to produce domestically or with a smaller scale.

You're a relatively new company; when were you founded? 

We really just launched last week, though we've officially been developing since first of the year.

What are you hoping to gain from the TechStars experience?

We're trying to create the perfect lead for the manufactuer. We want to use tech and design to bridge these two worlds, and that's a big challenge. We're really looking forward to the opportunity to play with the platform, build it, get traction, and then raise money, etc.

It's going to be great to just hunker down for three months and work hard on this project. The opportunity to sit down with the team and work under one roof is a blessing.

What sets you apart from other tech companies?

Not a lot of them are deling with manufacturing, and it's kind of a sexy word right now in all facets. You hear about it in the news, overseas – it’s really interesting right now. It’s a marketplace and marketplaces are hot. I think that TechStars is wanting to explore that. They’re really interested in my approach as well. We're taking something that exists – an old infrastructure and systems - and converting it to a new type of experience.
 

Who else is on your team? 

I have  a great team. Alex Henry is my Co-Founder and designer, and John Ipson is our CTO. For now we're trying to stay really small, and get very educated about our users. We're passionate about the experience, and really can’t wait to see what happens in the next couple of months!

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Prediculous - Co-Founder and CEO Taylor McLemore: 

Prediculous builds social fantasy sports games for fans, social second-screen music award apps for music aficionados, and social competitions for reality TV fanatics.

What are you most hoping to gain or accomplish out of participating in TechStars?

Best of luck to all of you - we'll look forward to covering what happens in the coming months! 

Next week we'll resume the usual format for the Startup Tour with profiles of SendGrid, Birdbox, and CaptainU. 

Read more about the Startup Tour and past weeks' posts here.