When I tell people that I live at the beach in San Diego I get a lot of responses. Most frequently is: how do you ever get any work done? If I’m being honest, it’s not that difficult.
The trigger for this question is that the nature and scenery would be too distracting for some folks, but it’s actually one of the best tools that I have in my toolbox. When the day gets too hectic I can take a 15-minute stroll along the beach and get my feet wet in the salty Pacific – it’s a source of relaxation, retreat, and calm that I can tap into when needed.
You could ask the folks at the Telluride Venture Accelerator (TVA) the same question: how do they ever get any work done? After all, they’re nestled in the mountains of Telluride, Colorado where entrepreneurs essentially live in a ski resort.
In a lot of ways their response is similar to mine, and they’re leveraging their location to build as efficiently and fluidly as they can. To that end, TVA recently held a demo day to celebrate their 2015 cohort that’s filled with promising companies well positioned for success.
TVA has a track record for success with their graduated companies and they were beyond excited to add five new ones to their ranks. According to them, 75 percent of their 2013 class raised over $300,000 in one year while two of the six 2014 companies closed seed rounds 60 days out from demo day.
These five new companies joining the ranks of graduates took to the stage to showcase their ideas to the network of TVA affiliates, which included the entrepreneurs in residence, the unique investment community in Telluride, and expert mentors that help out with the program.
And at the end of the day the mountains, the scenery – Telluride itself – was ready to welcome all of these hard working entrepreneurs for a moment of rejuvenation and relaxation.
Here are the startups that participated in TVA’s third demo day:
- BaziFIT: Empowering patients with our state-of-the-art wearables and mHealth tools and helping doctors track patient recovery through our revolutionary balance and movement assessments. We use our tools to create an interactive custom digital rehabilitation program for each patient with the goal of improving engagement in the physical therapy process. This will allow patients to return to play as quickly and safely as possible while reducing future injury rates by maximizing individual performance, strength and balance
- Travel Recon: Travel Recon provides destination relevant intelligence and services for travelers. Utilizing big data technology and the expertise of former military and intelligence professionals, our services provide travelers with top tier and easy to use web based risk assessment, relevant safety information, situation updates, and map analysis of events and threats (GIS). Travel Recon also helps travelers by providing a rewarding trip sharing experience “for the traveler, by the traveler.” Travel Recon is a pioneer in travel reconnaissance, and seeks to revolutionize the way we travel in today’s world. Keep your clients, family, and friends informed and safer by making Travel Recon “your first destination!”
- ProEditors: ProEditors transforms your raw video into lasting memories. Simply upload your footage on the web based platform and our editing team will produce a custom video that can easily be shared with friends and family
- The Dyrt: The Dyrt is changing the way people search for campgrounds and outdoor adventures through reviews and recommendations. With a searchable database of over 15,000 campgrounds, The Dyrt is already the most comprehensive one-stop source for camping locations throughout the US.
- Mountain Drones: Mountain Drones (Unmanned Mountain Safety Systems) designs, builds, and operates unmanned aerial vehicles with the primary purpose of avalanche mitigation for ski resorts and departments of transportation. The company was founded in Vail, CO and looks forward to relocating to Telluride. CEO and Co-Founder Warren Linde, other Co-Founders Brent Holbrook, and Robert Blank
Image Credit: Telluride Venture Accelerator Facebook page