Craig Beinecke and Adam Cookson are co-founders of TekDry International, a revolutionary, new, and growing retail consumer service for recovering water logged phones and devices while saving your data in 30 minutes. This is an encore interview on the Integrate & Ignite Podcast. Why, you might ask? Well….TekDry was featured on Shark Tank last night! And, we are conducting a post-show interview to learn more about this amazing adventure!
Adam’s responsibilities include strategic business planning, domestic and international business development, capital formation, investor relations, and leading TekDry’s business team for growth and expansion.
Craig is focused on developing strategic partnerships with retail stores to offer the localized TekDry service.
The two gentlemen met during their MBA program at the University of Denver.
Mark was born and raised in Longmont Colorado. He attended Briar Cliff University on a baseball scholarship, and graduated with a health promotions management degree. Mark received his Master of Arts in Teaching with an emphasis in K-12 P.E. from Hasting College. He was the head Softball coach for 2 years as well as the Assistant Athletic Director. In 2005, Mark moved back to Colorado and worked for his brother’s landscape company. He joined Ward Electric in 2008 and in 2012 purchased partial ownership with his brother. Ward Electric Company is a full-service high voltage powerline contractor serving the entire Western United States.
Mark has been married 13 years to Meg Ward. They have 3 children, Gracie (8), Beckham (6) and Bode (2).
Craig Beinecke and Adam Cookson are co-founders of TekDry, a revolutionary new and growing retail consumer servicer for recovering waterlogged phones and devices while saving your data in 30 minutes. This is Adam’s encore interview with Integrate & Ignite. Adam’s responsibilities include strategic business planning, domestic and international business development, capital formation, investor relations, and leading the TekDry’s business team for growth and expansion. Craig is focused on developing strategic partnerships with retail stores to offer localized TekDry services. The two gentlemen met during their MBA program at the University of Denver.
Through more than 20 years in the Workforce Management, sales and operations fields, Steve has a clear understanding of the challenges retailers face communicating with distributed locations. He noticed a change in the marketplace around the time he founded ThinkTime. Large, expensive, difficult-to-deploy systems no longer met the needs of today's retail organizations.
Steve and his team built ThinkTime in the cloud, so it's more affordable and easier to install. He knows most retail companies can't spend days training staff on a communication system; you want to start communicating right away.
Steve has previous relevant experience overseeing 200 associates and a $40M P&L for the retail and healthcare consulting practices at Kronos Incorporated - a $1B in revenue Workforce Management software provider.
He has hands on operational and financial experience increasing consultants, revenue, margin, and team utilization.
Steve has International experience deploying Retail Workforce Management software in Europe and South Africa. He created the new Alliance Partnership programs with Arthur Anderson’s retail team located in London, England.
Extensive software product expertise in Workforce Management including: Time and Attendance, Scheduling, Task Management, Help Ticketing, and Analytics in retail and healthcare.
Jason Blumer is the Chief Innovative Officer of his firm, Blumer & Associates, CPAs. The firm was one of the first to move from a traditional office to a virtual environment, where they serve digital, design, and marketing agencies only. Jason focuses heavily on business coaching and consulting, while his team meets the technical and compliance needs of the clients.
Jason also founded Thriveal in 2010 as a way to help CPA firm owners connect. Since that time, Thriveal has helped many firms grow by providing an online community, coaching services, webinars, and live events. The newest offerings include a Lab for experimentation, an Academy for continuing education for CPAs, and an Incubator for new firms.
Jason is the host of two podcasts, the Thrivecast and The Businessology Show and speaks and writes frequently for CPAs and creatives, his firm’s chosen niche. He has been honored as one of the 40 under 40 in the profession (CPA Practice Advisor) as well as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting (Accounting Today). Jason loves to watch documentaries on just about anything and is working on his personal bests in Crossfit several times a week. He lives in Greenville, SC with his wife and their three daughters. Stay connected with Jason by signing up at JasonBlumer.com.
As a founder and principal at SDR Ventures, a Denver-based investment banking firm, Chris works closely with clients executing mergers and acquisitions, securing equity and debt financing and implementing strategic initiatives aimed at maximizing shareholder value. He has 25 years of experience in strategic and transaction advisory services along with the Series 24, 62, 63 and 79 securities licenses.
Chris is also a founding partner at Coulton Creek Capital and BlackBook, Inc.®
Chris is a Vistage member and an advisor to Vistage International forums and serves as an Executive Board Member with the Denver Area Council for the Boy Scouts of America. He is a CPA and started his career at Deloitte & Touche after graduating from the University of Illinois.
Chris lives in Denver with his wife and triplets and is working towards climbing the last nine to finish all 54 of the 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado.
Shaun has spent his career cultivating teams to do amazing things. He cultivated a team at YMCA Camp Ockanickon to develop and deliver the highest quality experiential education programs. Today, he leads the team at iSupportU to provide the highest quality IT support and consulting.
Through all of these endeavors, learning has been a common theme. In order to truly know 'how to learn', he finished a Masters in Education to prepare him to teach. A thirst for understanding brought him to the field of technology. It was clear that the tool of tech can act as a powerful catalyst to learning and growth for people of all ages.
While teaching, one of the most rewarding experiences was seeing how empowered the teachers had become when they learned to fully harness the power of technology in their teaching. This experience was the inspiration behind starting iSupportU as a company. Shaun wanted to see that same empowerment in individuals and businesses. Technology should make life better and bring people together. That is the core goal of iSupportU.
The company has grown by an average of 200% per year since opening. This has resulted in being a top five fastest growing company in Boulder and Broomfield Counties in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The growth has been the result of carefully planned and implemented strategies of growth by cultivating relationships with existing clients and providing the highest quality of service.
In 2014, iSupportU sold off its web department to another firm, purchased a commercial building and discontinued doing repair work for residential customers.
iSupportU gained B Corp status in 2015. This formally made clear to the world the level of commitment the company has to social and environmental responsibility.
Shaun also enjoys doing cart wheels around the office without warning. Play is key.
For his entire career, Alan has been involved in all aspects of point-of-purchase advertising from design to delivery.
He co-founded Data Display Corporation in 1980. Later he acquired a small neon company as a division and renamed it Neon Glassworks. Data Display was sold in the mid 1980s and Neon Glassworks was renamed Zeon Corporation to better reflect the wide range of products and services offered beyond neon.
Along the way, the company constantly changed to meet market needs and Alan’s own desire to bring the best brand identity products into the market. What started as a single designer turning company logos into neon signs has become a full design staff that utilizes a broad range of technologies including neon, LED, fluorescent, non-illuminated, and products that include signs, display racks, chalk boards and many others. Zeon was also the first company to build Point-of-Purchase displays out of reclaimed Colorado beetle kill pine. Zeon’s materials bag of tricks also includes reclaimed snow fencing, reclaimed cedar fencing and distressed corrugated.
In July, 2008, he bought out his co-founding partner and now he is the sole owner of Zeon. Alan and his creative staff, combined with many other employees, develop unique POP concepts using traditional and non-traditional materials.
Zeon works with companies in a variety of industries including craft brewers, furniture, consumer products, outdoor equipment, action sports, music, automotive and wireless communications.
Max Rogers is a veteran entrepreneur and leader with a track record of growing successful businesses. His business philosophy is deeply rooted in honesty, transparency, providing valued and excellent service while enabling employees to enjoy rewarding careers.
As the President of AddOns, Inc., Max is responsible for scheduling, directing, coordinating and supervising the company so that AddOns, Inc. may service customers under the optimum conditions of productivity, efficiency, cost effectiveness and ease of operations.
Max took partial ownership of AddOns, Inc. in 2003 after operating his own functional consulting group successfully for four years. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.
Based just south of Denver in Centennial, Colorado, The Kitchen Showcase has been serving Colorado homeowners, builders, and interior designers for nearly 30 years. Jason’s Father, Doug Pfaff started the business in 1983 and after graduating from MidAmerica Nazarene University, Jason Pfaff joined the family business. He has been with the company for 10 years now.
Scott Baker is Mill Operations Officer for Icebox Knitting, LLC. Scott manages the daily office duties, procurement of raw materials, sales and logistics. Design Innovation is one of his favorite tasks, but the work flow calendar usually takes him away from the drawing board and puts him behind the keyboard. He began his entrepreneur career at the age of ten in Boulder, Colorado and finished his undergraduate work 1992 with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning with in emphasis in database management and a minor in Mexican-American studies from University of Colorado at Greeley. Using the models of city planning, Scott has applied his skills to running a factory. From the way people park their cars in the lot, placement of recycle bins, to storage of raw materials, the ebb and flow of the factory is optimized by his listening and providing employees the tools they need to succeed.
His love of outdoors and enjoyment of re-purposing objects brought him to Icebox Knitting in 2006. Scott assisted in implementing the Xob Upcycle hats and accessories, which has been well received in the USA and Japan.
It is difficult to find Scott sitting at home. He loves to take his wife and two boys on outdoor adventures, which includes biking, snowboarding, mountain climbing and camping. Scott is committed to his community and has been an active volunteer for Habitat for Humanity since 1998.
Adam Cookson co-founded TekDry International in 2013 — a company that recovers wet smart devices such as cell phones, tablets, computers, watches, cameras, wearables and other devices from moisture intrusion. As co-founder and CEO, Adam’s responsibilities include strategic business planning, domestic and international business development, capital formation, investor relations, and leading the TekDry’s business team for growth and expansion.
Adam brings over 25 years of successful corporate start-ups and manufacturing experiences including, technology, wind energy, automotive assembly, synthetic rubber and plastics extrusion molding.
Adam is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and has strong computer skills in multiple operating systems, simulation software, and data analysis tools. He holds an executive MBA from the University of Denver, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University, Flint, MI.
Adam enjoys networking with other startup and business professionals, reading, skiing, photography and amateur astronomy near Denver, Colorado where he resides with his wife Mirela and their three children.
Scott Sutton, President & Founder of Unser Karting and Events has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Washington State University. He has a diverse background, working in an array of fields including public relations, advertising, operations, sales, and marketing. He has worked in various industries including high technology, retail, service, and construction. In 2004, Scott started his first company, a high tech security integration firm which he grew into a multi-million-dollar company. Scott later sold to a public entity where he held the President and CEO position for two years. Before Scott started Unser Karting & Events, he was responsible for starting up a security integration division for a large technology company. When Scott isn’t working, you can find him hanging out with his wife and 2 daughters or on his bike on a quiet road or trail in the Colorado Foothills.
Stephen Woessner is CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the brilliant Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, The Small Business Owners Handbook to Search Engine Optimization and Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking. His digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Inc. Magazine and more.
What sets Stephen and Predictive ROI apart is its uncommon approach to digital marketing. Stephen founded the company on the principle that predictable results and guaranteed return on investment comes from proven practices. He and his team spent years researching in both the academic world and private sector. What was evident to Stephen that there was a disconnect in the process in how companies drove traffic to their websites. All of this culminated in the development of the Predictive ROI Method, an approach designed to effect real change for companies with $1 million to $30 million a year in revenue. The company’s patent-pending process helps organizations significantly increase website traffic, accelerate lead generation, and increase return on investment online by 200 to 500 percent in 12-months or less – or it’s 100 percent free.