Boise Startup Week features awards, stories, advice

Seasoned entrepreneurs at the third annual Boise Startup Week had lots of advice for new entrepreneurs, primarily telling them not to let other people tell them what to do and accept that they will screw up. If nothing else, screw-ups seemed to result in better stories.

“If anyone tells you what you should or shouldn’t do, tell them to ‘should’ on someone else,” said keynote speaker Matt Rissell, vice president of TSheets for Intuit Inc., which acquired the Eagle timesheets software startup in 2017 for $340 million.

Other advice Rissell offered was to “be allergic to spending money,” remove “manager” from job titles, and “drink your own champagne” – that is, use your own company’s products. The sentiment is typically referred to as “eating your own dog food,” but he prefers the champagne symbolism, he said. Other recommendations are that “culture trumps strategy,” and “trust each other enough to fight” by speaking up directly when there’s an issue, he added.

Eileen Barber, founder of Keynetics and Kount – which received an $80 million investment in 2015 – said she learned the company needed an employee handbook the day an employee showed up in pajamas.

Janessa White, co-founder of Simply Eloped – which, as the name implies, helps couples elope – learned similar lessons the hard way when the company grew more than 100 percent in just a few months. They hired people through Facebook, and from friends and family, which ended up causing problems later, she said.

“Don’t hire from Facebook,” she advised. “Don’t hire friends. Don’t hire family members. Throw your net far. It’s hard to fire friends and family.”

It’s also important to build a company that people can believe in, and to be good to the people who work for you, she said.

“Startups are one big war story,” said Jessica Cafferty, president of Route Networking Group, advising attendees not to get too caught up in the image of entrepreneurship.

When Cafferty found her company short of money, she worked four nights a week for 18 months at an upscale Boise restaurant, where she also pitched the people she served. At one point, she pitched a businessman for her company one day and found herself serving him that evening. “Oh, I can see business is going really well,” she said he told her.

Similarly, Ed Vining, co-founder of iCapture, a Boise-based lead capture application, described the time he was pitching his new company to investors while simultaneously holding down a full-time job, and trying not to get caught by his boss.

Ultimately, entrepreneurs need to keep the faith that, eventually, the startup will have a good result, or it will be a difficult road without a positive attitude, said Jim Bradbury, general manager at Black Box VR, a virtual reality gamified exercise system that won Best Startup in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company is preparing to open its first virtual reality gym in San Francisco, across the street from Twitter’s main offices, said Preston Lewis, co-founder and chief creative officer, in another presentation.

In addition to speeches and workshops, Boise Startup Week also included several awards presentations. According to the organization, 2,000 people – and six venture capital firms – attended.

Scheduled for Oct. 17, 18 and 19, Boise Startup Week was one of  thousands of entrepreneurial events Techstars runs in more 100 countries around the world each year.

Boise State University’s Venture College canceled classes and sent students to the event instead to learn about entrepreneurship firsthand, said Ryan Vasso, associate director. The college also dedicated a part-time employee to help out with the Trailmix competition, which had well over 50 applicants.

Startup Week “plays a vital role in connecting the growing startup community and giving people the opportunity to hear from a wide range of successful entrepreneurs with various backgrounds,” said Annie Morley, president of the Idaho Virtual Reality Council.

Money and Awards

Boise Startup Week this year included two pitch contests with $10,000 cash prizes for the winners: “Trailmix,” focused on processed food products and a more general startup pitch contest.

The winner of the Trailmix competition was Snacktivist Foods, a Coeur d’Alene company launched in 2015 that creates egg-free and gluten-free baking and flour mixes. Snacktivist Foods received $10,000 and placement of its products in the new Albertsons on Broadway. This year, the company added chocolate chip cookie and brownie mixes and is testing shelf life, said CEO Joni Kindwall-Moore.

Other Trailmix finalists included:

• Galimofre Artisan Pasta, a Meridian-based vegan pasta company that has been in business for six months and currently sells its products in three farmers markets, three restaurants and three grocery stories, said CEO Timothy Waddle, also known as Noodle Artist. The products have a fresh shelf life of 7 to 10 days, but can be frozen for larger distribution, he said.
• BGood Bars, a Joseph, Oregon, company founded in 2014 that products six flavors of energy bars that are organic, gluten-free, low sodium and preservative-free, said Judy Goodman, founder. They are sold in 40 stores in 10 states and have a nine-month shelf life.
• Kate’s Real Food, founded in 2010, which produces gluten-free, non-GMO energy bars, said CEO Todd Hanna. Currently, 65 percent of the company’s sales come from the western U.S., he said.
• Voće Tea, founded in 2018, which produces nine blends of organic fruit tea with no additives, no sugar and sustainable packaging, said Jeff Snyder, founder. The product, which is also vegan, started out in Idaho farmers markets and is now sold online and through the Boise Co-op, he said.

The winner of the general pitch competition was Lumineye, a startup out of Boise State University’s Venture College that makes wall-penetrating radar sensors to help soldiers and first responders identify threats.

Other pitch competition finalists included:

• Auya Co., which designs custom, size-inclusive, high-quality athletic apparel, co-founded by a professional, competitive female Olympic weightlifter and primarily also focused on women.
• EPIMONI, which is a free-to-download mobile application and web-based system that brings users with a variety of financial goals together to join rotational pools, where they participate in cycles of contributions and withdrawals.
• GroFive’s, which offered its first product, the Expandal, a sandal that can grow five sizes and last for years. Expandal is a commercial version of the nonprofit product The Shoe That Grows, which gets growing shoes to kids in need.
• LedgerBox, which is intended for the mortgage and banking industries, gathers, organizes and analyzes consumer financial data for monetization by commerce, using a Consumer Driven Leads marketplace with transaction (fee) and subscription income.
• PickItUp, which is a mobile application that connects local residents and businesses with a PickItUp driver, who brings a truck to their location to help them move and haul items, ranging from move-in and –outs and home delivery. The company even takes items to the dump.
• Slant 3D, which is a high-volume production 3D printing service that produces final plastic parts without the cost of molds and tooling.
• StoreFront is an application that notifies users of deals and promotions in close proximity and makes money by selling premium memberships to businesses, including ad prioritization and the ability to verify deals posted by users.

While not strictly a Startup Week event, the Idaho Innovation Awards were announced on Oct. 16 during a separate event sponsored by Stoel Rives LLP, Trailhead and the Idaho Technology Council.

• Commercialized Innovation of the Year: MultiGrip Workholding by VersaBuilt Robotics, a quick-change vise jaw system.
• Consumer Product of the Year: Ammon Fiber Optics by the City of Ammon, a city-owned and operated fiber optic infrastructure.
• Early-Stage Innovation of the Year: Continuous Fiber 3D Printing by Continuous Composites, 3D printing that incorporates continuous fibers with fiber optics and copper wires, which result in a part that can sense and react to environmental stimuli.
• Innovative Company of the Year: Sloan Security Group, Inc., which designs, installs and maintains perimeter security.
• Innovator of the Year: Tracy Lotz, founder and CEO, LiveRez, which helps owners and managers with vacation rental, ranging from online advertising to online bookings to cloud-based management software.

In addition, Joe Albertson, founder of Albertsons Inc., and Bob Miller, former CEO and chairman of Albertsons Companies, were inducted into the Idaho Technology Council Hall of Fame, which has been holding similar events since 2010.

Liz Harbauer contributed to this story.

This story was edited on October 29 to correct the number of attendees.