Set in the heart of Colorado’s tech community, the University of Colorado Boulder is a petri dish of new ideas and ambitious young entrepreneurs. It’s no surprise, then, that the University plays alma mater to a number of Colorado startup founders.
Here are just a few of the former Buffs who went on to start their own Colorado-based tech companies.
Chris Rothe, Co-founder and CTO
Chris Rothe attended the University of Colorado Boulder from 2000 to 2004, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. Rothe founded Red Canary in 2013 with fellow Kyrus colleagues Brian Beyer and Keith McCammon. Since its launch, Red Canary has brought in $8.6 million in funding for its cyber threat detection and response platform.
Heather Terenzio-McCollester, Co-founder and CEO
Heather Terenzio-McCollester earned her masters in civil engineering from CU in 1995 and has been working in IT ever since. She co-founded two businesses and has served as board member to numerous tech and entrepreneurial organizations. In 2000, Terenzio-McCollester co-founded Techtonic Group, an IT and software consulting firm, with the company’s COO Manuel Charca.
Trent Hein: Co-founder and Co-CEO
Trent Hein (pictured left) attended CU for both his undergrad and graduate programs in computer science. Hein was the CTO of the tech company XOR Inc. for over 10 years before co-founding AppliedTrust with Ned McClain in 2001. AppliedTrust provides IT infrastructure, opensource consulting and security services to businesses.
After obtaining her bachelor’s in engineering from the University of Arizona, Sherisse Hawkins came to CU to earn her master’s in engineering management. In 2012, Hawkins co-founded the interactive digital content platform, Beneath the Ink, which was recently rebranded as PageDip.
Brett Jurgens graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate. After launching a career in finance and business development, Jurgens founded the IoT smart home startup Notion in 2014 with fellow CU grad Ryan Margoles.
Ryan Margoles, Co-founder and CTO
Ryan Margoles attended CU from 2003 to 2008, graduating with degrees in both mechanical engineering and operations management. After working as senior product development engineer for several years, Margoles joined forces with Jurgens to develop Notion’s easy-to-use home monitoring sensor.
Anna Thielke attended the University of Colorado Boulder and obtained a degree in fine arts. She worked as a UX and graphic designer for only a few years before co-founding Gociety, a social networking platform dedicated to lovers of the outdoors.
Sharif Alexandre, Founder
Sharif Alexandre received a master’s in computer engineering from CU in 1998. He has founded three software and tech companies in Colorado, the most recent of which is FABRIQ Technologies. FABRIQ offers “safety as a service” with an advanced platform that integrates with wearable and applications to embed personal safety features that protect the user.
Andrew Altorfer, Co-founder and CEO
Andrew Altorfer participated in CU’s mechanical engineering program until 2000. Before his position as CEO of CirrusMD, Altorfer worked as an advisor to and investment banker for early- and growth-stage tech companies. In 2012, he joined Blake McKinney MD and Elliot Sands in co-founding CirrusMD, a text message-based telemedicine platform.
Ted Guggenheim, Co-founder and CEO
Ted Guggenheim got his business degree from CU Boulder in 1986. Over the years, Guggenheim has founded and developed multiple companies, launching TextUs in 2012 with co-founder Andrew Kimmel. TextUs allows businesses to send and receive text messages for marketing, recruiting, customer engagement and a number of other applications.
David Cockrel received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. After working for years in the insurance claims business, he founded Spex in hopes of developing smarter and faster ways to assess damage and perform insurance claim inspections. Spex is now in its fifth year and continues to grow its Denver-based team.
Photos via featured companies, social media and Shutterstock.
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