Two of the three founders of Halfdays, a Denver-based women’s ski apparel brand, were among those named to this year’s “30 under 30” lists produced by Forbes magazine. (Courtesy Halfdays)
At least 15 people with a Colorado connection were included on this year’s “30 Under 30” lists from Forbes magazine.
The individuals are either founders of a Colorado-based company, went to school in the state or were specifically said by Forbes to live in Colorado.
Forbes launched the annual “30 under 30” feature in 2011, naming young leaders in their fields from the United States and Canada. The magazine selects 30 winners for each industry-specific category, ranging from “social impact” to “consumer technology” and “food and drink.” That means hundreds of individuals make the list each year.
Here are the individuals who founded a Colorado-based company:
Kiley McKinnon and Ariana Ferwerda
Age: 27 (both McKinnon and Ferwerda)
Category: Retail and Ecommerce
Title: Co-founders of Denver-based ski apparel brand Halfdays
Partial description: “After competing in the 2018 Olympics in men’s clothing, professional skier Kiley McKinnon teamed up with friend Ariana Ferwerda to start Halfdays, a women’s ski wear company that makes functional gear that doesn’t sacrifice on style … Halfdays has raised $3.5 million in funding from Precursor Ventures and others, and expects sales to surpass $8 million in 2022.”
Age: 28
Category: Science
Title: Co-founder of Orbit Fab
Partial description: “Schiel’s Colorado-based aerospace startup has raised more than $14 million from investors … He’s developing orbiting tanks and refueling shuttles to fill up satellites running low on the propellants required to maneuver in space. In October, he signed a $13 million contract with the government to deliver hydrazine fuel to Space Force satellites in 2025.”
Jack Roswell, David Schurman and Oleksiy Zhul
Age: 24, 25, 24
Category: Social Impact
Title: Co-founders of Perennial
Partial Description: “In hopes to unlock soil as the world’s largest carbon sink, the Boulder, Colorado-based company uses artificial intelligence and remote sensing to help farmers optimize and monetize a switch to regenerative agriculture practices. To date, the company has raised $25 million dollars from top climate, food and technology investors.”
Tyler Hernandez and Michael Strand
Age: 29
Category: Energy
Title: Co-founders of Tynt Technologies
Partial description: “Using a technology called reversible metal electrodeposition, Tynt makes windows with the ability to adjust their tint to optimize visual and thermal comfort and reduce building energy consumption from light and HVAC use. They calculate that broad adoption of their windows could save 2 gigatons of CO2 emissions each year. Tynt has raised over $11 million in seed round funding and now has 22 employees at its Boulder, Colo. headquarters, prepping for product launch in 2023.”
Here are individuals who attended a Colorado-based school, according to their LinkedIn profiles:
Age: 26
Category: Consumer Technology
Title: Co-founder of EcoTok
School: Colorado College, 2014 to 2018
Partial Description: “TikToker-cum-researcher Abbie Richards specializes in understanding how misinformation, conspiracy theories, and extremism spread on TikTok … She is a co-founder of EcoTok, an environmental Tiktok collective that specializes in social media-based climate communication.”
Age: 28
Category: Marketing and Advertising
Title: Co-founder of uSERP
School: University of Denver, 2012 to 2016
Partial Description: “In 2019, Jeremy Moser co-founded uSERP, a digital public relations agency and SEO link-building company. The 40-person agency said the company is on track to garner $3.3 million in revenue this year.”
Age: 29
Category: Science
Title: Scientist at Ark Biotech
School: University of Boulder, 2011 to 2015
Partial description: “Natalie Rubio’s research is focused on growing meat from cells instead of animals.”
Age: 26
Category: Social Impact
Title: Co-founder of Heirloom
School: Colorado School of Mines, 2014 to 2018
Partial description: “Here’s a cool idea: Use hot rocks to fight global warming. Heirloom superheats limestone to extract its CO2 and stores the gas far underground. The treated mineral then acts like a wrung-out sponge, reabsorbing greenhouse gasses from the air.”
Age: 28
Category: Energy
Title: Co-founder of Ammpower
School: Colorado School of Mines
Partial description: “At AmmPower, Zhang is developing the world’s first decentralized and electrified ammonia production unit, which uses renewable electricity, air, and water to produce green ammonia that can serve as a hydrogen carrier, carbon-free fertilizer, fuel or nitriding chemicals in the semiconductor industry. AmmPower is backed by $3 million in funding.”
Here are individuals for whom Forbes’ profile states they are from Colorado or currently live here:
Age: 27
Category: Sports
Title: Middle blocker, U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team
From: Colorado Springs
Partial description: “In Tokyo, Haleigh Washington helped the U.S. win its first Olympic women’s volleyball gold ever and was named best middle blocker of the tournament.”
Age: 28
Category: Energy
Title: Vice President of Investments for Greenbacker Capital
Based: Denver
Partial description: “She manages five to 10 acquisitions at any given time, juggling topics like how cranberry bog farming can accommodate floating solar panels or how to structure a preferred equity investment in 300+ megawatts of energy storage facilities across four states. Greenbacker has received more than $2 billion in funding.”
Two of the three founders of Halfdays, a Denver-based women’s ski apparel brand, were among those named to this year’s “30 under 30” lists produced by Forbes magazine. (Courtesy Halfdays)
At least 15 people with a Colorado connection were included on this year’s “30 Under 30” lists from Forbes magazine.
The individuals are either founders of a Colorado-based company, went to school in the state or were specifically said by Forbes to live in Colorado.
Forbes launched the annual “30 under 30” feature in 2011, naming young leaders in their fields from the United States and Canada. The magazine selects 30 winners for each industry-specific category, ranging from “social impact” to “consumer technology” and “food and drink.” That means hundreds of individuals make the list each year.
Here are the individuals who founded a Colorado-based company:
Kiley McKinnon and Ariana Ferwerda
Age: 27 (both McKinnon and Ferwerda)
Category: Retail and Ecommerce
Title: Co-founders of Denver-based ski apparel brand Halfdays
Partial description: “After competing in the 2018 Olympics in men’s clothing, professional skier Kiley McKinnon teamed up with friend Ariana Ferwerda to start Halfdays, a women’s ski wear company that makes functional gear that doesn’t sacrifice on style … Halfdays has raised $3.5 million in funding from Precursor Ventures and others, and expects sales to surpass $8 million in 2022.”
Age: 28
Category: Science
Title: Co-founder of Orbit Fab
Partial description: “Schiel’s Colorado-based aerospace startup has raised more than $14 million from investors … He’s developing orbiting tanks and refueling shuttles to fill up satellites running low on the propellants required to maneuver in space. In October, he signed a $13 million contract with the government to deliver hydrazine fuel to Space Force satellites in 2025.”
Jack Roswell, David Schurman and Oleksiy Zhul
Age: 24, 25, 24
Category: Social Impact
Title: Co-founders of Perennial
Partial Description: “In hopes to unlock soil as the world’s largest carbon sink, the Boulder, Colorado-based company uses artificial intelligence and remote sensing to help farmers optimize and monetize a switch to regenerative agriculture practices. To date, the company has raised $25 million dollars from top climate, food and technology investors.”
Tyler Hernandez and Michael Strand
Age: 29
Category: Energy
Title: Co-founders of Tynt Technologies
Partial description: “Using a technology called reversible metal electrodeposition, Tynt makes windows with the ability to adjust their tint to optimize visual and thermal comfort and reduce building energy consumption from light and HVAC use. They calculate that broad adoption of their windows could save 2 gigatons of CO2 emissions each year. Tynt has raised over $11 million in seed round funding and now has 22 employees at its Boulder, Colo. headquarters, prepping for product launch in 2023.”
Here are individuals who attended a Colorado-based school, according to their LinkedIn profiles:
Age: 26
Category: Consumer Technology
Title: Co-founder of EcoTok
School: Colorado College, 2014 to 2018
Partial Description: “TikToker-cum-researcher Abbie Richards specializes in understanding how misinformation, conspiracy theories, and extremism spread on TikTok … She is a co-founder of EcoTok, an environmental Tiktok collective that specializes in social media-based climate communication.”
Age: 28
Category: Marketing and Advertising
Title: Co-founder of uSERP
School: University of Denver, 2012 to 2016
Partial Description: “In 2019, Jeremy Moser co-founded uSERP, a digital public relations agency and SEO link-building company. The 40-person agency said the company is on track to garner $3.3 million in revenue this year.”
Age: 29
Category: Science
Title: Scientist at Ark Biotech
School: University of Boulder, 2011 to 2015
Partial description: “Natalie Rubio’s research is focused on growing meat from cells instead of animals.”
Age: 26
Category: Social Impact
Title: Co-founder of Heirloom
School: Colorado School of Mines, 2014 to 2018
Partial description: “Here’s a cool idea: Use hot rocks to fight global warming. Heirloom superheats limestone to extract its CO2 and stores the gas far underground. The treated mineral then acts like a wrung-out sponge, reabsorbing greenhouse gasses from the air.”
Age: 28
Category: Energy
Title: Co-founder of Ammpower
School: Colorado School of Mines
Partial description: “At AmmPower, Zhang is developing the world’s first decentralized and electrified ammonia production unit, which uses renewable electricity, air, and water to produce green ammonia that can serve as a hydrogen carrier, carbon-free fertilizer, fuel or nitriding chemicals in the semiconductor industry. AmmPower is backed by $3 million in funding.”
Here are individuals for whom Forbes’ profile states they are from Colorado or currently live here:
Age: 27
Category: Sports
Title: Middle blocker, U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team
From: Colorado Springs
Partial description: “In Tokyo, Haleigh Washington helped the U.S. win its first Olympic women’s volleyball gold ever and was named best middle blocker of the tournament.”
Age: 28
Category: Energy
Title: Vice President of Investments for Greenbacker Capital
Based: Denver
Partial description: “She manages five to 10 acquisitions at any given time, juggling topics like how cranberry bog farming can accommodate floating solar panels or how to structure a preferred equity investment in 300+ megawatts of energy storage facilities across four states. Greenbacker has received more than $2 billion in funding.”
