ENTERPRISE COWORKING COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: ARDITH MENDELL, OWNER OF COMPASS WEST

This month, Diana sits down with Ardith Mendell, owner of Compass West to discuss how their business connects furniture dealers to businesses and individuals. Compass West was one of our earliest members at Enterprise Coworking, now onto their 3rd private office in the space. Learn about the amazing company here!

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:04] Diana: Hello, welcome to another Enterprise Community Spotlight. This month, we’re featuring wonderful member company Compass West. They have been members of Enterprise since our start back in 2016. Ardith Mendell is the owner of Compass West. She is here with us to tell us more about their fantastic team. Hey Ardith, tell us a little bit about your company and what you guys do.

[00:00:26] Ardith: Sure. So Compass West is a multiline manufacturer’s rep group in the office furniture business and our customers are everything from designers to contract furniture dealers. And also we a lot of times get involved with end users. So companies that are looking for furniture and we connect them to dealers who can sell and service their needs.

[00:00:51] Diana: That’s so awesome, I know Enterprise has worked really well with Compas West to Furnish, connects us with the dealers and and furnish this building. And we always get compliments on all of our furniture.

[00:01:06] Ardith: Well, it’s been super fun because we’ve been able to use areas of the Enterprise building to test furniture out and see how it works in actual settings. And we’ve gotten great feedback from some of the members here about what they like and what they don’t like. And that really helps us find that right solution for other companies that are coming to us. So we definitely appreciate feedback on furniture.

[00:01:31] Diana: Yeah, you’re right. We love that relationship too. It’s a lot of fun to test out certain products and they all just happen to be really beautiful, too.

[00:01:40] Ardith: Well, thanks.

[00:01:42] Diana: So how long have you guys been in business?

[00:01:45] Ardith: So we’ve been in business since 2003. And I work with my husband. We’re business partners. We’ve been working together for about that long. And and we love being in this building because we get to be in touch with other companies that are growing and expanding. And we love hearing about what those companies are doing. And we’re just always here to help and and to help help them with simple solutions so that they can help their brand and their companies stand apart from other companies. We represent nine different brands of furniture and eight different companies. So a couple of them, one of the companies has two brands within it. But one of the products that you see behind me, this quiet earth moss, is one of the products that we that we represent. And it’s a preserved natural moss product that helps absorb sound and helps kind of muffle some of the sounds that are in a big office space. And it also brings that green from the outdoors. And so it adds that beauty. And on the back side of it, it’s a whiteboard. So it’s fully functional as well.

[00:03:02] Diana: Incredible. I love that piece so much. It’s striking. Looks like you’re in the Garden of Eden. I love it.

[00:03:08] Ardith: Yeah, well, it’s one of my favorite products, actually. It’s just it’s just so happy and cheerful and warm and it does really cozy office space.

[00:03:19] Diana: Yeah, for sure. What makes Compas West different from other companies in similar fields?

[00:03:26] Ardith: So we try to think outside the box when customers come to us looking for solutions. So we try to find solutions that are kind of different and unique. We ask a lot of questions about their company and the type of people that they’re hiring. Are they hiring and looking to attract more millennials? What what is their what is their core business and what do they do? And we try to create an environment that’s going to help set their brand apart from other companies. We also try to be really, really responsive to our customers. So we try to find solutions to them and we try to find good connections. So whereas we don’t sell anything direct to the end user, most of the time we try to find businesses, other furniture dealerships, that do connect directly to them and that are going to be a really good fit.

[00:04:22] Diana: Excellent. So going back to you, why did you guys choose Enterprise Coworking?

[00:04:32] Ardith: So we actually at the time were living in the neighborhood and we were walking past the building and we saw activity going on in here and we were like, oh, what’s going on in there? In fact, I think we were walking down to Walnut Room for dinner one night and we were really curious about what was going on in this building because it’s been in the neighborhood for a really long time. And Frank found out that it was a coworking space and that got us really interested in, hey, I wonder if we could get a space in there and have a small showroom and and and we did. And it’s worked out fantastically. It’s just such a fun community and so fun to be a part of everything and see people. And and it’s been fun watching businesses move from suite to suite. This is our third suite in this building. And we’ve seen other businesses grow and move into bigger suites and and then other businesses move on to where they’ve outgrown their wouldn’t be big enough for them. So that’s been a really fun to watch businesses grow and kind of incubate in this area.

[00:05:43] Diana: Speaking directly to our viewers, What would you like them to know about your company?

[00:05:49] Ardith: So we love getting to know other members in the building and we’re always here to help. So if there’s anything that you need, if there’s anything that you need for your home office, when you walk by and you see chairs in here, we have this many, probably three times over in our garage that are old samples. So if somebody needs a chair and they’re looking for something for their home office that’s comfortable or maybe they don’t have something at home that where they can work at a desk, we do always have stuff available. We’ve also got a cage downstairs that has some products that are available for sale. So if you need something for your office, for your suite here or for your office at home, definitely swing by and see what we’ve got and ask is what we’ve got and tell us what your needs are. And we’d love to help you if if there’s something. We always have great deals on samples, that’s for sure.

[00:06:48] Diana: Thank you so much. And thank you guys for tuning in. To learn more about Compass West, if you would like to connect with Ardith and the team, you can swing by their office any time and Enterprise Coworking. If they’re not around at that time, definitely leave a note on the door or email her at Ardith@compassgroupwest.com. You can also visit their website at CompassGroupWest.com. Thank you so much. It was so fun.

ENTERPRISE COWORKING COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: ARDITH MENDELL, OWNER OF COMPASS WEST

For our March Community Spotlight, Diana sits down with Pastor Brandon Washington of The Embassy Church to discuss their mission, Zoom church services, and why they think Enterprise Coworking is the perfect home for their office and study!

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:03] Diana: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another Enterprise Coworking community spotlight. Today, we’re getting to know Brandon Washington, pastor of Preaching and Vision at the Embassy Church. Brandon and his team have been longstanding, wonderful members at Enterprise Coworking since 2018. So, Brandon, tell us a little bit about the embassy church and what you guys do.

[00:00:24] Brandon: So we are we are a Bible believing evangelical church. And we are we are located in northeast Denver. So we engage the communities of Cole, Whittier, Five points, Clayton. And our tip is to bring a message of the gospel message to that community. And we deliberately chose that neighborhood because it’s in the season of gentrification and it has some adjusting the makeup of the community. And we thought that that was in line with our mission of the church.

[00:00:59] Diana: How long have you been a church?

[00:01:02] Brandon: We started in 2012, April of 2012, so we will be nine years old this year. It seems that that’s a hard timeline to keep track of because 2020 was such a crazy year. We’re meeting online and we meet via Zoom as our medium on Sunday mornings right now. And because of that, 2020 is complicated because it was both longer than it felt longer than it was, and yet it still went by faster than we anticipated. It’s a weird, it’s a weird emotional experience. So we looked up one day and realized, wait a minute, the ninth anniversary of the church is just weeks away and we have to start preparing for some type of celebration and preparation for that.

[00:01:46] Diana: That’s really big. Congratulations. How is your congression congregation? How is your congregation adjusted to the 2020 zoom meetings?

[00:02:00] Brandon: It depends on who you speak to. It’s complicated. So we one of the great things that that we did not we don’t treat Sunday morning as the sole aspect of our identity, we pursue community within the church in other ways. We have home groups that meet, that meet in smaller settings and that kind of thing. But at the same time, I notice that they miss one. There were two occasions during the fall where we gathered in the parking lot at Enterprise, where we use a radio transmitters, the kind of a drive in theater, I got this idea from you, as a matter of fact, because I spoke to you about a drive in theater situation and I realized that driving theaters use the radio in people’s cars using an ethnic transmitter. So we bought FM transmitter and we would have our Sunday gatherings there in the parking lot of the enterprise. And that’s when I realized how much they miss one another. That was the first time we did that was October. And they had not seen one another since March. And you saw. People, they violated all the protocol that we had in place for covid, so people brought homemade cookies in and they had to fight the urge to to hug one another. So it’s it’s this weird thing where it depends on what day it is. Sometimes it’s a very difficult thing for them. But we’ll have the benefit of this medium that the virtual medium that they didn’t have the last time the world endured a pandemic, the when the flu struck in 1918. This was not available to them, so we’re grateful for this opportunity because it keeps us from being separated from one another entirely.

[00:03:38] Diana: That’s incredible. Shows how you’re just you guys are really flexible community. And that probably leads us to our next question, which what makes the embassy different from other churches?

[00:03:52] Brandon: And it’s unfortunate that this is different. But one of the things that we value is diversity and integration. So if you look at the body, you will not be to tell. I tell people all the time. One of my greatest joys that no one can look at the congregation and decide what the ethnicity of the pastors is, because the church is deliberately we sort this out. We sought out diversity and not just diversity, but integration. I think that diversity is good for a photo op. So on Sunday morning, everyone can see a different a difference in a group of people. And it looks good in a photo op. But when they leave after the benediction, when church is over, they still go two separate ways and they don’t engage one another. So one of the things we were hoping would come of our mission is not just diverse, doing our gathering on Sunday but the lives of that diverse gathering are integrated so they know one another. We tell people all the time that we want this to be a place where you know and are known. And that that requires some hard conversations across lines of distinction, and it’s not just for us, not just the ethnicity, but we also are attentive to generational diversity. We don’t want to be a church that appeals only to men or women that have a broad gender presence there. So we try to approach how we do church in a way that engages more than one people group. And I think that that’s what the church should be. And yet, at the same time as my experience has been, that there is something unique or it is rare, I will be careful. I don’t always leave my case here. It is rare to churches like ours.

[00:05:29] Diana: That’s incredible. Thanks for sharing that. So why did you choose Enterprise Coworking for the embassy?

[00:05:39] Brandon: There’s a few reasons for that. Number one, the enterprise is what I call one, stop shopping. So it’s I love being able to pay one feat at the beginning of each month and everything I need is provided it’s not just rent for the space, but utilities are their Wi-Fi, is there that kind of thing. It’s a good one-stop shopping place. I also like that it’s a shared meeting location. So you interact with people who are in fields that are nothing like the one I’m in. I engage people from different from different professions that are there are entirely unlike mine. It also it also engages personality types of different. So you and I have discussed this. I’m not a dog person and it’s very dog friendly place. And we’ll have to interact with people who are nothing like me. And during non pandemic times, the fact that they are public or centralized meeting locations where where accommodations like coffee and tea are available and even even beer on tap, those those things are all available in our common meeting locations is just the ideal type of meeting venue for us. We also like that it’s only 0.9 miles from our Sunday morning gathering location, it’s essentially within walking distance of what we gather on Sunday is during a typical non-Corona year. And because of its close proximity, where we gather, it’s easy for us to tell people where the office is. It’s an easy address to remember. It takes a lot of boxes for us is a very easy address to remember. The building is hard to miss and there’s lots of opportunity for meetings to occur in the building that benefit our mission as we’re trying to engage people who are coming to see us.

[00:07:33] Diana: That makes me so happy. You guys have been with us since 2018 when we opened our doors and it’s been awesome ever since. Like we love having your team with us. You’re you’re great.

[00:07:48] Brandon: Yeah. It’s, it’s I could not we’d actually like to discuss this in Elders meetings. It you find a place that you think is going to work for you. It looks good on paper and then you meet there for a while and you realize it’s everything. It’s most of what we hoped it would be. It’s not everything that we need. Enterprisers exceeded our expectations there. Yeah, it has exceeded the you and I are like, you are reading face when I walk in you and our type. But the bigger thing is. I mean, I need a place that is quite as I need it for when I’m doing my writing and at the same time admit certain accommodations and I don’t know what is the thing for me, but I like that the facility is clean and think I will not specify where we were before, but we left that place because I couldn’t work well there because it wasn’t clean.

I’m glad when I come here and just when I come in, I never have to worry about the facility being well kept and it’s a comfortable place. I’m not embarrassed to invite people with whom I have meetings to our office space. It checks all the boxes for us.

[00:09:03] Diana: What a major compliment. Thank you so much. And your office, your private office in particular, a lot of people pass by and they are impressed by your library. So many people ask me about that.

[00:09:16] Brandon: I try to have the I try to have the appearance of. Of intelligence, at least, so I don’t think you just have the appearance, I think you’re highly intelligent. Yeah, one of but there was another one of the things that we enjoyed is that there was a diversity of of membership opportunities. So some members of our team don’t use our private office space. They come in and they sit in one of the blue chairs. But I need a space where. It’s almost it’s almost inappropriate to call my office an office, it’s a library to study because my primary responsibility is serving prep and writing for articles and books. And so I need a place where I can have my entire library there for research. And I’m one of the benefits that we have is we have full access to the building. So there are times I’ll come in at two o’clock in the morning and I’m there until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. and I never I’m never worried about my safety or anything of that sort when I’m in the building because of the building as well attended to.

[00:10:14] Diana: Also, what a big compliment. Thank you all for speaking directly to our viewers. What would you like them to know about your team?

[00:10:26] Brandon: Wow. So the that my team will want you to tell you want me to tell you about who we are, the church they still want me to tell you about. Tell you about the mission. And the thing they will want to drive home is we gather every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. and we do that via Zoom you can get the link for that if you visit our website. But we do that every Sunday morning. And that gives you a glimpse into who we are as a church and what we’re trying to do in northeast Denver. And so I would without hesitation, was shameless plugging willingness. I would invite everyone to just come join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. and partake in what we’re doing there.

[00:11:08] Diana: Excellent. That’s that’s a really nice invitation. Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me today, Brendan, and thank you all for tuning in to our community spotlight. If you would like to get in touch with Brandon or visit them for tune in for their Sunday service, you can visit their website at theembassy.org. Thanks again. And see you guys next time.

[00:11:28] Brandon: Thanks for this.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: VICTORIA QUINTANA, CO-FOUNDER OF ISTONISH

This month, Lauren sits down with Victoria Quintana, Co-Founder of Istonish, to discuss the Greenwood Village IT services company, what sets them apart, and how they came to choose Enterprise Coworking as their 2021 office.

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:02] Lauren: Hello and welcome to Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight. This month, we are talking to Victoria Quintana with Istonish. Victoria, thank you so much for sitting down with us and taking the time to talk about your company.

[00:00:14] Victoria: Thank you for having me. Really looking forward to it and appreciate it.

[00:00:19] Lauren: Well, how about you start off by telling us a little bit about Istonish and what you guys do?

[00:00:23] Victoria: Ok, well, at Istonish our team is really pretty focused on providing exceptional IT solutions, and that ranges from infrastructure, which is like cloud migration or networks or data backup to security. And we’ve got productivity support like Office 365 or desktop management. And then software. We have a team that does custom application design and development and that includes mobile apps. And finally, we also offer technical recruiting. And those are some of the basically the key areas that we offer to our clients.

[00:01:06] Lauren: Sounds like you guys do it all. So how long have you been in business?

[00:01:11] Victoria: We were founded in 1990. My sister had an opportunity with US West as a first as a client, a first customer. And so together we ended up starting a business based kind of on the ethic or the service ethic that’s one of our core values. That’s a service beyond reason.

[00:01:37] Lauren: That’s amazing. So what makes Istonish is different from other companies in your field?

[00:01:43] Victoria: I think one of the things that I feel is that we’re a purpose-driven organization. We’re in the process of completing our B Corp certification. And so we’re really committed to doing well as a company, but also doing good. And we have a history in all the years that we’ve been in business about believing that we can deliver superior service and also economically empower others, along with a commitment to the community. And I think that this concept of, you know, having an interest of profit and people could not, it can coexist, but also have a mutually beneficial relationship. So that gets to culture and kind of a mindset and a framework or an ethic about how we deliver services and how we run our company. And I think that is probably the biggest differentiation that I can speak to.

[00:02:41] Lauren: I love that. That’s a great message. And so why did you guys choose Enterprise Coworking?

[00:02:47] Victoria: It’s a beautiful space. It’s convenient for our employees, our customers, and it’s very close to the light rail. It provides a wonderful atmosphere and for collaboration. And in particular, when employees come together so infrequently and we’ve got a lot of remote workers, it matters more that the environment is inviting and inspiring. And we think that that’s what we love about Enterprise.

[00:03:12] Lauren: Thank you so much. We’re so glad you guys chose us. And so speaking to our viewers. Is there anything else that you would like them to know about Istonish?

[00:03:23] Victoria: Our business model is to provide technology solutions that help our customers meet their business needs. We deliver those solutions through automated, remote and when needed, on-site support methodologies. Through our public sector work. We support remote work and rural locations that often represent economically disadvantaged systems. And through a partnership with our Division of Wildlife in Colorado, our software team has created a tracking technology to eradicate or keep our water free of zebra mussels. Other states, there are 13 other states that are now using this tracking program to keep their water free of these species. So we’ve been very conscious to introduce automation, which reduces the carbon footprint and enables to support users anywhere on the planet without having to get into a vehicle or to travel. We deploy extensive virtualization in our data centers. So by maximizing computer power in the cloud, we’re minimizing the physical and environmental operational systems. All of this to say that we’re very mindful to optimize equipment efficiencies and to really be doing what we can, even in a technology services organization, to have a positive, conscious impact on our planet and the people in our communities.

[00:04:49] Lauren: That’s amazing. I love this is also interesting to me. It really is.

[00:04:54] Lauren: I just want to thank you for sitting down with me today telling us about Istonish. We’re so excited to have you as part of our coworking community. For more information on Istonish, you can visit them at www.Istonish.com.

[00:05:10] Victoria: Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

[00:05:12] Lauren: Thank you. Victoria.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: EMILY WRIGHT OF SMART CITY LOCATING

October’s Community Spotlight brings Diana together with Emily Wright, Market Leader of Smart City Locating to talk about the company and their new Denver location inside Enterprise Coworking, how they came to find Enterprise as their home office, and more about the future of connecting renters with apartments through their hyper-personalized approach.

IT PAYS TO BE SOCIAL! For every referral who signs up through a partner’s unique reward link and works with a Smart City agent to apply to their dream apartment, the partner get’s a $50 credit deposited directly to their Amazon account within 5 business days! Click here for Smart City Locating Rewards!

For more information or to get started finding a space to be yourself, find us at SmartCityLocating.com to get started on your custom apartment search! 

TRANSCRIPT:

Diana: Hey everyone, today I’m joined by Emily Wright, Market Leader with Smart City. Emily, thank you so much for joining me and the Enterprise community today to tell us more about your wonderful team. Tell us a bit about Smart City and what you guys do.

Emily: Yeah, so Smart City is a hyper-personalized apartment locating service, and we work with our clients so closely to find them the best deals in the city and served on a silver platter. So I am Denver’s market leader. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to launch in Denver [00:00:30] from the ground up and we actually launched the beginning of May this year.

Diana: That’s awesome. It’s so cool. How long has Smart City been in business? Tell us a little bit of how you got started.

Emily: Yeah, so we launched in Austin of 2013 and it’s kind of a funny story about how my CEO started Smart City. She wanted to go to luxury real estate, but realized that none of her friends were millionaires. So they were apartment renters and they also had friends who are apartment renters and she [00:01:00] took it and ran with it to seven new markets and two more on the way. And we’re going to four hundred and fifty agents across the board by 2021.

Diana: Oh, my God, that is so exciting. What makes Smart City different than other companies in your industry?

Emily: So, I mean, we’re hyper personalized service that goes above and beyond for our clients, were real people were overachievers. We never settle until we find the perfect spot for them.

Diana: That’s so awesome. I see you guys in the space and you guys are [00:01:30] hustlers. Oh, yeah. I walk by and everyone is just on the phone, on email, doing everything, coming and going. It’s really good energy.

Emily: It’s fast paced, but our culture is also like, amazing. You’re not going to have an agent show up in a stuffy suit. Like we’re real people. We’re wearing graphic tees, like none of that corporate stuff. Like we’re having fun with our clients and it’s the only way we want it to be.

Diana: Yeah, definitely. I can feel the authenticity from every individual on your team.

Emily: Yeah, we definitely hire based on our core values.

Diana: That’s [00:02:00] wonderful. There has been amazing growth in your company. Tell us more about your company’s expansion into Denver’s market. What are some goals or achievements that Smart City has obtained recently? And what are you proud of and what would you like to mention for us?

Emily: Yeah, I’m so freaking proud of my team. I started in May with four agents and we’ve grown to twenty one and we’re going to forty five by next March. Right. So hyper growth is just going to be so incredible for our clients because it’s [00:02:30] just going to be give us more ability to work with more properties, find more deals and get better pricing for our clients. Something I’m also really proud of is that we’ve gotten to help 400 clients since we launched in May. And I can’t wait to see how many people we help in 2021.

Diana: That’s awesome. So exciting. Tell us why Smart City chose Enterprise Coworking to be their coworking home.

Emily: Of course, something about us is that we love a good deal. So when it came to shopping around different coworking [00:03:00] space, different office spaces, Enterprise had it all. You could have your you have your cake and eat it too for the right price. The amenities. The staff, can’t beat the cafe. Diana, you’re f***ing amazing. So it’s just it’s not only just a space to work, but you also have a community, the amenities. And it’s just it’s a nice place to spend your day.

Diana: I agree. I’ve been here for about four years, community manager here at Enterprise Coworking, and I just fell in love with it the minute I walked in the doors. [00:03:30] I think that this place has a polished professional sense where you can bring a client in and it’s impressive, but it also has that homey feel where you want to stay and get comfortable and meet friends.

Diana: So last question before we end off. What would you like our viewers to know about Smart City?

Emily: Yeah, I mean, reach out to us. Don’t take on finding an apartment alone. If you’re a homeowner and have friends moving to Denver and the service doesn’t fit [00:04:00] you specifically. We actually just rolled out our awards platform in Denver. So it’s at www.smartcitylocating.com/rewards and you can start making fifty dollars in Amazon credit for every client who you send our way and leases with us. So it’s a fun interactive. You can see where your friends are at in the process. And when you get that Amazon credit, it’s instantly downloaded. So it’s a really great reward platform and I think everyone should use it, you know.

Diana: Great. I’ll get more information about that from [00:04:30] you and we can plug that in our newsletter so that the members can learn more about that.

Emily: Absolutely. I would love that. Thank you.

Diana: Wow, Emily, this has been an awesome time getting to know you and Smart City. Thank you so much again for taking the time to sit down with me and the Enterprise community to tell us more about you. If you’d like more information about Smart City, you can get to their website at SmartCitylocating.com. Or if you’d like to connect with Emily or the team, you can email her directly at Ewright@SmartCitylocating.com.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: ADAM KEHL OF CAPITAL FUND 1

This month Lauren sits down with Enterprise Coworking Greenwood Village member Adam Kehl of Capital Fund 1 to discuss his role and company providing lending services to real estate investors.

TRANSCRIPT:

Lauren: Hey, guys, welcome back to Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight. This month, we’re talking to Adam Kehl, the Colorado director of operations of Capital Fund 1. Adam, thank you for taking the time to virtually sit down with us and talk about your company. Thank you, Lauren. Absolutely. Let’s get into it. So why don’t you tell me a little bit about Capital Fund one and what exactly you guys do?

Adam: Sure. Yeah. So we are a real estate hard money lender. It sounds a lot worse than it really is. What it means is we provide real estate investment loans on any type of real estate property. For most of our loans, They tend to be older properties that need a little TLC. So we take some money, we put it in there and we help investors flip it so they can sell it for a profit. We’re based in Scottsdale, Arizona, but we’ve expanded into Colorado. We also land in Texas and Oregon. Hard money gives real estate investors a competitive edge when making an offer. So it’s essentially a cash offer with a quick close. We can fund in a much shorter time window, something like twenty four to 48 hours, depending on when people need the money and we don’t underwrite the person at all. So if you’re buying a property, we don’t look at Lauren, we look at the property itself, what it’s worth today and what it’ll be worth once it’s improved.

Lauren: Wow, that’s really awesome. And so, how long have you guys been in business?

Adam: Yeah, our founders started the company in 2009 here in Phoenix on the heels of the Great Recession. He was a land developer at the time. So he would take tracts of land, buy them,entitle them, flip them to the big home builders so they could build out all the houses. After the Great Recession, He tried his hand in foreclosure, buying and flipping those, and he found that banks just weren’t lending money. So he found this need for real estate investors that they needed capital. So he started the fund with some of his own cash. And since then, it’s grown to one hundred and eighty million dollar fund. So in something like 11 years, we’ve had tremendous growth. And this has really allowed us to always have capital to fund any sort of deal. And we’re now the largest private money lender in Arizona. So it’s a it’s worked out very well for him.

Lauren: Wow. That’s an awesome story. I love that. So what makes your company different from other companies in your field.

Adam: Yeah, we have a unique competitive advantage in our speed of funding. So we have an in-house underwriting team that can take a property and give a real quote to somebody in twenty four hours. That goes over to our processing team where they can close that same loan in twenty four hours of titles ready to go. So most of our deals have a one week time period almost because of that. Speed and transparency have always been a couple of our strengths here. But we’re we’re also known for being very reliable. We’ve never missed a funding date. And we look at all of these properties through the lens of, you know, partner, if we were if we were looking at this, would we want to own it? And so we give honest feedback about these loans and we value it just like an investor would.

Lauren: That’s great, honesty’s the best policy. Love it. so why did you guys choose Enterprise Coworking?

Adam: Yeah, enterprise is great because it has two locations in twenty four hour access that’s really big for us starting out. So one of our employees lives up near the RiNo location. So if he wants to go and work there for the day, he certainly can. And then the location of Greenwood Village, which is where our office is has a great central location near home builders, title companies and all sorts of the industries we want to be around. So we love it for that.

Lauren: We’re so glad to have you guys for sure. So is there anything that you would like our viewers to know about Capital Fund One?

Adam: Yeah, we’re here to be just another tool in an investor’s tool belt. We give people the ability to put these cash three, five, 10 days close as is where is transactions together, And that really will let you stand out. Denver is a very competitive real estate market right now. And so being able to do that when you have a house that probably gets 10, offers yours with a quick five day close is really going to stand out because you’re going to make it so easy for the seller to be able to take it, take the transaction nice and smooth and get done and out within a week. The system is really reshaped investment real estate in Phoenix. We fund 30 million a month here in Phoenix and Arizona, greater Arizona as a whole. And it’s really reshaped the whole industry here.

Lauren: That’s awesome. That’s great.

Lauren: And thank you so much, Adam, for sitting down with us and telling us a little bit about Capital Fund one. We’re really excited to have you as a company here at Enterprise Coworking. We hope to see big things from you in the future. For more information on Capital Fund one, you can visit their website at www.capitalfund1.com.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: RICARDO, CEO OF BONDADOSA

This month Diana sits down with RiNo member Ricardo Rocha, CEO of Bondadosa to talk about his amazing comapny and team who are addressing food insecurity around Denver and getting meals into the hands of those in need. Bondadosa has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and we have been honored to call a company like Bondaosa a part of our community!

TRANSCRIPT:

Diana: Hi guys, and welcome to Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight. This month, we’re talking to Ricardo Rocha, founder and CEO of Bondadosa. Ricardo, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me over Zoom and talk about your company. Tell us a little bit about Bondadosa and what you guys do.

Ricardo: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. Bondadosa was founded in 2017 [00:00:30] as a social enterprise looking to address food insecurity around Denver. So, as you know, and even now, more pressing now than ever, right through COVID, we all aware that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are at home and at risk and they don’t know where perhaps or when their next meal is going to come from. And so we were founded to focus on this kind of food insecurity, thinking that people like you and I wanted to be [00:01:00] more kind and wanted to be more involved in in supporting a food system that helps people who may find themselves in need thrive, and that we have an active role to play on that. So that’s kind of why we were founded. We were first a technology and now more of a distribution company. So that’s kind of how people can can can work with us.

Diana: What an incredible organization you guys are. And on Bondadosa means Kind. Correct?

Ricardo: That’s [00:01:30] right. It means Kindly.

Diana: Beautiful. How long has Bondadosa been in business?

Ricardo: You know, we’ve been in business for now almost three and a half years, and we have grown a ton. Right. So so over the last year, over the last three years, we’ve just been through all kinds of changes and pivots and running experiments, all related to food access.

Diana: Incredible. What makes Bondadosa different than other companies in your industry?

Ricardo: Yeah, it’s interesting, [00:02:00] right? Because, I mean, when you think about delivery services, you think about post mates, GrubHub and Instacart, sometimes even Amazon. I think what makes us different is our origin story, first. Right. We we are we were founded out of a very specific needs, very focused on those those kinds of of needs. And I think that makes it makes us different. It makes a company culture different. We also run on electric fleets. I [00:02:30] think that’s another cool part about what we do. We you see the vehicles parked outside and we’re looking to purchase more. I think lastly, what makes us really, really different is our ambition to create a more sustainable food system. It’s very focused on food. It’s very focused on connecting consumers to local products and and making sure that along the way we’re doing good. And I think that’s for for many companies, [00:03:00] you know, you’re kind of greenify the social enterprise model. You, like, put a face to social enterprise and it’s just really what we do every day. So for us, this is what we wake up and and go to sleep with.

Diana: Incredible. I love the decals on your car. I mean, you could see them coming from a mile away. And I think their beautiful.

Ricardo: We need ten more of them. Yeah, soon.

Diana: There [00:03:30] has been amazing growth in your company. What are a few goals or achievements that Bondadosa has attained recently that you’re proud of and you’d like to reach in here.

Ricardo: Yeah. You know, we it’s hard to tell from our website, but over the last three months, we’ve spent a significant amount of our resources and time building something called the Denver Metro Emergency Food Network and the Denver Metro Emergency Food Network we stood up a Website and a sign up sheet, really for families who are going to become food insecure [00:04:00] because of COVID. And since then, we’ve delivered about two hundred and seventy five thousand meals to those in need. Over the last three months alone, I think that as a as a as a reason why we’ve grown so much, but also a reason why we need it to exist before and after the pandemic. So, you know, delivering more than a quarter of a million meals in the span of a quarter is an incredible feat. And I am just in awe one of of the team that we’ve built to [00:04:30] make that happen and also eager to find out where it will take us before COVID. So, you know, there are about 16 million meals a year are skipped in the city and county of Denver alone because they don’t know where their next meal is going to come from. And having delivered only about a quarter of a million of them shows you the gap that needs to be filled before COVID right now, only now and now, it’s only gotten wider. And so for me, that this incredible amount [00:05:00] of growth is an opportunity to set us to set us up to really solve this problem long term.

Diana: Incredible. Incredible. Why did Bondadosa Choose Enterprise Coworking as its home?

Ricardo: The charging stations. Honestly, like the number one thing was the charging stations for me. Trying to pilot what a what an electric vehicle fleet would look like and what we would need was a huge part of what we do. The flexibility [00:05:30] around your membership. So like the one hundred ninety nine dollar, 24 hour access membership was really helpful for me. I mean, you’ve seen us grow from one person, one desk to four to eight to now nearly 60 people staffed, you know, so it’s it’s just been a great place for us to experiment with the ups and the downs and the growing pains and the challenges of being a young startup. So for me, it was just a perfect setting and of course, a coffee shop. You know, just having a coffee shop there [00:06:00] and ready to pick you up in the mornings is is this great.

Diana: Amazing. I’m so glad that Enterprisers is able to provide you with a comfortable and flexible coworkig home.

Ricardo: Yeah we love the conference room to right when you invite people over And it’s it’s so inviting and it’s so welcoming, clean, nice and sweet. So we’re just happy to be here.

Diana: I, I’m so glad to hear that. So lastly, what would you like our viewers and fellow members [00:06:30] to know about Bondadosa?

Ricardo: Yeah. So Bondadosa is on a mission to create a more sustainable food ecosystem. We want you all to know that you play an active role in that, which means being aware where you shop, how you shop and how it impacts people, planet and profits across the food ecosystem. And so we’re eager to share what we do with with with all of you and eager to have you be part of our organization in one way or another.

Diana: Amazing [00:07:00] Well, thank you so much, Ricardo, for sitting down with me today and telling us a bit about Bondadosa. we’re so excited to have you part of our community and we’re hoping to see even more big things from you in the future. For more information on Bondadosa, you should visit their Website at bondadosa.org. Or you can contact Ricardo directly by Ricardo@bondadosa.org. Thank you so much.