The LoCo Experience

Mar 08 2025 243 ep. 98 mins 2
The LoCo Experience Podcast artwork

The LoCo Experience is a long-form conversational podcast that dives deep into the journeys of business leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers in Northern Colorado. Hosted by Curt Bear, Founder of LoCo Think Tank, the show brings real, raw, and unfiltered conversations—where guests share their successes, struggles, and lessons learned along the way.

LoCo Think Tank is Colorado’s premier business peer advisory organization, founded in Fort Collins to help business owners gain perspective, accountability, and encouragement to grow both personally and professionally. LoCo chapters bring together business owners at all stages of the journey into professionally facilitated peer advisory chapters, led by experienced business veterans. These groups provide a trusted space to share challenges, seek advice, learn togethter, and support each other’s success.

The LoCo Experience Podcast extends this mission beyond the chapter meetings— bringing the wisdom, insights, and stories of local business leaders to a wider audience.

Our triad mission with this podcast is simple: 

Inspire through real stories of resilience and success. 

Educate by sharing valuable business insights. 

Entertain with engaging, unfiltered conversations.

If you love “How I Built This” and the free-flowing style of Joe Rogan - but with a Northern Colorado focus - you’ll enjoy The LoCo Experience!  Our closing segment, "The LoCo Experience," asks guests to share their craziest stories — and we get some doozies!

It’s a passion project with purpose, and we invite you to listen, follow, and share, and maybe consider sponsoring. Know someone with a great story?  Nominate your favorite business leader for an episode!

  Business  Comedy
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EXPERIENCE 210 | Alex Raymond - Serial Entrepreneur, Techstars Alum and Mentor, Founder of the Conscious Entrepreneur Summit and Host of the Conscious Entrepreneur Podcast

Mar 08 2025 112 mins  
Alex Raymond is a 3x tech startup founder and entrepreneur who made the journey up from Boulder to The LoCo Experience studio to share his journey and some wisdom he’s learned along the way. He was an early client of TechStars, and has been a long-term mentor in the program. And - he share how listeners can expand their business brains and mindfulness at the Conscious Entrepreneu

EXPERIENCE 209 | Scott Kissel - Executive Director of Sky Corral Ranch - Raised in Small Business, Educated in Ministry, Experienced with All of The Above

Mar 01 2025 102 mins  
This week, I was pleased to spend time with Scott Kissel, Executive Director of Sky Corral Ranch - located near the top of the full-year drivable portion of Old Flowers Road in Bellvue, Colorado. LoCo Think Tank has held its annual Next Level Summit at Sky Corral the past two years, and we’re pleased to return this August for another amazing dose of mountain hospitality! Scott ha

EXPERIENCE 208 | Superconnector in a Small Package - Ann Baron, Founder and CEO of Northern Colorado Community

Feb 22 2025 73 mins  
Ann Baron is the Founder and CEO of Northern Colorado Community - an events and networking and business support organization with members across Northern Colorado - as the name would imply! Ann has lived an extraordinary journey, in some ways starting when was adopted from a South Korean orphanage at 4 years old, and raised by a family in Oregon. She became a teacher fresh out of c

EXPERIENCE 207 | Garage Operation to 20,000 Square Feet - Phillip Gottula, Co-Founder and Owner/Operator at FLEXX Productions - Leading the Northern Colorado Event Rental Industry in Service and Technology

Feb 15 2025 98 mins  
Phil Gottula was my first guest to bring in a charcuterie plate - and we shared a beautiful bottle of white wine he also brought in - and we talked about the business of event rentals. Specifically, his business which is the leader in Northern Colorado event rentals - FLEXX Productions. The event rental industry is an interesting critter. Unlike a retail transaction where the custo

EXPERIENCE 206 | Harpist to a King and Winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2011 - Meredith McCrindle and Jai McDowall drop by The LoCo Experience podcast!

Feb 08 2025 119 mins  
Harpist Meredith McCrindle was in Northern Colorado for a few weeks this winter, visiting her parents on an extended trip away from her transplanted home in Ayr, Scotland. For a portion of the trip, her close friend Jai McDowall joined her - his first time in Colorado. I met Meredith when she was at our Rotary Club one morning, promoting her upcoming concert with Jai in Fort Collin

EXPERIENCE 205 | Dain Johnson - Founder & Owner of Rev 0 - Engineer turned Organizational Psychologist turned Coach for Engineers turned Managers, Leaders, and CEO’s

Feb 01 2025 124 mins  
Dain Johnson was a high-level mechanical and industrial engineer for a decade, during which time he worked under some great managers - and some terrible ones! He developed a keen interest in psychology, eventually leading him to further his education with a Masters in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from CSU, and to the founding of his business, Rev 0. Dain is a coach for

EXPERIENCE 204 | Building Health on a Strong Foundation - Jane Brewer, Upper Cervical Chiropractor and Owner of Precision Chiropractic

Jan 25 2025 120 mins  
Jane Brewer grew up in a diverse neighborhood in the heart of New York City, with a constant heart for people and service and adventure. She signed up for AmeriCorps to work in support of Habitat for Humanity projects, and at 22 revealed that she didn’t have a driver’s license when asked to drive a truck and trailer to a project! A few short years later she drove herself to Cre

EXPERIENCE 203 | Intrepreneurship in Action - A Conversation with Cole Shrehlow, CEO of The Flyover and Chief Musician at The Crossing Church

Jan 20 2025 122 mins  
I became acquainted with Cole Strehlow circa 2012, when my wife and I first began attending The Crossing Church in Fort Collins, where Cole still serves as Chief Musician. He was a gifted writer with a Theology degree from a small university in Northern Wisconsin, and was trying to string an income together through church music, freelance writing, and crappy jobs. A few years later

EXPERIENCE 202 | Rick Gardner - Bull Rider, Roofer, Rocket Scientist, Professional Walleye Fisherman, Serial Entrepreneur, Venture Hub Founder, and EOS Implementer

Jan 13 2025 94 mins  
Rick Gardner is an EOS Implementer in our Northern Colorado region. He grew up in Leadville, Colorado, and had his dreams of a long professional bull-riding career ended by injury. He’s gone on to a series of interesting professional and entrepreneurial ventures, and his previous chapter was founding and growing an Venture Accelerator and Investment Hub aligned with University of

SEASON 4 RECAP | Meet Ava Munos, our new Producer for The LoCo Experience + Season 4 Recap + Thanks Alma Arellano!

Jan 06 2025 80 mins  
In today’s conversation, I’m joined by longtime Producer of The LoCo Experience, (and continuing as Operations Manager of many hats at LoCo Think Tank) Alma Arellano, along with our newest employee and incoming Producer of the podcast, Ava Munos! We dig into Ava’s background a bit - which revolved around competitive dance for years - and explore some of the changes coming for