The LoCo Experience
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!
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 99 minutes
- Episodes
- 269
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
EXPERIENCE 177 | Building a Multi-Location Bourbon & Bacon Colorado Pub with Ryan Wallace, Co-Founder and CEO of William Oliver’s Publick House
I popped into William Oliver’s Publick House a few weeks ago at the end of the day, to grab a quick beer and a snack - and ran into the owner whom I remembered from their early days - Ryan Wallace. …
EXPERIENCE 176 | Diversification, Innovation, and Generations - Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCahan, Father and Daughter, and CEO and Director of Marketing and Culture at Fiske Electric
In today’s episode of The LoCo Experience podcast, I had the pleasure of getting to know Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCahan from Fiske Electric. Fiske is an electrical design and contracting business …
EXPERIENCE 175 | Gaining Traction with a Fractional C-Suite - Getting Down to Business with Jill Simonds, Founder and CEO of Savvy Strategic Partners
By scanning Jill Simonds’ LinkedIn profile, one can see that she is achievement-oriented. Coordinator to Manager at her first career stop, and then Manager to Director at the next, and then Director…
EXPERIENCE 174 | Many Chapters, Music Always - An Inspiring Conversation with Max Mackey, Singer/Songwriter for Max Mackey Music, Max Mackey Trio, Max Mackey Band, et al.
I met Max Mackey soon after he opened Moto Haus Coffee in South Fort Collins off College Avenue. I’d recently become the proud owner of a 1976 BMW R75/6, and the former owner told me of a group of o…
EXPERIENCE 172 | The Tim Taylor to my Mr. Wilson - My Next Door Neighbor Chris Corbin, General Manager of Clarity Project Management
In April of 2020, in the early days of the lockdowns and pandemic threat response - we got new neighbors. Days after, we invited them to our then-12th annual backyard Cinco de Mayo party. Thinking “O…
EXPERIENCE 171 | Aaron Everitt - Meeting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump Trials & Tribulations, “Mr. Science” Anthony Fauci on the stand and…NoCo Real Estate Update
This week on The LoCo Experience, we welcomed back Aaron Everitt, our sponsor through his business, Logistics Co-op, and regular guest of the show for real estate updates and real talk on national an…
EXPERIENCE 170 | Cockroach Problem Leads to Launch of a High-Growth National Signing Agency - Autumn Fleck, Founder & CEO of Precision Signing Agency
A few years into their marriage, Autumn Fleck and her husband, Trevor, made the decision that they wanted to budget well, save hard, and retire early so they could travel the world and live a life se…
EXPERIENCE 169 | Escaping Venezuela and Building a Business with American Values with Diego Rago Vega, Founder and Owner/CEO of Obsidian Atlas
Diego Rago Vega is a chef, a writer, a philosopher, and a permanent resident here on political asylum - but he came to America long before it was trendy. He and his family operated an import/export …
EXPERIENCE 168 | Growing a Family and a Business to be Strong Like Good Coffee - Julia and Andy Leach of Toddy, LLC - Global Leader in Cold Brew Coffee Systems
I first learned about Toddy, LLC circa 2013, during the twilight of my banking career. The story I heard was that the owners of a local marketing agency, Clay Pot Creative, had purchased a manufactu…
EXPERIENCE 167 | The Ins and Outs and Valuations of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry with Todd Brooker, President of Cawley, Gillespie & Associates, Inc. in Austin, Texas
I got acquainted with Todd Brooker through LinkedIn, where we follow some of the same voices, and learned last fall that he spends a lot of time in Fort Collins - where his daughter Libby Brooker is …
EXPERIENCE 166 | Change Your Perspective, Change Your Business with Duane and Chad Stroh, Co-Founders and and President/VP of Healthy Harvest expeller-pressed non-GMO cooking oils.
Duane and Chad Stroh are the father and son that lead the team at Healthy Harvest in Berthoud, CO, which also includes Duane’s wife and Chad’s sister, and one red-headed step-child in a key operation…
EXPERIENCE 165 | Pioneering a Cleaner and Greener World with Serial Inventor and Entrepreneur Ed VanDyne - Founder, President and CEO of Plastic 2 Green and Founder, President, and Team Manager of Tetrahedron Racing.
In today’s episode, I was honored to be joined in studio by Ed VanDyne, one of the most fascinating guests we’ve had on the show. When you look up serial entrepreneur in the dictionary, you’ll find …
EXPERIENCE 164 | Your New Favorite Pediatric Dentist, Dr. Katie Foster, Founder and Owner of Timnath Kids Dentistry
Dr. Katie Foster booked time with me out of the blue last spring (which never happens), and brought cookies and we shared a very enjoyable coffee and conversation. She was weeks away at the time fro…
EXPERIENCE 163 | Headed West with Workday Ninja Micah Johnson, Veteran CEO, CTO, and COO and Process Optimization and Automation Expert
I was introduced to Micah Johnson by Jeffrey Beyle, one of my guests during Season 1 of The LoCo Experience (Episode 29 if you wanna check it out), and one of my spies in the Boulder area. By spies …
EXPERIENCE 162 | Love to Appreciate and Let Go of the Rope with Diana Rogers Jaeger, author, speaker & leadership and employee retention expert.
Diana Rogers Jaeger joined me for an uplifting conversation and shared her fascinating life and career journey that led her to Northern Colorado in 2022. Diana is the founder and owner of Love to Ap…
EXPERIENCE 161 | An American Dream featuring a Chinese Family with Peter Yu, Candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District
I was introduced to Peter Yu by a mutual friend, as the liberty-minded person’s best pick for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. Peter has a great record of success in both big and small busines…
EXPERIENCE 160 | Palmer Flowers and Paul Wood Florist SOLD! - Exclusive Interview with Tim and Danielle Jordan, owners of SG Window Tint and Mold Removal Express (and former owners of Palmer Flowers and Paul Wood Florist)
Tim and Danielle Jordan joined me in The LoCo Experience studios on March 5, 2024 - just 4 days removed from concluding the sale of a pair of legacy businesses in Northern Colorado - Palmer Flowers a…
EXPERIENCE 159 | Be a Better Team by Friday with Justin Follin - CEO and Co-Founder of BLUECASE Strategic Partners in Austin, Texas
Justin Follin came all the way from Austin, Texas to Fort Collins a few weeks ago - not to be on the show, but to visit his younger brother Sean - my guest on Episode 134, who introduced him to me as…
EXPERIENCE 158 | Scouting a New Path with Shani Canillas, Owner and Editor of The Scout Guide Fort Collins
My guest today was Shani Canillas, Owner and Editor of The Scout Guide Fort Collins. The Scout Guide is a visually appealing coffee table kind of book, featuring classy storytelling pictorials of go…
EXPERIENCE 157 | A Truly LoCo Experience! - Guest Host Viktor Bjerre, 15-year-old exchange student from Denmark, interviews LoCo Think Tank Founder and LoCo Experience Podcast Host, Curt Bear
If you tuned in for our bonus episode last week, you’ll know that today’s episode is a bit of a change-up from our normal routine. I met Viktor Bjerre a few weeks back, while recording the bonus epi…