Brandfolder is the easy, new way to organize, evolve and share your brand with co-workers, vendors, clients and the world. Sign up for the BETA at brandfolder.com. Conversation with Bryan Kimbell, CMO.
Q: How did the team form?
A: Brandfolder was renting space out of Galvanize, in Denver, when I found out about them. I have a background with a branding agency in Denver and for the last six years have been helping clients develop brand standards from a strategic standpoint. Brian Parks (CEO) and Paul Arterburn (Head of Product) were working on the app for about 6 months prior to my involvement, which started on the first day of Techstars. It seemed to be the perfect marriage between my itch for entrepreneurship and my professional experience. We also added Ryan Urabe (CTO) on the first day of Techstars – so as a team we are pretty new to working with each other, but get along great.
Q: Favorite things about living in Boulder, CO?
A: When I first moved to Colorado, I came to Boulder. It was 2002. Boulder is an amazing place for a nice lifestyle, work, and seems to have brilliant people around that you would never guess were brilliant because they are sitting in the corner at a coffeeshop, casually coding the next great product or writing a novel. The draw for me is that Boulder has high-quality people already working/living here.
Q: What are your expectations of TechStars this summer?
A: Well, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived. As an accelerator, from what I’ve experienced so far, the reputation of TechStars exceeds itself. It’s a handful of smart people figuring it all out together. It’s really about being in or out. Our expectations are high for our team, we’re all in.
Q: What happens after the program concludes in August?
A: Well, many things can happen but we’re pretty focused right now on building a highly valuable product for our customers. We have pain points that people continue to communicate to us in different ways. So, our challenge is to effectively communicate those so people understand the value without worrying about what it might cost to bring it to the table. We cannot suffer by comparison as well – we plan to have a superior product to bring to the table and demonstrate the difference between any comparable industry products. That’s our challenge at the moment, and what we’re focused on.
Q: How do you unwind when you’re working such long days?
A: For me it’s a bit different because I commute back to Denver everyday. Most of the time I listen to Colorado Public Radio’s classical music to unwind. As a true Boulderites, we have a weekly “beer or two” team recap where we review the last week and set goals for the following week. We’re always going, so trying to unwind is a constant effort as well.
