Colorado’s innovation and startup scene continues to grow more impressive each year.
In 2023, the state’s accolades ranged from as one of the best North American markets for tech talent to being named the third most innovative U.S. city by the Consumer Technology Association. University of Colorado was even named a top university for startup founders.
This innovative ecosystem has seeped into Colorado’s younger generations, too. That’s where Colorado Inno’s Under 25 list comes in.
The fifth annual list recognizes some of the state’s most effective innovators and entrepreneurs who are 25 years old and younger. After all, the future of our state rests on these students and up-and-coming professionals.
This year’s honorees are opening nonprofits to educate low-income youth about the automotive industry, helping universities navigate AI, launching fintech and healthtech startups and so much more.
Meet the 2023 Colorado Inno Under 25 honorees.
Owen Rask, 22
Senior co-chair of the Colorado College Honor Council
College senior Owen Rask is leaving his mark on Colorado College. In addition to studying economics, mathematics and political science, Rask was a key player in helping the Colorado Spring school grapple with the use of artificial intelligence tools. Rask gathered feedback from students, faculty and staff to interpret the use of AI as it related to the school’s honor code. This led to providing resources for the community and syllabi recommendations.
“The next goal I have for the Honor Council is to alter Colorado College’s honor code to establish school-wide precedence for AI and chatbot use alongside implementing restorative justice measures,” he said.
Rask also manages the college’s academic investigation and sanctioning process and acts as the primary reference for the school’s academic policies and interpreter of its honor code. Beyond school, he spends time outside, listening to music and working with his hands as a blacksmith, woodworker or potter.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Rask: [My father] said the most essential thing in life is to be respected and that respect is a two-way street, so respect others.
Ranjani Koushik, 19
Founder of Healiam
Georgia Institute of Technology student Ranjani Koushik is on a mission to democratize health care. Her Boulder-based startup Healiam offers a comprehensive blood testing panel that covers 56 of the most common blood tests and can be provided without insurance or a doctor’s note. This panel sells for $80 — a fifth of the traditional market price — and empowers patients to take control of their health, Koushik said.
Koushik organizes health fairs in Colorado and Texas and recently began building business-to-business partnerships with wellness clinics, blood drives and pharmacies.
“My next goal is to transition to B2B so that I can replace annual health physicals with our product for employers,” she said. “We’re in the process of building case studies that illustrate how our clients have caught health problems even before they exhibit symptoms, and how in the long term that translates to saving on insurance premiums and doctor visits.”
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Koushik: “There will never be a single decision so important that it ends up making or breaking something. Keep in mind that incremental progress is success.” As a chronic overthinker, it’s easier to just trust and follow this advice rather than leaving myself to my own devices.
Samuel Agranoff, 25
Assistant electrical engineer at Burns & McDonnell
Samuel Agranoff’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2016 when he launched custom apparel brand Ez Tees for college student organizations. In five years, the startup generated $190,000 in revenue, putting Agranoff on an innovation-focused career path.
As an assistant electrical engineer at Burns & McDonnell, Agranoff still taps into his entrepreneurial side. He and project director Janson Ferrera created a new offering that pairs the company’s consulting services with a proprietary software to calculate ambient adjusted ratings, or AAR (tech that bolsters the transmission capacity of overhead power lines). He is also the initiative manager for the company’s AAR platform, which helps electric utility businesses comply with federally mandated practices rolling out in 2025.
“Hopefully, we can leverage the experience of developing this platform to create a framework for others within the organization to identify similar issues that are facing our clients and quickly develop solutions to support them,” he said.
Agranoff recently moved to Colorado from Columbus, Ohio, and enjoys spending time in the mountains skiing, hiking and camping.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Agranoff: Say “yes.” When you are early in your career, there are so many opportunities in front of you that it can be very overwhelming to pick a direction.
Maile McManis, 16
Owner of Sewing with Smiles and Potty Fairytales
As the youngest innovator on the 2023 Inno Under 25 list, Maile McManis is a two-time founder and student at Northfield High School. Her first entrepreneurial endeavor began when she was just 11 and founded Sewing With Smiles, which sells various handmade bags and purses.
Last year, McManis founded her second company, Potty Fairytales — a children’s book and toy set created to help kids become potty trained. McManis won a $2,000 prize for this startup at a University of Colorado Boulder pitch competition earlier this year.
McManis brought on teenage volunteers this year to help manage Sewing with Smiles, make products and keep up with consumer demand. She’s also searching for overseas manufacturing facilities for Potty Fairytales because creating products on her own isn’t efficient, she said.
When she’s not sewing, 3D printing products and selling goods at local fairs and online, McManis can be found playing volleyball. She is the oldest of four siblings and has helped her sister launch her own business.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
McManis: To take a step back. There are many different interpretations of this saying, but I use it as both a motivator — to push forward and not let people tell me what to do — and a reminder to look at the bigger picture.
Charlyn Moss, 25
Founder and CEO of Working Within
As the founder and CEO of Working Within, Charlyn Moss is helping Black founders access revenue and sustain and grow their businesses. Since founding Working Within in 2021, Moss has helped Black social enterprise leaders raise upwards of $697,500.
“When I reflect on what it’s taken to get to this milestone at a young age, it’s involved a lot of risk and a lot of sacrifice,” Moss said. “I’ve had to get very comfortable with being ... the youngest and to not let that deter me. I’ve had to learn to be assertive, confident and serious. And that focus has allowed me to build a business that can bless and provide for others. It’s extremely fulfilling.”
Working Within, which expects to double its revenue in 2024, is getting ready to hire its first full-time employees and expand beyond Denver. The startup is also building out its philosophy for organizational leadership and wealth-building in the Black community. This includes its current consulting work and, in the future, launching a co-op model for Black businesses to partner on rather than compete for large revenue contracts.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Moss: Never take advice from someone you wouldn’t trade places with. ... People will always have their own ideas for your life, but people can only offer support from their experience. I’ve had to learn that because a lot of what I’m doing and trying out is unorthodox [and was] never done by someone my age. Imagine the amount of fear and ‘warning’ I’ve had to let roll off my back.
Eliana (Elie) Lawrence, 19
Graphic designer and illustrator at Lavender Rain Studio and Spectrum Design Hive
Growing up as a neurodiverse individual presented challenges for Denver resident Elie Lawrence. Lawrence, who has ADHD, autism and dyscalculia, uses art as a form of self-expression and a way to navigate the world around her, one which doesn’t always understand what it means to be neurodivergent.
Lawrence was a 2021 winner of the People of Play’s Young Invention Challenge. She won the most innovative toy or game for her creation of Lotus League, a superhero doll and comic book collection intended to inspire children with disabilities and promote inclusivity.
Today, she continues to use her design skills to promote an understanding and acceptance of neurodiversity, or the differences in how people’s brains work to process information. She’s also creating more card games like Slug of War, which she hopes to publish soon alongside other card games she’s still designing.
“I hope to continue my work as a graphic designer and illustrator while learning to work as an art therapist for neurodiverse individuals, eventually maintaining both careers,” Lawrence said.
When she’s not designing new games and art, Lawrence enjoys reading Greek mythology and ancient folklore, spending time with her dog Sandy, watching “Doctor Who” and playing board games with her family.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Lawrence: “Listen and learn from criticism.” Criticism can be a good thing. Critiques from others will help you make your idea flourish into something bigger and more refined. Even when the critiques don’t mesh with your idea, they can help you understand your invention better.
Nathaniel Hoskin, 25
Founder and lead advisor of Hoskin Capital
Hailing from Crested Butte, Nathaniel Hoskin founded Hoskin Capital in 2020 to change the way young people approach their finances. This year, Hoskin Capital moved away from traditional wealth management fees to a fixed fee for financial planning and a fixed annual retainer for clients who want the firm to manage their money and do their taxes.
“The traditional fee structure robs clients of the power of compounding, all while seeming innocuously small,” Hoskin said. “We now provide the same value by charging based on the work we do, not on how much we manage. This has revolutionized financial planning for HENRYs [high earner, not rich yet] because a solid financial plan has a far greater impact on their future net worth than extra returns on their investment portfolio.”
Hoskin said his goal is to turn Hoskin Capital into a one-stop shop for all things finance — from money management and taxes to buying real estate and negotiating the intricacies of starting a business.
Hoskin has received several national awards, including ThinkAdvisor’s Luminary Award for Financial Education and Rising Star of the Year at the Wealth Management Industry Awards. He also shares financial tips with more than 226,000 followers on TikTok. In addition to giving financial advice, he can be found shredding the slopes of Colorado.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Hoskin: [In 2016], I was so obsessed with personal finance that I barely let myself have fun. My dad taught me ... if something costs $5 or less, just buy it. He explained that the relative value of those purchases, like a cup of chai or a street food kabab, were much higher than large purchases and also didn't blow your budget.
Audrey Frank, 25
Social impact go-to-market specialist at Pax8
When Audrey Frank began working at Greenwood Village-based Pax8, she kept hearing “if you see a gap somewhere then fill it,” and that’s exactly what she did.
With a background in marketing, Frank created her own role on the company’s social impact team to creatively tell the Pax8 story. In just six months, she expanded these efforts to the company’s employee resource groups and giving initiatives and helped implement a new employee-giving platform called Benevity. Her efforts led to higher employee engagement and contributions — even raising $20,000 at a company conference for nonprofit EverFree.
Frank also launched a monthly newsletter to showcase the contributions Pax8 employees make to their local communities. Her next plan is to double Pax8’s impact and employee engagement, a goal she plans to reach next year.
When not working, Frank — who is from Evansville, Indiana — loves going to concerts and listening to live music.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Frank: The saying “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room” keeps coming back to me. Whenever I start doubting myself or notice that I don’t have as much hands-on experience as those around me, I remind myself that being around people who are smarter or more experienced than me helps me learn and feel more confident in what I do. No more imposter syndrome.
Spurgeon Janz, 17
Founder and executive director of Cubs Racing Society
Spurgeon Janz is a high schooler, a student at Emily Griffith Technical College earning a mechanics certification and the founder of a nonprofit. That’s a lot to juggle for a 17-year-old, but Janz sees his age as a big opportunity and said pushing himself has led to more ideas.
He founded Cubs Racing Society a year and a half ago to educate and engage low-income youth about the automotive industry. Janz has formed impressive partnerships with Formula Drift, NHRA, Bandimere Speedway, the University of Northwestern Ohio, the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Program and the Denver Auto Show. He is currently working on partnerships with the U.S. Air Force, Ten80 Education and Acceler8 Education to bring a “next-gen zone” to Formula Drift.
“I believe that the automotive community is so vast and connectable that, if used right, can be a huge agent for positive change,” Janz said. “My lifelong dream is to bring back more of an experience-based education system in public schools across the U.S. where kids are pushed to learn by doing not by watching a screen.”
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Janz: “If you follow the path everyone takes you will end up where everyone else is.”
Jaylene Jimenez, 18
Latinx business strategist and entrepreneurial course developer at The TAJL Group
Jaylene Jimenez is a University of Colorado Boulder student who grew up in Longmont and advocates for underserved individuals.
In her role at consultation firm The TAJL Group, she teaches the Latinx community about entrepreneurship through the lens that “everyone’s number one business is their life,” Jimenez said. She first began educating the Latinx community about resources available to them and expanded to teach them about ways to enhance success.
She has partnered with the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County to scale her reach and Front Range Community College to offer an English as a second language course taught on Saturdays. Of the entrepreneurship classes she’s taught, four businesses launched and continue to grow today.
“My goal is to continue to help underserved people reach their dreams, especially those who migrated here to have a better future,” Jimenez said. “For this, I am pursuing a bachelor’s in finance and data analytics at the University of Colorado Boulder to one day in the future help as many people as I can.”
On the weekends, Jimenez can be found spending time with her family, relaxing and enjoying the small, beautiful things in life.
Inno: What is the best advice you’ve received?
Jimenez: Life is like a coin; you can spend it any way you want, but you can only spend it once. Thus, take the time to figure out who you are. Try new things, laugh, cry, fail and learn — the sky is your limit. If someone hadn’t given this advice to me, I would not be who I am today, and I certainly wouldn’t have accomplished everything I have.
