This post was originally published on this site.
Techstars is back! Not back in a local-headquarters kind of way, but the tech-business accelerator wrapped up its latest class of startups this week in Denver, the base for its new workforce development program.
Coincidentally, the city of Denver, where now New York-based Techstars opened a new office earlier this year, was named the nation’s hottest labor market by ADP Research Institute, an arm of payroll services giant ADP.
But even Gov. Jared Polis, a Techstars co-founder from back when it was based in Boulder instead of New York, acknowledged that “hot labor market” means different things to employers and workers.
“One of the biggest challenges employers and companies face is attracting and retaining the people they need to power their success and their growth,” said Polis, just before the dozen founders prepared to pitch their startups to investors Thursday night. “Denver, you might have seen it, we were rated one of the top job markets in the country. … That’s great, if you’re looking for jobs it is, of course. But for employers out there, that means it’s a little bit harder to find talent.”
The flip side? “For early stage companies,” he said, “it’s kind of exciting because you can recruit people to come here from other states knowing that if it doesn’t work out, they’re definitely going to find a job somewhere else.”
And as employers and employees have shared, the challenge of finding a good job — or good workers — continues, though today’s trends differ from the labor shortages a couple years ago. The startups that evening were definitely on to something and shared their vision for technology to help hire overlooked workers with disabilities, apps to train a fledgling workforce and programs to boost the underemployed who lack college degrees.
“Growing up, I was advised not to pursue STEM in high school because my textbooks would not be available in an accessible format,” said Kartik Sawhney, who ignored that advice as a blind person and went on to get a computer science degree from Stanford University. “A decade later, 96% of the web continues to be inaccessible.”
He founded IncSkill, which helps employers improve their products and systems for customers and employees with disabilities. Its software scans websites and documents periodically to point out challenges and then provides specific fixes, like adding “a button on the page to increase line spaces and paragraph spaces.”
The team at Flexspeak mixed artificial intelligence with a device to help people with disabilities communicate. By pressing a few buttons to indicate the gist of what a user wants to say, AI translates it into an audible, eloquent sentence.
“To put this into numbers, we’re able to increase the average communication rate from an average of 10 to 40 words per minute,” said Alan Vu, Flexspeak’s CEO who is also a speech-language pathologist who stutters.
Sam Akhtar, a long-time teacher and educator, said she’d had it one day when 19 teachers called in sick or in need of a substitute. Even if there were enough available, the chaos of having to walk new substitutes through schedules, computers and the layout of the school and classrooms. She called it a broken system but mainly because substitutes don’t get the training they need.
So she started SubHub, an app to give those teachers and schools better training for subs, communication and support. Since getting a product out to market, SubHub attracted seven paying schools in 60 days and plans to expand into nine markets this school year.
Another company, Fathom, targets underemployed workers who struggle to find that better-paying job. It uses AI to provide personalized career navigation and support to the job seeker. It’s plugged into the nation’s official job centers to direct workers to specific occupations and training. It also relies on blockchain technology to verify a worker’s experience and skills as a way for employers to find workers.
“We just completed our first federal contract with the Department of labor,” said Fathom’s co-founder JoAdel Adeola. “But wait, there’s more. Since joining Techstars in June, we’ve launched regional workforce pilots in five states covering 33 counties, 12 job centers and up to 4,200 job seekers.”
Several more startups shared their plans and you can watch their presentations here. And it looks like the workforce accelerator was such a success, Techstars is already planning to have another one next year starting in March. Applications are due by Nov. 20.
➔ The stats behind Denver’s top rank. ADP Research looked at wages, annual wage growth and hiring rates for 55 metro areas with a population of at least 1 million people. Denver scored the highest, thanks to a 5.8%-increase in median annual pay, median starting wage of $19 an hour and a monthly hiring rate of 4.5%. >> See report
Poll results: Hard to find or hire workers?
Is it hard to find a job or hire workers in Colorado?
Yes, said 24.1% of 108 readers who responded in a recent What’s Working reader survey. A dozen people, or 11.1%, said no.
As loyal readers know, the reader poll asks a question and provides a few set (and sometimes silly) answers. But there’s a spot for folks to fill in the blank. In the image above, that’s represented by all the tiny slivers of the pie chart.
Some write-in responses:
Responses are definitely not what they used to be during the labor shortage of 2021. But the responses still show the disconnect between what employers want and what workers have to offer. A few others also shared their insight into the labor economy (edited for clarity):
“Hiring quality workers is still difficult.”
“I’m your classic overeducated underemployed worker. I spent months looking for a job that used my degree, an MPA, and paid decently, $50k. There just aren’t many jobs available.”
“We hired at least 7 teachers, one is a rookie, the others averaged 20 years experience! They were glad to land at our school.”
“Personally, I’m retired, but my grandsons haven’t had any problems finding a job.”
“I’m retired but two members of my extended family were laid off three months ago and have yet to find work in their trades.”
“Hired right away after applying and interviewing.”
“Applied for over 500 jobs and had certificates and industry experience and did not even get an interview.”
Thanks to everyone who participated! Here’s the next one:
Current reader poll
If you missed it last week, take the latest reader poll. The Fed is expected to lower interest rates around Sept. 17. Will that change your household budget? Take the latest reader poll and share your thoughts. We’ll post results in an upcoming What’s Working story. >> cosun.co/WWinterest-rates
Sun economy stories you may have missed
➔ AI is growing fast. Here’s how Colorado is trying to keep up. The state and city of Denver take cautious approach to generative AI, as local innovators develop impressive tech >> Read story
âž” Boulder selected as 1 of 3 finalists to host Sundance Film Festival in 2027. Cincinnati and a joint bid from Park City and Salt Lake City are also on the finalist list to host the 10-day festival >> Read story
➔ Xcel drained its $94M energy efficiency budget after marijuana growers took notice — and wants $34M more. “Unexpectedly high customer interest” led Xcel to pull the plug on a program helping businesses green their operations — for now. >> Read story
âž” Wrecked rain gauges. Whistleblowers. Million-dollar payouts and manhunts. Then a Colorado crop fraud got really crazy. The sordid story of two ranchers who conspired to falsify drought numbers by tampering with rain gauges on the plains of Colorado and Kansas, resulting in millions in false insurance claims >> Read story
➔ Coloradans miss out on millions in unclaimed tax benefits each year. A new law aims to change that. The state’s Department of Revenue will help up to 100,000 Coloradans file their taxes to get refund checks and access to tax credits >> Read story
âž” Promises were broken on state-funded Rio Grande dam project, river advocates say. Trout Unlimited and others say taxpayers are not getting what they thought they paid for, though state says all legal requirements have been met >> Read story
What is AI doing in Colorado? Join us at SunFest to hear from startups to state officials. Get your ticket!
Other working bits
➔ City of Denver’s $1.76 billion budget for 2025 is flat. Mayor Mike Johnston pointed to the “headwinds from an uncertain national economic environment,” not to mention the end of federal pandemic-recovery funds for the slight 0.6% increase in the city’s budget for the new year. To cut down on expenses, 200 jobs will be eliminated though that’ll largely be through attrition to avoid layoffs. A goal for the new year, according to the mayor’s announcement? Attracting new employers and investing in workforce development (to the tune of $27.6 million). >> Dig into Denver’s budget
➔ More houses hit the market while prices stay flat. According to the August report from the Colorado Realtors Association, Denver metro area homes sold for a median price of $626,779, down just 0.4% from a year ago. More houses hit the market, though, up 7.1% in a year, and more were under contract by month’s end, up 15.4%. Statewide, new listings increased 5.9% to 8,606 though the number of houses sold dropped 1.3% to 6,087. The median sales price was up 0.7% to $584,000. Buyers are waiting for interest rates to drop, said Kelly Moye, a Realtor in Boulder, in a news release. “Until then, sellers who price accurately and offer incentives will keep the market moving at a steady pace,” she said. >> See latest housing stats
âž” Building broadband? Grant portal has opened! The Colorado Broadband Office has finally opened up the grant program made possible by the $826.5 million allocation last year from the federal government. Hopefully, the broadband builders already are aware of this but what does it mean for Colorado residents? Folks living in areas with internet slower than 100 mbps or none at all are one iota closer to getting a speed hike. >> The portal
➔ Bank of America raising lowest wage to $24. As Colorado’s minimum wage heads up to $14.81 on Jan. 1, Bank of America announced that it’s raising the minimum it pays full-time and part-time employees to $24 an hour, starting in October. And it’ll go up another $1 in 2025 because “Our focus remains on investing in the long-term careers and success of our employees,” the company shared in a statement. The wage hike will impact 14% of its hourly employees and 6% of all its U.S. workers. It employs 950 people in Colorado and has several openings.
➔ Denver Startup Week starts … Tuesday. The entrepreneur fest known as Denver Startup Week returns Sept. 16 and it’s still free though it’s been shortened to three days. With a few sessions starting Tuesday, keep in mind the abbreviated week is run by volunteers with panels pitched by locals. This year, DSW teams up with the first-ever DenAI Summit, a daylong event on artificial intelligence that will include keynotes from LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. >> Register
➔ Tax exemption on equipment used to grow food. House Bill 1003, signed into law this week by Gov. Jared Polis, makes permanent a property tax exemption on greenhouse equipment used to grow food. The exemption also extends to equipment and machinery used to grow food on a farm or ranch even if it’s not attached to a greenhouse. The exemption, open to agricultural businesses, was set to expire after 2027.
Got some economic news or business bits Coloradans should know? Tell us: cosun.co/heyww
Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. Remember to check out The Sun’s daily coverage online. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara
Miss a column? Catch up:
What’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. Email tamara@coloradosun.com with stories, tips or questions. Read the archive, ask a question at cosun.co/heyww and don’t miss the next one by signing up at coloradosun.com/getww.
Support this free newsletter and become a Colorado Sun member: coloradosun.com/join
Corrections & Clarifications
Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.