Posts tagged startups
Pikes Peak Ski Area is a Boulder Fraud case.
Nov 12th
The Resort at Pikes Peak was never going to open. According to the state of Colorado John C. Ball tried to sell securities illegally. They put a stop to him on the Pikes Peak Deal.
In his previous most recent deal gone bad, Ball also managed to skim all of the money out of Eller Industries, a Boulder based broadband company according to two of it’s main stock holders. That company was a pink sheet penny stock company which never produced anything, yet took investors for millions according to sources close to that company. Ball came in to help raise money for a second round, but sunk Eller further in debt. “He got paid, we lost everything” they said.
Pink Sheet stocks are notorious shells used to defraud investors. Companies like Eller were made famous in the movie Bolder room.
There are also questions about John Balls credentials not only as a businessman but as an engineer. Local media have covered this story with a lot of high hopes failing to see that the Pikes Peak Ski resort is just another stock scam.
There have been anonymous posts put up about Ball concerning another Ball company called Running Eagle. According to Scam Book Ball has taken loans out for this company and not repaid them.
Some Eller Industry Boulder stock holders who wished to remain anonymous told Boulder Channel 1 news on Friday that ” John Ball is a fake”. Much of Balls Linked in information could not be verified either.
Boulder Police, District attorney and Colorado Attorney General refused to comment on their investigations into John Ball fraud allegations, but one assistant AG did say “Our office gives theses kinds of cases the highest priority. It is the Lions share of our work. You would be amazed at the number of shady investment deals our office see.”
Actually, we wouldn’t. Boulder has been notorious for scams since Horace Greeley pitched a handful of bad investments concerning railroads in the 19th century. Boulder has seen its share of Gold and coal mine investments go bust too. We’ve had Oil well dusters for over 100 years. The Penny Stock scams of the 1980’s saw companies like NBI go bust. We had huge banking scandals in the 90s. The 2000’s saw Dot bomb busts such as Jared Polis billion dollar loser Blue Mountain Arts on line. It was sold to EXcite but 1000’s of small investors lost millions to Polis in the Excite stock deal. Polis walked away clean, even a hero, but Excite stock holders were ruined.
Some Boulder Billionaires scoff at Polis stock deals including Bob Greenlee former city council member and investor of numerous successful media ventures. Greenlee started the famous KBCO 97.3 in the 1980s. He sold it and then started other Radio stations, bought and sold media properties as well as restaurants and casinos. He has made a lot of people rich and has few losses in his portfolio. He happens to be a conservative Republican compared to Polis radical leftist leanings. Does this suggest that all leftists are crooks and republicans are ethical ?? Not by boulders standards. Leftists can do no wrong in Boulder. Alls fair in Startups and Stock scams There seems to be an ethics difference between those who run successful thriving companies Like Greenlee and Boulderites who create bad stock deals from the beginning.
Jo Pezzillo lost investors money in Go GaGa an ill conceived internet radio station. Pezzillo still prances around Boulder like a God, but he’s another guy with a losing track record with other peoples money. In his case he took some of Greenlees money as well as other VC money, but Go Ga Ga was a dud from the beginning. It is when the public is duped that scammy investments hurt most. Pezzillo still pushes himself in social media as a successful entrepreneur, but his records show a list of Start up failures including Metafly. Pezzillo represents hundreds of scammers who hustle money in Boulders coffee shops
VC’s can weather losses. But not everyone with money should be a VC. Current Start Ups pushed by Tech Stars have had their share of dry holes too. It is always the investors, the little guy, the husband and wife who put their hard earned money in these companies with hope of riches only to lose it that makes us wonder about Boulders start up craze.. Right now Brad Feld and David Cohen are Boulder darlings in the tech startup world. They are worth millions, but their high risk startups are funded by investors. Investors that Feld and Cohen have groomed into becoming Venture Capitalists. It is all a bit quirky. Will Tech Stars blow up too leaving investors burned?? The odds are in that favor.But Boulder always loves a good financial scandal and we never learn from them.
Our advice is watch your wallet and open investment accounts only with the most conservative of houses. Most of Boulders rich use Well Fargo Brokerage at the main branch on the Pearl Street mall. They have been in business there since the gold rush days and they don’t make wild investments.
In the end John Ball is in good company here in Boulder. He is just less skilled at conning investors.
New CU J-school is getting ready for the (digital) revolution
Feb 20th
“This symposium provides the CU community with an excellent opportunity to explore new political and cultural terrain opened up by digital media,” said symposium organizer Andrew Calabrese, a professor of journalism and mass communication. Among the speakers will be Columbia University Professor Todd Gitlin, who will present “Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street: Why 2011 Was Not 1968” on Feb. 27 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 150 of the Eaton Humanities Building. Gitlin’s upcoming e-book, “Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street,” looks at how that movement differs from the uprisings of previous eras. Mark Briggs, who coined the term “Journalism 2.0,” will talk about a new breed of ‘journopreneurs’ who are launching startups that break from traditional advertising models to find new sources of revenue for delivering news and information. Briggs is the director of digital media for KING-5 TV in Seattle and the Ford Fellow in Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Poynter Institute. His session is on Feb. 29 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 150 of the Eaton Humanities Building. Experts at the conference also will discuss new ways of archiving digital records and how these collections are being used in places such as libraries and museums. Librarians and archivists are looking for new ways to preserve such records, according to symposium organizers. The symposium runs in conjunction with an effort to create a new interdisciplinary school or college at CU-Boulder that may include studies in communication, technology, multimedia storytelling, commercial design and the digital arts and humanities. The effort is called the Information, Communication, Journalism, Media and Technology, or ICJMT, initiative. Journalism and Mass Communication is sponsoring the symposium in support of the ICJMT initiative, with additional support from CU’s Keller Center for the Study of the First Amendment, the Department of Political Science, the English department, the Film Studies Program, the Center for the Humanities and the Arts, CU Libraries and the Advertising A2B certificate program. For more information including speakers and event locations visit http://www.icjmtsymposium.org/.
High-tech, energy saving Boulder company is booming
Feb 8th
Albeo’s High Bay LED Lights provide up to 95% energy savings compared to fluorescent or metal halide (HID)
BOULDER, CO — February 6, 2012 — Albeo Technologies, a leader in solid-state industrial and commercial lighting solutions, announced today significant sales growth in 2011, making it the company’s most profitable year to date. Total company revenue increased 50 percent from 2010 and sales for retrofit and renovation grew 300 percent. All in all, Albeo shipped 26,675 fixtures in 2011 and added 10 new engineering jobs.
Albeo LED fixtures currently light over 7 million square feet of space, the equivalent of 121 American football fields. Much of Albeo’s success in 2011 comes from the company’s ability to offer a wide range of LED lighting solutions that are flexible enough to shine the exact right amount of light in variety of applications. Albeo LED Lighting systems are cost-effective, energy efficient and feature ROI as short as one year. Strong markets for Albeo in 2011, included Fortune 500 data centers, cold storage facilities, parking structures, schools and large manufacturing facilities.
“We are thrilled to be demonstrating such strong and continued growth,” said Jeff Bisberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Albeo Technologies. “Few cleantech startups are growing exponentially. In 2011, our 50% increase in revenues resulted in 10 new “green jobs” in engineering and we expect continued job creation in 2012. We have been profitable for two years now and are grateful to all of our customers who are supporting our success.”
The popularity of Albeo products comes from the ability to fully customize each LED fixture before and after installation. Such modular innovations help architects, facility managers and lighting designers to maximize both energy savings and functionality, while minimizing lighting maintenance costs. In addition, Albeo’s motion sensors and other power saving controls help facilities reduce lighting energy use up to 95%. The average return on investment (ROI) for Albeo products is one to three years. The spectrum of Albeo products range from high bay, low bay and surface mount fixtures, to display cabinets and task lighting.
ABOUT ALBEO TECHNOLOGIES
Albeo Technologies is a leading LED Lighting manufacturer for industrial and commercial buildings, such as cold storage, data centers, retail, schools and businesses. The Albeo products range from high bay and low bay solutions, to linear, surface mount and under cabinet fixtures. The company has lit over 7 million square-feet of space to date and have won 14 independently-judged awards, including 5 from the US Department of Energy (DOE). Albeo’s fully customizable, reliable and low-maintenance LED lighting products offer energy savings up to 95% and an ROI of 1-3 years. For more information, go to www.albeotech.com.