Denver Startup Week Q&A: Louise Gunderson, Gamma Two Robotics

Eric Peterson | Thursday, September 12, 2013

Louise and Vigilus face off. Frank Vappi

Vigilus patrols the Denver County Fair. Frank Vappi

Jim Gunderson

Founded by husband-and-wife Ph.D.'s Jim and Louise Gunderson, Gamma Two Robotics and Vigilant Robots have recently won awards at the ASIS, ISC West, and ESX trade shows for the Vigilus Security Robot, a $60,000 robotic replacement for a security guard that never gets tired or bored. The Art District on Santa Fe-based company is field-testing the award winning robot as it eyes other vertical markets. Louise recently spoke with Confluence as part of a series of Q&As for Denver Startup Week.

What's the big news at Gamma Two?

The big deal here is we're looking at hiring a professional CEO. Jim and I are both scientists and engineers. We are good at what we do but we are not serious businesspeople. We are looking at raising serious money, so we're looking to find someone who has experience doing that. We're looking for $5 million.

We know we're good technologists. [The awards] are a validation of our technology.

What do you like about Denver's startup scene?

I think it's really exciting to be in a community where there are so many ideas floating around. It's not Boston or Palo Alto, but people can afford to be here. People want to be here.

And when we've needed help, we've found it. Local manufacturers have bent over backwards to help us. There's a technical community, which is vital, but there's also a support community for making plastic and metal. The common saying is, "Nah, Denver?" Yeah, Denver. I think we're hitting critical mass.

What are some of your favorite spots in Denver?

The Breckenridge Brewery taproom on Kalamath. A lot of work after work happens there.

We're members of the Denver Press Club. We love it. I know I can always find somebody interesting to talk to.

I'm a bit of a booster. I think it's a great town.

Any other hobbies?

When the bad weather starts, we're out with the storms. We're amateur storm chasers.

When we drove out to Nashville for the ESX show, it was some of the best bad weather I've seen in years. We stayed discretely away -- we had a robot in the truck.

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Eric Peterson with tips and leads for future stories at eric@confluence-denver.com.

Denver Startup Week Q&A: Louise Gunderson, Gamma Two Robotics

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