In today’s episode of The LoCo Experience, I welcomed Nate Hines back into the studio for his second appearance - with the agreement that he gets to interview me for the second half of the show! Nate was our final guest of Season 4, (Episode 200) - and in 2025 he executed the strategy he shared in our previous conversation - acquiring and integrating three water engineering firms!

Hines Inc. is the leading voice in the #waterfirst movement, which encourages developers and property owners to consider water first when designing anything from a residential landscape plan to a city park to a major subdivision. This can save 30% or more on install, 30% or more on maintenance, and increase the longevity of systems through professional management. We zoomed in on Nate’s skills-building journey, which included bruising lessons from a failed merger, and the support and encouragement of an advisory board along the way.

For the second half of the show, Nate interviewed your host, Curt Bear. We discussed the philosophies that drive our policies at LoCo Think Tank, my why in becoming a small-L libertarian, and we closed with a selection of LoCo Experiences from yours truly - specifically, a quick tour of the five times I’ve nearly killed myself and my wife in raging rivers, on mountain passes, or on a motorcycle! - so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Nate Hines.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Today’s episode features Kris Buchanan, Founder of Phase Three Product Development and Co-Founder and CEO of RedDrop Dx. RedDrop Dx has developed an FDA-approved, pain-free blood collection device that is used at home! Drawing on years of experience designing medical instrumentation and microfluidic systems, he and his partners set out to solve the “blood acquisition” problem as a standalone, scalable solution rather than a one-off component tied to a single test.

RedDrop offers a simple at-home kit that uses heat to bring capillary blood close to the skin’s surface, followed by a quick, virtually painless micro-needle activation that creates tiny openings and applies gentle vacuum to collect blood. The process avoids nerve stimulation, reduces contamination, and produces a consistent, lab-ready sample. RedDrop is FDA-cleared and sold business-to-business, primarily to diagnostic companies, healthcare providers, and testing services.

Kris is one of those sneaky entrepreneurs that fly under the radar, employing ~25 leading edge engineers at Phase Three Product Development - which his son Will is now managing - and changing the world of data collection (via blood) in the medical space. You’ll be sure to hear more about him and RedDrop Dx in the years ahead, but start here and please enjoy my conversation with Kris Buchanan.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Now This is NOCO! - Ben & Kelsi Harris, Owners of This is NOCO and the NEW Discover NOCO Magazine

On today’s episode of The LoCo Experience podcast, I’m excited to introduce Ben & Kelsi Harris to our listeners! They are the owners of the This is NOCO media company, and recently expanded their offerings through acquisition of Discover Fort Collins magazine - which will be adding editorial and community content and rebranding as Discover NOCO this spring!

And - they’ve recently come aboard the team for The LoCo Experience podcast - Ben in production and Kelsi managing social media and Co-Hosting a new short-form Business & Community News segment on The LoCo Experience!

Ben & Kelsi came back to Northern Colorado in 2020, escaping Covid-nation in California, where they worked together at a Christian camp - and Ben rekindled his production business, The Hype and the Heart at that time. The opportunity to acquire NOCO Date Nights Instagram page surfaced in January 2024, and they’ve grown their following and rebranded to This is NOCO in the summer of 2025. They are all about local, and together, we’re LoCo for Local, and so please welcome to the show - and to the team - and enjoy my conversation with Ben & Kelsi Harris of This is NOCO!

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain