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This week’s student spotlight features Daniel Knowles, who is a sophomore at the Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder. Daniel studies finance and information management, in addition to minoring in political science and leadership. He is also very involved on campus, participating in numerous groups such as the Leeds Consulting Group where he is Vice President of Engagements, CU Student Government and Leeds Student Government where he is a senator and representative, respectively, as well as Alpha Kappa Psi, one of the professional business fraternities on campus.

Daniel has always been passionate about entrepreneurship. After graduation, he plans to pursue management consulting, but ultimately wants to follow his dream of starting his own company.

He is currently co-founding his first start-up, social venture called GyftCO with two other college students, all born and raised in Boulder, so naturally, they are extremely passionate about the local community. When they all found themselves back at home as a result of their schools shutting down due to the pandemic, they decided to help. 

“After taking input from many small business owners, mentors, and other similar ventures, we founded GyftCO as our solution towards helping the place and people we love.”

How it works

Serving to support the Colorado community through the pandemic, their online platform launched just under two weeks ago. GyftCO connects struggling local businesses with a larger community by providing an outlet to sell e-gift cards. Here, customers are able to pre-purchase the gift cards and redeem them once the stay at home order ends and stores reopen. Now, more than ever, local businesses need our help. GyftCO makes this even easier!

Shifting position

With everything surrounding COVID-19 being so unpredictable, Daniel and his team are also brainstorming possible pivots to their business plan. With stores beginning to open back up, they would like to make GyftCO something that can support local businesses ongoing, as opposed to just during COVID-19. 

Currently, they are focusing on growing and reevaluating GyftCO so they are ready for the shift. Their website will remain up and will start having new features such as a business’ status. Check it out here: