Crescent moon snowshoes: snowshoes boulder crestcentmoonsnow.com.

• Position: Sports

Jake Thamm and Tamara Laug went snowshoeing in 1997 and the experience led the husband-and-wife team to start a snowshoe company.

"It was really and truly one of those sitting at a bar, thinking about our snowshoeing day," says Thamm. "We said, 'We can make a better binding than what we saw today.' It was an opportunity to extend our passion into a vocation."

Making their snowshoes outside of Colorado was never an option. "We made the decision from the beginning to make our products here - not just in the U.S., but here in Colorado - because it was the right thing to do."

Crescent Moon sold $20,000 worth of snowshoes in 1997, then $400,000 in 1998, and a cumulative total of "150,000...