If Dustin Peyser has one regret about creating Timnath’s first-ever chamber of commerce, it might be that he sort of put himself out of business.
It didn’t hurt too much. After selling homes in California for years before he moved to Colorado in 2021, he was already questioning the time and effort it was taking to build a new real estate practice in Larimer County.
And after launching the chamber in 2024, he realized he didn’t want to commingle a real estate business with his chamber duties or create any perception that he was promoting himself. “I made a personal decision not to use my chamber position as a way to compete with other members who are Realtors or generate real estate business for myself,” he said.
His job running Timnath’s business-support organization has suited him perfectly. Timnath’s chamber has been so successful that the town next door, Severance, has hired him to help with its chamber.
And at a time when both towns are experiencing tremendous growth, with each doubling in size and sprouting new businesses, Peyser, 47, has become president of both chambers of commerce.
He says he’s doing it out of his belief in local business. He isn’t making a penny to run either chamber.
But he’s also been running the Timnath chamber as a business — and plans to do so with Severance’s chamber — under the old notion that a rising tide lifts all boats.
While Peyser still holds real estate licenses in California and Colorado, he makes a living through Appxecutive, his technology and software-development business.
What’s a chamber of commerce?
Chambers of commerce may seem like relics of the past, as dusty as your grandpa’s Elks Club or Rotary membership.
But that perception is wrong, said Terri Hayes, president and CEO of the Tri Lakes Chamber of Commerce in Monument and chair of the Colorado Chamber Alliance.
Chambers are collectives that support local businesses and nonprofit organizations according to their communities’ needs, she said.
Colorado has around 140 listed chambers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They represent tiny towns, like Del Norte, in southern Colorado, and large cities, like Thornton, north of Denver. Some are county chambers, like the one in West Yuma County. “In our world, when you’ve met one chamber, you’ve met one chamber, because each one molds itself around its community differently,” Hayes said.
Some communities might need economic development, others visitor services. All need networking, education and events that both bring people together and help fund a chamber’s mission.
When Peyser landed in Timnath in 2022, he noticed some big needs — and opportunities. The suburb of Fort Collins had close to 6,000 people then, half of what it has now, he said.
And businesses didn’t have a center, he said, ranging from “Costco to Walmart to people baking bread from their garage and shipping it out,” he said. Most didn’t have brick-and-mortar locations “because at the time there really wasn’t enough space for brick and mortar.”.
He correctly predicted Timnath’s trajectory, though: It’s now one of the fastest-growing towns in the state, with its population surging from roughly 625 residents in 2010 to around 12,000 at latest count, according to the U.S. census.
That growth has led to a housing boom, huge subdivisions and the creation of large retail and business centers in the town that Ben Adams, publisher of Timnath Neighbors magazine, said is anchored by the private Harmony Club golf course, which “attracts a certain kind of person, like the owner of Pedersen Toyota, which is the biggest Toyota dealership in northern Colorado.”
A moat of box stores and chain restaurants blocks “Tinmath proper” from Interstate 25; inside it’s full of boutique restaurants, neighborhoods saying hi to neighbors, kids riding bikes — a laid-back vibe in a community where “we all have a commonality to see this town grow, but grow in a way that it benefits its small businesses and its residents,” Adams added.
All of this made Peyser think launching a chamber would be “a good way to create a connection between people and businesses that might not otherwise be seen beyond the Costcos and Walmarts.”
Creating a chamber from scratch
Building a chamber from scratch was no easy task.
In the beginning Peyser did “all of the things I assumed a chamber had to do,” like attempting to build a governing board and get community buy-in.
But because Timnath had never had one, and most people didn’t know Peyser, the initial plan had to be reworked.
Peyser knew he needed to gain people’s trust, so he held six community meetings over the last six months of 2024. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and weeks prior to the planned opening date of Jan. 1, 2025, he launched the Timnath chamber from his home office.
In the two years since, membership has grown from 50 founding members to 100, who’ve collaborated with Peyser and community partners to create events, promotional campaigns and educational offerings that are rooted in local businesses rather than requiring the chamber to own a building.
Peyser has kept overhead low, so membership dues can support the businesses. He has built most of the infrastructure — a modern website, membership systems, event infrastructure, business resources and automation intended to give a small chamber capabilities that historically would have required a much larger staff.
He still runs the chamber from home, seeing no reason to waste money on rent, utilities and other fixed costs simply so he can point to an office. “At this stage, I’d rather put those dollars into programming, technology and member value,” he said.
He and members launched Timnath Connect, a Saturday market that brings local businesses, vendors, food trucks, live music and residents together and has repeatedly approached the capacity of the available vendor space.
They created a platform during the most recent town council election that gave candidates an opportunity to speak directly with the community about business, growth and Timnath’s future.
And they built a quarterly event, Towns Connecting Over Coffee, for the communities of Timnath, Severance, Eaton and Evans to strengthen relationships across northern Colorado.
Becoming Severance’s chamber president
Timnath chamber member Kerrin McMurdie, an independent travel advisor with Sprout and Goose Travel, said Peyser has created a chamber where everyone works together, feels included and is recognized for their contributions.
She also said Peyser fosters unity: “We’re not just feeding off the chamber for our own businesses’ benefit. We are working together to build a business community.”
Perhaps that’s why, in late July and unbeknownst to him, Peyser’s name surfaced when the Severance chamber was on the hunt for a new president.
Severance is about 7 miles east of Timnath with a similar population.
Their chamber was formed in 2019. And it has “a different vibe than Timnath’s,” Adams said.
“When you go to downtown Severance, it revolves around Bruce’s Bar, which isn’t a bad place. It’s where the Broncos used to hang out, actually,” said Adams, describing the roadhouse famous for a single menu item: Rocky Mountain oysters.
“Severance also has its own library, which is different from Timnath. There’s a couple of Mexican restaurants and they have some great things to offer. But you can imagine, things get very different as you head from Fort Collins to Timnath to Severance to Eaton. Each town has its different vibe but it suits its people.”
So when the previous president of Severance’s chamber, Elizabeth Atkins, was ready to move on, it seemed like a good idea to pull the president of the successful Timnath chamber east.
When she asked Peyser if he’d do it, he said, “A billion percent.”
While it was another job with no pay, Peyser saw it as a great opportunity for the towns of Severance and Timnath.
“We’re building a model where two neighboring small-community chambers can maintain their own identities, memberships and local priorities while sharing some of the operating infrastructure, technology and resources behind them,” he said.