Living in Boulder, Colorado, I am surrounded by entrepreneurs and startups, but we don’t have a lot of national brands based in our small town. There are two that you’ve heard of, however: Celestial Seasonings and Crocs.

The former makes tea. Really good tea. The latter? They make those ubiquitous rubber shoes with the holes punched in ‘em, and a whole lot more.

I was out of the country when Heelys hit the scene, so learning about them later, as a novelty shoe line that reminded me of the KangaRoos I wore when I was five, was more of a mental pop culture note than a personal world-changing one. Had I been ten when they became popular, they likely would have shared Reebok Pump status in my personal must-have shoe history.

Then again, I also hadn’t noticed the rise of Uggs and Crocs, either; the thigh-high black boots traversing Japan’s rail system I found a dozen levels more interesting, but for entirely separate reasons.