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IHC at the Spirit Awards

2 hours ago

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By Bill and Matt Ryczek | November 13, 2026

Most days at Idea House & Co., we’re focused on what comes next: a design decision, a prototype, a manufacturing challenge, or helping a client figure out where to invest their resources.

Last night, we had a chance to pause and appreciate the people doing that work.

On November 12, our team and their partners attended the 24th annual Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards at the Riverside Convention Center. Organized by the Randall W. Lewis Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal State San Bernardino, the event celebrates entrepreneurs building businesses throughout Inland Southern California.

We were honored to represent Idea House & Co. in the Service-Based Entrepreneur category. Being included among this year’s finalists was meaningful to both of us—and something we wanted to celebrate with the people who helped make it possible.

Idea House & Co. began in 1996. Thirty years later, the business reflects the effort of many people: those who helped build its foundation, the team moving it forward today, and the clients who have trusted us with their ideas.

Our work puts us alongside people taking risks of their own. Some are developing their first product. Others are improving an established product or tackling a problem their internal team needs help solving. Behind each project is someone committing time, money, and energy to making something work.

We understand that responsibility because we live it ourselves. Building a business requires decisions without perfect information, patience when progress takes longer than expected, and people willing to work through difficult problems together.

We’re grateful to Thomas Wang, Thomas Castro, and Geoff for what each brings to IHC. The problem-solving, care, and follow-through our clients experience come from their daily efforts. Having the whole team together last night made the evening especially meaningful.

We’re also grateful to our spouses and partners. They share in the uncertainty, listen when the day has been difficult, and support the work in ways that rarely appear in a project update. They deserved to be part of the celebration.

Thank you to Mike Stull and the Spirit Awards team, the judges, and everyone who makes this recognition possible. Congratulations to the honorees and fellow finalists.

And to our clients, collaborators, and friends: thank you for trusting us and being part of the story.

We’re proud of what we’ve built together—and excited for what comes next.