I wanted to post the list and congratulate everyone named to the 2008 vSpring v|100.

Because this is a peer-nominated and peer-selected process, it’s cool to be included with so many great entrepreneurs that are really at the heart of driving the Utah economy and growth story–at least that or it means that I am good looking enough to get the votes to put me in the top 100.

(If you’d like more information, vSpring talks about the selection process for this list)

vSpring Capital v|100 2008 Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs:

Rick Alden — Skullcandy
Curt D. Allen — Agilix Labs
Paul Allen — FamilyLink.com
Dallin Anderson — Code Nutrition
Jeremy Andrus — Skullcandy
Lindsay Atwood — LTA Enterprises
Kirt Bailey — Celio Corp
Brad Baldwin — RMV
Bob Barnes — Zonder
Jeff Barson — Sendside Networks
Jay Bean — OrangeSoda
Brian Beutler — Alianza
Brent L Bishop — ContentWatch
Brock Blake — FundingUniverse
William Borghetti — Sendside Networks
David Bradford — Linking Universe
Dr. Jack Brittain — U of U Tech
Stead Burwell — Alliance Health
Greg Butterfield — Symantec
Josh Carr — Sprout Marketing
David Carter — S5 Wireless
Josh Coates — Mozy Inc.
Jonathan Coon — 1-800 CONTACTS
Troy D’Ambrosio — Pierre Lassonde
Nicole Toomey Davis — GOED COE /Enclavix Director COE/
Ed Donakey — LDS Church/Family
Adam Edmunds — Allegiance
John Edwards — Move Networks
James Endicott — Exact Wave
Bjorn Espenes — Infopia
Christian Faulconer — Public Engines
Martin Frey — PowerCode
JD Gardner — Monarch Partners
Jeremy Hanks — Doba
Richard D. Hanks — Mindshare
Nathan Hatch — Center 7
Matt Hawkins — Sirsi Dynix
Greg Heaps — Allegiance
Tim Hunt — MIR Foundation
Josh James — Omniture
David Jenkins — DealerTrack
J.D. Jeppson — Allegiance
Scott Johnson — AtTask
Steven G. Jones — Vilect
Kimberley Jones — Vérité
Dr. Greg M. Jones — VisTrails
Stan Kanarowski — USTAR
Jeff Kearl — Skullcandy
Abraham Knell — AtTask
Kristen Knight — NuSkin Enterprises
Chris Knudsen — Sapha
Fred Lampropoulos — Merit Medical
Andrew Laver — APL Capital
Bruce Law — Sprout Marketing
Christopher Lee — Heritage Makers
Darren Lee — NextPage
Scott C. Lemon — HumanXtensions
Shawn J. Lindquist — Omniture
Ty D. Mattingly
Ned L. Maxfield — Utah Angel Network
David B. McGinn — Agilix Labs
Glen Mella — Control4
W. Tim Miller — Echelon
Clarke Miyasaki — Logoworks
Ryan Money — DealUtah.com
Mark Newman — HireVue
Dr. Tom Ngo — NextPage
Brent Nixon — Cymphonix
Warren Osborn — Seastone
John Pestana — Omniture
Ben Peterson — Independent
Erich Pletsch — Tier Four
William Price — BYU Center for Entrepreneurship
Michael Proper — DirectPointe
Amy Rees Anderson — MediConnect Global
Prof. John Richards — BYU e-Business Center
Larry D. Rigby — Larada Sciences
Kevin Santiago — Cymphonix
D. Todd Shepherd — Studeo
Otto Silva — AtTask
Eric Smith — Control4
Cheryl Snapp Connor — Snapp Conner PR
James Lee Sorenson Jr. — Sorenson Media
Jesse Stay II — SocialOptimize.com
Joshua Steimle — MWI
Jack W. Sunderlage — ContentWatch
Benoy Tamang — Sapha
Cydni Tetro — NextPage
Kimball Thomas — BilliardEx
Kent Thomas — CFO Solutions
Devin Thorpe — USTAR
Will West — Control4
Tyler Whitaker — TM Ventures
Greg Whisenant — Public Engines
Ethan Willis — Prosper
Dr. Phillip Windley — Kynetx
Ken Woolley — Extra Space Storage
Ralph Yarro — ThinkAtomic
Allan Young — SocialOptimize.com
Richard Zinn — GeoAMP.com

Last Thursday I spoke at the monthly luncheon for the Utah Valley Entrepreneur Forum (UVEF) down at the Novell campus in Provo.

I gave my Adventures in Entrepreneurship presentation. I’m hoping they put my slides and the audio from it up so that I can link to it. I really enjoyed the event, and I met some great people afterwards.

One of those people was John Pilmer. John is the President of PilmerPR. One of the 7 Laws for Entrepreneurial Adventurers I present is to “Leap before you look.” John told me afterward that reminded him of a quote he was familiar with:

But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!’

That quote is from The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951 that was written by W. H. Murray, a Scottish mountaineer.

It’s great. Here’s an adventurer talking about how they leaped before they looked. Entrepreneurs definitely fall into the group of those that dream and of those that begin their dreams with boldness. And if that means as an entrepreneur I can also lay claim to genius, power, and magic, I’ll take it.

P.S. - For those interested, the “Goethe couplet” referred to by W.H. Murray is from an extremely loose translation of Goethe’s Faust lines 214-30 made by John Anster in 1835. For more info, see what the Goethe Society of North America found in their research.

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