A few weeks back, we found out that I was selected as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Utah region.

Last night was the finalist reception and I was able to meet quite a few of the judges, the sponsors, and the other finalists.

To all the other finalists I say good luck and congratulations! I am very proud to be included with the names/companies included in this year’s 25 finalists. It’s a list of incredibly talented and focused entrepreneurs, many of whom I know very well.

I’m honored to be able to represent Doba in this program. All credit goes to my family, Doba’s employees and their families, our vendors and advisory board members, and our thousands of satisfied customers. The award will be announced at a special black-tie gala event on June 27, 2008, at the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

Here is the list of the 2008 Utah Region Finalists:

Agel
Glen Jensen
American Name Services
Jill Grammer-Williams
AtTask, Inc.
Scott Johnson
Companion Systems Design & Manufacturing
John Hansen
Al Tiley
Sally Tiley
Dianne Williams
Costume Craze, LLC
Kate Maloney
Discovery Investment Group
Paul Gifford
Doba
Jeremy Hanks
G Code Ventures / Utah Flash
Brandt Andersen
Harmons
Bob Harmon
Randy Harmon
Mindshare Technologies
Richard Hanks
John Sperry
Move Networks, Inc.
John Edwards
Mozy Inc (Berkeley Data Systems)
Josh Coates
Packsize LLC
Hanko Kiessner
ProPay, Inc.
Gary Goodrich
R&O Construction
Orluff Opheikens
Seastone LC
Warren Osborn
SnapLock Industries, Inc.
Jorgen Moller
Skullcandy
Rick Alden
Suh’dutsing Technologies, LLC
Travis Parashonts
Thomas Arts
Dave Thomas
Titanium Solutions, Inc.
Todd Sibley
United First Financial
Jonathan Bonnette
Don Jorgensen
Matthew Lovelady
John Washenko
Skyler Witman
Wescor, Inc.
Wayne Barlow
Xactware Solutions, Inc.
Jim Loveland
Xlear, Inc.
Nathan Jones

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When I was in the Boy Scouts I learned that my motto was to: “Be Prepared.”

About 2 weeks ago, I particpated in a Funding Universe LivePitch event in Sandy. The positioning to aspiring entrepreneurs was:

Come pitch your idea to a panel of local experts, to get feedback on presentation, or recruit /hire, or to build partnerships. If you do not wish to present come and be a part of the audeince and network with others entreprenuers and businesses.

Funding Universe picked 5 companies to pitch to the audience and this panel of judges:

Steve Grizzell: Innoventures Capital
Dan McPhun: Park City Angels
Jeremy Hanks: Founder and Chairman of Doba
Mark Bonham: Ray Quinney and Nebeker
Kent Thomas: CFO Solutions and member of Olympus Angels

One of the dynamics with these events is that you only get 7 minutes to pitch your business.

It was also billed as a great networking event, and my guess is that all told, about 100 people showed up.

I really enjoy helping with events like this. Helping entrepreneurs is one reason I try to do this blogging thing. Having said that, I’m a pretty busy guy. I know the other 4 judges, and I know all of them are busy too.

I have to be honest. The 5 companies that presented didn’t listen when they were scouts. In my opinion, they could have all done more to be better prepared with their presentations (especially to pitch their business in only 7 minutes). I really don’t think any of them practiced before hand with the time limit. If they had been more prepared, the feedback the panel gave them would have been more valuable than: hey, work on your presentation.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to invest A LOT of your time so that when you have the chance to use other people’s valuable time to help you further your efforts you: a. get something valauble in return, and most importantly, b. you don’t waste someone else’s time.

My time there definitely wasn’t a waste. It was fun, it was great to meet some new people, I enjoyed giving feedback to the presenting entrepreneurs, and Funding Universe did a super job in putting it on. Just saying to “Be Prepared.” One of my favorite quotes is:

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

My guess is that Boy Scouts are luckier as a group compared to others (at least if they follow their motto).

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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

I’ve posted about Launch Magazine before.

I’m on the editorial board, and this is another great issue. My good friend Mikal Belicove wrote the cover story called Are Awards Worth the Effort? on page 22. (HTML version of this article is here) Good stuff. Mikal lays out the good and the bad with awards, and I enjoyed reading it especially because of how many awards and recognitions Doba has received in 2007.

More info about this issue:

• Awards- Are They Helping the Bottom Line, or Just Feeding Egos?
• Understanding Angel Investors
• Entrepreneur Diary: Teri Sundh (Podfitness) & Her Microsoft Partnership
• College Business Plan Winners- Where Are They Now?
• Entrepreneur Spotlight: Benoy Tamang (HookSell)

I attended an Executive Roundtable yesterday afternoon at the State Capital Building. The Mountain West Capital Network (MWCN) organized this event for MWCN members and Utah 100 Winners with ties to healthcare, consulting, biotech, biomed, and a few high-tech representatives.

Dr. Norman Thurston (an advisor on Healthcare to the Governor and the Legislature) led a dynamic discussion on the Governor’s healthcare initiative. Back in September, in one of my Inc 500 Conference summary posts, I stated: “The health care system in America (and our culture that is driving massive increases in cost) is screwed six ways from Sunday.”

After yesterday’s discussion, I stand by that claim 110%. Some interested tidbits from the presentation by Dr. Thurston:

• Since 2000, health insurance rates have doubled
• In 2006, rates increases at twice the rate of earnings and double the rate of inflation
• In 1960, consumers paid for 69% of health expenditures
• In 2005, consumers paid for 26% of expenditures (it’s shifted to insurance companies)

Basically, those 4 points are INSANE. We have a sense of entitlement in this country in that we think someone else is responsible for my health care costs, and ultimately, that makes all of us very irresponsible of our own health. There is no transparency or visibility for consumers. There are no incentive programs in the system to reward consumers for better personal health management. Healthcare professionals are not incentivized and compensated for quality. They actual make more money by giving you more quantity of healthcare.

In the question that I asked during the discussion yesterday, I said that I thought the Healthcare system in America is the most complex man-made system in the universe.

It sounds like some folks here in UT are going to try and get some laws passed to try to change these trends. And they’re not going to wait for the Federal Government to try to make changes. I’ve uploaded the PPT slides they used to present the case for and the plan to address Utah Health System Reform in Utah. They’re hoping to pass all these reforms in 2008. I think this will be hard, but I am glad someone is doing something. The way it’s going now, everyone form entrepreneurs and small businesses to consumers of healthcare to large corporations are heading quickly down a very disastrous road.