Archive for the ‘Utah’ Category
The Utah Inferiority Complex
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been involved in meetings, forums, discussions, and even my own internal thoughts and doubts as an entrepreneur here in Utah surrounding the questions, “Is Utah as good as Silicon Valley?” “Do we have as much talent as Silicon Valley?” “Is there as much access to capital as Silicon Valley?” If I had a dollar for every time this has come up in the last 10 yrs I’ve been an entrepreneur, I’d have my F-U money by now.
It’s gotten so tiresome. I live in Utah because I want to. Because I live in Utah, I do startups in Utah.
Fred Wilson NAILS the correct thought on it so on top of the
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I’ve lived about 12,500 days. Greatest one? Today!
It’s official. This is the greatest day of my entire life. Day I got married? Not even close. (sorry Amy) Day Kaitlin or Alex were born? Nope. (sorry guys). Day I was born? Well OK, that was probably the greatest day in the history of the world. But today is just out of control cool with news that if you live along the Wasatch Front in Utah will make you literally weep with joy.
In-N-Out Burger is opening a location in Draper, 10 minutes from my house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SL Trib has the details:IN-N-OUT Burger pursuing Draper site
Amen! Amen! Amen! and again, Amen!!!
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Silicon Slopes
For those of you unfamiliar with it, Silicon Slopes is a community site for the technology companies in Utah. It’s been spearheaded by Josh James and Omniture, and recently has added a chunk of other community sponsors and supporters.
A few months back, I realized I had talked with quite a few people that had various concerns about the project, so I condensed them into 3 main areas, and then started working with the Utah Technology Council to get them relayed to Josh and Omniture. They were: 1. What was Omniture’s plans for involvement and control as the project grew, i.e. what’s good for Omniture may/may not be good for
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Misplaced Efforts
There’s some considerable blowback to the whole Proposition 8 deal in California, which is to be expected over such a controversial and hard fought initiative. But you now have a bunch of people talking about ‘boycotting Utah‘.
62% of the population of Utah is “Mormon”. That means they’re on the records of the church. On the high end, probably 2/3 of that number are active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That’s less than 1/2 the state being active in the Mormon religion. And on top of that, not all Mormons were aligned on Prop 8. For the record, I would have voted against Prop 8 if I were voting; I don’t share the same
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Something in the Water?
I’ve lived in Utah for 14 years. I really like living here. Granted, there are some things I don’t like, but hey, I figure that’d happen anywhere, as I’ve yet to hear of or experience the perfect place.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned to focus on metrics and tangible results. However, you have to be careful as any metric can be misinterpreted, but they almost always put you in the right ballpark.
How does one measure entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial activity? There are those that do:
The Milken Institute in conjunction with Greenstreet Real Estate Partners just released their Best-Performing Cities 2008: Where America’s Jobs Are Created and Sustained report. The Best Performing Cities Index
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Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year
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,
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Boy Scouts Had it Nailed
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
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