Utah continues to push entrepreneurship
While the nation may be less entrepreneurial, the desire to be one’s own boss thrives in Utah.
“It’s not the same here, we have a very robust entrepreneurial presence,” said Davis County Chamber of Commerce President Jim Smith. “Entrepreneurial ventures – ventures in Davis County – are alive and well. The Grow Utah Ventures and the Northfront Business Resource Center are well known incubators for entrepreneurial talent.”
Smith credits the state’s business-friendly culture as well as the help it offers people willing to take a risk and create a business for themselves.
Ogden-based MarketStar founder Alan Hall said other states offer similar help, but Utah has a large population of entrepreneurs.
“There is a group of risk taking men and women in Utah, sort of visionaries. They see a business opportunity and they have to start it,” Hall said. “It’s like it’s in our water. Here we like to start and grow our own businesses.”
To help those people along, the Utah Entrepreneurial Summit takes place Wednesday at the Davis Conference Center in Layton.
Summit organizers said it will explore opportunities for start-ups, women entrepreneurs, high technology and investor based companies.
Speakers will include Thurl Bailey, author Judy Robinett and local business and media expert Chris Redgrave.
The summit is only one of many resources the state and its business community offers those looking to start their business.
Matt Toone utilized the resources when he started his own business.
Toone is the founder and chief executive officer of Every28. The company is a monthly service created in March 2013 that delivers feminine hygiene products discreetly to its subscribers.
Toone said he has had the entrepreneurial spirit for a long time, realizing very early that he did not want to work for someone else.
For the last decade, Toone said he tried his hands at other things before finding success with this latest venture.
Hall said Utah’s success rate averages the same as many other states, but like Toone, people keep trying.
“Entrepreneurship is not a one shot deal,” Hall said. “Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. You do it for the rest of your life.”
When Toone finally quit his job to work for himself, he found encouragement from his employers.
“I was very much surprised how supportive they were, everyone down from the founder to the boss to the employees,” Toone said. “I was surprised how supportive everyone was of entrepreneurship.”
The entrepreneur friendly climate made it easy for him to obtain a business license and set up as a limited liability corporation. Toone said the available resources helped him set up a business plan, a marketing plan and an execution plan.
He also found a strong a network of angel investors led by people including Hall.
Despite the business climate in other states, Utah continues to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit.
“There is an independent spirit that you see in Utah,” Smith said. “They are unafraid of work and they look to what they see to a degree as a way of controlling their own future. Entrepreneurship fits the Utah psyche.”
The Utah Entrepreneurial Summit will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Check-in is from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Admission is $35, but scholarships and discounts are available.
For more information, visit utahesummit.com.
Contact Jesus Lopez Jr. at 801-625-4239 or jlopez@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @jesuslopezSE and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/JesusLopezSE.