This may not seem like a big deal to some of you. Silicon Valley has many billion dollar venture funds, after all. But for startups in Utah, this is huge news. A $23 million fund focused on seed investments of $100k to $1 million can provided a needed boost to dozens of companies. If even aContinue reading “Announced: $23 Million Venture Fund in Provo, Utah”
Category Archives: Utah Entrepreneurship
Meetups for Utah Entrepreneurs
If you are a founder or co-founder of a startup company in Utah, check out the Entrepreneur Brainstorm Lunches that are being held a couple of times per month. The next one is tomorrow at Mimi’s Cafe in Orem, starting at 11:30 am. The format is simple. Everyone buys their own lunch. Every founder gets toContinue reading “Meetups for Utah Entrepreneurs”
Never Eat Alone – Brainstorm Lunches for Utah Entrepreneurs
Never Eat Alone – Brainstorm Lunches for Utah Entrepreneurs A few years ago, inspired by the book Never Eat Alone, I started holding casual, pay-for-your-own-lunch lunches with other entrepreneurs in Utah. We called these “entrepreneur brainstorm lunches.” We usually held them at Magelby’s restaurant, where at the end of the meal for some reasonContinue reading “Never Eat Alone – Brainstorm Lunches for Utah Entrepreneurs”
Rural entrepreneurship
On Saturday, I’ll be speaking in Kanab about technology enabling rural entrepreneurship. I have spoken at a few rural business conferences in Utah in the past. Usually I talk about how internet marketing (Google AdWords, affiliate marketing) and social media (blogging, Twitter, Facebook) can help rural businesses grow. But this time I’m hoping to addressContinue reading “Rural entrepreneurship”
Four Steps to the Epiphany Author Speaking in Utah
Just spreading the word…. ENTREPRENEURSHIP NETWORKING LUNCHEON featuring Steve Blank (rising celebrity in the entrepreneurship world) “Why Accountants Don’t Run Startups” Thought leader in entrepreneurship, Steve Blank, author of “The Four Steps to the Epiphany,” will share his current thinking about startups, how and why they’re different than large companies, and a few thoughts aboutContinue reading “Four Steps to the Epiphany Author Speaking in Utah”
First Utah iPhone Developers Meetup
Last year I started a Facebook group for Utah iPhone developers. The group now has 146 members. Recently, Cary Snowden (of CrunchLunch fame) and Brad Hintze jumped in to help run the group, and they have actually started organizing real world (hopefully monthly) meetings for this group. The first meetup will be at Novell (buildingContinue reading “First Utah iPhone Developers Meetup”
Utah Entrepreneurs: Don’t Miss This Free Lecture Series
Josh Coates is one of the most talented and energetic entrepreneurs/engineers I have ever met. I had the pleasure of serving on his advisory board at Mozy.com for a brief period as he was first launching his company. He outgrew my very part time services very quickly and I watched him build a very excitingContinue reading “Utah Entrepreneurs: Don’t Miss This Free Lecture Series”
Big Event for Utah Investors and Entrepreneurs, Nov. 20th
Mark Cuban pointed out on his blog last week that President Elect Obama has made his first mistake: he failed to appoint a single entrepreneur to his economic advisory team, when it is clear that "entrepreneurs that start and run small businesses will be the propellant in this economy." He suggested that the new President should "ask the people who are actually starting new businesses what they need," so that the government doesn\’t adopt policies that will backfire by hurting entrepreneurs.
This morning I watched a 1 hour documentary on the Biography Channel about Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, who by 1985 was the richest man in the United States. It was especially interesting to see how he grew up during the Great Depression, and how many of his values and goals were shaped by watching his father eek out a living during the depression.
iPhone Developers, Unite!
A few months ago, after feeling the initial rush of getting a million users of our Facebook app We\’re Related in just 29 days, I set up a Facebook group with an admittedly dumb name: Utah CEOs With a Facebook Strategy. It now has 488 members. We met a couple of times in Provo earlier this year. Jason McGowan and Michael Jensen from our team at FamilyLink.com shared with about 30-40 attendees how to build an app that is viral and can scale, and I tried to pump the Facebook opportunity as well as I could. I\’m a true believer in what Facebook did with their Platform, as you will see from my original blog post the day they announced it, back in May 2007, when I predicted that Facebook would become the world\’s leading social network.
Crash Course in Internet Marketing Starts March 15th
Yesterday I met with about a dozen entrepreneurs who came to the Provo Labs Academy to learn about the 12-Week Crash Course in Internet Marketing that starts next Thursday, March 15th at 5 pm.
An email will be going out to about 1,000 Utah entrepreneurs early next week, as well as a few additional marketing efforts. We have room for at least 10 more people to sign up for the class, but space is limited, so sign up today at www.provolabs.com/academy/
