The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum last Thursday featured some great April Utah Entrepreneurs. The presenters were all from BYU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and it was hosted by John Richards of the Center for Entrepreneurship.
I took notes on my Blackberry, and I am really getting use to utilizing the power of this mobile device, it is great.
Dave Bateman was the first presenter. He talked about his two successes, Dearelder.com and Property Solutions. He noted that Rick Farr gave him some ideas of getting from the energy that an entrepreneur has, to a good idea or business opportunity. Rick said – find out what pain is out there and provide a solution. Dave said he recently took his first paycheck from Property Solutions to secure a strategic partnership – with his wife! He told a few learning stories of what not to do during the startup phase of your company. He said he is also amazed at how higher education is embracing entrepreneurship
Adam Edmunds was the next presenter. Adam talked about his company Silent Wistle, and their recent acquisition of Alligence, and now the two companies are called Alligence. He talked about the good and bad experiences he had. Something good was that he created a nice company. One of his bad experiences was that he got $50,000 funding from a church friend, but had no agreement for it and how that could of caused major problems. Adam mentioned one of the ugly things he has done, was that he did not know how to fire an employee, so he hired a consultant to fire their first employee that was not working out. Another interesting experience he shared was that he was using American Express cards at Christmas to fund his payroll for a couple months right in the middle of a funding deal with Steve Grizell.
Brian Bugler was the next presenter. Brian talked about his company Alianza. Brian commented on some of the student guests there from Mountain View High School, and how grateful he was that his teacher helped him graduate high school with a sense of entitlement instead of a sense of urgency (as in finding a job). One of Brian’s mentors was Paul Allen, and he heard Paul speak at a big business expo lecture a couple years ago on disruptive technology, and it got Brian thinking. One of the ugly things Brian talked about in his experience was networking, and how it is hard to get networked unless you know the right people.
Gary Williams was the final presenter. Gary is the Director over BYU’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and mentioned that he gets asked all the time what is the secret sauce you guys are doing at BYU, and Gary mentions that the secret sauce is in the students, they would of started businesses with or without BYU, BYU is just trying to give them resources to do it. Gary said that he recommends that young entrepreneurs never give up, and remember that it can be done. Gary told of a quote that President Reagan had on his desk that read “it can be done”.
Overall it was a great event, and there were a lot of new people there. I think this would be a great forum to continue to attend, and I am working on becoming a regular member.
