Drive 40 minutes south of Salt Lake City, and you’ll eventually land in Provo, Utah, the state’s third largest city with a population of just over 120,000. With the Wasatch mountains covering the eastern side of the city and Utah Lake sitting just to the west, Provo’s natural setting and proximity to top notch skiing make it a dream destination for lovers of the outdoors. However, having spent the past few months traveling weekly to Provo for work, I came to realize the town is home to much more than mountains, missionaries, and an odd condiment called fry sauce. It’s also the setting of rapidly growing tech startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Just a 40 min drive from SLC Numerous high tech businesses such as Adobe, Ebay, and Microsoft found the triple threat of low unemployment, an improving economy, and relatively cheap cost of living too good to pass up. They have all set up offices in the Utah Valley over the past few years. Large companies with global call centers or aspirations for international expansion have been quick to leverage the large number of multilingual missionaries belonging to the omnipresent LDS community in Utah. The emergence of a strong business environment can be found on a single street in North Provo that houses three billion-dollar companies (Ancestry.com, Vivint, and Qualtrics) all within 1,000 yards of each other. Moreover, just last year Google selected Provo as its third location to receive the highly sought after Google Fiber, a major benefit to companies both large and small seeking ultra-fast internet speeds.
The secret of Provo and its entrepreneurial hub has been difficult to keep as more and more media outlets have covered the rapid growth of Provo and the Utah Valley, officially naming the region “Silicon Slopes” for its growing population of high tech companies and proximity to skiing meccas like Park City and Sundance. In 2013, Forbes rated Provo the No. 2 city on its list of Best Places for Business and Careers. Additionally, Fortune magazine recently ran a cover story on Utah’s rockstar business owner Josh James and his business intelligence company Domo that landed a cool $125 million in funding last year. James, a Mormon who served his two year mission trip in Tokyo attended BYU before co-founding web analytics company Omniture which went public with James as its CEO at 33 and then was acquired by Adobe three years later to the tune of $1.8 billion.
James is a part of a lengthy list of former BYU Cougars that are helping to shape the tech scene in Utah. The prevalent Mormon community helps to create a heavily shared town and gown atmosphere in Provo that has delivered a noticeable impact on the blossoming startup community. According to an annual state report, approximately 80% of students at BYU are multilingual, supporting a more nimble and proficient workforce required by many young tech focused companies. The highly regarded Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at BYU also helps to fuel the startup scene in Provo. Ranked as the #4 Undergraduate programs for entrepreneurship by Business Insider, the center features a 100% rate of faculty who are entrepreneurs and doles out over $175,000 annually for business plan competitions. “Throughout the school year the center is constantly holding competitions for ideas and startups at all stages of the lean lifecycle” says 2nd year entrepreneurship student Blake Hampson. "The events encourage participation from all over campus and are probably some of the best advertised and best attended of any BYU events."
The secret of Provo and its entrepreneurial hub has been difficult to keep as more and more media outlets have covered the rapid growth of Provo and the Utah Valley, officially naming the region “Silicon Slopes” for its growing population of high tech companies and proximity to skiing meccas like Park City and Sundance. In 2013, Forbes rated Provo the No. 2 city on its list of Best Places for Business and Careers. Additionally, Fortune magazine recently ran a cover story on Utah’s rockstar business owner Josh James and his business intelligence company Domo that landed a cool $125 million in funding last year. James, a Mormon who served his two year mission trip in Tokyo attended BYU before co-founding web analytics company Omniture which went public with James as its CEO at 33 and then was acquired by Adobe three years later to the tune of $1.8 billion.
James is a part of a lengthy list of former BYU Cougars that are helping to shape the tech scene in Utah. The prevalent Mormon community helps to create a heavily shared town and gown atmosphere in Provo that has delivered a noticeable impact on the blossoming startup community. According to an annual state report, approximately 80% of students at BYU are multilingual, supporting a more nimble and proficient workforce required by many young tech focused companies. The highly regarded Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at BYU also helps to fuel the startup scene in Provo. Ranked as the #4 Undergraduate programs for entrepreneurship by Business Insider, the center features a 100% rate of faculty who are entrepreneurs and doles out over $175,000 annually for business plan competitions. “Throughout the school year the center is constantly holding competitions for ideas and startups at all stages of the lean lifecycle” says 2nd year entrepreneurship student Blake Hampson. "The events encourage participation from all over campus and are probably some of the best advertised and best attended of any BYU events."
Growing startups like Money Desktop, Tute Genomics, and IActionable show the broad swath of industries being impacted by companies getting their start in the Utah Valley area. In order to foster the growth of the various early stage ventures that call Provo home, startup accelerators such as Camp 4, a collaborative co-working space offering discounted office space to early stage ventures, have been popping up in recent years. Born out of a partnership between Innovative Network, Provo City Mayor’s office and BoomStartup, a competitive five year old startup, Camp 4 serves as an outstanding example of the benefits of blending government support, established academic involvement, and a talented community. As corny as it may be, “Silicon Slopes” seems like an apt name for this beautiful town with big aspirations.
BYU Campus. The university's positive impact on the Provo Startup scene has been undeniable
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