<soapbox>I’m not going to pretend to have “the” answer to the stated problem, but as a marketing guy who has spent almost 30 years in tech, it’s not as simple as saying “have a technical co-founder.” As other respondents have stated, and my own personal experience has shown, there are just as many overwhelming startup successes out there by non-STEM founders as there are with STEM founders. What makes the San Francisco Bay Area an entrepreneurial ground zero (It’s where I grew up — and started 3 of my own companies, one of which I co-founded while working on my MBA and ended up selling 3.5 years later) and the key to its continued success IMO has more to do with the startup “community” than educational programs.
Sure, we need more STEM grads. Nobody is arguing that. But we’re not going to suddenly recreate the innovation engine of Silicon Valley through educational expansion alone. Silicon Slopes (the organization) is a great resource, but it’s really just scraping the surface of the community efforts we **need** to put in place here in Utah. We need other (yes, even competing) organizations to help founders and academics and service providers find each other. We need more pitch events, networking mixers, hackathons, business plan seminars, and “Ask the Experts” sessions.
To make this happen, it will require businesses, banks, law firms, and solution providers along the Wasatch front to step up and lead, offering their time, funds, and facilities to help make these community activities a reality, in partnership with local schools, startups, and yes, even occasionally competitors.
There are patterns we can follow. Look at the amazing history of SDForum (now Silicon Valley Forum) based in San Jose, CA, and how they have helped to bring together business, venture capital, and entrepreneurs for decades. My own 501c3, formed in the east bay (eBIG.org) back in the early 2000’s as an unofficial sister-company to SDForum went from zero to 10k members in 5 years by creating or sponsoring user groups, pitch and networking events, and by helping the community to connect and grow. We need more of this in Utah, extending what we already have. If we can create more opportunities for the community, it will help us to not only close the skills gaps within our startup community, but will also help attract more investment, more services, and more entrepreneurs looking for a better work-life balance without giving up the resources that are readily available in other regions. </soapbox>
