The Startup Scene at BYU
The secret is out. The greater Salt Lake City/Provo region (a.k.a. Silicon Slopes) has been recognized as a premier place to start a technology business, in no small part due to the great universities of the region — including BYU. Whether you are a student looking to start a business, an investor looking to find a big opportunity, or a general enthusiast in student entrepreneurship and/or technology startups, this article provides an in-depth look into one the of the top campuses for entrepreneurship in the nation. We hope this can serve as both a quick, entertaining read and as a user manual to entrepreneurial success at BYU.
Notable BYU Alumni in Tech/Venture
Graduates of this Provo-based university have been at the forefront of innovation in technology for many years. Did you know that the first TV and hearing aid were both invented by graduates of Brigham Young University? In 1928, Philo Farnsworth invented the first all-electronic television system. Harvey Fletcher is credited with inventing the first hearing aid with electron tubes in the early 1930s.
More recently, many of BYU’s alumni have been focused on the enterprise software space. In 1996, former students Josh James and John Pestana dropped out to start Omniture, a web analytics company acquired by Adobe for $1.8 billion in 2009. Since then, James founded Domo, a company that provides data visualization to business leaders through customizable dashboards. Less than a year ago, Domo raised $200 million at a $2 billion valuation. Pestana has gone on to start ObservePoint, a data quality assurance company that recently raised a $19 million Series B round of funding.
Other successful startups founded by BYU Alumni include Pluralsight, Qualtrics, and InsideSales.com. Years after graduating from the Information Systems program, Aaron Skonnard founded Pluralsight, an online training company for developers and IT professionals. While studying Business Managment, Ryan Smith founded Qualtrics, a leading survey based insight platform. Years after finishing his degree in Philosophy, Dave Elkington founded a sales acceleration platform called InsideSales.com. Each of these companies has grown rapidly as a result of outside funding. Investors in these recently turned unicorns include some of the most well-known venture firms: Sequoia Capital, Insight Venture Partners, ICONIQ, and USVP.
And here are a few BYU startups that have met their high expectations and are growing fast:
Scan: Original QR Code Scanner — Acquired by Snapchat for $54MM
Owlet: This smart sock tracks a baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels — Raised an additional $15MM recently
Simple Citizen: The turbotax of filing for citizenship — Recently admitted to and graduated from YCombinator
Entrepreneurship/Innovation Hubs
BYU’s success in student entrepreneurship has not come by accident. The university invests in entrepreneurship centers that promote and foster innovation across campus. A successful student entrepreneur will likely become intimately familiar with each of these resources.
A perennial top-10 center for entrepreneurship, The Rollins Center is the main hub for entrepreneurship on campus. Its goal is to mentor and teach students, as well as foster a community where they can network and compete to cultivate companies that will change the world. If you are an entrepreneur, you need to get to know the directors Steve Liddle, Steven Fox, and Jeff Brown.
The Ballard Center interacts with students, faculty, and practitioners to search for pattern-breaking social innovations. This organization raises awareness for the world’s most vexing social problems, providing instruction and resources to help students solve them. This includes helping entrepreneurs launch their own social ventures.
Because great companies are based on great technology, Venture Factory is a product development accelerator that helps students turn their ideas into reality. They provide engineering/technical help to help students launch their businesses.
A great mentor is invaluable to the success of any startup. GetMentoring.com is BYU’s mentorship program that connects students with over one-hundred successful entrepreneurs who volunteer to serve as mentors. It is available to any student who wants to validate his/her idea, build a new business, or change the world. Because connecting ambition with experience is so important, this program is one of the key ingredients to BYU’s entrepreneurial success.
Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic
Part of BYU’s law school, this clinic is a student-based program aimed to provide entrepreneurial-minded members of the BYU community with legal services. All lawyers suck, but these ones suck less.
BYU Technology Transfer Office
This office is in charge of protecting and commercializing BYU-made technologies. If great technology is developed at BYU, it will go through the tech transfer office to become a commercialized product. Isotruss is an example of a company leveraging technology from this office.
Clubs
Most student startups are born when two like-minded, high-reaching students meet. Think Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs, Bill Gates & Paul Allen, Larry Page & Sergey Brin, or even BYU’s own Josh James & John Pestana. The clubs listed below can help facilitate the student interaction that breeds entrepreneurial success.
Entrepreneurship Club (eClub):
The BYU eClub is the place to start for BYU students interested in entrepreneurship. It aims to teach students the ins and outs of entrepreneurship while connecting them with like-minded students that can help them build great companies.
Similar to Venture Factory, the Design Thinking Club helps with product development. They practice the art of rethinking the norm to generate beautiful and effective designs for products and processes.
The best developers come together in this club to facilitate recruitment by reaching out to top companies. Many of these developers go work for companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, etc., but top members will often start or join startups.
BYU Private Equity & Venture Capital Club
This club gives invaluable instruction on venture, growth equity and PE. Students learn how to evaluate investments and spot the difference between a cool idea and a great company. Because cash is the lifeblood of a company, cultivating the capital environment locally is an important aspect of the ecosystem. Anyone interested in getting involved can reach out to byupevc@gmail.com.
The BYU Tech Club is an integral part of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. The club is opening up opportunities for students of all makes and majors to work for the best startups in the country, especially here in Silicon Slopes. Developing talent and connecting companies and students allows the top startups of the region to have consistent, fresh talent. Anyone interested in getting involved can reach out at byutechclub@gmail.com.
Graduate Entrepreneur Association
GEA provides the resources and networking opportunities that enable their graduate student members to gain the skill-set necessary to start, acquire or join a high-growth company. It helps those students who are tired of their 17th year of college get connected to potential co-founders so that they can finally leave the books behind.
Investors and Funding
Credit cards maxed out? These funds can provide the cash needed to nail product-market fit. Don’t be shy about reaching out to these student partners for the possibility of funding, strategic advice, or a trajectory changing connection.
Contrary Capital is focused on investing in student-entrepreneurs with a diverse network of Student Partners across the top-45 universities in the country. With this network the firm provides capital, connections, and support for budding entrepreneurs. Check size varies, but the typical investment is around 50k — 100k. Those interested can reach out to the Student Partners at contrarycapitalbyu@gmail.com.
Campus Founders Fund is a venture capital firm investing in student-run startups in the state of Utah. The fund is managed entirely by students and is sponsored by the Kickstart Seed Fund — they typically issue convertible notes of $10–20k to help get startups of the ground. A pitch application can be found on their website to initiate the conversation.
BYU Cougar Capital is a student-run venture capital and private equity fund run by 2nd-year MBA students at the Marriott School at Brigham Young University. BYU Cougar Capital partners with firms across the nation and becomes a member of the syndicate team conducting due diligence on potential investments. When appropriate, Cougar Capital will co-invest with the industry partners in the deal. Since its founding, the fund has invested in 36 companies, with 15 exits to date.
University Growth Fund is the largest education-based private equity fund in the country, giving university students the opportunity to gain real-world experience as they invest alongside top tier investors in many well-known companies across the country. UGF has placed alumni at places like Battery Ventures, KKR, Solamere Capital, and more.
Competitions
BYU’s competitions are one of the most exciting aspects of the ecosystem. The winners of these competitions get exposure to top investors in the community and significant prize money to fuel their companies. Be careful about attending if your significant other doesn’t want you to drop your day job, because those who go often catch the entrepreneurship bug!
The Miller Competition is the largest single-university student venture competition in the nation. Come see how your idea stacks up against the competition in the Big Idea Pitch, Business Model Competition, and Final Event. Workshops and Founders Launchpad, a summer accelerator, will enable students to launch successful businesses.
Building your own app has become a necessity in today’s world. This competition, hosted by the Rollins Center, is a chance for you to showcase, hone, and develop essential mobile development skills. Do you have an idea for the next Snapchat? The competition kicks off in November and runs through March.
Student Entrepreneur of the Year
This event showcases proven entrepreneurs with business that have generated revenue. Those who compete in March have the opportunity to gain exposure to potential investors, network with top talent, and win up to $20,000 in prizes. Be sure to sign up or submit a friend to be considered for this prestigious award.
The SVA works with student entrepreneurs to help build socially-minded businesses, connecting them with the resources and knowledge they need to turn their ideas into reality. There are three phases of the incubator: idea validation, product development, and launch. The Social Venture Academy provides up to $18,000 to fund startups (at no equity stake loss) that aim to make a positive impact in the world.
SIOY is a competition that occurs in March to enable students to turn their creative ideas into a reality. Students have the opportunity to receive up to $400 in grants to build a prototype of their product or buy 3,200 packs of TopRamen — your choice.
International Business Model Competition
The IBMC, hosted jointly by BYU, Harvard, and Stanford, is the first international competition of its kind. Surprised to see these three in the same sentence? Last year, BYU teams took two of the top five spots at the event hosted at Microsoft Ventures. The competition focuses on the key tasks of testing unexamined assumptions in the field and developing validated business models which are manifest through deep customer interaction and understanding. The 2017 event will be hosted at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
Community Resources
As the entrepreneurial environment within campus grows, so to do the external resources. The list below includes a variety of events and organizations that students can leverage.
Entrepreneurship Week (E-Week)
E-Week is dedicated to celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation across campus and informing students about the resources the Rollins Center has to offer.
Utah Student 25 is an awards and recognition program that ranks the top 25 student-founded businesses in the state of Utah according to revenues and profits similar to the Inc. or Forbes 500.
USM is a unique career fair that is focused on connecting students with local startups. Whether you are student looking to network or a startup looking for student interns, this is the place to be.
A weekly event for local entrepreneurs to meet and present their startups to the thriving peer network of founders in Provo. The coffee is highly encouraged.
A transformative, year-length innovation experience for students from any major. Fellows receive a $2,000 stipend, employ ideas from design thinking, lean startup and agile software, learn innovation practices, work for an innovative company, and develop their own innovations.
Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief Clint Betts has led this non-profit to empower Utah’s tech companies. This past January they held their first annual Silicon Slopes Summit coinciding with the Sundance Film Festival. Over 5,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and developers attended the two day event to hear from tech stars from across the country. Speakers included Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, music sensation Kaskade, Benchmark managing partner Matt Cohler, and DC founder Ken Block.
