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Salt Lake City startup event looks to Idaho in its quest for the 1%

Sharon Fisher//January 23, 2020//

Salt Lake City startup event looks to Idaho in its quest for the 1%

Sharon Fisher//January 23, 2020//

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James Wagoner demonstrates the Joule Case, a stackable energy storage system that is intended to replace gas generators, at a Deal Forum event. Photo by Sharon Fisher.

A major Salt Lake City investors conference is drawing a strong contingent from Idaho, with nearly half the participating startups hailing from the Gem State.

Out of 21 presenters at Investors Choice, nine will be from Idaho, according to John Williamson, director of the COBE Funding Accelerator in the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University, partnering with VentureCapital.org. The conference will be held Feb. 20 and 21 in Salt Lake City.

“What’s nice to see is Idaho has grown in size and scope and quality,” said Williamson. “This cohort I’m very pleased with. They’re representative of what you have in the growing ecosystem here in Idaho.”

Idaho participation

photo of john williamson
John Williamson. Photo by Sharon Fisher.

It’s not unusual for Idaho startups to have a major presence at Investors Choice, now in its 36th year, but this is the largest proportion of Idaho startups the conference has ever had, Williamson said.

Idaho participants are:

Many of the Idaho startups in this year’s cohort are familiar names, having presented before at Trailhead, Williamson’s Deal Forum pitch events at Boise State University or Boise Startup Week. Five have already raised some level of funding, from friends and family or seed organizations.

“This represents an opportunity where you can round out your ask or your raise,” Williamson said, noting companies are looking to raise $350,000 to $2.5 million. “Most of the companies we see are seed to Series A – angel and early-stage venture capital.”

One example is Free to Feed, a finalist at Boise Startup Week.

photo of Trillitye Paullin
Trillitye Paullin

“We have a flexible fundraising strategy in which we are currently raising the first $200,000 of a total $750,000 seed round,” said founder Trillitye Paullin, in an email message. “This first traunch, which has been partially raised, will allow for lab testing, small batch production and IP filing,” she said.

Since 2014, when Idaho startups began attending, Idaho participants have raised $55 million, Williamson said. In 2018, 14 alumni – seven from that year – raised a total of $16 million, he said.

“We’re teaching a broader base of entrepreneurs the skill of raising money, and they retain it so they earn more money,” he said.

Conference overview

A big part of the conference is networking, Williamson said.

“It’s a marathon process and takes time,” he said, noting that companies typically need to start asking for funding 12 months before they actually need it. “You’re validating your value proposition, testing your hypothesis, and building relationships.”

At the same time, mentors and other conference attendees are looking to identify opportunities compelling enough to open their Rolodex, Williamson said.

“They’re investing in the team more than in the idea,” he said. Some of the companies may pick up advisors, he added.

The conference also features speakers, such as Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor, and Nick Crabbs, co-organizer of Boise Startup Week, who is on a panel about the regional areas of interest in the Intermountain West.

While Investors Choice conferences are far from the only such entrepreneurial events in the U.S., they have particularly good results, Williamson said.

“Nearly 70% of those participating raise money in 12 to 18 months, and collectively, they raise $45 million per year,” he said.

In the 35 years the conference has been in existence, Utah has had nearly 850 companies participate. Of those, 70% raised $3 billion in early-stage funding, and of that share, 80% sustained operations for more than 10 years, he said.

“That’s critical, because it means they raised more money,” for a total of $17 billion, which drives $4.5 billion in recurring annual revenue, he said.

The conference is looking for the top 1% of successful startups because they can scale rapidly and are vastly disproportionate in terms of the jobs created, Williamson said.

“Those investments acquire high-paid technology talent, which has some very specific benefits to the overall economy,” he said.