Brice Wallace
The new year will provide a new startup for “The Startup State.”
The alliterative branding, first broached by Utah government in mid-2021, will get a new push in 2024. Taking it one step further, Gov. Spencer Cox recently has called Utah “The Startup Capital of the World.”
“Utah has long been recognized as the No. 1 state to start a business, the best home for entrepreneurs and the state with the best economy, and we’re one of the fastest-growing states in the nation,” Cox said in a recent video. “With our incredible quality of life, well-educated workforce and unwavering belief that no problem is too big to solve, we’ve created a unique environment for innovation.”
Utah, he said, has put the building blocks in place: educational institutions that are “churning out” the next generation of leaders, a motivated and highly skilled workforce, and a community that “consistently lifts each other up,” he said.
“In short,” Cox said, “we’ve created the perfect ecosystem for startups to thrive.”
The next steps are to take that and elevate it to new heights, he said. “This isn’t just about Utah. It’s about setting a new global standard for innovation and entrepreneurship,” the governor said.
The initiative is being led by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Brad Bonham, named in January as the state’s first entrepreneur-in-residence.
“And we’ll have more to share early next year,” Cox said, telling Utah entrepreneurs that “we can’t wait to see what you start up next.”
“The Startup State” and “The Startup Capital” continue a trend of entrepreneurship branding. “Silicon Slopes” has been around for more than a decade to describe an idea and an area — some consider it as large as the entire state, while others view it as northern Utah County and perhaps southern Salt Lake County — where tech startups have flourished. And Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall has used the name “Tech Lake City” since early 2020 to encapsulate economic development with an innovation flair, with an initial focus on healthcare.
The name “Startup State” was first used in the summer of 2021 in an early draft of the state’s 10-year economic strategy, developed by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.
The state government’s website indicates that the “Startup State” initiative “celebrates, inspires, and empowers Utah entrepreneurs and those who support them.” It includes a statewide entrepreneurship brand and business resource portal, both launching in early 2024. “This collaborative initiative encourages entrepreneurs to start in Utah and supports them throughout the lifecycle of their businesses,” it says.
The “Startup State” concept was repeated by Cox at the October 2021 Silicon Slopes Summit, and he used the “Startup Capital of the World” description in October of this year at the One Utah Summit in Cedar City.
The “Startup State” label got a boost in January, when WalletHub named Utah the best state in the U.S. to start a business. Cox used the name on a LinkedIn post. That same month, he named Bonham as the state’s first entrepreneur-in-residence to advise his administration on entrepreneurship education, culture and resources within the state and make recommendations on how to enhance the state’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Bonham has been an entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and community leader, including being a founder and a board member of Walker Edison, a ready-to-assemble furniture company, and CEO of BONCO, a family of companies that invest in startups, private equity and real estate. Bonham also served on the GOEO board when the office was known as the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.