Utah is already known as a top location for entrepreneurship, and the University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute hopes to keep it that way with a new website for entrepreneurs across the state. The Utah Founders website is now live, and it lists resources to help founders launch a company anywhere in Utah. Resources include incubators, coworking spaces, funding opportunities, government agencies, university programs and more.
“We saw a need to help connect founders across the state with the organizations and opportunities that they need to succeed,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the UofU David Eccles School of Business. “Utah Founders gives entrepreneurs a single source to find programs and organizations that can help them achieve their goals.”
Utah Founders already lists over 120 resources, and that number is expected to grow. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to submit a listing for the website. The institute will also be actively gathering and listing any additional or new resources it finds.
Visitors to the website can sort and filter the resources to find what they need in any location across the state. For example, a person can find business centers in Cedar City, nonprofits in Lehi and education opportunities in Ogden, an institute release said.
D’Ambrosio said the Lassonde Institute welcomes organizations across the state to get involved with the initiative. Interested parties can sign up to receive updates, opportunities and listings on the website at https://utahfounders.org/subscribe/.
“Utah is the best place for entrepreneurs because of all the resources we have and the ecosystem,” D’Ambrosio said. “We hope this website will make all of those resources much more accessible to everyone across the state. That will accelerate how quickly someone can go from an idea for a business to prototyping their idea, starting to sell it, and then raise funding to grow their venture.”
The Lassonde Institute is an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. It is ranked among the top 10 best programs in the country for entrepreneurship. The ranking reflects significant growth and expansion since the institute was founded in 2001.