Two Utah nonprofits are combining forces to raise the state’s profile in the tech and startup world.
Beehive Startups, which began as a website three years ago, and Silicon Slopes, a branding group that’s been around for about a decade, will now be under one roof.
Clint Betts, founder of Beehive Startups, will oversee the joint venture. He says Silicon Slopes will focus on the broader tech ecosystem while Beehive will work more on early-stage startups.
“This new organization exists entirely to empower Utah’s tech community to learn, connect and serve, kind of based on these three principles we’ve learned over the last three years,” he says.
Their first major event will be the inaugural launch of a Silicon Slopes Summit from Jan. 19-20, featuring speakers from around the world.
“And that is to build a national startup and tech event that just happens to be in Utah — to build what South by Southwest did for Austin, we hope Silicon Slopes Summit does for Utah,” says Betts.
There are about 5,000 tech companies in Utah, which attracted more than a $1 billion in venture capital last year. Betts says Utah still needs to draw a greater, more diverse talent pool to keep up this growth, a challenge he hopes their new organization can help tackle.
