Successful Utah Business Support Organization Goes Nationwide
For some years now, Utah has appeared at or near the top of national rankings of good states for business. Now one of the state’s most successful business support organizations is taking its act to the rest of the country.
Grow Utah Ventures has announced the creation of “Grow America”, an almost unique concept to help entrepreneurs across the entire country.
Even in a state renowned for its business-friendly environment, Founder and Chair Alan Hall calls the creation of Grow America “huge.” It’s based on the successful Grow Utah Ventures and his reputation as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist, and community leader.
Grow Utah Ventures is a not-for-profit organization made up of experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders, and private investors who have four key goals. Identify and recognize up-and-coming Utah entrepreneurs; build a statewide entrepreneurial community; link investors, companies, and funding organizations with top Utah entrepreneurs; and encourage financial backers and community leaders to support start-up businesses.
If the success of Grow Utah Ventures is any barometer, Grow America should be a hit. After only three years in existence, businesses helped by Grow Utah Ventures have already had a half-billion-dollar economic impact on Utah.
Hall told an overflow crowd at the Global Entrepreneurship Week Utah! Conference at the South Towne Expo Center last week that Grow America will begin its national roll-out in January on a state-by-state basis. The project will move slowly but deliberately because of the sheer complexity of taking a state model and applying it to the entire nation.
It’s a daunting task, but Hall says Grow Utah has the resources, time, and desire to help entrepreneurs across America. And it’s no surprise that the new not-for-profit venture also came about for the right reasons.
Hall says when he started Grow Utah it never occurred to him that it would be so successful that it could expand nationally, but investors and entrepreneurs in other states kept calling him to find out how they could adapt his model, and it finally made sense to expand.
He explains that, “The current financial crisis stresses the need for this type of national organization—one that will focus on Main Street rather than Wall Street. Entrepreneurs and small businesses will play a vital role in the recovery of our economy, We want to help them succeed and grow as we pave the way for the next generation of business leaders.”
Specifically, Grow America will consist of four basic areas: local business resources, funding services, marketing services, and web services. Hall says they will offer localized business centers using experienced local affiliates, online products and services, and one-on-one consulting.
To assist Grow America, two specialized online companies will offer their expertise. FundingUniverse.com is set up to connect qualified entrepreneurs with active angels, venture capitalists, and lenders all over the country. Hall says this function will speed up and streamline the process of making the right matches for both sides of the funding equation. SproutMarketing.com will focus entirely on an outsourced marketing department which can help new businesses bring their products and services to the attention of the right people. Since 2002, Sprout has successfully helped over 100 companies.
Hall says that fundamentally what he has created is an online service which allows anyone to tap into a large network of experienced professionals who are dedicated to helping new businesses succeed. It’s obvious that the sort of person who has the creative genius to come up with a new product or service may not have the same level of genius when it comes to creating a marketing campaign, generates sales leads, creating a strikingly professional website, or finding funding to expand the business. That’s what Grow America will do for entrepreneurs all over the country in the same way Grow Utah has been helping new businesses all over the state.
After all, said Craig Bott, the President and CEO of Grow Utah, this is a classic example of Utah exporting what it may be best at, creating success for new businesses which will diversify and boost the economy in the best spirit of old-fashioned American entrepreneurialism.
To find out more, log on to: GrowAmericaVentures.com and GrowUtahVentures.com.
