Built in Utah, Staying in Utah

My whole career happened within about forty miles of where I sit right now. Twenty-plus years of Utah tech, the last big stretch as a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in the credit monitoring space.

When I started, Utah tech was a handful of companies and a lot of hope. Silicon Slopes grew up around me. Now the ten people in my LinkedIn list today run companies the whole country knows.

What Utah gets right

Operators help operators here. That is the whole secret.

Founders take calls from people they barely know. CEOs answer questions from first-timers without making it a transaction. I have been on both ends of that. When you are stuck at midnight before a launch, somebody in this valley has already hit your exact problem and will tell you how they got out. You just have to ask.

Other scenes compete. This one compounds.

Why I am building here

I could have taken the remote-anywhere route. Instead I am building two Utah businesses:

• Eco Moving Utah, a moving tote rental company serving Salt Lake County, with free delivery and pickup.
• Bin X, a bin-rental SaaS built for operators like me, all over the country but designed and written here.

Eco Moving Utah keeps me honest about real customers with real trucks and real schedules. Bin X is the software version of everything I learned running it. Both of them exist because Utah people helped me at every step: first customers, first feedback, first introductions.

The short version

Scenes do not build companies. Neighbors do. Utah has neighbors.

If you are building here, ask for help early. It is the one resource this valley never runs out of.