Article posted on Aug 20
Forgive me for being a little late in getting this posted (sheesh, I could get so much more posting done if it wasn’t for actually having to do work! 
)
Last Thursday I attended an event down at Thanksgiving Point that was put on by the Fund Of Funds, UTC, MCWN, and UVEF.  The event was attended by about 250 folks. Not only were the numbers that they drew in impressive, but the people themselves were the cream of the crop. A really great group.
There were presentations from several VC’s that the FOF has helped get investing into Utah. There was also a gentleman who had received such investment dollars that spoke on how helpful the FOF has been.
So my impression? It was really neat to hear how much Utah is changing. My previous company went looking for VC money in 1998-1999, and I have to say that being from Utah was a big strike against us. It is invigorating to hear form VC’s and company owners, and seasoned professionals (the Found of Iomega stood and expressed the same) tell us how much better it is now.
I haven’t gone out hunting dollars for several years, so I can’t speak for experience… but it definitely sounds better. It’s good to see that people like Jeremy at FOF are working so hard to improve things for us all.
Article posted on Aug 10
Last night Phil Burns pulled together a Facebook developers garage. There were about fifteen folks in attendance, and I have to say that the amount of intelligence in that room was overwhelming. I hope you’ll forgive me for not listing out names of the folks involved and attending, and linking over to them, but honestly the crowd was so sharp that I would have to link to each and every one of them… and rather than risk missing one or two I will have to err on the side of brevity.
This was the start of what is intended as an ongoing forum for the growth, knowledge sharing, brianstorming, and networking of those in the valey involved in, or interested in Facebook.
I think the really important part here is “interested in.” The meeting last night was amazing. I cannot believe how much I learned (I still have information leaking out my ears because my brain can’t hold it all.) But there is a crowd of people who were not at the event who I would suggest would derive a lot of value… The room was filled with people who know, believe in, and use Facebook. But I think it is just as important for those who don’t. If you choose not to buy into the hype, or you choose not to use a technology, at least know what it is, understand what it is you’re not using and why. Also, this lets you see what you didn’t know… are there applications for it that you did not consider? Or is it headed in a direction that may be of value to you or your customers one day.
It’s great to believe in a technology. It’s nice to be able to disagree wit a technology. But it really sucks to say have to say, “That isn’t worth looking at… everybody says so… but I don’t know why.”
I’ll pencil you in for the next event 
Article posted on Aug 10
Earlier this week I attended a Politic 2.0 event where all but one of the Salt Lake Mayoral candidates had an opportunity to respond to questions. The event was held at the Downtown library. The method of question submission wsa through a web interface, where people could ask questions, and then “vote” for or against other people’s questions. Thus the most popular questions got asked.
This is my second Politic 2.0 event, so let me through out some positives, negatives, and comparisons with the previous event from my perspective (I will however, steer clear from commenting on the actual candidates or my feelings on them, since that’s just not what this blog is about.)
Good stuff:
Bad stuff:
Comparison:
This event was far more objective than the previous event. I felt that it was entirely audience driven rather than having things steered. The event was more professional. That application interface has improved a ton.
Summary:
An event well worth attending… just not in person unless they make some changes.
Article posted on Aug 07
There has been a titanic amount of buzz around Facebook and it’s new API. Some people love it, others pshaw it; but one thing is true… everyone is watching what becomes of it.
Phil Burns is hosting Utah Facebook Developers Garage, and we here at Twelve Horses are exited to be Sponsors for this upcoming event!
The location will be Noah’s, 644 N. 2000 W. Lindon, on Thursday, Aug 9th at 6:00 pm. Here’s a map to the location.
From Phil:
Article posted on Jul 23
Last week I attended Phil Windleys’ CTO breakfast for my first time.
You know, as a techno-geek I always have to keep in mind that the bulk of companies, jobs, and revenue here in the state are not technology based. As such, most of the folks I meet, and network with and do business with will be coming from an entirely different, but valid perspective on business and the future.
After enough such meetings, it becomes the norm. You just know that you will seldom walk into a room of real kindred spirits.
But when you do, it’s magical.
I have to say, I don’t spend a lot of time in the Orem/Provo area, so when I found myself over by Omniture, and found out I was at the entirely wrong Building G, I almost gave up and drove home. I’m glad I didn’t.
The event consisted of about 35 highly competent, and articulate geek entrepreneurs. Conversation was relaxed, insightful, informative, and respectful of differing opinions (the $3 bucks for I paid for some really good food wasn’t half bad either!)
In the future I will be sure to post more on what the exact topics were, my opinions on them, and credits out to some key contributors. But for now, I just wanted to gush out my support and thanks to Phil for the event.
You will definitely be seeing more of me at these Phil (Plus my attorney advises me that the restraining order in question is not applicable here in Utah )
Article posted on Jun 27
Okay, so this afternoon I attended my first Utah Fund Of Funds event (For those of your who were not there at the UTC Venture event on June 8th, Jeremy from UFOF is the kind gentleman who straightened out my inarticulate gibberish that day )
While this was my first event, I have to say that it will definitely not be my last.
Not only was the location great, the people in attendance seemed to be bright, motivated, intelligent people. The content was wonderful, and the speaker was clearly extremely knowledgeable about it (from personal experience no less.)
But what impressed me most? Objectivity. I have not had a lot of dealings with the UFOF, but at this meeting it became clear that their goal is to help Utah Entrepreneurs get the right money to succeed… even if it is from out of state. I feel very confident that when finding funding in state or elsewhere, that Jeremy and his team would give good advice. Very good event. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see intelligent people having such open, objective discussion. I look forward to learning a ton!
Article posted on Jun 08
Many who read this post have probably seen that there are recurring love-hate spats between Utah VC’s and Utah Entrepreneurs on local blogs form time to time. One of the common undercurrents has tended to be around how Utah VC’s are compared to out of state money.  Well, next week the UTC is holding an event described as:
“…a panel discussion made up of Venture Partners from Funds located outside of the great state of Utah. Find out why they are looking at Utah deals and what they are looking for. “
Specifically, the panel consists of:
Darlene Collins, Managing Director of Psilos based in Santa Fe, NM
Phil Reed, General Partner of Highway 12 Ventures based in Boise, ID
Ido Sarig, Venture Partner of Thomas Weisel Venture Partners based in Palo Alto, CA
Moderator:
Todd Stevens, Managing Director of Wasatch Venture Fund and UTC Trustee
I, for one, am already registered. Look for a review of the event here after the fact.
Article posted on May 25
For those of you who could not attend, the turnout for Seth Godin at 
the Salt Palace last night was a HUGE success. Kudos go out to the whole wordmob team for all they did (I’ll put a full list of folks up later this afternoon.) Special thanks go out to Phil Burns, for having the guts to put this whole thing together, and to Matthew at Voxpop who was constantly turning around top-notch creative for the event under impossible timelines.
As for the event itself, I really enjoyed hearing Seth. For those of you who have children, you’ll know that one of the most amazing moments of being a parent is when your toddler looks up and makes an observation. There are times, when these observations are so astute… so stunning in their ability to cut through all of the crap that blinds us all every day, that all you can do is gape open-mouthed for a moment and wonder how all of us, other than your toddler, could be so stupid.
Listening to Seth is kinda like that. When he is asked questions, you sit eagerly with pen in hand for an answer that you are sure is going to be as insightful, and complex as the theory of relativity. But instead he throws out the business equivalent of the song “just put one foot in front of the other” that they used to sing in that old Christmas special (the one where they teach the winter wizard to walk.) You sit there open mouthed, and realize that it really is just that plain, just that simple.
Very nice event. I look forward to reading the book.
For some good pictures and Video of the event, Check out this post by Phil.
Article posted on May 17
What can I say but “Wow”? Today Bruce Law from Sprout Marketing led a really great breakout session sponsored by the UTC. I have met Bruce at several UTC events, and have always been impressed with his quiet, but confident and competent demeanor (as opposed to those of us who sometimes just talk too much ), but I had never really had the chance to hear Bruce speak about Marketing. The session was great. Bruce really went into a lot of detail about smart, inexpensive ways to get your message out. A real key point of his presentation was Guru’s, how to get them behind you, and how really key they can be to your success without having to blow a huge marketing budget. Any further synopsis I try to give on the presentation would surely not do it justice. Bruce, you should write a book (and if you have, and I am not aware of it, I apologize in advance ).
Review:
Location: 9 (plenty of seating… lots of whiteboards)
Caliber of people: a mix… very high caliber people from a more diverse, background than any other event I have been to… 9
Presentation: 9.5
Discussion: 9.5
OVERALL: 9.5 This was really stellar.
Article posted on May 17
Wednesday, May 16th I was pleased to attend a CEO peer to peer event put on by the UTC. Richard and his crew always do a great job with these events. The jist of this weeks VEO P2P was around how to build a stellar team. There was a short presentation by the Canopy group which was somewhat interesting, and I really appreciate him coming and presenting… but I am finding that when VC’s present at events like this, that it tends to get a bit repetitive… it’s “all the stuff you already knew” about VC’s: We like to see a strong team, we like repeat performances, etc.
Converse to that, I really respected the presenters statement regarding how Canopy views the role of an entrepreneur in a liquidity event… There has been some tension on local blogs lately between VC’s and entrepreneurs, alleging that VC’s in Utah attempt to get an unfair share. I don’t know the truth of it personally, but I can say that the presenter said things that implied that Canopy is not that way.
There was also a lot of discussion regarding recruiting in Utah, and some of the hurdles to getting good talent to come here, as well as how to inspire and incent current teams. All good stuff.
A couple of notable attendees to me were Jeremy Hanks, from Doba (I don’t know that much about his company, but hearing him describe the environment… it sounds great), and the folks from iWorld (In the old Wagon Master building on Vine Street… sorry, I don’t have a url). This is not to imply that everyone wasn’t notable… just these two and what they had to say was especially interesting to me.
Summary:
Location: 9
Caliber of people: 9
Presentation: 8
discussion: 8
OVERALL: 8.5 (and in my book that’s REALLY GOOD)
Nice Job Richard, keep up the good work.
