Startup Grind: Supercharging the St. George Area Startup Scene

Back row from left to right: Macrae Heppler, Ryan Nielsen, Matt Heaton

Front row from left to right: Levi Swenson, Paul Bartholomew, Brittany Fay

Startup Grind

Supercharging the St. George Area Startup Scene

By Don Willie, President and CEO, St. George Area Chamber of Commerce

Entrepreneurs launched 5.4 million businesses in the United States in 2021!

That’s an increase of 53 percent (or 1.9 million new businesses) over 2019, according to the Economic Innovation Group. Locally, 2,107 businesses were formed in 2021 in the St. George area (St. George, Washington, Ivins, and Santa Clara), up from just over 1500 in 2020. Journalists have written at length about southern Utah’s emerging tech scene, proclaiming it is the silver bullet of economic diversity. While accurate, there is something bigger at play: the emergence of Utah’s most prolific startup scene, which is taking place right now in our own community.

Empowering the Haphazard Entrepreneur

The entrepreneurial spirit is incredibly strong in southern Utah—stronger than in any other area of the state. This unique spirit isn’t born of choice but of necessity. Nothing will motivate an entrepreneur more than being up against a wall, and that is exactly where early pioneer settlers found themselves when they arrived in this barren desert over 160 years ago. Having no infrastructure and facing extremely hot temperatures, they got to work and found creative solutions that built the foundation upon which our present metropolis rests. The grit and innovative attitude of those early pioneers has been a legacy for all those who have been fortunate enough to be a part of the southern Utah community by birth or by transplant. The mindset of the early settlers lingers as an attitude that actively seeks out change and embraces improvement, inspiration, creation, and discovery. Today’s entrepreneurs, much like the early pioneers, are strongwilled and passionate. They are unafraid to try new things and willing to go the distance to see their new businesses succeed. While a bold entrepreneurial spirit can drive impressive innovation, many “haphazard entrepreneurs” fail because they lack personal knowledge or have limited skillsets. A haphazard entrepreneur is someone who stumbles on a new product, service, or idea by necessity, design, or accident. They typically have no training in the day-to-day management of a business and do not know about the available tools and resources in the community to support them. Many haphazard entrepreneurs unwittingly sell themselves short, failing to recognize the potential of their innovation and lacking the access to the right business strategies, investors, or partners.

Growth of the St. George Area Startup Scene

Before joining the throngs of entrepreneurs moving to St. George, I spent a great deal of time consulting with several St. George area businesses, including Zonos, Vitalpax, InnoMark, and CargoGlide—local startups that have grown into major players in the area economy. Through these interactions, I met Paul Hill, Josh Aikens, Eric Pedersen, and others (surely there are many more) whom I refer to as the modern “founding fathers” of the St. George startup scene. In fact, the success of many of today’s startups can be traced to their endeavors in bringing resources, networking, and programs to local innovators. Their work empowered the haphazard entrepreneurs in southern Utah by providing them with the tools and resources necessary for their best chances of success, regardless of their background, knowledge, or business acumen.

These leaders built the framework of what is referred to as the area entrepreneurial ecosystem. Central to this ecosystem was the visionary launch of the Start STG competition. This one-time pitch contest provided local innovators with the chance to secure financing, services, and mentoring to help launch and scale their companies. Start STG transformed the future for several local startups, including Slylash®, a local startup that continues to grow and gain recognition. With the success of the Start STG competition, the need for a consistent meetup for local entrepreneurs and innovators was essential. The launch of Atwood Innovation Plaza presented the ideal opportunity: Start STG pivoted from an annual competition to a monthly meeting, bringing founders, creators, innovators, investors, and service providers together for coffee (or hot cocoa) and collisions of genius!

Putting St. George on the Map

In 2019, while the Start STG meetups were gaining in popularity, I went to the Startup Grind global conference in Redwood City, California. Attendees flooded the small downtown area, eagerly listening to startup founders. The speakers were absolutely inspiring! They provided relatable insight that attendees could use to grow a business from startup to success. The atmosphere was electric, raw, real. I knew immediately that Startup Grind was something southern Utah needed.

Unfortunately, just as preliminary efforts to start a local chapter were underway, the endeavor came to a standstill during the COVID-19 crisis even as the monthly meetups for Start STG continued. When Startup Grind opened applications for the Startup Grind X chapter (for smaller cities) in early 2021, it was our time! An intensive six-week training course followed, and when the chapter was approved, Startup Grind St. George launched in October 2021, bringing on a new team of innovative, community-minded leaders to complement the burgeoning startup scene. Startup Grind is the world’s largest community of startups, founders, innovators, and creators. The goal? To give startups everywhere the education and opportunities they need to build, grow, and scale their companies. With over 600 chapters in 125 countries, Startup Grind espouses these values: “We believe in making friends, not contacts. We believe in giving first, not taking. We believe in helping others before helping yourself.” Startup Grind is first and foremost about the entrepreneur. It’s a community—a support group. Meetups provide entrepreneurs with a chance to learn from other local founders and creatives that have “been there, done that.” Each month, discussion is focused on an industry or topic, and the conversations about launching and growing a business are powerful. Entrepreneurs listen, ask questions, share ideas, and connect to resources. In addition to local monthly meetups, Startup Grind offers a global conference (like the one in Redwood City, California), educational content, access to mentors, and startup exposure. Joining this global community has put St. George on the map. Today, Startup Grind St. George is led by Macrae Heppler, Brittany Fay, Paul Bartholomew, Matt Heaton, Ryan Nielsen, and Levi Swenson. Committed to driving innovation, change, and opportunity, they are an impressive group of young leaders who have the audacity to do something great, something bigger than themselves, something that will fundamentally change our community for the better.

Make Way for the New Startup Mecca

Over the next decade, St. George will solidify itself as the Startup Mecca of Utah. Recent investments into local companies like Zonos, Eden Tech, and others are just the beginning of what is to come. Tech will play a big role in this exciting transition, but the number of startup businesses, pushed by the entrepreneurial spirit found in abundance in southern Utah, will outpace the growth in the tech sector. There are few places in this world that can match the impressive startup environment and the equally majestic physical environment that southern Utah has to offer. Startup Grind will be at the center of it all—the great connector, the convener, and the driver. It will enable local entrepreneurs not only to connect with each other but with entrepreneurs from across the globe, including like-minded innovators in Australia, Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. Startup Grind is opening the St. George door to the world. Join us!

Startup Grind meets on the second Thursday of each month at 9:00 a.m. at Nets on Fire. Go to www.startupgrind.com/st-george for upcoming events and to get involved.

DIXIE TECH