Grow Utah Ventures Launches Concept to Company Contest

-One out of state winner will receive grand prize-

When you’re hot you’re hot.

Due to popular demand, Ogden City and Grow Utah Ventures announced today that they have expanded the “Concept to Company” contest to include submissions from entrepreneurs outside the state of Utah.

“We’ve had such a tremendous response to the ‘Concept to Company’ contest that we decided we wanted to include any and all entrepreneurs regardless of where they’re based,” said Ogden City Mayor Matthew R. Godfrey. “We’re excited to see the ideas that come in from out of state and will gladly welcome the grand prize winner and any other company that wants to call Ogden home.”

Co-sponsored by Zions Bank and USTAR, the contest is open to individual inventors or to innovative small businesses with less than $5 million in annual revenue. Applicants located outside the state of Utah must be willing to relocate and start their businesses in Ogden, Utah.

The winners will be announced on September 27th, as part of the City of Ogden’s “Mountain to Metro” festival. Ideas should focus on skiing, snowboarding, cycling, climbing, hiking, paddling, and other non-motorized, non-fishing or non-hunting sports. The idea or invention must not yet be introduced into the market and must have no sales revenue.

“Generally an entrepreneur with an idea doesn’t stand a chance of getting the attention of a bank and they are often too early for an Angel Investor let alone a Venture Capitalist.” said T. Craig Bott, president & CEO of Grow Utah Ventures. “However, thanks to the ‘Concept to Company’ contest, entrepreneurs have a unique way of getting financing to make their ideas a reality.”

A panel of outdoor industry experts will evaluate ideas based on innovation and marketability. There will be two grand prize winners, a local Utah based winner and an out of state winner. Each grand prize winner will receive a $20,000 award, comprised of cash and the equivalent value in consulting or prototyping services to help bring the idea to fruition. Additionally, there will be two local companies named as runner-up winners for the Utah based contest. Runners-up will receive $10,000 awards, comprised of cash and services.

Industry sponsors of the contest include Amer Sports Winter & Outdoor, Backcountry.com, Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd., Deer Valley® Resort, Descente North America, GOODE, Mountain to Metro, Ogden City, Outdoor Industry Association, Ogden Climbing Park, Petzl America, Rossignol Group North America, Seed Weber Davis Morgan.

Contest rules and an application form are available at http://www.launchutah.com/concepttocompany.php

Applications may be submitted now through the submission deadline of August 30, 2008.

About Grow Utah Ventures

Grow Utah Ventures, is a privately funded not-for-profit organization dedicated to stimulate, unlock and develop the entrepreneurial talent and early stage business opportunities for value creation across Utah. Comprised of a team of successful and experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders and private investors, Grow Utah Ventures accomplishes its mission by Identifying, selecting and recognizing accomplished and promising Utah entrepreneurs, Building a statewide community of outstanding entrepreneurs and those interested in promoting entrepreneurial development, Partnering with organizations, companies and investors seeking to support Utah’s best entrepreneurs, Rallying community leadership and financial resources to support entrepreneurial development. For more information about Grow Utah Ventures, visit http://www.growutahventures.com.

About Zions Bank

Zions Bank is Utah’s oldest financial institution, and is the only local bank with statewide distribution of branches, operating 112 full-service branches throughout Utah. Zions Bank also operates 23 full-service branches in Idaho, and nearly 200 ATMs throughout Utah and Idaho. In addition to a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions offers a comprehensive array of investment and mortgage services, and has a network of loan origination offices for small businesses nationwide. The company is also a leader in providing electronic banking services, including electronic municipal bond trading. Founded in 1873, Zions has been serving the communities of Utah for more than 130 years. Additional information is available at http://www.zionsbank.com.

About USTAR

In March 2006, the Utah State Legislature passed Senate Bill 75 creating the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative providing funding for strategic investments at the University of Utah and Utah State University to recruit world-class researchers and build state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research and development facilities and to form first-rate science, innovation, and commercialization teams across the State. This initiative focuses on leveraging the proven success of Utah’s research universities in creating and commercializing innovative technologies to generate more technology-based start-up firms, higher paying jobs, and additional business activity leading to a state-wide expansion of Utah’s tax base. Ultimately, USTAR stands as an innovative, visionary, and far-reaching initiative to further bolster Utah’s high-technology economy. Utah recently received recognition from Kauffman Foundation as the “Most Dynamic Economy.” More information can be found at http://www.ustar.utah.gov.

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PR Contacts:
Justin Bott
Grow Utah Ventures
(801) 593-2265
[email protected]

Jeremy Kartchner
Snapp Conner PR
(801) 994-9625
[email protected]