Salt Lake City—Utah is already known as a top location for entrepreneurship, and the University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute hopes to keep it that way with a new website for entrepreneurs across the state.
The Utah Founders website is now live, and it lists resources to help founders launch a company anywhere in Utah. Resources include incubators, coworking spaces, funding opportunities, government agencies, university programs and more.
Utah entrepreneurs now have a single source to find what they need. The new website gives them a place to start their journey, get connected, build a company and grow.
“We saw a need to help connect founders across the state with the organizations and opportunities that they need to succeed,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the David Eccles School of Business. “Utah Founders gives entrepreneurs a single source to find programs and organizations that can help them achieve their goals.”
Utah Founders already lists over 120 resources, and that number is expected to grow. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to submit a listing for the website. The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute will also be actively gathering and listing any additional or new resources it finds.
Visitors to the website can sort and filter the resources to find what they need in any location across the state. For example, you can find business centers in Cedar City, nonprofits in Lehi and education opportunities in Ogden.
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute welcomes organizations across the state to get involved with the initiative. Everyone is invited to sign up to receive updates about new opportunities and listings on the website.
“Utah is the best place for entrepreneurs because of all the resources we have and the ecosystem,” D’Ambrosio said. “We hope this website will make all of those resources much more accessible to everyone across the state. That will accelerate how quickly someone can go from an idea for a business to prototyping their idea, starting to sell it, and then raise funding to grow their venture.”
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. It is ranked among the top-10 best programs in the country for entrepreneurship. The ranking reflects significant growth and expansion since the institute was founded in 2001.
In recent years, the institute has launched numerous programs for student entrepreneurs, including competitions, workshops, mentoring and more. It opened Lassonde Studios, a first-of-a-kind facility that allows students to “live, create, launch” together in 2016. More recently, it created the first and only Master of Business Creation program that allows founders to enroll in a graduate program where they focus entirely on launching their business. It also launched Lassonde for Life, an alumni program that provides free, lifelong entrepreneurial support to all graduates of the University of Utah.
Utah Founders is the next evolution of this growth. It will help the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute reach even more people who want to become entrepreneurs and help fulfill their ambitions.
“There is no better place to be an entrepreneur than Utah,” D’Ambrosio said. “Entrepreneurs here have a lot of resources to launch a company and make an impact. We invite everyone to get involved and get starting by visiting the Utah Founders resource portal.”
Learn more, submit a listing, and request updates, by visiting UtahFounders.org.
About the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is a nationally ranked hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Utah and an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The first programs were offered in 2001, through the vision and support of Pierre Lassonde, an alumnus of the Eccles School and successful mining entrepreneur. The institute now provides opportunities for thousands of students to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation. Programs include workshops, networking events, business-plan competitions, startup support, innovation programs, graduate seminars, scholarships, community outreach and more. All programs are open to students from any academic major or background. The Lassonde Institute also manages Lassonde Studios, a five-story innovation space and housing facility for all students. Learn more at lassonde.utah.edu.
Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, University of Utah
105 Fort Douglas Blvd. #604, Salt Lake City, UT 84113
801-587-3836 | lassonde.utah.edu