Beehive Podcast

On this week's episode of the Beehive Podcast, we talk to independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin and his running mate Mindy Finn. While he’s only been a candidate for president of the United States since August, and his name is only on the ballot in 11 states, Evan McMullin has seen his popularity surge in Utah over the past couple of weeks after Donald Trump was caught on tape saying awful things on a bus with some guy named Billy Bush. Utah is one of the states where McMullin is on the ballot. Whether it’s because he was born in Provo, he’s Mormon, he went to BYU, or the Beehive State identifies with his brand of conservatism, McMullin has a very real shot at winning Utah’s six electoral votes. A recent Emerson College poll found McMullin with 31 percent, followed by Republican Donald Trump at 27 percent and Democrat Hillary Clinton at 24 percent. We had a chance to catch-up with Evan recently while he was sitting in the Beehive Studio in Provo and Clint Betts was sitting in a hotel room in Boise, Idaho about to watch BYU lose a football game despite being gifted five turnovers from their opponent. We talked about a wide variety of issues in this interview. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s our conversation with the next President and Vice President of Utah — Evan McMullin and Mindy Finn.

On today’s special episode of the Beehive Podcast, we talk to U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Now in his seventh term representing Utah on the national stage, Hatch is also the most senior Republican in the U.S. Senate. Hatch is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance. He is also a member (and former Chairman) of the Judiciary Committee; a member (and former Chairman) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; and a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. If you’ve lived in Utah for any amount of time, you know Sen. Hatch. What you may not know is the work he’s done for Utah’s startup and tech community over the years. He’s the reason folks like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and, this Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook come to Utah to speak and engage with our community every year. He’s been instrumental in getting a number of high-profile tech companies to open headquarters in Utah, and has always been an advocate and friend to Utah’s startup and tech community. As mentioned, this Friday, Sen. Hatch is bringing Apple CEO Tim Cook to Utah for UTC’s Hall of Fame dinner. Hatch is also doing an event and having a conversation on stage with Cook right before that dinner that’s free and open to the public. Domo CEO Josh James, Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard, Vivint CEO Todd Pedersen, and Women Tech Council President and founder Cydni Tetro will also be speaking briefly at that event. For more details and tickets visit UtahTechTour.com. It was fun to catch-up and speak with Sen. Hatch leading up to this event about a number of issues. Enjoy the show!

Steve Starks joined the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies in February 2007 and is currently president of Miller Sports Properties (MSP); president of Miller Retail Properties; and executive vice president of the Larry H. Miller Management Corporation. As president of MSP, Starks oversees the operation of the NBA Utah Jazz; MiLB Triple-A Salt Lake Bees; Miller Performance, consisting of Miller Motorsports Park, the Ford Racing School and Oneiro; Vivint Smart Home Arena; KJZZ 14 Television; The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM, 1280 AM); Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah professional cycling race; and All-Star Catering. Miller Retail Properties include: Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theatres, Fanzz Sports Stores, and Saxton Horne Communications. Since joining the organization, Starks has served in a variety of roles including executive vice president of Larry H. Miller Management Corporation where he was responsible for acquisitions. His work has resulted in measurable growth in terms of revenue, reach and number of employees. Prior to joining the LHM Group, Starks was the managing director for Utah Policy Partnership (2005-07), which was a public-private venture created to improve operations of Utah state government. He also helped manage Governor-elect Jon Huntsman’s transition team in 2004. In 2011, he received the Larry H. Miller Leadership Excellence Award and was also named a Forty Under 40 awarded by Utah Business Magazine in 2012. Starks graduated from Weber State University with a bachelor’s degree in integrated studies in 2003. He has been actively involved in the community for the past 10 years and currently serves as a member of the Utah State Governor’s Advisory Board and on the board of trustees at Weber State University. He is also a past member of the board for The Road Home.

On today's show, we talk with Blyncsy CEO Mark Pittman. Prior to founding Blyncsy, Mark worked in areas as diverse as political campaigns, law firms, start-ups and even a Fortune 500 company. More recently he was engaged as a consultant for Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification and was the Lead Student Director of the Lassonde New Venture Development Program at the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah. Mark studied at the University of Utah, where he earned a JD, an MBA and an MS in International Affairs and Global Enterprise. Mark completed a BS in Political Science, International Studies, and Economics.

Gov. Gary Herbert is the 17th and current Governor of Utah. A member of the Republican Party, Herbert has served as Governor since August 2009. From July 2015 to July 2016, Herbert served as chair of the National Governors Association.

Richard R. Nelson is President and CEO of the Utah Technology Council (since 1999). Under his leadership, the Council’s industry-driven agenda has created the $300M Utah Fund of Funds, helped pass USTAR and the Engineering Initiative, raised rigor in high school requirements, and merged the life science and high-tech organizations. Named one of the “100 Most Influential People” (Utah Business) and one of the “25 People Who Most Influenced Business in Utah” (Connect), he served as Chairman/CEO (2007-2009) of Technology Councils of North American (TECNA) representing 20,000 technology-related companies and championed the exclusive alignment with TechAmerica. Current boards include: Governor’s Economic Development Board (2001-2009), Utah Fund of Funds Board, national PKD Foundation Board, College of Engineering Industry Advisory Board (UofU), World Trade Center Utah, Salt Lake Chamber, EDCUtah, Junior Achievement, Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (BYU) and others. Honors include “CEO of the Year” from Utah’s technology industry and the “Distinguished Service Award” from the UofU College of Engineering. He has an MBA (marketing & finance) from Northwestern University and a BS degree (finance) from Brigham Young University. Mr. Nelson had a life-changing kidney transplant and loves working and living in Utah with his spouse Karen, four sons and daughter.

On this week's episode, we talk with Signal Peak Ventures Managing Director Scott Petty. Scott co-founded Signal Peak Ventures (FKA vSpring Capital) in 2000 and has been a Managing Director since its formation. Earlier in his career as a consultant with Bain & Company, Scott worked with multiple IT and non-IT companies, re-engineering their strategies for optimum results. In addition, Scott previously was COO and a Board Director of Zuka Juice, a retail organization selling nutritional products. Under Scott’s leadership, Zuka Juice grew from its first store to 96 retail units and over 400 employees before being acquired by Jamba Juice, a venture backed competitor.

John was raised in Seattle, Washington. After completing his education at Brigham Young University in 1985, John returned to Seattle to begin his business career at a small company named NTD Publishing in Seattle.  After rising from an entry level position to CEO and largest shareholder, John honed his managerial skills by wearing every hat imaginable in running the company.  He focused the company on print yellow pages publishing and engineered several acquisitions and led the company to rapid growth.  John sold this company to a Canadian acquirer in the mid-1990s. As John divested the print yellow pages company, he co-founded the first-ever Internet yellow pages company that capitalized on the existing print publishers.  That company, Yellow Pages on the Internet, LLC, was acquired by InfoSpace, Inc.  John became the vice president of InfoSpace, Inc. and one of its first 10 employees.  After John and others did groundbreaking early Internet development work, signing some 4,000+ deals in less than 2 years, InfoSpace went public on the Nasdaq in December 1998.  The company achieved a valuation of over $38 billion and grew to 1,500 employees. John and his wife decided to take life a little slower in 2002 and moved their family to Provo, Utah to accept a teaching position at Brigham Young University. John also has spent considerable time starting additional companies and mentoring entrepreneurs, both in Seattle and after relocating to Utah. He is the co-founder of BoomStartup and, most recently, Startup Ignition.

On today’s show, we sit down with Overstock chairman and Utah gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Johnson. Jonathan joins us on the heels of his 10-point victory — 55% to 45% — over current Utah Gov. Gary Herbert at the Utah State GOP convention on Saturday. Quick disclaimer: We’ve invited Gov. Herbert to also appear on this show. And, as always, we don’t endorse candidates or parties at Beehive. We just bring them in to ask questions and have a conversation.

On today's show we talk with Provo Mayor John Curtis. Curtis attended high school at Skyline High School, where he met his future wife, Sue Snarr. He attended Brigham Young University and graduated with a degree in Business Management. He worked for OC Tanner and the Citizen Watch Company before taking a position as the COO of a Provo-based company, Action Target in 2000.

On today's show we talk with Brandr CEO Joe Wilson and PatternJam CEO Emily Taylor. Joe Wilson is a brilliant product guy behind a number of successful apps, and has just an incredible knack for melding beautiful design with a useful, engaging product. Emily Taylor is the founder and CEO of PatternJam -- one of the most interesting startups in Utah, in Clint's opinion.

On today’s show we talk to the amazing Kat Archibald, VP of Product at Degreed, and Lendio CEO Brock Blake. Kat Archibald is the VP of Product at Degreed, a company that scores and organizes users formal and informal education to unlock employment and learning opportunities. Prior to Degreed, Kat worked at Mormon.org and Neutron Interactive.  Brock Blake is the founder and CEO of Lendio. Lendio matches loans with entrepreneurs and small business owners to find the best funding solution possible. Prior to Lendio he was the co-founder and CEO of Funding Universe. Last March, Lendio raised $20.5 million dollars.

We enter the often unsettling and unruly world of local politics on today’s show. With the Utah legislative session in full swing, we thought we’d reach out to some of the key players trying to make things happen on Capitol Hill right now. On this particular show, we sit down with Libertas Institute founder and president Connor Boyack. Connor founded the organization in 2011. Prior to Libertas, Connor served as director of the Utah Tenth Amendment Center. He is the author of several books along with hundreds of columns and articles in a variety of publications. A California native and Brigham Young University graduate, Connor currently resides in Lehi, Utah, with his wife and two children.

Clint called Mike Templeman to try to figure this thing out on a special episode of the Beehive Podcast.

On today’s show we sit down with Traeger Grills CEO Jeremy Andrus. Jeremy joined Traeger as President & CEO in January, 2014 and acquired the business alongside a New York City-based private equity fund in July of that year. Prior to Traeger, he served as the President and CEO of Skullcandy as well as on its board of directors.  In eight years, Jeremy helped grow Skullcandy's annual sales from less than $1 million to nearly $300 million. He currently sits on the boards of directors for Wilson Electronics, PurePredictive and TrueGreece, as well as investment committees for Kickstart Seed Fund and University Venture Fund. Jeremy also volunteers on the loan committee for microfinance agency International Rescue Committee and on the advisory board for Utah refugee youth soccer club Break Through Soccer.  Jeremy received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and B.A. from Brigham Young University. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife Kristin and their four daughters (they’re now expecting twin boys!).

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder and executive director of Code for America. She recently served as the US Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she co-founded the United States Digital Service. She is known for her TED talk, Coding a Better Government, and is the recipient of several awards, including the Oxford Internet Institute's Internet and Society Award, MIT’s Kevin Lynch Award, and National Democratic Institute’s Democracy Award.

We have a very special show for you this week. Today's guest is Silicon Valley legend Tim O'Reilly. Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media. Considered by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world, O'Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Strata: The Business of Data, the Velocity Conference on Web Performance and Operations, and many others. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. Tim is also a partner at O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, O'Reilly's early stage venture firm, and is on the board of Safari Books Online, PeerJ, Code for America, and Maker Media, which was recently spun out from O'Reilly Media. Maker Media's Maker Faire has been compared to the West Coast Computer Faire, which launched the personal computer revolution.

On today’s show we talk with Grasswire founder and CEO Austen Allred. Grasswire is a crowd-sourced news platform that allows every-day people to control and report on the news. And it’s currently going through a rough patch. A very rough patch. On January 15th, Austen published a note about Grasswire on Medium stating the company had hit a few bumps, and that because a funding round that was supposed to go through on Christmas Eve never materialized, the company has been forced to re-evaluate its strategy and now try to make sure Grasswire remains alive somehow, in some way.

On today’s show we talk with Beehive regulars Mike Templeman and Chris Rawle. To start, we bring you in on a passionate conversation between Mike and Clint about the importance of founders treating their employees the right way. Then we talk to everyone's favorite guest, Beehive's Managing Editor Chris Rawle.

On today’s show Clint sits down with Experticity CEO Tom Stockham. Tom is an OG of Utah tech. Since the early ‘90s he has been the leader of several industry-defining companies. His past roles include CEO of Ancestry.com, helping to make it one of the Internet’s largest and most successful consumer subscription businesses. Before Ancestry, Tom was President of ticketmaster.com, General Manager of one of the original Citysearch local guide markets, and President/Founder of Sonic Innovations, the pioneer of advanced digital signal processing hearing aids.  He is also an independent investor and advisor to internet companies, and serves on the boards of companies whose products range from local media and dating to foreign exchange trading services. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Dartmouth College. It was a pleasure to talk to Tom, even if I was suffering from a bad cold during our conversation.