Silicon Slopes Podcast

This week we are speaking with Marcus Liassides president and CEO of Sorenson Media, a media software company. Prior to Sorenson Media, Marcus was Executive Vice President of Specific Media and president and CEO of Xumo. Marcus also founded Inuk Networks which was later acquired by Move Networks where he became president and CEO.

This week we are speaking with Fraser Bullock, co-founder and senior advisor of Sorenson Capital, a private equity firm founded in 2003. Prior to Sorenson Capital, Fraser was a partner at Bain Capital. He was COO and CFO of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Often referred to as ‘Utah’s CEO whisperer’ he serves on the board of many companies in the Silicon Slopes.

This week we are speaking with Scott Johnson, founder of Motivosity, a culture management and employee engagement software platform. Prior to Motivosity, Scott founded AtTask now Workfront, and still serves as Chairman. He was also CTO and co-founder of Gravity Media Group. He also teaches in the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at Brigham Young University.

This week we are speaking with Kent Thomas founder of AdvancedCFO, a company that helps small businesses manage their finances until they can bring someone in full time. Before AdvancedCFO, Kent worked for Ernst and Young and InsurQuote. Also joining us today we have David Chase managing partner at AdvancedCFO. Prior to AdvancedCFO, David worked as the Director of Finance at Honeywell.

This week we are speaking with Jesse Mecham, owner of You Need a Budget, often referred to as YNAB, a money management software. Prior to You Need a Budget, Jesse also created PACE LLC which is designed to help small companies eliminate cash flow stress through sustainable spending and investment plans. He also previously worked for KPMG and Novell as an auditor.

This week we are speaking with Kreg Peeler, founder and CEO of SpinGo, an online event marketing and management platform. Prior to SpinGo, Kreg was founder and CEO of Spin Media Marketing. He also has 7 patents under his belt. Kreg also chairman of the Mountain West Internet Marketing Association.

This week we are speaking with Cydni Tetro, founder and CEO of 3DplusMe, a 3D printing software platform for personalized merchandise. In addition to 3DplusMe, Cydni serves as a part of the Mod Faculty for Goldman Sachs10k Small Business program. She is also an Operating Partner with Mercato Partners. Cydni is a co-founder and president of the Women Tech Council.

Welcome to the Silicon Slopes Podcast. I’m Jordan Burke. This week we are speaking with David Williams, chairman and CEO of Fishbowl Inventory, an inventory management system software that works with QuickBooks and Xero. Before Fishbowl, David served as CEO of Performance Catalyst, and later as Managing Director of First Things First, a division of Covey Leadership. He is also the co-founder of the Courage Above Mountains (CAM Foundation) that supports businesses and individuals who wish to enhance their marketable skills.

Welcome to the Silicon Slopes Podcast. I’m Jordan Burke. This week we are speaking with Nate Quigley, co-founder and CEO of Chatbooks, a subscription-based photo book printing service. Before Chatbooks, Nate co-founded and was president of Eleven Technology Inc. He was also CEO of LiveTV. Nate received his BS in Accounting from BYU and then his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Welcome to the Silicon Slopes Podcast. I’m Jordan Burke and this week we are speaking with Nick Efstratis from Epic Ventures, a Venture Capital firm. Nick received his B.S. in Entrepreneurship from BYU and an M.B.A. from the BYU Marriott School. He started his career in real estate with a real estate investment company in the Bay Area of California. He then moved to Montana to help start a guest ranch with his family. He has been a venture capitalist investing in seed and early-stage technology companies since 1999.

Here is a special edition of the Silicon Slopes podcast. Today we’re bringing you an update on the Utah legislature’s altering non-compete agreements in the state. Earlier today Speaker Greg Hughes, Rep. Mike Schultz and several tech founders spoke about the issue. It was a lively and heated discussion with people on both sides of the debate — those allowing non-competes and those wanting to ban them. The legislative sessions ends next week, so if the want to pass the law, it will need to be completed by then. Here is the audio from the press conference that followed, featuring Speaker Hughes, Rep. Schultz along with Domo founder Josh James, Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith and InsidesSales.com founder Dave Elkington.

This week we are discussing House Bill 251, a bill that would restrict noncompete agreements in Utah. We are speaking with the bill sponsor Mark Schultz, a House representative for District 12 whose legislative service began in January of 2015. We also have with us the Speaker of the House, Greg Hughes, who has served in the legislature since 2003.  Overstock.com’s Chairman of the Board of Directors and gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Johnson is also here with us. Utah companies are facing a major change in their ability to have new-hires sign non-compete agreements based on whether or not HB 251 is passed by the State Legislature. The bill would curtail or limit the use of non-compete agreements. With this move, Utah is trying to become more employee-friendly, but there is some pushback from some Utah employers.

This week we’re talking with Shaun Ritchie, co-founder and CEO of Eventboard, a meeting booking software. Shaun graduated with an Advertising degree from BYU and got his MBA from University of Utah. Before Eventboard he was president of the DriversAgent Network, and co-founder, CFO, and President of Neutron Interactive who he still serves as a board member for.

This week we are speaking with Alan Hall founder and CEO of Tempus Global Data, an atmospheric and environmental data company. Alan also serves as founder and managing director of Mercato Partner, a growth equity VC fund. He also is a founder, chairman and former CEO of MarketStar Corporation, a global outsourced marketing and sales company. Alan currently serves as chairman of Weber State University’s board of trustees and as a chairman of Prosperity 2020.

Hi. Welcome to the Silicon Slopes Podcast. I’m Jordan Burke and this week we are speaking with Marc Chenn, co-founder and CEO of SaltStack, a systems management software company. Before SaltStack Marc worked for Sorenson Capital, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Compliance11.

Hi. Welcome to the Silicon Slopes Podcast. I’m Jordan Burke and this week we are speaking with Josh Coates, CEO of Instructure, the learning management software company that went public in November. Josh received his bachelors from UC Berkeley in Computer Science. Later he started his own company Scale Eight and Mozy which he later sold to EMC for $76 million. He has previously taught at both UC Berkeley and BYU in the computer science department before joining Instructure.

This week we're chatting with Eric Sharp, co-founder and CTO of Degreed.

Today we’re talking with Pete Ashdown president and founder of xMission an internet service provider here in downtown Salt Lake City. We chat with Pete about independent internet access companies and privacy regulations.

Today we are talking with Mark Gorenberg at Zetta Venture Partners, a firm focusing on analytics startups. Prior to Zetta Venture Partners, Mark served as managing director at Hummer Winblad, the first fund focused on enterprise software. There, his most publicized successes in analytics included Omniture; AdForce and Scopus Technologies. Today, he sits on the boards of Utah-based Domo, Inside Sales and EventBoard. Mark started his technology career at Sun Microsystems. He serves on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

This week we’re talking with Gavin Christensen, founder and managing partner at Kickstart Seed Fund. Gavin graduated from BYU with an economics degree and later did his MBA at Northwestern. He started his career as a consultant for the Monitor group. Then he worked at vSpring capital here in Utah before breaking out in 2008 to start his own fund at Kickstart.