Why Utah won't be the next Silicon Valley

“Business is booming in Utah!”

I hear this sentiment a lot, and I have to agree. Business is booming…which means we must be careful with our trajectory.

Over the past twenty years, we’ve seen an incredible number of rocket-ships-to-the-moon-type startups (mostly SaaS) explode out of random corners of “rural” Utah and go on to sell for a few billion dollars (which is big by Utah standards). This has generated a lot of hype around the idea of “making Utah the tech hub of the world”.

Which brings me to a concern: The founders I hear often around Silicon Slopes seem to have become fascinated with the idea of becoming a new type of Silicon Valley (just replace the SF Bay with Utah Lake—they’re both not very nice to swim in), and while I do like the mission of Silicon Slopes, as a founder myself I worry that too much comparison to SV might turn us into SV—which I don’t see as a good thing (just add a worshipped YC-type incubator and we’re almost there ;)).

The problem with trying too hard to emulate Silicon Valley's success and mindset is that it also brings eventual Silicon Valley-type problems. The one thing I’m 100% sure no one wants is for Utah to become the great startup hub SV was…only to have people like Elon Musk and companies like Chevron, Palantir, and Charles Schwab flee the area later.

Sure the problems in Cali aren’t entirely SV’s fault, but they have played a major role in it. So the question I would ask Utahns to consider is instead of having the mindset of trying to become them, could we make something better?

What makes Utah one of the best states to start a business in right now is that it’s still fairly young in the business world. It has some of the best resources, tax incentives, politics, and population energy for startups, period. (I mean just compare how much it costs to run an LLC here versus California…sheesh).

SV used to have all these things. It was the place to go and build the next great thing—and there’s still a lot of good being done there, don’t get me wrong—but it’s so cluttered and controlled now that it makes one wonder if Utah could somehow produce similar positives without similar negatives?

The good news is Utahns have one thing SV didn’t—perspective. We have the opportunity to look at the decisions they made and choose better ones. We can make sure we don’t lose what makes Utah the best place to start a business.

I don’t think Silicon Slopes should be the next Silicon Valley. I think we can (and will) build something much better if we consciously commit to it. But we won’t be able to if our vocabulary and mindset are too focused on replicating what’s been done before, for better or worse.

So let’s make sure to talk about this. Let’s make plans for the future and create a shared vision. Let’s focus less on the excitement of beating out the competition and more on sustainable growth. And finally please, let’s make sure we do this without causing a mass exodus (because we especially know how annoying those can be).