Roundtable: Tech.

• Author: Malan, Mekenna

This month, Utah Business partnered with Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar to host a roundtable event featuring Utah's tech industry leaders. Moderated by Simplus CEO Ryan Westwood, they discussed the value of a network, raising capital as a woman, reinvesting the tech industry's success into other local sectors, and more. Here are a few highlights from the event.

Is it more difficult to raise capital as a woman?

Amelia Wilcox | Founder and CEO | Nivati

It's my one experience, and I don't have anything to compare it to--I've never been a man raising money. I'm still super privileged, right? I'm still a white, middle-class American. So I'm not complaining, but based on the types of questions that I was asked as a female entrepreneur and where the concerns lie focused more on my ability to execute. It was surprising to me that I got questions like, "Can you keep going? Are you going to burn out?" Maybe there's a perception that I'm weaker than my counterparts. I will say--my board members, who are male, are of the opinion that some questions I was asked would never be asked of a male entrepreneur.

Rilee Buttars | Co-founder and CEO | Donde

The things that I was asked were interesting. They'd say things like, "So can you actually handle hard conversations? Can you negotiate?" And I'm like, "I'm literally negotiating with you right now." There does seem to be some difference, although both of us have agreed that we're not quite ready to really claim that--it's hard for anybody to raise money.

Why do you think successful Utah entrepreneurs feel called to invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs?

Brock Blake | Founder and CEO | Lendio

I think there's pride in Utah, first of all. When you go through challenging experiences, I think it's a natural inclination to want to turn around and put your hand out to help the next person on the way up. It also creates additional capital--there are a lot more angels out there now than there ever has been in the history of Utah.

Brad Pace | COO | Impartner Software

Those generational trees that develop over time--those trees involve large pockets of capital, and capital tends to follow your personal and professional networks. If you were born and raised here in Utah, or if you made Utah your home for a while, a predominance of your professional network is going to be here in Utah or in the surrounding areas. Capital almost always tends to follow your personal and professional networks pretty closely. It's an enormous advantage for Utah looking forward. As we develop these resilient pockets of capital, there's actually a resource pool that's available to Utah and business networks that didn't exist 15-20 years ago. I think that will compound itself over the next 50 years and I think that'll get stronger and stronger as this community develops and has more capital to invest.

Does Utah have enough seed stage investors?

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