This is the place: why we chose to build Chatbooks in Utah.

• Author: Quigley, Vanessa
• Position: SILICON SLOPES

A few years ago, when my husband Nate and I started dreaming up Chatbooks, we lived on the Florida coast. I would have gladly spent the rest of my life in the land of sand and sun, but as we started to build Chatbooks we found that we needed resources and community that just wasn't available in our area.

We spent months considering where to grow our business: We wanted a place that would enable us to have a high-growth startup, and also be a good place for our seven kids. Ultimately, there were three reasons we decided to head west. And while I miss the ocean view from our original office, taking a leap of faith on a mountain vista was the best thing we could ever have done for our company. Here's why we made the Utah move:

TALENT TALENT TALENT

Nate and I had lived in Provo during college, so we knew that Utah isn't called the "Beehive State" for nothing--people are industrious here! And the blossoming startup community here was proof that lots of the creative and technical talent that we needed for Chatbooks were right here. Plus having three world-class universities within an hour of each other with a bounty of young and hungry talent was just what our young and hungry (and poor!) startup needed--a perfect match!

It's no secret that family values are important in Utah. Chatbooks is a business that caters to families and we as a company are very family friendly. We're not competing with rocketships in the Bay Area for talent with "perks" like dinner at the office, because we know our team wants to go have dinner with their families! Instead, we give people the flexibility and time they need to have a career and a personal life, and that's resonated deeply here in Utah.

INFLUENCERS

Several years ago, I noticed that my friends and I weren't looking to traditional media outlets (magazines, TV, etc.) to find out about the latest trends and products anymore--we were looking to social media influences and bloggers. I knew this trend would be important for marketing Chatbooks and saw that many of the...