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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s been called the “Silicon Slopes” before, and this weekend the state will further establish its place in the tech world by hosting a startup and technology festival.
The conference, StartSLC, is a three-day event that brings together entrepreneurs, hackers, multimedia members of all shapes and sizes, foodies, thought leaders and everything else in the tech realm. It will take place Jan. 29-31 at various Salt Lake locations.
“This is the largest tech startup event,” said Jonathan Johnson, chairman of Overstock.com and keynote speaker for the event. “The biggest one to date has been 500. This one, in its kick-off year, they are expecting between two and three thousand people to come. And I think it’s helpful that it’s the same time that Sundance is. There is a lot of stuff going on.”
Utah has become known for start-up companies. The Provo-Orem and Salt Lake areas are both in the top-12 in start-up venture capital raised in 2014 and are No. 1 and 3, respectively, in average money raised per deal. Johnson thinks the legacy of Utah values has created a prime environment for start-ups.
“I thinks it’s part of our inventive, pioneering, hard-working heritage,” Johnson said. “I also think that this is the state where there were some early tech companies like Novell and WordPerfect who have had a dandelion effect. They have really created something that 20, 30, 40 years later is what we have today.”
The biggest one to date has been 500. This one, in its kick-off year, they are expecting between two and three thousand people to come. And I think it's helpful that it's the same time that Sundance is. There is a lot of stuff going on.
–Jonathan Johnson, chairman of Overstock.com
Utah is a go-to place for companies looking to start or grow, partially influenced by the potential employees in the state, Johnson said.
“It’s an easy place to take a chance on because the workforce is so good,” Johnson said. “They are hardworking, they are knowledgeable, they understand the tech industry and they are people of integrity. What more could you ask for in a workforce?”
Overstock is one of the biggest success stories from Utah and Johnson was glad to tell the story of going from small business to global name.
“We’re born and bred in Utah," he said. "We started in 1999 with just 18 employees as a liquidation company, thus the name Overstock.com. Over the years it’s changed. We now sell first-run brand-name goods—it’s not just liquidation goods. It’s been changing our model, time and time again, to what customers demand, trying to provide great deals with good customer care, and it meant that last year we ended with 1,700 employees and we announced today that we had $1.5 billion in revenue.”
