Utah Tech Outlook Remains Strong in the Face of Change—5 Reasons I’m Optimistic After Moderating a Utah Business Tech Roundtable

I love so many things about the career I’ve built, including the choice to do it here in Utah. And one of the best side-perks of being a CMO is interacting with fellow Silicon Slopes leaders.

I had an amazing opportunity to do just that last month, thanks to Mekenna Malan and Melanie Paris Jones at Utah Business , who invited me to moderate a panel about Utah’s tech and SaaS landscape, which they wrote about in this month’s issue, A roundtable with Utah’s tech leaders.

Throughout the discussion—which covered everything from economic challenges, water shortages, AI misuse, gender parity and local nightlife (or lack thereof)—the consensus kept landing in the same place: Silicon Slopes is resilient, and we have a strong future ahead.

Many thanks to a dynamic discussion between Amelia Wilcox ?? , Thomas Compagno , Grant Gordon , Saul Leal , Scott Johnson , Sarah Matthews and David Politis , I walked away with 5 reasons to feel great about the future of SaaS and technology in Utah.

We’ve Got News for You, Charles Barkley…Silicon Slopes Has A Lot to Offer Out-of-State Talent

Silicon Slopes’ exposure has come a long way, and this group has seen the benefits of its ever-expanding reputation in recruiting out-of-state talent—even on the heels of Barkley’s big-stage dig. Where else can you have a promising career in tech while you ski, hike, mountain bike or climb seven days a week? In fact, the proximity to several world-class ski resorts influenced my own decision to build my career here.

What’s more, it’s primed for investment. Even amidst water challenges, high interest rates and an inflated housing market, Utah is still a good deal for investment and expansion. And, according to the group, our venture community can write seed checks to compete with anyone.

SaaS is Getting Pretty Bad A**!

Generative AI is all the buzz in tech, and there are big aspirations for its impact on SaaS and how it will build up local businesses—in tech and beyond.

Questions of trust, ethics and employee displacement were batted around, but the group concluded that the risks can be mitigated with education.

It all comes down to GIGO—“good (data) in, good (data) out” according to David Politis . Honing training models and learning from the “wisdom of crowds” is critical to avoiding the biases surrounding data inputs. And we need to educate about the difference between models and actual intelligence – Grant Gordon went as far as to say that labeling generative AI as artificial intelligence is the “biggest mistake that the engineers ever made.”

The way we should be thinking about AI today is not as a final solution, but as a bridge to making people more impactful by solving a “blank-page problem.” It’s about “increasing the capacity of humans at a larger level,” according to Saul Leal , and creating more time for people to be strategic and forward-looking in ways that computers can’t.

Several leaders in the group are already instilling this knowledge in their own children, and emphasized the opportunity for schools to embrace a curriculum that supports getting the most of AI while avoiding its pitfalls.

Beyond the business benefits, generative AI can also be a valuable extension for mental health care, according to Amelia Wilcox ?? . Not only are some people more comfortable sharing their mental health challenges with a bot than another human being, it also speeds the time to care for people who say they can’t get an appointment with a professional fast enough.?

Employee Confidence Can Be Rebuilt through Transparency, Collaboration and Impact

Yes, Utah was hit hard by the recent wave of tech sector layoffs, but the community is finding strength by rallying together. In particular, the group recognized Silicon Slopes initiatives to share newly available talent, which they have put into action for their own recruiting.

Within businesses, community building has come in the form of delivering transparency on repeat, unifying teams through a common mission and cross-collaboration, offering resources for mental health care, and making sure everyone feels confident in their impact.

At Domo , we do that by putting data to work for everyone?– both within Domo and for our customers?– so anyone can multiply their impact on their business. Companies like Dónde , Motivosity and Nivati are doing it through employee rewards, incentives and care. Across the board, we’re all seeing the benefits of investing in employees as we rebuild confidence about career growth in tech.

Hybrid Work Is Supporting Inclusivity

In many ways, hybrid work is our culture’s new “best frenemy.”

It makes tech careers inviting to people with a wider range of personalities and lifestyles, while also giving employees the best of in-person collaboration and team building.

That said, there are some key factors to making it work, and this group discussed three that were top-of-mind:

• First, it’s not a one-size fits all solution. Many are leaving it to departmental managers to determine how to get the best work and most satisfaction from their teams.
• Second, invisible borders need to be created to protect work/life balance. Amelia Wilcox ?? shared that, while 97% of employees want hybrid or remote work, most have a hard time enjoying work-life balance when both happen in the same place.
• Third, it’s still important to maintain a company culture. Grant Gordon at Artemis does this by creating unstructured social time for employees to build relationships at least once a year.

Today’s Stay-At-Home Parents Make Great Future Tech Pros?

Utah has one of the largest communities of full-time stay-at-home parents in the country. While it’s not typically a paid role, this population is honing skills on a daily basis in everything from problem solving and communication to crisis management and executive decision making.

These skills translate really well into SaaS or technology careers! Beyond expanding opportunities for part-time work and offering programs like returnships, the group agreed there’s a huge opportunity to educate prospective parents and current stay-at-home parents about their opportunities in tech, should they be interested in work outside the family sphere from the start or as their kids grow up and spend less time at home.

Tech-Moms is doing an amazing job of paving this path and helping Utah get a little bit closer to closing a gap that Moody’s estimates will boost the world’s economy by $7 trillion.

I had the best time with this group and continue to be amazed by the innovation and leadership coming out of Silicon Slopes! I hope you’ll all check out Utah Business this month to learn more about our discussion, and where the future of SaaS and tech in Utah is headed! ?