Foley & Lardner LLP and Utah Business recently co-hosted a roundtable discussion on venture capital in Utah.
Moderated by Amy Rees Anderson, founder and managing partner at REES Capital, and featuring Foley partner Jeffrey Bowman and venture capital leaders across the state, attendees discussed perfecting the pitch, the pros and cons of incubators, protecting one’s reputation, and more.
In the Utah Business article summarizing the discussion, “Invest in the West: A roundtable on venture capital in Utah,” Bowman advised caution when using an incubator. “As a community, we’re very good at educating each other,” he explained. “But a lot of these programs have sponsoring attorneys to whom the founders are being referred. Those attorneys may not be as quick to notify the founders of the perils of dealing with an incubator.”
“In some ways, it’s a down market, but it’s not a classic slow market — it’s defensive,” Bowman said when asked for his perspective on the industry’s recent history and current trends. “The numbers suggest that there’s capital sitting on the sidelines. To me, that’s encouraging.”
“Hopefully, as things normalize across the spectrum, deals will pick up,” he added.
