Cold Feet

“This is a group that is subject to SEC regulations,” Bertoch says. “They generally have to have a net worth of over $1 million, and under the Obama Administration, that can’t include their primary residences.” There are 60,000 angel investors in the country, says Bertoch, and around 2,000 angel groups, with $18 billion a year in investments.

“They are a big deal, and we have some very aggressive angel groups here in Utah,” he says. The WBI Angels (from the Wayne Brown Institute) are among the most active. There are also other large angel groups in Salt Lake, Utah and Summit Counties.

Bertoch is optimistic that the economy will turn around, and he doesn’t want Utah’s entrepreneurs to miss the train when it starts to leave the station again.

“Venture funding will go elsewhere if we can’t make these investments happen,” he says. “There’s an investment infrastructure in Utah that’s very quiet and very powerful—the average citizen doesn’t know about it. We just need to do a couple of things that will help push us over the finish line.”