How Torrent Cycle brought next-level fitness to Utah

SLC Padel Club is the name, padel is the game. It’s more than a place to try a sport that’s on the rise; the club is a community project for its owner, 26-year-old Pedro Bautista.

“I wanted something community and sports related,” Bautista says. “Not something you only play for 90 minutes.”

From Venezuela to Utah

Bautista is from Venezuela, but moved to Florida for college. From there, he moved to Utah, and has been here for the last five years. He’s a trained biomedical engineer and worked in medical manufacturing. His sports background, until recently, didn’t include rackets. He preferred jiu-jitsu, boxing, CrossFit, running and swimming.

Padel, though, was always in his orbit.

“I have family in Miami, I have family in Europe,” Bautista says. “I have always seen how big it is … every time that I visited, I would play.”

He wasn’t a lifelong devotee. “Not consistent enough to be like a pro … or even intermediate,” he says, adding that he’s now “transitioning to an intermediate.” But he understood the size of the wave, and he understood Utah didn’t have it yet.

That combination — a global trend plus a local gap — was enough to get him moving.

A family business, not a hype project

SLC Padel Club bills itself as Utah’s first dedicated padel club, featuring indoor courts and programming built around open play, coaching and events.

Bautista says the club is a family business. It’s just him and his dad, who is also named Pedro, investing in the company, though his dad still lives in Miami.

“We always knew we wanted to do something together,” he says. “And for me, I wanted something community and sports related. And for him, he wanted something new. And of course … we wanted something that makes money.”

Miami was a non-starter in their minds. It was too saturated. Utah was the opposite. It was hungry for new activities, full of transplants and still early in padel’s U.S. expansion.

As soon as the idea solidified, he and his dad started building the brand before they even had a lease. They launched the website and social media early, then hunted for the right space. He had already seen announcements from others planning to enter the market, and he wanted to get ahead of the wave rather than chasing it.

When they found the Woods Cross location, he says, they didn’t hesitate. Part of the location’s appeal was the other buildings nearby. There was a soccer club next door with hundreds of kids, a school across the street, a CrossFit gym, a trampoline park and other fitness businesses.

“As far as we know … all of the clubs … are south,” he says, naming areas such as West Valley, West Jordan, Lehi and Orem. “None in this area. Davis County is ours.”

He calls it an untapped market with a built-in radius from Layton to Woods Cross.

Why padel, why now?

Padel’s shorthand is “tennis-meets-squash,” but the sport has its own identity. The glass walls keep the ball alive longer, and they turn points into puzzles. The paddle is solid with holes instead of strings. The ball has its own feel. The court plays like a contained arena where chaos is allowed — even encouraged.

Most importantly, padel is typically played in doubles. That changes the vibe immediately. Players aren’t just competing, they’re coordinating, adjusting and communicating. The built-in social structure is a big reason why the sport is booming globally, and why so many operators are sprinting into the space. Bautista has studied the sport’s growth projections but is also trusting the momentum he felt seeing padel played during his travels. Still, he doesn’t want to mimic everything he observed.

“There are these clubs that, for example, in Miami, they’re automated,” he says. “You just come and play, and there’s no one at reception. That may work over there, but that’s not really the vision that we have here.”

“The real competition … is sports that are not racket sports. The people that we really have to try to get through a facility … are the people that maybe have never swung a racket.”

Pedro Bautista

The slogan is the strategy

Bautista wears the mission on a club-branded shirt. It reads, “New sport. New friends. New you.” It’s not just merch. It’s the whole business plan in six words.

“New sport,” he says, because Utah is still being introduced to padel. “New friends,” because padel is a social sport by design. Doubles is the default, and people often need help getting plugged in. He gives an example of a visitor from Mexico who didn’t know anyone in town. The visitor called the club and asked if they could find him three other people to play with. They did. Within weeks, Bautista says, the visitor had his own regular group.

“That makes you start. You need to meet people no matter what,” Bautista says.

Then there’s “new you,” because trying something unfamiliar tends to rearrange your routine. You gain new skills and new movement patterns. You also gain new social circles. The game becomes the reason you show up. The community becomes the reason you stay. The “stay” part is intentional.

Bautista points to the space itself. There is warm-up equipment, places to sit and a casual hangout atmosphere designed to stretch the experience beyond “play for 90 minutes and leave.”

For locals and people who miss home

Utah is famously family-oriented, Bautista says, and that helps padel. Utahns are always looking for social, active and repeatable activities. But there’s another group he is paying attention to — transplants.

He says the club is already pulling in a mix of backgrounds and accents. In one snapshot, he rattled off players from Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Paraguay and the U.S. That matters because padel isn’t “new” to many of them. It’s something they grew up with and lost when they moved.

“I have Argentinians that have been here for 10 years that haven’t had a chance to play again,” he says. “And as soon as we said that we were going to open, they started coming often.”

In other words, for some customers, SLC Padel Club isn’t just a new hobby. It’s a piece of home, rebuilt in Woods Cross.

Designing padel for newcomers

Bautista is candid that padel can feel less accessible than some other activities. Courts are specialized, equipment isn’t as ubiquitous and facilities require serious buildout. However, he’s trying to design entry points that make the sport feel approachable instead of exclusive.

The club offers memberships and drop-in play, plus events designed to reduce friction for newcomers. Memberships include longer sessions, included rackets, built-in matchmaking and discounts tied to specific days.

One signature example is Tapas Tuesdays. It’s a two-hour rotating-partners round robin. The club brings food, from Venezuelan to Argentinian to Peruvian. The social part is inseparable from the format. Bautista frames those nights as both community builders and skill builders. People meet, eat, play, rotate and improve.

They also run specials like family-oriented pricing on Sundays, bring-a-friend deals, and themed programming, including a “mom’s club,” he says they’re rolling out.

The pattern is clear. If padel is going to work in Utah, it can’t be a members-only bubble. It has to be a place where people can try it, meet someone, and come back.

Not the next pickleball

Padel is often framed as “the next pickleball,” but Bautista isn’t interested in picking a fight with any sport, especially not in a state where pickleball is thriving.

“Competition? Not at all,” he says. “Padel is its own thing.”

He also flips the usual comparison. In his view, the real competition isn’t pickleball, tennis or racquetball. It’s everything that keeps people from trying any racket sport in the first place.

“The real competition … is sports that are not racket sports,” he says. “The people that we really have to try to get through a facility … are the people that maybe have never swung a racket.”

That’s the bet. If the sport is fun enough, social enough and welcoming enough, it won’t need to “beat” pickleball to win. It needs to be a club where you don’t just learn a new game. You end up knowing someone’s name by the end of the night.

How Jorge Barragan founded The Picklr

Utah-based Rodatherm Energy Corporation has revolutionized the geothermal energy equation, and venture capitalists have taken note. With pilot projects planned for Millard County and Beaver County, the company has what founder and CEO Curtis Cook calls “a novel approach” to geothermal technology.

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“In essence, it’s a heat pump, no different than any other heat pump. All we did was take that technology and put it underground,” Cook says. “Working with our technical partners, we created a heat pump at depth, which does not use water, so we don’t get any contaminants or anything. We bring up nothing from the reservoir.”

Doing so keeps costs low, reduces the strain on the water system, and ultimately creates a profitable energy model. In September, Rodatherm landed an oversubscribed $38 million Series A — the largest first-round venture raise for a geothermal startup to date — led by Evok Innovations with participation from TDK Ventures, Toyota Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, MCJ, Active Impact Investments, Renewal Funds, the Grantham Foundation, Giga Investments and others.

This represents a large vote of confidence in Rodatherm’s technology, according to Cook.

“Historically, geothermal is in locations with sparse populations. What this technology can do is bring it to environmentally sensitive areas with high-density populations,” he says. “Within northern Utah, we’re able to effectively create renewable power in an area where geothermal would not be able to operate historically. That’s what the game changer is.”

Utah is central to Rodatherm’s plan. Operating out of Salt Lake City and Calgary, the company is building toward a Utah pilot meant to prove commercial performance and unlock scaling. Cook has outlined a timeline to break ground in early 2026, complete an initial loop by late 2026, validate results under a secured offtake and then expand the site toward roughly 100 MW using project finance. If that sequence holds, Utah could add modular, water-light baseload power close to growing loads — exactly what grid planners and large customers are seeking.

“We love working in Utah. The people are fantastically nice,” Cook says. “Utah is open for business. What Gov. Spencer Cox has moved forward [with Project Gigawatt] is a huge vote of confidence for geothermal. Senate Bill 132 … streamlines bringing on production within the state. It all really lends itself wonderfully to developing significant projects within Utah.”

That combination — predictability plus efficiency potential — is what specifically drew VCs to write bigger checks for Utah-driven geothermal projects. It reframes geothermal from a bespoke geologic hunt into an engineered heat-transfer problem, with parts and processes that can be repeated from site to site.

The bottom line? VCs are more likely to invest in geothermal today because the market needs clean, 24/7 power, and the path to financing is more defined. Rodatherm’s “heat-pump-at-depth” approach aligns with that moment — tidy engineering, fewer variables and a clear Utah-first plan to prove it and scale.

“There’s a reason why we picked Salt Lake City and Utah as our hub,” Cook says. “Everyone’s efforts here are tied to Utah. We’re hiring in Utah. We are looking to build within Utah.”

What the military taught me about being an entrepreneur

Veterans don’t just serve their country — they build it. Across Utah, military veterans are launching companies, creating jobs and redefining what it means to be an entrepreneur. And they’re not doing it alone. Thanks to organizations like Utah’s Veteran Business Resource Center (the only one of its kind in the country), Utahns who are veterans, active-duty service members, and military spouses have access to a full ecosystem of free support to help them pursue entrepreneurship. Businesses built by veterans reflect the grit, clarity and mission-driven mindset forged through their service.

Five Utah veterans share how their military backgrounds have shaped their entrepreneurial journeys and how they’re paying it forward in the private sector.

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“I spent more than half my life as an airman, and the Air Force’s core values — integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do — are part of who I am. Those values are at the heart of Domination Thru Automation. Our mission is grounded in service through empathy and we see excellence as a journey, not a destination.

What the military gave me was vision and resilience. You learn to think long-term and execute in small steps. Our goal is to change the world through better systems, and we map our milestones like a mission plan.

Business isn’t like the military — you’ve got to learn it in parallel. We spent a year and a half just building our application before we really learned how to run a company. But resilience isn’t just about hanging on — it’s about showing up every day, moving forward and staying true to the mission.”

— Frank Unpingco

Co-Founder, Domination Thru Automation

“Our business is built on integrity. We won’t show clients the reports they want to see — we show them what they need to see. That level of honesty can be brutal, but it’s non-negotiable.

One of the hardest lessons was learning that building a business isn’t like building a tool. We focused so much on the application that we didn’t think about the go-to-market strategy or pricing. Veterans bring grit and structure, but you still need to learn business.

That said, the mindset we brought from the military has been everything. We break goals into milestones, hold each other accountable, and support one another like a unit. We joke like a family, but we don’t let things slide. That’s how we operated in uniform — and that’s how we lead now.”

— Kristopher Goering

Co-Founder & COO, Domination Thru Automation

“I stopped at college and in the workforce before starting my company, and being a veteran definitely gives you a leg up. Most of us have some kind of disability rating, which creates a bit of a safety net. It gives us freedom to try things.

We’ve seen good leadership and bad leadership. I’ve learned that disappointment comes from mismatched expectations. Just be honest: Say, ‘we’re going to have a tough month, but we’ll be OK.’ That’s better than pretending everything’s fine.

We live by ‘under-promise, over-deliver.’ We try to be on time, and if we’re not, communication is key. The military taught me that — even if you’re not leading a team, you lead yourself with integrity.”

— Michael Donnell

Owner, Measure Once Cut Once

“The biggest thing I tell other vets: Don’t do it alone. Get honest people around you: mentors, advisors, a network. Your spouse has to be 100 percent on board or it won’t work. My wife’s been my biggest support through it all.

Business is riskier than the military. In the military, your pay is guaranteed; you have protections. As an entrepreneur, you’re exposed. You can get sued for nothing. It’s on you to survive.

What’s helped me is my tolerance for rejection. I get rejected five to ten times a day — but I’ve also closed million-dollar deals. You learn not to take feedback personally. That grit is what separates veteran entrepreneurs. We don’t quit because someone said no. We keep pushing.”

— Juan Whiting

President, Hinterland Institute

“You get used to the beatings of life in the military — and in entrepreneurship, it’s a lot of the same. It’s emotional, not physical. The military builds resilience and trains you to find solutions under pressure.

When mortars are falling and you have to think clearly, that prepares your mind for stress. Now, in business, I remind myself: Bombs aren’t falling. My life’s not in danger. That gives me perspective and control.

The military also taught me how to enroll people in a common mission, even if they come from different backgrounds. In combat, I worked with interpreters and Iraqi police. You learn to align with people who don’t think like you. That makes it easier to lead teams in business.

Entrepreneurship can give you purpose. It’s a mission. If you take the same energy and focus from service and apply it to your own vision, you’ll find meaning beyond the military — and growth you didn’t expect.”

— AJ Richards

Founder & CEO, From The Farm

The advantages of midlife entrepreneurship

VC talent in training

Obviously, the one that requires him to be a bit more buttoned up.

“Closing a $5 million deal is a thousand times more exhausting than a 3 a.m. set,” Haslam says with a laugh.

It’s an almost unsurprising admission, given how busy Haslam has been in the business world. In 2013, he launched a commercial upfitting company that converted vehicles to run on natural gas and grew it into a $20-30 million dollar business.

Haslam then launched Kingbee in 2021, a fleet-rental startup that promised to deliver work-ready vans faster and more efficiently than anyone in the market. Within a year, the company scaled from $2.6 million to $18.8 million in revenue; by 2025, it was approaching nine figures.

Music remained his passion.

“Starting a business in the commercial vehicle space went well, but I never stopped loving music,” says Haslam, who grew up playing guitar and once even toured on an album he recorded with his friends. “Eventually, I wanted to do something creative again — something to share the music and the spaces I love.”

Turns out, his dream just needed a set of wheels.

Same values, different venues

The seed for RANGER was planted when one of Haslam’s friends put on a pop-up music festival by a river in the woods near Mackay, Idaho.

“It was one of the coolest experiences I’d ever had,” Haslam says. “I thought, Utah has all these beautiful places. What if we could just pop up and create an experience like that here?”

The key, he realized, was mobility. So, Haslam went on a mission to find the biggest truck he could find at a military surplus auction. He struck gold when he came across an eight-wheel-drive HEMTT truck with only 5,000 miles for just $50,000.

Then the work began.

“We drew up plans — big sound, big lights, a deck people could dance on — and just started fabricating,” Haslam says. His commercial vehicle shop became the perfect lab for the new side hustle.

RANGER now boasts custom-built framing, light arrays and high-end speakers. Each show since has added a new layer — lasers one month, projection mapping the next.

“It’s my creative outlet and a way to give back,” Haslam says.

Three years in, RANGER has hosted roughly 30 events, usually once a month during the summer. Attendance ranges from 300 to 1,000 people, with international DJs headlining, often alongside Haslam himself. Lately, his go-to track has been “Lover’s Walk” by Kino Toto.

Haslam is proud of the local clout his events carry, and is even more proud of the positivity that flows through the crowd. That’s what PLUR — Haslam’s mantra, which stands for Peace, Love, Unity, Respect — is all about.

“I’ve never had a fight, never an overdose. Everyone’s there to disconnect and enjoy themselves,” Haslam says. “When people hear ‘rave,’ they imagine chaos, but ours are intentional and respectful.”

That mindset carries into Kingbee’s culture.

“My primary motivation in running a business is building community and opportunity,” Haslam says. “I love creating spaces where people can grow and see their potential. That’s true whether it’s on a job site or a dance floor.”

Bass drops > boardrooms?

At first, Haslam was doing most of the heavy lifting for RANGER — literally. He has since passed off the talent booking, event planning, marketing and logistics to his team.

“Now, I just make sure it makes enough money to fund the next one, and I can actually enjoy the shows,” Haslam says.

He also ensures party-goers are able to enjoy the show by capping attendance at around 400 people. After testing the limits with a 3,000-person event in Salt Lake City, Haslam decided bigger wasn’t always better.

“I hated it,” he says. “Too much liability, too many drunk kids, not enough respect.”

The smaller scale allows Haslam to remain hyper-focused on experience over volume, something that’s been challenging to apply to Kingbee as its grown. The pressure of C-suite life can be enormous; Haslam perhaps half-jokingly shares that his blood pressure has gone up considerably over the years. For that, the best medicine seems to be loud music, bright lights and late nights. Who would have guessed it?

“As you scale a company, you spend more time raising money and managing deals. The creative part of your brain gets buried,” Haslam says. “RANGER brings that back. You build something, people show up, and you watch them enjoy it. It’s instant feedback.”

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Venture capital isn’t just for Silicon Slopes executives or Wall Street power players — it’s an industry that is being shaped by college students across Utah.

Through programs like Cougar Capital at Brigham Young University (BYU), the Wolverine Fund at Utah Valley University (UVU), Old Main Ventures at Utah State University (USU), and the University of Utah’s Sorenson Impact Institute, students are investing real money into real startups. These student-run funds offer hands-on experience in sourcing deals, performing due diligence and making investment decisions while shaping the future of Utah’s innovation economy.

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“I’m a senior at UVU majoring in business analysis with a minor in finance. I transferred here from Idaho and didn’t know much about venture capital until a friend asked if I was in the Wolverine Fund. I told her, ‘I’m not — but I should be.’ After taking an intro to VC course, I applied and got in. I’ve been involved ever since.

The Wolverine Fund invests up to $25,000 in early-stage companies. We’ve had companies pitch from energy to transportation to AI — it’s really all over the place. I gravitated toward the people side of diligence: researching leadership teams, understanding their backgrounds and comparing them to competitors.

It’s definitely not like your typical classroom. It’s very hands-on and collaborative. I learned to dig into data, question optimistic projections and evaluate whether a startup was truly scalable. You have to dive deep, not just accept what’s on the pitch deck.

The program also strengthened my teamwork and communication skills. Everyone brings something different to the table, and that’s what makes it valuable. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s curious about finance or startups. It gives you real-world experience you can’t get from a textbook.” — Hannah Neilson | Wolverine Fund

“I’m a sophomore at Utah State majoring in financial economics and philosophy. I started with Old Main Ventures during my freshman year and stuck around. I help with business development, portfolio management and training analysts.

Old Main Ventures is entirely student-run and industry-agnostic. If you source a deal, you automatically lead it from first contact to final presentation. I’ve worked on deals with complex patent portfolios in dental tech, real estate and hardware. For my first investment, I led diligence on a dental startup and even interviewed dentists to understand the science behind it.

You’re thrown into the deep end, and you have to figure it out. I learned how to synthesize large amounts of conflicting information, form a defensible opinion, and navigate hard conversations with founders. You’re not just summarizing data — you’re building conviction.

What stands out most [about the program] is the culture. If you’re comfortable, you’re in the wrong place. The program constantly challenges you to think critically and work collaboratively. It’s helped me grow not just as an investor, but as a communicator and leader.” — Zara Staheli, Old Main Ventures

“I just graduated from the University of Utah with a finance degree and will be joining Goldman Sachs this summer. One of the most valuable experiences I had in college was with the Sorenson Impact Institute.

We focused on early-stage companies that created both financial and social return. We invested from two funds: one focused on startups in the Mountain West, and the other aimed at scalable companies serving underserved communities. One of the most memorable deals I worked on was a food-as-medicine startup delivering meal kits to Medicaid patients.

I learned adaptability above all. We were often thrown into deals we weren’t familiar with and had to absorb information quickly and think like investors. I also developed professionally, presenting to investment committees, managing deadlines and working with diverse teams.

On the technical side, I led financial diligence on a few deals. At first, I felt in over my head, but working closely with teammates helped me build a strong foundation in modeling and financial analysis.

What really stood out was the mentorship. We took a trip to San Francisco to meet professionals, network and learn how to pitch ourselves. The combination of impact-driven investing and real-world experience shaped how I see my career — and what kind of leader I want to be.” — Kian Crawford, Sorenson Impact Institute

“I actually chose BYU specifically so I could join Cougar Capital. I read about it in BYU Magazine back in 2011, and I just knew it was something I wanted to be part of.

Cougar Capital is part of the MBA program. You take a precursor course, and then 14 students are selected to manage the fund. We typically invest $25,000 to $150,000 in seed to Series A companies, usually in enterprise SaaS and B2B tech. We always syndicate deals — often with Utah firms like Pelion, Kickstart, Peterson Ventures and Sorenson. This year, they even did a buyout deal, which was a first.

The fund is structured like a real VC firm. We had people over sourcing, portfolio management, finance, LP outreach — it’s all student-led. I worked on multiple deals, often coordinating directly with founders and VCs. Everything I do now at Allegis Capital I learned by doing at Cougar Capital.

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The mentorship was incredible. We’d sit with VC partners who helped reshape our questions and taught us how to think more strategically. It changed my life. I even extended my MBA just to take the class again. Without Gary Williams and Cougar Capital, I wouldn’t be where I am. No doubt in my mind.” — Jenn Scherbel, Cougar Capital

Alex Lawrence has seen a few major technological innovations in his day: the World Wide Web, the smartphone and electric vehicles, to name a few. For Lawrence and many others, the latest jaw-dropping piece of tech has been the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and the products that bring AI to the everyday consumer.

Lawrence had a profound split reaction when he first tried ChatGPT in December of 2022.

“I had two almost simultaneous thoughts,” he says. “The first one was, ‘This is unbelievable. It is amazing that they’ve made something so easy to use and so powerful.”

Then, the educator in him—Lawrence teaches courses in professional sales at Weber State University—realized, “This is the greatest cheating tool I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Lawrence has told this story a few times to various local and national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN, News Nation and Forbes. He was immediately aware of the same concern many educators had while first regarding AI and ChatGPT, but decided not to run from implementing AI in his classroom. Instead, he fully embraced it.

“I’m absolutely pushing them, and in some cases, requiring them on a couple of assignments to use ChatGPT and other AI tools on their work,” Lawrence says of his students. “We help them get good at it so they can use the tools in a way that isn’t cheating—it’s augmenting.”

Education experts agree on AI

It’s not hard to imagine that many other educators felt the same way as Lawrence when they first encountered ChatGPT, recognizing it as the greatest cheating tool yet.

However, now that the initial shock has worn off and as AI tools become more and more commonplace, many agree that AI will only proliferate even further. The top minds in education now praise the power of AI, just like Lawrence.

In July, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education published an article titled “Embracing Artificial Intelligence in the Class,” claiming that “generative AI tools can reflect our failure of imagination, and that is when the real learning starts.”

One of the Harvard lecturers quoted in the article, Houman Harouni, stated that educators need to “help the next generation face the reality of the world and develop instruments and ways of navigating this reality with integrity.” Ignoring AI, especially as the rest of the world does not, would be a grave mistake by educators. Harouni and Lawrence say the trick is to teach students to use it positively and productively.

“Where we want to get to is a place where you’re dancing with it, dancing with robots,” Harouni said in the article.

Blazing new trails with AI

Combining technology and education—and putting both in the form of a game—is nothing new. Former students of a certain age will remember inserting floppy disks of Oregon Trail into now-primitive machines in their elementary school computer lab. After that, educational CD-ROMs became commonplace at school and at home.

AI can provide the next generation of education and game-driven learning.

Graham Bany, who teaches high school English in the Jordan School District, has found a way to build his own text-based role-playing games, much like Oregon Trail, using AI and a Utah-based company, SchoolAI.

In the AI “Spaces”—as SchoolAI calls them—Bany’s students are taken through a “choose your own adventure” style game, imagining a dystopian future for a business industry they’ve discussed in class. The game gets the students’ imaginations churning and prepares them to write an essay on their research and the events taking place in the Space.

“I give them a home that’s really a prewriting activity in disguise that then leads into the actual academic work,” Bany says. “It’s part of the way I run my classroom, creating unique experiences that are meaningful, that allow the kids to have fun, but also still have that learning twist.”

Ryan Holdaway, chief of staff at SchoolAI’s Lehi office, calls Bany a “top-10 teacher in the country as far as using AI.” But, he explains, Bany is an AI leader because of his thoughtful implementation of the technology in the classroom, not any tech-savviness itself.

SchoolAI, Holdaway says, is focused on making AI extremely approachable for students and teachers.

“Our platform strives to remove the complexity of using an AI tool in the classroom,” Holdaway says. “You don’t have to be a programmer or anything like that in order to leverage these tools. We want to give simple, easy ways for teachers to use the technology in their classroom because we think that it’s really powerful.”

How to best utilize AI

Not long ago, the internet turned the grind of homework on its head. Going to the library was replaced with going online. Lawrence believes entering a prompt into ChatGPT is the next version of this.

In his mind, using a new technology, especially one that has not been polluted by commercialism—yet—can give students a better start to their learning journey.

“ChatGPT and other tools like it are not gamed by SEO, first-page rankings or ads, so [a student’s] starting point is better. And since their starting point is better, their ending point is better,” Lawrence says.

Above all, Lawrence believes AI will reduce a great deal of grunt work for human users. The work done in his classes involves a lot of written correspondence. Using ChatGPT, students are spared hours typing out emails or direct messages. Now, they spend more time on creative thinking and problem-solving.

“Cold calling, emailing and texting—I don’t think there are a lot of people who love doing that,” Lawrence says. “It’s something that has to be learned, but AI can help that learning occur so much faster that you get to work more on the fun stuff.”

Lawrence uses AI to save time in his role as an educator as well. To keep his lectures fresh, he has spent time each year updating and improving classroom material. Now, he breathes new life into his teaching with AI-suggested enhancements, shortening the time it takes to revitalize his lectures while enriching the revisions.

“It’s a brilliant editor in terms of editing my original content and helping me make it better,” he says.

Endlessly patient

When AI is implemented in a classroom, it doesn’t matter how many times it takes to get a lesson across to a student. Holdaway calls AI’s limitless ability to rephrase concepts or suggest new ways of thinking as “endlessly patient.”

Something that could not be said of most humans.

“It doesn’t get bored and doesn’t run out of content or stories. If the kid continues not to get it or struggle, the AI will sit with them and continue to explain and break it down and repeat itself until the kid crosses the threshold,” Holdaway says.

In addition to being a platform for a fun, educational game or experience, SchoolAI’s Spaces serve as a highly individualized, one-on-one learning environment. Holdaway says they’re able to meet the students where they currently are and push them along their educational progression.

On the back end of a SchoolAI Space, the teacher can get real-time data and insights on their students’ progress, strengths, weaknesses and—importantly—motivation.

The fusion of individualized learning and instant feedback is invaluable to instructors like Bany. It’s much better than the old days of peer reviews and edits, he explains.

“What I get to do now is check in and spend meaningful time with the kids, looking at their writing and helping to reteach the things that they need help with,” Bany says. “Instead of running a class where I have to have the kids help teach each other, I use the AI to accurately identify issues. Then, I can find the students that need individual support and spend more time with them.”

The dangers of AI in the classroom

Still, give students the keys to the world’s greatest cheating tool, and chances are, some will use AI irresponsibly.

Lawrence has guarded against this by instructing his students to be extremely transparent when using AI to complete their assignments. Students must attach screenshots of their prompts and the responses they get so Lawrence can see their line of thinking. That, along with frequent discussions during his lectures, lets him know that the knowledge he’s teaching is being received.

“I tell them, ‘Hey, you don’t have to hide it. I want you to use it and other tools. If you find other tools, tell me what they are and share them with me and the class.’ I’ve tried to incentivize them to not hide it,” Lawrence says.

In the year or so in which he’s had an AI-friendly classroom, Lawrence has caught just two students for cheating or violating his rules. When he confronted them on his suspicions, they confessed and agreed to redo their work by following the rules.

Other than that, Lawrence has been pleased with his students’ compliance and responsible use of AI.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I’m still worried about it in many ways and where it shortcuts the learning process,” Lawrence voices. “I’m not naive to think that’s not happening. You have to make the best of it and hopefully inspire students to not go down that dark path, even though some will still choose to.”

The other major concern regarding AI is somewhat out of educators’ hands. AI programs are trained with inputted information and data. If the information is biased or incorrect, chances are good that the output could also be skewed. Researchers have also seen AI create responses on its own, completely detached from a basis in reality, which they refer to as “hallucinations.”

But Lawrence, who closely follows AI developments, believes that the funding and engineering talent going into this space will eventually reduce hallucinations to “virtually zero.”

The future of AI and education

The truth is, whether or not educators and school administrators like it, AI is here to stay. “The genie’s out of the bottle,” Lawrence told Utah Business back in July. He lauds Weber State University and the professional sales department for supporting his innovative and entrepreneurial efforts. The Ogden-based school isn’t the only college in the state backing AI.

Brigham Young University unveiled a new degree in machine learning at the start of the fall 2023 semester. The University of Utah launched a part-time Professional Education AI Boot Camp program and released guidelines to allow all students to use ChatGPT in their coursework. Utah State University and Utah Tech University also have defined guidelines on generative AI for their students.

For the most part, educators are optimistic about AI and its place in the classroom. A survey by Instructure found that 54.5 percent of teachers, students and administrators feel either very positive or positive about the new technology. The survey also found that over half of respondents have not yet used AI to complete their schoolwork.

As for where AI could be used most effectively, both teachers and students agreed that generative AI is most useful in science, math, and English and least effective—for now—in social studies or foreign language classes.

After all, the job of an educator is to prepare students to enter the real world. AI is a part of it now.

“I’d better send prepared students into the workforce; that’s my job,” Lawrence says. “I certainly have work to do on improving my teaching, and that’ll never stop. But mostly, I try really hard to have them learn the tools that I feel they’re going to use if they start their first real job the next day.”

Since being passed during the 2021 Utah Legislative Session, House Bill 80 — the Cybersecurity Affirmative Defense Act — has drawn high praise from cybersecurity experts and business owners alike.

“Honestly, it is probably the best piece of legislation I’ve seen the state legislature put out,” says John Pohlman, director of information security services at Tanner LLC.

As Pohlman explains, HB80 is a business-friendly bill that motivates organizations, large and small, to invest in cybersecurity. The key benefit? If businesses can demonstrate they’ve implemented the proper security controls and data protection systems, they are shielded from lawsuits following a security breach. This is known as an affirmative defense — a legal safeguard that allows businesses to defend themselves in court by showing they were proactively working to prevent an issue.

In many states, compliance is enforced through penalties and fines. For example, California’s privacy laws impose fines on businesses for non-compliance. In contrast, HB80 encourages companies to improve cybersecurity by offering legal protection.

“Utah took the opposite approach,” Pohlman says. “The legislature said, ‘Look, we understand that people want to run their businesses and that cybersecurity needs to be more of a priority. So, we’ll incentivize an affirmative defense and support businesses that can show they’re continually investing in cybersecurity.’”

Utah leads out with DAO-recognizing legislation

One of the most attractive features of HB80 is the relatively low barrier to compliance. Businesses are not required to implement expensive, cutting-edge technology. Instead, the law references the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework, which outlines a set of best practices for data security. As long as a company’s cybersecurity program “reasonably conforms” to NIST guidelines or a similar approved resource, it can qualify for the affirmative defense.

“These controls are easy to follow and not particularly intrusive,” Pohlman assures. “As long as the business can show it’s performing regular risk assessments or auditing for deficiencies and trying to improve them, they’re covered.”

For example, a company might start by implementing basic measures like strong password policies, encrypting sensitive data or conducting regular vulnerability assessments. These are all relatively simple steps that align with NIST standards and can provide significant protection against cyber threats.

Importantly, the standard for compliance isn’t one-size-fits-all. While large tech companies or retail giants might need to audit their systems two or three times a year, small businesses aren’t held to the same frequent schedule. In fact, a small mom-and-pop shop could get by with audits every other year, as long as it can document that it is investing in cybersecurity and actively addressing any identified weaknesses.

“It’s not an expensive investment either,” Pohlman says. He estimates that spending less than $10,000 on a third-party audit and a five-year cybersecurity plan can bring most businesses into compliance.

It’s money well spent, he notes, and more businesses should take advantage of this legislative power. Unfortunately, many companies still hesitate to act.

“There’s a lot of fear and speculation that everyone’s getting hacked, so businesses aren’t doing anything,” Pohlman observes. He regularly encourages his clients to take advantage of HB80’s protections. “The state of Utah is saying, ‘Hey, look, we know it’s going to happen. If you can show you’re continually improving and investing in IT security controls, we’ll stand behind you in court.’”

Joe Margolis

CEO | Extra Space Storage

When Joe Margolis first became acquainted with Extra Space Storage as a joint venture partner with Prudential Real Estate Investors back in 1998, the Utah-born company had just a modest offering of 12 self-storage facilities. In 2017, he became the CEO when the company had grown enough to be added to the S&P 500 index.

Now, just six years later, he has led Extra Space Storage through the largest merger and acquisition in Utah history—a $12.7 billion deal—in addition to status as the highest publicly traded company by market cap.

While that all might sound impressive, Margolis refuses to take the credit. It took a village to make Extra Space both the largest operator of self-storage properties and one of the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts in America, he says.

“If you look at my executive team, I think our average tenure is 18 years. We have a lot of folks up and down the organization that have been here for a long time and are extraordinarily talented, dedicated and hardworking,” Margolis says.

It might be that kind of company culture that made such a massive transaction possible. As Margolis explains, the opportunity to become the biggest self-storage operator in the country came about earlier this year when Public Storage attempted a hostile takeover of Life Storage with a public bear hug.

Life Storage leaders, however, thought that Margolis and Extra Space would be a better partner.“I think the Life Storage folks felt that our companies were more similar with their cultures and strategies. They felt there would be more long-term value creation by putting the company together with us than with Public Storage,” Margolis says, adding that the financial benefits of pairing with Extra Space were also far more appealing to Life Storage and its shareholders.

To Margolis, culture matters. Sure, he could tell you how long each of his executive leadership team has been around, but the attention to his staff doesn’t stop at the top of the ladder. Margolis regularly meets with intimate groups of Extra Space employees for roundtable meetings and even takes every single newly hired corporate employee out to lunch.

With a 95 percent rating from employees on Glassdoor, Margolis is one of the most favorably viewed CEOs on the site.

But again, eschewing any credit, he claims that’s “just the way things have always been” at Extra Space. When the company’s founder, Ken Woolley, was running the business in its infancy and formative years, he knew every single employee at a personal level—their hobbies, spouse’s name and even their dog’s name, Margolis says.

As CEO, Margolis doesn’t intend to lose that personal touch, even now that Extra Space Storage has ballooned to a massive size.

“We do everything we can to maintain small company values and treat everyone the same. Whether you’re an assistant store manager who’s been with us for two months or an executive who’s been with us for 20 years, you’re worthy of the same amount of respect, the same voice, the same seat at the table,” Margolis says. “I think we’ve been pretty successful at it.”

For just a moment, the bright lights of Times Square went completely dark. But according to Chris Carlson, VP of client strategy at Boncom, it was all part of the plan.

A split second later, the center of the commercialism world came alive with an expected, unified message. Taking a break from its usual drumbeat of displaying advertisements for consumer products, the billboards and LED screens lit up with the Christmas Nativity. Times Square visitors were surrounded by 360 degrees of a “Silent Night Surprise.”

That was in November 2023. Once the related video content went live on YouTube and other platforms the next month, the moment extended well beyond those powerful few minutes in New York City. An instant hit, the video content from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the influencers it worked with grabbed more than 200 million views worldwide.

“It’s probably the most viewed video the Church has ever done,” Carlson says. “In terms of its virality, it was off-the-charts successful.”

Capitalizing on spectacle

From a branding perspective, it was a silent night that made a lot of noise around the world.

As Carlson recalls, it was an idea that he and Jeff Taylor, an executive creative director at Boncom, had been sitting on for a while. Eight months before the Times Square takeover, the time had finally arrived; #LightTheWorld got the green light for a big night in the Big Apple.

“The story is about telling the story of the Nativity in the most commercial place you could tell it,” Carlson says. “And that’s why it’s so compelling to people. They’re like, ‘How did they actually put it off?’”

How did Boncom pull off an enormous branding exercise in one of the world’s most famous gathering spots? Not easily. It took an army of marketing and branding pros, according to Carlson.

Coordinating the efforts of a robust team of writers, directors, animators, motion graphics artists, social media influencers, cinematographers, billboard vendors, media buyers and public relations experts was one challenge. Telling a church-sponsored story that could appeal to a mass audience was another.

The spectacle was the key, as Carlson puts it.

“We wanted the experience to be amazing for the people that were there,” Carlson says. “And we really wanted to create an experience that we could capture and have go viral. We viewed Times Square like a stage for a music video.”

Branding on a budget

For many businesses — especially small ones — running a multi-million-dollar campaign isn’t in the cards. Still, even on a shoestring budget, it’s possible to stand out in a big way. Just ask Jen Hunsaker, owner of Copy Write Marketing. As Copy Write’s sole employee, Hunsaker wears many hats. Among them has been the role of creating her agency’s unique brand and voice.

Her advice to folks like her looking to do it all on their own? You don’t need to spend the big bucks to get the job done, even when it comes to creating a brand.

“I think small businesses struggle with saying, ‘I don’t have the bandwidth. I don’t have the time. I don’t have the experience.’ and they feel like they’re in a lose-lose situation,” Hunsaker says. “They might think their [only] option is to open a line of credit and throw all this money into building a marketing strategy.”

If you understand a few branding principles and think outside the box, Hunsaker believes you don’t need to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to create your brand. It just takes a bit of work.

“You’re going to have to put in some elbow grease to understand your customer,” Hunsaker says, recommending different ways to interact with ideal customers, such as trade show booths. Don’t be afraid to use free, easy-to-learn technology either, Hunsaker advises. Tools like ChatGPT and Canva can be a powerful one-two punch for startup business owners.

And if the logo you create in Canva isn’t exactly a top-notch design, don’t fret, Hunsaker says. It doesn’t need to be perfect, and you shouldn’t expect to conquer the world — or take over Times Square — all at once.

“We’re not here to get 1,000 percent growth in the next three months,” she says. “Most small business owners aren’t in business to sell it; they’re in it to grow. The thought should be, with this kind of slow and steady mindset, how do we scale and learn as we go along?”

And for Hunsaker, there’s no better case study than Copy Write Marketing itself.

“My business is kind of my testing ground,” she says. “Everything that I talk to clients about, I’ve had to do myself. I don’t want to go into crazy amounts of debt just for marketing. I work with companies who do have a little bit of a budget to outsource that work, but my goal is really to teach businesses to do it for themselves if they need to and to feel confident when working with an agency to not feel like they’re getting hoodwinked in the process.”

Creating a complete sensory experience

While böhme has made its mark as a fashion retailer, its owners say they’re selling much more than that, especially in their brick-and-mortar locations.

Fernanda Böhme — who opened the women’s clothing boutique with her sister Vivien in 2007 — believes they’re selling a complete sensory experience, not just the latest fashion trends.

“In women’s apparel, not being able to feel it, touch it and try it on is kind of a dealbreaker,” Böhme says. “There are a lot of people who just want to be online, and that’s OK. But I always say, ‘Do you want to be the Wizard of Oz, or do you want to be Dorothy?’”

A trip to a böhme store might feel like a visit to the Emerald City, indeed. Everything has been calculated to provide a fully immersive customer experience, and no detail is too minute.

“We care about everything in our stores, even down to the light bulbs,” she says. “I even manufacture my own bulb to make sure it’s the right lumens, the right angle and the right temperature.”

It all adds up. To Böhme, the attention to detail shows her customers that she and her team take pride in their products.

“When I go to a restaurant, I know they care about the food I’m eating because of the ambiance — and the bathroom,” Böhme says with a laugh. “I know that sounds funny, but if they don’t care about the bathroom, why are they going to care about the food?”

Fashion trends have evolved over the years, and so has the general aesthetic at böhme. But one thing has never changed.

“It’s the customer experience,” Böhme says. “Making it a sensory experience is a level above just some racks and some clothing. That’s the one thing we pride ourselves on.”

The three “E”s of online branding: Entertainment, education and emotion

While Just Ingredients does the majority of its sales online, the “e” in e-commerce isn’t the only one they’re worried about.

As founder and CEO Karalynne Call explains, there are three ways a brand can connect to its target audience through digital marketing channels. Entertainment, education and emotion can all — either together or individually — factor into compelling contact that creates a bond between a brand and its consumers.

As the head of a nutritional supplement company and a certified nutritionist herself, Call leans heavily on education to connect with her audience. She’s made her story Just Ingredients’ story as well.

“I relate to the parents that I teach about a healthy lifestyle,” she says. “I went on a pretty long health journey to get to where I am today, so I connect with people on that aspect as well.”

Call has found that sharing her personal story, including her struggle with mental health issues, is another way to strengthen the Just Ingredients brand. She’s a real person with real challenges who has found healthy living to be her saving grace. It’s a relatable story for the company’s million-plus followers on social media.

“We all have hard times, and mine was really hard to the point that I wanted to end my life,” Call says. “People connect and hold on to that. A lot of people are like, ‘Oh yeah, I feel that misery. What did you do to get out of that?’ I connect with them by telling my story and by showing my kids and our family life. Those are all points of connection.”

This story appears in the July issue of Utah Business. Subscribe. 

“I think there’s a storm brewing on the horizon,” says Kirkland & Ellis attorney Devin Anderson, referring to the escalating threat posed by deepfake scams. 

It’s a storm that could quickly become a flood of confusing and potentially harmful dupes invading nearly every industry. While deception is nothing new, the evolving and often shockingly realistic forgeries powered by generative artificial intelligence are giving cause for concern.

What is a deepfake?

Defined by Merriam-Webster as “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said,” deepfake videos and audio messages are fast becoming a tool for those intent on causing harm. These technologies are increasingly used to create harmful content, such as pornography designed to humiliate victims or fabricated audio recordings featuring problematic statements, both of which are becoming more common in the news. Stories of fraud and financial harm are also on the rise as deepfake technology becomes more accessible and convincing. 

Don’t expect this trend to dissipate anytime soon, Anderson warns.

“Many people might be susceptible to being taken advantage of simply by not realizing how far the technology has advanced,” he says. 

Anderson notes that Utah is one of the few states trying to get ahead of the problem. The state has enacted SB 149, known as “the AI bill,” signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox after Utah’s 2024 legislative session. This law includes the establishment of the Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy and a regulatory AI analysis program. Despite these measures, Anderson is concerned that the rapid advancement of technology may outpace legal protections. 

Lehi, Utah-based company Attestiv is dedicated to giving people a fighting chance against deepfakes. This AI forensics venture, founded by experts in cloud computing, provides tools to help individuals and companies identify and defend against fake digital media. Able to analyze images, documents and video for fraudulent genesis, Attestiv’s larger goal is to eventually provide a free resource for anyone to use.

“The worst thing is for people to feel helpless and not know what’s real,” says Esteban Hernandez, Attestiv’s director of product. “We’re really wanting to give people the tools to help mitigate risks and empower them to navigate the consequences of generative AI.”

How can you spot a deepfake?

For now, Hernandez recommends giving everything, especially images that appear shocking, a closer look.

“There are still AI models that, for example, might not be able to actually spell words,” Hernandez says. “Say you’re looking at a generated AI image of a coffee shop. If the signs look like gibberish, it’s most likely generated. Also, you can look at people’s faces and see if there’s any kind of oddness in the eyes. Or you can look at their hands — sometimes there’s a third hand coming out of nowhere.”

However, those telltale errors could eventually vanish. As Anderson forecasts, a storm of scamming may be brewing. Education and a healthy dose of doubt will be vital, especially as the technology — and the opportunity to create chaos — evolves. 

“I think, especially as we get into a highly contested election, there’s maybe a degree of skepticism we all should be bringing as we evaluate things,” he says. “In an online world where everything has to be reacted to in a snap, maybe we just need a little bit more of a pause as we come across these things.”

This story appears in the 2024 Advisor, a publication sponsored by Colliers Utah. 

“Unrecognizable.”

That’s the word Larry H. Miller Real Estate President Brad Holmes uses when imagining what Utah might look like in the next 10 years—and the reason why will likely perk up the ears of those who turn to the evening news just for a recap on the Utah Jazz game or a soundbite from a college football practice.

If you’re a sports fan in Utah, you’re likely feeling excited about what’s to come. Some of the state’s leading figures say sports will have an enormous impact on the look and feel of Utah’s next chapter, especially through the lens of real estate development. It’s been widely reported that the Salt Lake City market is being considered for potential expansion of the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. The Utah Jazz is reportedly exploring options for either a new arena somewhere in the Salt Lake Valley or to revamp the area immediately around the downtown Delta Center. The minor league Salt Lake Bees will relocate to a new sports-anchored mixed-use development in South Jordan’s Daybreak neighborhood. Plus, Salt Lake has been earmarked as the preferred venue for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

“It’s an exciting time,” says The Larry H. Miller Company CEO Steve Starks. “To me, I think it tracks the growth of the state in a lot of different ways: our population, our economy, our high quality of life. It’s great that we’re in all of these conversations.”

Learning from other big league cities

Of course, getting to where Utah could be a decade from now will take a lot of work and thoughtfully executed development. Those in the thick of it have found inspiration and guidance by looking at other “big league cities” around the country.

Colliers Utah Executive VP and Partner of Retail, Land and Investment Stuart Thain points to the downtown scene in San Diego as something he would love to see replicated in the Beehive State.

“You look at Petco Park in San Diego—when they opened up the ballpark downtown, it totally revitalized the Gaslamp district, and everything else was a boon for them,” Thain says, referring to the resurgence of shopping, dining and nightlife that emerged near the Padres’ stadium when it was completed in 2004. “I think if it’s done right here and it’s in the right location, something like that could really be a huge deal for the people of Utah.”

Since its opening in 2017, The Battery Atlanta—which sits adjacent to the Braves’ home field, Truist Park—has been celebrated as the model of sports-anchored mixed-use development projects. Big League Utah, the coalition rallied by The Larry H. Miller Group to bring an MLB franchise to Salt Lake, hopes to bring similar success with the Power District, the development proposal central to its efforts.

Having visited and closely studied The Battery Atlanta, Starks and Holmes are confident that Big League Utah can pull off its own version of what the Braves have to offer. And in Utah’s case, the Power District’s location—set near the Utah State Fairpark on the west side of Salt Lake City—is unmatched.

“We think it’s the most accessible site in the entire Wasatch Front,” Starks says. “It’s close to the airport and is right between I-15 and I-215 and right off I-80. There’s a TRAX station right in front of the property. It’s minutes away from downtown. Whether you’re coming south from Davis County or Weber County, north from Utah County, from anywhere in Salt Lake County or even west from Tooele, you can get there very easily.”

Breaking new ground in Daybreak

For now, Big League Utah’s MLB dreams are just that: dreams. But the first game-changing sports development in the state, the Bees’ move to Daybreak, is full-steam ahead. 

Following the 2024 Minor League Baseball season, the Bees will head southwest to a new home to anchor what The Larry H. Miller Group lauds as a state-of-the-art entertainment district. When Downtown Daybreak gets its full introduction to the community in 2025, it will be Utah’s first sports-anchored mixed-use development space.

But while baseball will be the centerpiece of the project, the commercial real estate opportunities around the future ballpark in Daybreak will be exciting in their own right. Restaurants, storefronts and unique office spaces will create an unavoidable buzz in the Salt Lake suburbs. One office building in the future development will even offer a view into the ballpark, giving its future tenants a one-of-a-kind amenity.

“What retailers, food and beverage companies, and other companies are trying to capture is peoples’ time,” Holmes says. “To have amenities that make someone feel comfortable spending two or three hours in the vicinity of good food, good shopping, good housing, a good place to work; we have all these things that can activate this center 300 days a year.”

A decade from now

For the moment, Utah’s sports-anchored future has yet to materialize. While Ryan Smith—the majority owner of the Utah Jazz and Smith Entertainment Group—has been quite vocal about his interest in bringing the NHL to Utah, it would likely require a new, larger arena for both that team and the Jazz. And, competing with a few other U.S. markets for the rights to a major league baseball team, The Larry H. Miller Group says the site at the Power District is “shovel ready” if and when the MLB gives the green light.

Starks is confident that there will be plenty to celebrate a decade from now.

“In 10 years, we’ll be finishing up hosting our second Olympic Winter Games, which will be an incredible catalyst for our community on the world stage again,” he says. “And within 10 years, hopefully, we’ll be playing our fifth or sixth season of Major League Baseball. At that point, we’ll have developed a crop of players that are coming into their own. Hopefully, we’ll be close to raising a World Series trophy in Utah.”

Regarding sports and commercial real estate in Utah—and as the line goes in the iconic ballpark-building blockbuster, “Field of Dreams”—“if you build it, they will come.” 

But Andra’s latest foray into the critical field of agriculture—an industry he admits he had no prior experience in—has the potential to solve one of Utah’s most pressing issues: water conservation.

Andra serves as VP at Bactelife, a Cedar City, Utah-based company with an agricultural product that has exceeded the expectations of top Utah leadership.

The breakthrough came as an answer to Gov. Spencer Cox’s recent call to slash water consumption by 25 percent by 2026. Thanks to Bactelife’s H2Organix product, which has been implemented by farmers throughout the state and even throughout the Intermountain West, farmers have reduced crop water usage by 70 percent.

By sowing seeds of innovation that far outpaced the governor’s call to action, Bactelife reaped the benefits. In the last year alone, the company received a letter of support from Cox, a large state innovation grant and a 2023 Innovation Award from Utah Business. 

“Gov. Cox figured there was no better group than Utahns to figure out solutions,” Andra says. “We’re young entrepreneurs in a dominating state. We basically decided we were going to become that solution.”

In dire need: Utah’s water crisis

It’s no secret that water conservation is a massive concern for Utah’s future. While a strong snowpack in the 2022-23 season did provide some relief to the state’s shrinking supply, Cox was adamant about the continuing need to save water, use it responsibly and prepare for times when Mother Nature won’t supply a record-breaking winter year.

“While we are thankful for the record-breaking snowpack we received this season, we have to keep up the good work of conserving this precious natural resource,” Cox said in a statement in May. “Maintaining and expanding existing water-saving measures will only increase Utah’s ability to grow sustainably.”

Farmers were “a little freaked out” about the possibility of their water being cut back, Andra says, explaining that Cox has a farming background and wasn’t trying to simply take water rights from farmers. He and others, including Andra, believed the answer could be in technology.

Andra and his team, which includes Bactelife co-founder and CEO Duane Cutler and President Daniel Cluff, set out to enhance a bacteria-based product that could both reduce water usage and also improve crop yields.

Combining the expertise of a few other scientists, they developed a “super product” that combines living organisms with nanotechnology. The blend has been shown to create healthier, more efficient soil that requires less water.

How does it work?

As a soil additive, Bactelife’s top product, H2Organix, works to create fungi-like strands in the earth that create a cohesive, water-sharing unit working beneath the surface. Underground, the entire crop shares nutrients and water while also using bacteria to spread far and wide. 

“What we’re doing is feeding the soil and letting the soil feed the crops,” Andra says. “It’s the way it was probably intended to be in nature, creating healthy relationships with soil and plants.”

Andra uses H2Organix on his own lawn at his house in St. George. Despite watering for just eight minutes twice a week, he calls his yard “marshy” even in the Southern Utah desert.

But while Bactelife can give a boost to anyone’s backyard, the company knew its real impact would be in large-scale application to the agricultural industry.

One of the biggest challenges they faced, though, wasn’t just formulating the product but convincing farmers to use it. Andra explains that for many farmers, using a more “green” approach to their work can often mean a lot less green (money) in their pockets.

“A lot of these initiatives can come at the cost of the farmer, and that upsets the way they do things,” Andra says.

Instead, Bactelife has marketed itself as a soil enhancer with “the side effect of being climate-smart and green.”

“We are considerably cheaper than what they were previously using,” Andra says. “We didn’t want to do this at a cost to the farmer. We wanted to make this very comfortable for them.”

After seeing a rich increase in crop quality, farmers have fallen in love with Bactelife—and enjoyed the climate-friendly benefits as an added bonus. Steve Worthen, who runs a farm in Blackfoot, Idaho, gushed about the product in a recent letter of support.

In his words, “Bactelife saved my crops in 2022.”

According to Worthen, it was a rough year for his 3,250 acres of alfalfa and timothy hay. Even though hay was having a bear moment at the market, it seemed like everything was working against him. But despite being forced to reduce water usage by 40 percent, working with a skeleton crew and a near-catastrophic pump breakdown, Worthen’s crops stayed healthy the whole time.

“I honestly don’t know if I would have much of a crop without Bactelife,” Worthen wrote. “Most products presented to me don’t measure up. They do well in a study but not on a farm. Farms have problems that students do not measure and circumstances almost impossible to overcome. Bactelife has helped my farm overcome some hard circumstances, and I will use Bactelife products going forward.”

Reducing global water use, one drop at a time

With an impressive list of accolades and endorsements, the secret is out on Bactelife’s effectiveness. Andra and associates have friends in high places, too—like Rep. Celeste Maloy, one of Utah’s most environmentally conscious congressional leaders. Bactelife is actively lobbying for farmers to be compensated for the water they don’t use.

“For every bit of water that gets saved, we would like to see the farmers get credit for that and get money,” Andra says. “If they can make money on both ends by not only growing and having more success with our products but also making money by saving water, that’s a win-win.”

The Bactelife team has also expanded its footprint beyond Utah and Idaho into international territory. At first, they were working with leaders of Ukraine, which many refer to as the “breadbasket of Europe.” 

Bactelife was also connected to groups in Israel, where the harsh desert climate prompted major innovations in agriculture. After showing the Bactelife effect and the company’s involvement in Utah Tech University’s new START AgriTech program, Israeli leaders are now excited to support continued breakthroughs taking place in Utah.

“We originally wanted to be a solution for Utah,” Andra says. “Now, we see the bigger picture. We want to be a Utah solution for the world.”