Get advice for creating a new product and launching your idea. Our authors are faculty, staff, students and professionals. Read what lessons they can share about ideation, prototyping, company formation, law, marketing and more.
My name is Jaron Hall, and I graduated from the U in 2017. I spent most of my days on campus in the Lassonde Studios while building my business. Unlike my classmates, I did not get a job after graduation. Instead, I continued to work on my humble house cleaning business, Utah Maids. Utah Maids, […]
No matter the industry, all American businesses run in a similarly structured way. But entrepreneurs are always looking for how he or she can challenge the normal, so how does one gain that competitive edge in such an environment? It requires strategic thinking says Chris Hofheins, president and founder of BHB Structural Engineering Firm. Hofheins’ […]
When it comes to growing a business, no matter what you call it — accelerating or hitting the gas — venture investors want to see GROWTH. Find a Pattern, then Product-Market Fit In the beginning of building your business, you will stumble and fall, and the more you perceive, the more you’ll learn. Eventually, this […]
You think you’re ready to start a company and want to know what you should do first. To borrow the phrase made famous by Nike, Just Do It. At the beginning of a new business, you have a spark of imagination or something you’ve been working on for a while. At some point, you decide […]
Accelerators come in all shapes and sizes: a ranch-style house in Silicon Valley, a formal program with fancy hotel rooms, professional coaches or, most commonly, co-working spaces with mentorship programs that provide small amounts of cash to build your business. Accelerators are not for everyone, and you should make sure the one you’re considering is […]
How many acronyms, charts and consultations have you gone through just trying to find the right marketing strategy? While it is true that every product and business needs an individualized approach, there are some universal truths that pop up in every marketing campaign. Tyler Tate, marketing expert (see some of his work at tsquaredsports.com), offers […]
Money managed well makes for a well-managed company. Hiring a bookkeeper or financial assistant may not be feasible for your business right now, but that does not mean that responsible and effective accounting principles cannot be implemented to help run your business. Though a seemingly daunting task, Matt Orton, CPA and senior tax manager at […]
There is a fine line between prototypes and final products … or is there? Time, money and public appeal shape the creation of a new product and are constantly evolving, making the time at which a product hits the market critical to its success. Kyle Muir exemplifies this concept with Apple: the iPhone generations have […]
The United States ranks No. 1 out of 138 countries as the best environment in the world for being an entrepreneur according to GEDI’s 2017 study. CNN and the Kauffman Foundation report that hundreds of thousands of new companies are started each year and approximately 6 percent of U.S. adults claim entrepreneurship as their main source […]
So you have your idea, product or service ready to bring to market, but you don’t know how to navigate the legal world. Almost everyone has heard the words “trademark,” “patent” and “copyright,” but few know what they mean or how they will function within their startup. It will be necessary for you, the entrepreneur, […]
