There is only ONE WEEK LEFT in the Invented In Utah submission phase. For more information, please visit the Invented In Utah website.

Submit it today!

Participants have a chance at winning valuable prizes and opportunities including:

• Over $50,000 in awards and services and growing!
• Mentoring and consulting with professionals in the industry.
• Connections with some of Utah’s top organizations in:
• Design, development, engineering, manufacturing, IP law, funding, and more.
• Visit: www.inventedinutah.com/submit/  for more details
• Regular submissions at $20 close Sept. 7th.
• Up to 5 submissions with a single fee.
• Late entries (with $5 late fee) accepted until Sept. 10th.

Dave Bascom steps down as president and CEO but continues as an owner and advisor. Nelson James takes over as president, and Mike Mann as CEO. New management has big plans to surpass the SEO firm’s past rapid growth. Dave Bascom stepped down as CEO and President of SEO.com on Monday to take a position with a new division of Deseret Digital Media. Bascom will continue to have part ownership in the SEO company and will act in an advisory role.

“I helped build this company to a point where it’s established,” Bascom said. “Now I’m moving on to a new challenge with Deseret Digital Media. SEO.com has an amazing team and incredible leadership. It’s on a great growth track and is headed in the right direction. I’m confident SEO.com will have even more success in the future.”

From his basement, Bascom started the SEO company in 2003 under the name Web Targeted. In 2007, he obtained the SEO.com domain with Mike Mann, renamed the company, and since dramatically grew SEO.com despite tough economic times. In the last year, Utah Business Magazine named Bascom as a Top 40 Under 40; and V|Spring Capital named him a top 100 entrepreneur in Utah.

Mann will be the acting CEO and placed Nelson James as the president of the company. James was formerly SEO.com’s vice president of client services, and has worked directly under Bascom for the past five years.

“Dave has been a great leader for this company and a mentor of mine for the past five years,” James said. “We have a great opportunity and strong leadership in place, and I look forward to continuing SEO.com’s growth. I wish Dave all the success he deserves.”

In the last two years, the search marketing firm grew from 12 employees to more than 60, moved to a larger office in Salt Lake County, and increased monthly revenue by more than 600 percent.

SEO.com was named the No. 2 SEO firm by Website Magazine, among the top 10 SEO firms in the country by PromotionWorld, and one of the top 25 fastest growing companies in Utah by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum two years running, including No. 6 in 2010. SEO.com also has been named among the Emerging Elite by MountainWest Capital Network.

“I want to thank Dave for bringing SEO.com to where it is today,” Mann said. “He has done an incredible job. His efforts to date have, and will, perpetually benefit the charities we support, which is extremely important and the main impetus for all of my work. With Nelson, we will carry on the tradition of providing great results for clients, and we will continue to grow.”

About SEO.com
SEO.com is a search marketing firm that delivers a big ROI for its clients by driving traffic to their websites through aggressive search engine optimization, pay per click management, and social media marketing. SEO.com then turns those visitors into sales through search-optimized Web design and conversion optimization. Clients range from small startups to Fortune 100 companies. For more information, visit http://www.seo.com/

When: Wednesday July 28th 9 am – 11 am
Where: City Center at 351 W Center St, Provo
What:

9:00 – 9:05 : Intro and some light breakfast
9:05 – 9:45 : “Getting Started on Foursquare – Play your way to more customers” by Jon Sheppard
9:45 – 11:00 : “Facebook and Twitter oh my, Building Business through Social Media” by Brian Seethaler and Pete Codella

OrangeSoda is a leading SEO company in American Fork, Utah with expertise in the area of online search engine marketing.

RSVP on Facebook for this event.

If you are a Wordpress blogger, or interested at all in starting a blog for your business; consider attending WordCamp.

WordCamp Utah 2010 will be held August 28th at University of Utah, in the Skaggs Biology Building.  This is a great opportunity to spend a day with local WordPress developers, users, and fans of all kinds! Presentations will cover a range of topics, with two tracks running throughout the day.

Just getting started or looking for a little help with your WordPress questions?  We’ll have a Genius Bar where you get some help.  Already a WordPress whiz?  Come volunteer at Genius Bar!  Contact WordCamp to Volunteer and they’ll get you on the list.

And finally, at WordCamp Utah 2010 we’ll get an answer to that question we’ve always wondered about, Will WordPress Blend? Tom Dickson of Blendtec will be one of the speakers this year, promising some entertaining insights into corporate blogging and, if we’re lucky; he’ll throw something in the blender for us.

If you are interested in sponsoring, presenting, or helping make everything run smoothly please let them know. WordCamp is looking for help with video recording in both rooms so if you know someone who can help in that area they’d really like to hear from you.

Register For WordCamp Utah 2010 for only $20.

Follow the news on Twitter at using hashtag: #WCUT

See you there!

“The first five years are the most challenging for a new startup,” said UVEF 2010 chairman John Pilmer. “These companies not only demonstrate impressive growth in these early years, but do so during the greatest recession of our lifetime. If these companies can excel in a down economy, we can’t wait to see what they do in a recovery.”

David Bradford, Chairman of Fusion-io, emceed the ceremony. He praised all finalists for their entrepreneurial spirit and contributions to Utah’s business community.

“These companies prove to the business community that Utah entrepreneurs continue our state’s remarkable history of entrepreneurial leadership,” Bradford said. “New business startups here remain a strong and thriving force in the development of our local and national economy.”

This year’s other award recipients are Imagine Learning, Local Results, High West Distillery and Saloon, FundingUniverse, SEO.com, Simply Mac, FamilyLink.com, Entice Labs, Pounders Hawaiian Island Grill, Jive Communications, Campus Book Rentals, Kynetx, Parallel HR Solutions, Zoobies, Franchise Foundry, ILLUMRA, Snapp Conner PR, Appigo, CFOwise, Lumos, Xcelus, Fiftyfilms, Qualified Address and Izatt International.

Nominations were judged on several factors including revenue growth and job creation.

This is UVEF’s eleventh Top 25 Under Five competition. UVEF has highlighted the development of more than 200 individuals and their companies through the ceremony, including Utah success stories like Omniture, Skullcandy and Xango, among many others.

About UVEF
The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) is a volunteer non-profit support group linking entrepreneurs to Money, Markets, and Mentors. Celebrating 21 years of new business success, UVEF empowers current and future business leaders to thrive in today’s competitive market. We provide real-world, practical education and valuable resources on how to access needed capital, attract new customers and tap into industry experts. For information on upcoming meetings, speakers and exclusive membership benefits visit www.uvef.net.

Press Contact:
Andon Carling
PilmerPR
801-368-7249
acarling@pilmerpr.com

Wednesday June 23rd
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Grand America Hotel
Imperial Ballroom
555 South Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 81444

The keynote speaker will be Michael E. Gerber who has authored 13 books on entrepreneurship, appeared on Business Week’s bestseller list for 28 consecutive months and is currently a NYT bestseller for The Most Successful Small Business in the World: The Ten Principles. Gerber is the founder of E-Myth Worldwide with over 70,000 business clients in over 145 countries.

Top finalists include the following Utah investors, who will also be at the event:

• Warren Osborn — Managing Director for Stoneway Capital
• Martin Frey — Spent 13 years as a Sr. Director at Cisco
• John Richards — Co-developed and launched the first-ever online Yellow Pages, Co-Managing Partner of BoomStartup
• Kyle Love — Founding member of the Utah Angels
• Robb Kunz — Co-Managing Partner of BoomStartup
• Nobu Mutaguchi — Invested in over 25 Utah-based startup and emerging companies
• Dan McPhun — Co-Founder of Park City Angels
• JD Gardner — Founder and Managing Director at Monarch Partners
• Mark Burton — 2006 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Rod Watson — Angel investor dealing mainly with software and biotech companies based in Utah and Oregon
• Brad Walters — Vice Chairman of Utah Technology Council, Previously CEO/President MaxStream
• Mike Levinthal — Former VC with the Mayfield Fund, serves on the Boards of Altiris (ATRS), Directpointe, Infopia, Metricstream, Senforce, 3point5, Utah Capital Investment Corporation (UCIC) and the Forever Young Foundation
• Ron White — Founder and General Partner at Advanced Technology Development Fund
• John Pestana — Co-Founder of Omniture
• Jim Evans — CEO at Xactware

All are invited; RSVP is requested (so they know how much food to gather).

Come join fellow lovers of technology (and who doesn’t?).

Just sign the Guest List and mark your calendar for THIS FRIDAY, June 11 from 11:30 to 2:00 p.m.

At OrangeSoda, 732 E Utah Valley Drive, American Fork, UT

Funding Universe is hosting their popular SpeedPitch event on July 7, 2010 wherein you can pitch your new business to 20 to 30 investors for free. Free! (They used to charge for this event.)

I participated in a SpeedPitch last year and not only enjoyed the time meeting and getting feedback from investors, but found that I was able to better refine my company pitch and the experience was well worth the effort.

SpeedPitch is an opportunity to pitch dozens of active and engaged investors. The format is simple & personal. You’ll sit at a table with just 3-4 investors whom you’ll pitch to and converse with. After rotating through 10 tables of investors a catered lunch will be served over a final 30 minutes of networking.

July 7, 2010
11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Salt Lake Community College — Miller Business Innovation Center
Karen Gail Miller Conference Center
9750 South 300 West
Sandy, UT
map

Prizes

• The winner gets a plaque! (… and $5,800 of services from our sponsors):
• NOWAdvisors: 12 hours of financial & accounting services = $1,800 value
• FundingUniverse: startup services = $2,500 value
• Amazon: web services = $500 value
• CLI: legal services = $1,000 value

Never before has your online reputation been so important; a negative blog post, social media comment, or product review can spread online like wildfire.

Google is giving greater value to blogs and user-generated content, which means negative twitter comments and bad reviews will hurt your business and cost you customers.

Join my good friend Ash Buckles for an informative webinar on Thursday, May 27.

Ash is the Director of SEO at SEO.com and will discuss how to protect and influence your online reputation.

Reputation Management Webinar
Thursday, May 27
9:30 a.m. MDT

Register for more information at Reputation Management Webinar.

The six part series can be attended as a group, or ala carte. The cost for all six parts is $75, or you can attend any of the six for $25 each. To get the $75 deal you must register before May 26.

The training sessions will be held at the Miller Business Resource Center SLCC Miller Campus. You’ll find it at 9750 South 300 West Sandy, Utah 84070. Classes are held on their respective days from 10:00am- 12:30. Sack lunches are provided to attendees.

Here’s the run down on the classes:

1. May 27: Are you building a VC or Investor Ready Company? Venture Economics
2. June 24: Designing the Perfect Investor
3. July 22: Raising Money; Non-Venture sources of Capital
4. August 26: Start-up therapy
5. September 22: Legal Clinic; Deal Docs: what to expect when you close a round of funding
6. October 28: Networking; knowing how to find, get, capture and retain contacts.

To Register, visit: http://ufoftraining.eventbrite.com/

Please forward this message to those that would benefit from this training.

For questions or more information please contact:

Tamee Roberts
Office Project and Govt Relations Manager
Utah Fund of Funds
310 South Main Street Suite 1310
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
801-521-3078 ph