2022 Startups To Watch

FOUNDED 2019 CITY Springville EMPLOYEES 28 INDUSTRY Health and wellness WEBSITE Mixhers.com FOUNDERS Jess Toolson, 34; Cody Sanders, 48 THE COMPANY A hormonal health company offering drink mix-ins. 

HIGH NOTES Mixhers is mixing up its industry with holistic health, bright colors, and bold marketing. Through electric events and projected sales of $20 million this year, its startup moment is fast becoming a movement.  THE GOALS 1. “Mixhers is going to enter mass retail — and fast. And in a few short years, we’ll be the first woman-owned company to do a certain something in Utah. Just wait for it. You’ll know it when you see it.” 2. “We feel the need to take Mixhers far. Really far. We want more women empowered to feel better and take charge of their lives. That’s why our revenue goals are so aggressive. It means we can help more women.” 3. “We want to inspire more female entrepreneurs and businesswomen. We want to show women just what they are capable of.” THE ADVICE “Go. Just do it. Start the business. It’s generic advice, but it’s crucial. If you don’t just start, you’ll inevitably talk yourself out of it.” PROUD MOMENT “We create energy wherever we go. After an event, we ask ourselves, ‘Did people feel love and supported?’ That’s what lights a fire under us. And I’m so proud that as we have grown, we haven’t lost that.”

FOUNDED 2021 CITY Orem EMPLOYEES 125 INDUSTRY Tax Credit Experts WEBSITE ERCspecialists.com CEO Mark Sullivan, 41 THE COMPANY A business focused exclusively on maximizing the Employee Retention Credit for small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S.

HIGH NOTES Credit where credit is due — because ERC Specialists is having a moment. It has created a proprietary technology platform that allows them to automate

much of the process of ERC analysis. The result? They’ve reached over 20,000 businesses that qualified for tax credits totaling over $3.5 billion, which has led to staggering revenues and glowing customer reviews. 

THE GOALS 1. “We aim to process at least 10% of the total Employee Retention Credits filed. The potential total value of Employee Retention Credits is over $1 trillion, so this will be a significant accomplishment.” 2. “As the ERC opportunity expires, we plan to expand into other types of government credits so we can continue aiding business owners and keeping the U.S. economy growing.” THE ADVICE “Rather than looking for ways to make money or solve problems, focus on how you can help others. Then find the best people to lead your team and maximize every opportunity.” PROUD MOMENT “In June 2022, we celebrated our 1-year anniversary and in the same week, we reached the milestone of $1 billion in credits filed.“

FOUNDED 2018 CITY Provo EMPLOYEES 65 INDUSTRY Staffing WEBSITE BaconWork.com FOUNDER Hunter Sebresos, 40 THE COMPANY An app focused on making temp work reliable. It helps workers find jobs at established companies for as short as a single shift, and it enables companies to find qualified help on-demand. 

HIGH NOTES Bacon’s got sizzle. The company has revolutionized the temp world by offering ease and reliability. It is the fastest-growing gig economy company in Utah, it just raised $8 million in Series A funding, and since 2018 it’s provided 240,000 shift work opportunities to more than 165,000 workers. THE GOALS 1. “Expand to 40 more areas across the U.S.” 2. “Introduce programs to help workers on the platform level up by acquiring skills, certifications, training.” 3. “Be the first gig economy to truly create a win/win for workers and companies.”  THE ADVICE “Don’t get caught up in the hype of the startup world. Everything looks better from the outside than it does on the inside. So just keep cranking away at solving tough problems and let the results speak for themselves.” PROUD MOMENT “I was truly proud of how our team responded to the impacts of Covid on our business. We lost a third of our clients at the beginning of the year and with hustle and creativity, we still ended up with 300% growth.“

FOUNDED 2021 CITY Lehi EMPLOYEES 30+ INDUSTRY Property Tech WEBSITE EmberHome.com FOUNDER Kurt Avarell, 42 THE COMPANY A vacation home experience company. 

HIGH NOTES Time shares *wish* they were this cool. Ember is reimagining real estate co-ownership. In just one short year, they have raised $17 million in funding, earned impressive revenues, and expanded to Utah, California, and beyond. THE GOALS 1. “Renting while on vacation is just paying for some landlord to get rich. If it’s a destination your family visits frequently, you might as well co-own it. Your ownership level can match your budget and schedule. It’s like paying yourself to go on vacation! Our goals are to expand to more markets and price points so that co-ownership can be truly accessible to the masses.” THE ADVICE “There’s never been a better time or a better place to pursue the goal of building a company. Listen to your customers and keep at it — odds are you’ll break through with product market fit.” PROUD MOMENT “When our owners first began staying in Ember homes, we anxiously awaited their feedback. From their response, we instantly knew we had unlocked something incredible by unbundling real estate so it could be purchased in fractions, and then making it completely worry free for them to be an owner. That feedback drives us everyday.“

FOUNDED 2020 CITY Orem EMPLOYEES 10 INDUSTRY Cyber Security WEBSITE Trins.io FOUNDERS Mark Massey, 53; Lane Livingston, 51 THE COMPANY A provider of data and security management.

HIGH NOTES Every company needs security — and Trinsio is at the ready. Its grown 1,900% in the past three years (and is on track to grow astronomically next year), and it has proven top leadership (co-founder Lane Livingston is also a founder at Fibernet). THE GOALS 1. “Train our team members to consistently build a repeatable and friction-free sales pipeline.” 2. “Continue to add repeatable methods and venues to create opportunities for our team members to fill their sales pipelines.” 3. “Add top talent across key company departments.” THE ADVICE “Great ideas are a dime a dozen. You must be able to execute on the good idea with a strong combination of experience and perseverance. You will fail many times in the early stages of a startup. Learn from each one and move forward expeditiously. You must quickly establish your unique value proposition in the market, and if your potential customer can’t see why you are better than someone else, you probably aren’t. Fix that first.” PROUD MOMENT “We are all increasingly facing cyber attacks, breaches and Ransomware across all business sectors, and it is very reassuring to know that our customers are guaranteed to be able to recover.“

FOUNDED 2018 CITY Provo EMPLOYEES 1,000+ INDUSTRY Aviation WEBSITE FlyBreeze.com FOUNDER David Neeleman, 62 THE COMPANY An airline providing affordable, nonstop service between underserved routes across the U.S.

HIGH NOTES Breeze Airways has had a Seriously Nice take off. Started by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, it’s raised more than $300 million in funding, has more than 30 hubs across the United States, and is leveraging technology to make bookings, cancellations and flights easy breezy. 

FOUNDED 2020 CITY Lehi EMPLOYEES 50 INDUSTRY Hiring/Technology WEBSITE IsoTalent.com FOUNDER Austin Miller; Paul Ahlstrom; Robb Lifferth; Tim Cottrell THE COMPANY A full-service global recruiting agency.

HIGH NOTES IsoTalent knows how to rally the recruits. The recruiting agency has proprietary technology, has secured $5 million in funding, has over 250 customers, and is doubling revenue year over year. THE GOALS 1. “Drive to over 50M in revenue over the next couple of years.” 2. “Build an outsourced recruiting engine that is fast, affordable, and indispensable to an organization’s growth.” 3. “Disrupt the recruiting world with a marketplace of recruiters and trends that truly solve the problems of finding top talent anywhere in the world.”  PROUD MOMENT “When you are building a startup, you fix some things, then break some things. Like any startup, we have done this over and over again, and each time this happens we build it back better and stronger. This year has been a major year for our growth, and we have discovered more things we need to improve on to truly be the value-add for our customers. In doing this, we have become so much stronger as a company and culture.“

FOUNDED 2021 CITY Orem EMPLOYEES 20  INDUSTRY Travel Tech WEBSITE WanderMaps.com FOUNDER AJ Brau, 25; Aleksa Porter, 26; Nathan Porter, 25 THE COMPANY A one-app, no-code, interactive mapping replacement for paper maps.

HIGH NOTES After experiencing frustration while trying to plan vacations with her family (“I wanted to see where all the things to do were on a map!”), founder AJ Brau made like an entrepreneur and fixed her problem. Since starting Wander, the app began to make revenue in four months, it now has 100,000 monthly active users, and the company raised a $2.2 million seed round led by DundeeVC. THE GOALS 1. “1M Monthly Active Users in 2023.” 2. “10x revenue in 2023.” 3. “200 Destinations in 2023.”  THE ADVICE “It’s easier to find money than it is to find the right people.” PROUD MOMENT “Contracting with Moab (Grand County) to be the official map provider of the region.“

FOUNDED 2019 CITY Lehi EMPLOYEES 14 (plus 45 contractors) INDUSTRY SEO WEBSITE RedCanyonMedia.com FOUNDERS Travis Thorpe, 54; Nick Stice, 42; Calvan Johnson, 30 THE COMPANY A white-label SEO workflow management and fulfillment solution for agencies and resellers.

HIGH NOTES Top tech, top leadership (founder Travis Thorpe was a co-founder at OrangeSoda), and top revenue growth (over 4x year over year) have led to optimal searches and energized engines. THE GOALS 1. “We haven’t spent any money on marketing. I would like to start marketing the company to the thousands of agencies selling marketing services to businesses.” 2. “Expand our development team so that we can release new features quickly.” 3. “Be the highest quality and most cost-effective white label SEO partner in the world.”  THE ADVICE “When starting a company, realize your emotions can be artificially tied to the daily ups and downs of your startup. When feeling down, take a step back and assess the situation logically.” PROUD MOMENT “Sometimes when you are in the thick of the startup it is hard to step back and appreciate where you are.  The proudest moment is when I realized we took several small agencies and helped them be more successful than they thought they would ever be.“

FOUNDED 2020 CITY Orem EMPLOYEES 15 INDUSTRY Tech Education WEBSITE  AscendEducation.com FOUNDER Rocky Steele, 41 THE COMPANY Provider of comprehensive IT training courses on an easy-to-use platform.

HIGH NOTES Ascend Education is on the rise. Its IT training courses can be found in over 50 schools domestically, as well as internationally. It has also built partnerships with one of the top five online schools in the country, with a large training company out of Brazil, and with industry leaders like Microsoft, Skillsoft, CompTIA, ACI Learning, and Adaptive. THE GOALS 1. “Expand our global footprint beyond Brazil and the United States.” 2. “Become a leading publisher and provider of quality educational materials (not just IT) to students and professionals looking to expand their career opportunities.” 3. “Give back to students across the globe, through donating courseware, materials, and scholarships.”  THE ADVICE “My grandfather always gave me the advice to ‘hunt like a lion.’ Meaning, like a lion on the hunt, you will see other opportunities after you lock onto a goal. Don’t be distracted.” PROUD MOMENT “The success of our students. An ambitious young woman named Angel out of India used our courseware to prepare for and pass multiple IT certification exams. She now holds 13 professional certifications and has started her own software company. She is only 19! She is a great example of how we help students open up opportunities and create a successful career and life through education.“