Idaho startups impress at Salt Lake City entrepreneurial event

SALT LAKE CITY – Ten Idaho startups, a number of them founded by women and minorities, reportedly made quite a splash at the Investors Choice entrepreneurial event on Feb. 20 and 21.

“It went great!” said Rob Poleki, founder of Washie Toilet Seats, a smart, self-cleaning toilet seat, in an email message. “Idaho teams rocked it this year.”

“Went well!  The capital investment information panels were valuable,” said Trillitye Paullin, founder of Free to Feed, which helps mothers detect potential allergens in breastmilk, in an email message. “Excited to see how followup goes!”

It’s not unusual for Idaho startups to have a major presence at Investors Choice, now in its 36^th year, but this is the largest proportion of Idaho startups the conference has ever had, with 10 of the 20 participants coming from Idaho.

“I had investors tell me that, to them, it felt like the Idaho presenters were good at conversation AND tried to be helpful TO them,” said Norris Krueger, a mentor for VentureCapital.org, which sponsors the event, and who is also involved with the Idaho Women’s Business Center, in an email message.

He introduced Chillow, a woman-led roommate-matching application, to an investor who does student housing projects. Chillow founder and CEO Alexis Rankin and co-founder Stephen Rankin started by hearing his story, then gave him some ideas and leads, he said.

“Maybe the Utah ventures did the same, but it was fun to see that.”

Bringing big bucks to Idaho

While the event isn’t intended to send participants home with funding, it’s likely they’ll get it in the future as a result of attending the event, said John Williamson, director of the COBE Funding Accelerator in the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University, partnering with VentureCapital.org, in an email message. Williamson led the Idaho contingent.

“On a regional basis, early-stage entrepreneurs who present at Investors Choice have a high probability of raising investment capital,” Williamson said. “Nearly 70% of these firms will find success in the 12 to 18 months. More impressive is that 80% of firms who raise money stand the test of time and become sustainable enterprises that deliver years of economic impact to an economy.”

That said, a number of the participants came back with more than memories, Williamson said.

“While feedback is still early, I know all of the companies made at least one meaningful connection, others received requests for NDAs, some even initial indications of investment interest.”

Startups reported good experiences

“It went great,” said Zach Adams, co-founder and CEO of Boise-based Pitch Aeronautics, in an email message. “We got a lot of contacts and a great lead on funding.”

Adams and co-founder David Bennett impressed investors with a technology that lets drones conduct touch-based industrial inspections, Williamson said.

“Bennett and Adams had a busy afternoon fielding questions and interest from investors and even received a nondisclosure letter from an interested party before the end of the conference.”

“Based on the conversations, Joule Case will be able to close out our current round, and we are excited about the conversations we are having for a series A,” said James Wagoner, CEO of Joule Case, a stackable electrical storage system that is intended to be used as an alternative to gas generators, in an email message. Series A refers to the first round of venture capital funding. “I may be biased, but I really thought we had a significantly higher amount of interest from Investors Choice than the average company.”

The company may be at Burning Man, Krueger added.

“Investors Choice was a great experience for the team at Slant 3D,” said Gabe Bentz, CEO of the Nampa-based additive printing company. “We, and several other Idaho companies, were able to make the deals and contacts needed to move on into a new stage of growth. For us, that is finalizing our Caldwell factory and building up the team.”