The Silicon Slopes Summit, a prominent event for Utah’s tech and business community, returned to its usual January schedule this year. The summit featured a two-day Startup Alley segment at the Salt Palace Convention Center on Thursday, January 16, 2025, following two days of speakers and networking opportunities at Utah Valley University.
Startup Alley provided a platform for emerging entrepreneurs to connect with potential investors and supporters. For the first time since its 2017 launch, attendance was free.
Businesses of all kinds participated in the event, from artificial intelligence (AI) startups to consumer product innovators and even specialized trades with centuries-old roots.
Spot Parking: AI-Powered Parking Solutions
Spot Parking, a company created by Brigham Young University and University of Utah students, showcased its AI-powered software designed to solve parking challenges. Their system utilizes a network of cameras to monitor parking lots, providing students with real-time information on available spaces via a mobile app. The software also assists parking enforcement officials in identifying unauthorized vehicles.
According to founders Cooper Young, Ryan Hagerty, and Dean Smith, the software addresses the parking frustrations of both students and university parking management.
“Initially it was going to be an app for the students, but we quickly realized it wasn’t a viable business model,” Smith said. “We also realized that just as much as students have a problem with parking, their colleges and universities have an even bigger problem with parking enforcement.”
Spot Parking’s technology has overcome significant technical hurdles to deliver a solution currently outperforming existing market options, Smith noted.
Young shared, “The experience is awesome. It’s the best hands-on class assignment ever. I’m in the business school during the day and learn something in class that I’m later applying in our operations.”
Sips Club: Nutritional Drink Mixes for the Whole Family
Sips Club, co-founded by Kathleen Lynch and Katy Monson, presented its nutritional drink mixes designed to provide healthy options for families. Inspired by their own experiences as mothers seeking better nutritional choices, they developed products that address nutritional gaps they identified for their families.
“We are best friends that came together as moms realizing we had nutritional gaps in our families and we wanted to fill those and what was currently on the market wasn’t hitting it for us,” Monson explained.
Monson, with over a decade of experience in scientific research, created the Protein Sips product as an alternative to sugary drinks. Veggie Sips offers a mix of ingredients that supports overall nutrition and digestive health. Sips Club, launched last June, currently operates as a direct-to-consumer business but plans to expand its product line.
Lynch noted Sips Club differentiates itself in the crowded market due to its all-natural and family-focused approach.
“Really, I think our value is the idea of whole-family nutrition,” Lynch said, who holds a degree in life sciences. “We created this for everyone. It’s an easy, generational product that every family member can use. And it’s delicious.”
Saving Time & Tunes: Preserving Analog Crafts
Shaun and Lani Phipps, founders of Saving Time & Tunes, stood out with their focus on analog crafts. They offered repair and tune-up services for clocks and pianos, showcasing handmade signs and a display of vintage clocks and gears.
Shaun Phipps developed an interest in clock repair.
“It all started with my wife bringing home a clock from her place of work and asking if I wanted to tinker with it,” Shaun Phipps said. “So I did and put it back together. Lani showed them what I did and they asked me if I wanted to work there. So I became an apprentice.”
Shaun Phipps is now a full-time clock repair specialist, and he is passionate about preserving items of sentimental value, and he hopes to attract new investors.
Lani Phipps, who manages the finances for Saving Time & Tunes, identified areas lacking repair services and highlighted the high demand for clock repair, with a need to assist residents who often have to travel hours to find services. “We repair because we care,” Lani Phipps said. “We want people to keep those memories, to have these clocks around to pass to the next generation.”
The Silicon Slopes Summit concluded on Friday, with a final day of Startup Alley and a community service project.
