The annual Silicon Slopes Summit, a prominent event in Utah’s tech landscape, recently returned to its traditional January schedule.
The summit, featuring speakers, networking opportunities, and a two-day Startup Alley segment at the Salt Palace Convention Center, kicked off on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
Startup Alley offered emerging entrepreneurs a platform to pitch their ideas to potential investors and supporters. This year marked the first time since 2017 that the event was free for attendees.
Booth exhibitors represented a diverse range of newly-launched businesses, from AI startups to consumer product developers and specialists in traditional trades.
Parking Solutions and AI Innovations
One notable exhibit came from a trio of undergraduate students representing Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. They presented Spot Parking, a software platform with an app that helps students find available parking spaces. The system also assists parking enforcement officials in monitoring unauthorized parking on campus.
Ralf Vonsosen, from Salt Lake City, speaks to Spot Parking founders.
Spot Parking’s founders, Cooper Young, Ryan Hagerty, and Dean Smith, developed their AI-powered software to address the parking challenges faced by both students and universities. According to the founders, the software can identify permitted and unpermitted vehicles via video cameras and provide real-time parking availability updates through the app.
Smith noted that Spot Parking overcame “monumental technical challenges” in developing its technology.
The experience of starting a business while still in school has offered unique benefits, according to Young. “It’s the best hands-on class assignment ever,” he said, adding that he’s able to immediately apply classroom lessons to their business.
Hagerty, Smith, and Young aimed to connect with potential investors at Startup Alley to fund further product development and market expansion beyond college campuses.
Healthy Drink Mixes and Family Nutrition
Another featured startup was Sips Club, founded by Kathleen Lynch and Katy Monson. Inspired by their desire to provide healthy diets for their children, they developed nutritional drink mixes that dissolve in water.
Kathleen Lynch of Sips Club giving a drink sample.
“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 said.
Monson, a scientist with over a decade of research experience, developed the first product, Protein Sips, to replace sugary drinks with a tasty and nutritious alternative. She followed this with Veggie Sips, a mix designed to provide a wide range of nutrients and support digestive health.
Sips Club launched in June and is currently a direct-to-consumer business, with plans to expand its product line, including a new drink for adults, and potentially move into retail.
Lynch emphasized that Sips Club distinguishes itself as an all-natural product focused on whole-family nutrition. “Really, I think our value is the idea of whole-family nutrition,” she stated.
Preserving Memories: Saving Time & Tunes
Shaun and Lani Phipps of Saving Time & Tunes also made their mark at Startup Alley, opting for a low-tech display of handmade signs and vintage clocks and gears.
Their business provides repair and tune-up services for analog clocks and pianos.
Shaun and Lani Phipps at their Startup Alley booth.
The business idea originated after Lani Phipps began working for a clock repair shop. Her husband, Shaun, developed a passion for clock repair. He later worked his way through an apprenticeship and became a horologist.
Shaun Phipps emphasized the family history connected to clocks and pianos. “Both pianos and clocks I’ve come to find are heavy with the sense of family history,” he said. “That’s what drives me to do what I do, I’m not just fixing a time piece or music piece, I’m saving their memories and sentimental values.”
The Phipps sought investor interest to secure a brick-and-mortar location and offer mobile services, noting that clock repair is a “dying art.”
Lani Phipps, who manages the finances for the business, said their research revealed that many areas lack repair options and that remaining businesses see high demand. She emphasized a desire to help people preserve family memories with these services.
