During the Eastern Utah Economic Summit hosted on Monday, Sept. 16, a pitch competition was held. The event featured four businesses from Eastern Utah all vying for one of the four prizes available. The four competitors were Talia Hansen with Latigic, Lacy Hardmen with Live Swell, Ryan Kelly with Greenriverflyfisher LLC and Aaron and Lianne Ames with Altamont Theatre.
There were four prizes for the event, with first place receiving $5000, second place receiving $2000 and third place receiving $1500. The fourth prize was a people’s choice award which was decided by summit attendees and gave the winner $500.
Presenting first was Hansen, who explained the vision behind her business was to help other startup companies, namely those founded by women and other underrepresented communities. Hansen aims to accomplish this through consulting, grant writing and scaling companies into the digital market. Hansen stated that through her services, she had brought around $2.5 million into San Juan County.
Next was Lacy Hardman, CEO of Live Swell, which aims to,” train the brain using the wisdom of horses. Opening her presentation, Hardman pulled out a $20 bill, stating she would double anyone’s money who gave her $10. One participant rushed up and offered Venmo, which Hardman accepted. She used this as an example of people being limited by not thinking outside of the box.
Hardman explained that when her marriage was approaching divorce, she and her husband watched the behaviors of a wild horse and a tamed horse interacting which they applied to their marriage, saving it. She explained that this was an approach she wanted to spread and created the ‘Hearts and Horses’ program in 2023. Since then, Hardman stated she has had 828 participants in the program, with one being quoted saying,” You are healing hearts through the mind.”
Following Hardman was Kelly, who explained that Greenriverflyfisher LLC was a media company. Using his experience as a fishing guide, Kelly aims to,” create innovative content to get the world outside. He seeks to accomplish this through affordable media options including videography, photography and editing services.
Kelly gave some metrics his company has been seeing, including 140,000 followers and 50 million views across social media. He also shared some of the businesses he has worked for, including Patagonia.
The final presenters were Aaron and Lianne Ames, owners of the newly renovated Altamont Theatre. Aaron Ames explained that the purpose behind renovating the theater was to,” create date nights and create community. He also explained that the theater would be home to both prerecorded and live productions including ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’.
Lianne Ames then took the time to explain the couple’s experience which would help them run the theater, including their experience running the touring theater group The American Legacy, which performs internationally. Rounding out the presentation, Lianne Ames would sing ‘The Impossible Dream’ from the musical ‘Man of La Mancha’.
The judges broke away to deliberate on the presentations, and came back awarding the prize for first place to Greenriverflyfisher LLC, and presented Kelly with a check for $5000. In second it was Hansen and Latigic and in third it was Altamont Theatre. Altamont Theatre would also take home the People’s Choice Award.