Cahlan Sharp on Leaving Scan to Run DevMountain Full-Time

As of today, I’m the full-time founder and CEO of DevMountain.

I’m so excited to start today.

For the past 6 months or so, my “free” time has been spent getting a coding bootcamp up and running in Provo called DevMountain.

Initially, DevMountain was meant to be a fun and fulfilling side project, one that would bring more emotional return than financial. I soon realized that DevMountain was providing a tremendous value, and the school couldn’t keep up with demand.

In our first cohort, we accepted 20 students. We had over 60 applications. Our second cohort (Jan 14) accepted 25 students and we had over 80 applicants.

So, I spoke to my good friends and co-workers at Scan and decided that now is the time for me to pursue this as more than a side project. I have loved Scan and the people that work there. It’s been a fun, amazing and rewarding experience. I’ll miss Scan greatly.

So as of today, I’m the full-time founder and CEO of DevMountain.

DevMountain is the intersection of three of my most passionate subjects: technology, entrepreneurship, and education. This is the kind of business I want to be working on in 20, 30 or 50 years from now. I can’t imagine a more fulfilling career than building a business that directly improves people’s lives. I can’t imagine a better way for my kids to remember me than to know that the business that I helped build improved the lives of thousands of people.

As always, with startups nothing is guaranteed. Huge opportunity, huge risk. But there is almost nothing in this world that I’d rather be taking this risk for. Since I made my decision, I have been oozing with excitement to get started.

I can’t wait to see where this takes me and my family.

Cahlan Sharp* is a Utah entrepreneur and developer who has contributed to the success of several startups, including Undrip and Scan. Read our profile of Cahlan and his Provo-based code bootcamp DevMountain here.*

Published 2/3/2014