On January, 20 at 4:00 p.m. EST, Silicon Slopes and various Utah entrepreneurs and partners closed the US Market at Nasdaq's MarketSite, which marks the second time Silicon Slopes team has traveled to Nasdaq's headquarters as well as Nasdaq's long-lasting relationship with Silicon Slopes and, most importantly, Utah businesses.
The history of Silicon Slopes and Nasdaq began a few years back, when leading up to the annual Silicon Slopes Summit, members of the Silicon Slopes team were trying to identify ways to share the successes and ventures of what was happening inside Utah on a national scale. The idea was presented to reach out to Nasdaq and have them be the presenting sponsor of that year's Summit.
Since then, Silicon Slopes and Nasdaq have collaborated to offer businesses in Utah a connection to a prominent exchange—Nasdaq—and the partnership has flourished for years. It's also an opportunity to recognize Utah companies listed on the Nasdaq and celebrate this achievement of Utah-based companies going public. A few Utah-based companies currently on the Nasdaq are the following: Qualtrics (XM), Domo (DOMO), and Overstock (OSTK).
The Mission of the Partnership
In an interview with John Bowers, Silicon Slopes' CBO, Bowers describes the mission of Silicon Slopes and Nasdaq's partnership. "Silicon Slopes is a non-profit entity—we aren't going public anytime soon, so why Nasdaq?" According to John, "[the partnership with Nasdaq] is meaningful to Silicon Slopes as an organization, but its far more meaningful to what our mission is. It's not about Silicon Slopes, it's about who makes up Silicon Slopes, which is the companies and the leaders. It's also meaningful for the growing companies to receive national attention."
Significance for the State of Utah
When asked about the significance of the partnership between Silicon Slopes and Nasdaq for companies and entrepreneurs in Utah, Silicon Slopes CEO, Clint Betts, stated, "its the connection—that's pretty incredible for a state as small as the state of Utah to have a connection with a global exchange in Nasdaq: the premiere exchange of Wall Street. We will have more companies eventually go public, so having those startups have those influential connections are really important."
Watch the Closing Bell Ceremony
To watch the full Closing Bell Ceremony, click here.
