Our CEO, Rami Cassis, recently wrote an article for Deseret News warning that optimism among Utah’s smaller firms has tipped into ‘irrational exuberance’.
Rami argues that Utah has one of the most exciting start-up ecosystems in the US, but it has a heavy concentration of smaller and midsize businesses. That concentration is a strength in a stable economy and a vulnerability in a volatile one.
Smaller firms are ramping up spending and hiring in response to promised tax cuts and deregulation, with 56% of CEOs expecting conditions to improve within six months. That figure is nearly double what the same executives reported in the final quarter of 2024.
He argues that tariff threats, a cooling labour market and government spending cuts mean the real risk lies in the execution, and investors do not currently have the stability they need. Stripping back regulation is welcome in principle, but the pace of announcements is leaving markets rallying and collapsing in turn.
A lack of management experience is compounding the problem, with 75% of people entering management positions reporting no proper training, leaving firms risking the pain of overcommitted growth within a year. Founders tend to be big-picture thinkers with little appetite for budgets and strategic planning, which is precisely what a downturn demands.
