Five Renowned Utah Entrepreneurs To Fuel 25-50 New Companies With "On-The-Spot" Funding

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- These individuals have achieved outstanding entrepreneurial success, and are now funding and mentoring companies in an unusual way. In a move to create an immediate "jump start" for companies that require angel funding, five renowned Utah entrepreneurs Rick Alden, Alan Hall, Josh James, Todd Pedersen and Greg Warnock have come together to launch a creative new funding entity: Plus550.

Plus550's mission is to help young companies past what can be the challenging angel stage funding and lending environment.  By providing these funds through a streamlined program, these highly successful entrepreneurs are working to give companies they fund a faster route to success, which will also help to accelerate the local Utah economy and speed the creation of additional jobs.

The Plus550 Group provides a high-speed and high-energy method for issuing equity investments to fitting candidates in amounts that may range from approximately $25,000 to $100,000. Companies seeking additional capital can also benefit from the "50" co-investors aligned with Plus550. Candidates will provide pre-approval information to the group through a new website, www.plus550.com.  Funded companies to date include: Chargeback Guardian, CloudVu, ContactPoint, DropShip Commerce, Marketecture, Right Intel and Salt Stack.  Most financings closed within several days of the company submitting their profile and received a check during their first meeting, often with a simple one-page agreement.

Despite the hint of "giving back", the founders of Plus550 expect to drive fair returns by deploying capital in an efficient and normal way. By employing typical deal terms and best venture practices, the group looks to align the interests of investors and entrepreneurs to position companies for the greatest likelihood of long-term success.  Plus550 is in a position to experiment and innovate around the financing process because unlike a typical venture fund, the Plus550 Co-founders are investing only their own funds and are accountable only to their own goals of fair returns, normal terms, unprecedented execution and agility.

"The early-stage investment arena is ready for optimization if not disruption," said Josh James, Plus550 Co-Founder. "We want to equip the entrepreneurs we select with speed and agility—not to stall their progress with a painful and cumbersome financing process."  Another Co-Founder, Greg Warnock, added, "While all forms of funding will continue to be vital, we hope to bring a fresh sense of credibility, normalcy and speed to the start-up financing realm that has been challenging over the past several years."

Plus550 will host several events throughout the year that will allow portfolio companies and interested participants in the angel community to network and learn from each other. Events will have a fun and casual atmosphere that will appeal to the entire entrepreneurial landscape.

The Five Co-Founders and Partners of Plus550 are as follows:

Rick Alden is the founder of Skullcandy, Inc., and Co-Founder of Stance Socks.  Skullcandy began trading on the NASDAQ in July 2011.

Alan Hall - Alan is a founder and managing director of Mercato Partners. He is also the founder, former CEO and chairman of MarketStar Corporation, a global outsourced sales and marketing company.  He is also the founder and chairman of Grow Utah Ventures, a not-for-profit entity with a mission of stimulating economic development through entrepreneurship.

Josh James - founder and CEO of Domo, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the business intelligence market.  He co-founded and served as CEO of Omniture, a web analytics company he took public in 2006, and later sold the company to Adobe in 2009 for USD $1.8 billion.  

Todd Pedersen - Todd founded APX Marketing in 1992. Under his direction, APX Alarm (now Vivint) has become one of the largest residential alarm companies in the United States. Vivint was acquired by the Blackstone Group in late 2012 for a total deal worth "north of $2 billion."

Greg Warnock – Greg is a founder and managing director of Mercato Partners.  He was also was a co-founder of vSpring Capital.  He has a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship and Venture Finance at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business.

About Plus550

Plus550 is an investment group with a mission to help launch entrepreneurial companies by uplifting and even disrupting the traditional methods of finding early-stage funds. Started in late 2012 by Rick Alden, Alan Hall, Josh James, Todd Pederson and Greg Warnock, all renowned Utah entrepreneurs, Plus550 has funded several Utah companies and will continue to invigorate Utah's entrepreneurial community by providing some 25-50 early stage companies with streamlined financing annually for the near term. For more information, visit www.plus550.com.

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SOURCE Plus550