Congratulations to our real estate and hospitality teams on their recent acquisition of The Landing Hotel, Restaurant, and Pub in Ketchikan, Alaska. This exciting venture is part of our broader strategy to expand our portfolio of hospitality properties in unique, outdoor-focused locations. Ketchikan is a prime vacation destination–renowned for its vibrant tourism, outdoor activities, and cultural heritage. The Landing Hotel is situated right on the ocean and boasts 107 units. This exciting property also offers a restaurant and pub serving tourists and locals alike. Philo team member and CEO of Basecamp Hospitality, Jonathan Hooke, arrived in Ketchikan last week, where he’ll spend the next few months overseeing the hotel’s smooth transition (check out the pic of Jon arriving at The Landing Hotel). Those of you searching for a great vacation spot outside of the norm should check out this incredible hotel and destination. Ketchikan is known as the “Salmon Capital of the World” for its world-class salmon fishing. Visitors also enjoy kayaking, ziplining, and exploring the city’s unique Alaska Native history. To book a reservation, visit https://lnkd.in/gtdb7Szq.
Philo Ventures
Investment Management
Lehi, Utah 1,129 followers
A Venture Studio, VC Fund and Real Estate Development Group
About us
Philo is a Utah-based venture group, driving innovation and economic growth through its startup studio, venture fund, and real estate development team.
- Website
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http://philo.ventures
External link for Philo Ventures
- Industry
- Investment Management
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- Lehi, Utah
- Type
- Privately Held
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
2901 W Bluegrass Blvd
Lehi, Utah 84043, US
Employees at Philo Ventures
Updates
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Shoutout to Nonsense for making waves in the edtech space. Check out how this new app is helping users learn new languages through movies.
🔗: https://lnkd.in/gZw-BtWJ There is significant research confirming the pedagogical benefits of using movies to learn a second language, including an increase in learners’ motivation, a decrease in anxiety and more effective vocabulary acquisition. Enter Nonsense, an app launched earlier this year that allows users to learn new languages by watching movies. “Using movies to help you learn languages … is more enjoyable and more effective than other ways you try to learn a language,” claims Tyler Slater, co-founder and CEO of Nonsense. 🖋: Izzy Howell Martin Bekerman
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Thanks Matthew Burris for posting a great description of venture studios and the value they provide.
Build, Launch, and Scale your Venture Studio (Faster) | Trusted by 400+ Venture Studios globally | DM me “VSA” for more info
Venture studios can “de-risk entrepreneurship” Bringing higher return for investors Here’s what a venture studio is (And why it’s not VC only) Which is the the most common misconception, that I pop on a first call. P.S. This model brings massive economic improvement all over the world (Based on data) Repost so more people could learn about studios as well #startupstudio #entrepreneurship #privateequity #startups #founders #venturecapital
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Congratulations to our Head of Marketing Amanda Price (MacNaughton) for winning Utah's 2024 40 Over 40 award honoring women's achievements in business. We look forward to celebrating you and this group of phenomenal female leaders in September. Checkout the complete list of winners: https://lnkd.in/gEhdcWw2
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We are proud to share that Tammah Jackson Hole Resort, our newest real estate venture, is now open for business. https://www.tammah.co/ Nestled at the base of the Teton Mountains, Tammah is just four minutes from the first chair at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and five minutes from the entrance to Grand Teton National Park. Tammah offers an immersive glamping experience, allowing guests to sleep in comfort surrounded by nature. Tammah was built from the ground up by our real estate division, Philo Development, and is operated and managed in-house through Basecamp Hospitality, LLC, a portfolio company created in Philo’s Venture studio. Since opening this summer, Tammah has received glowing guest reviews, with a 5.0 rating on TripAdvisor. With the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Jackson Hole as its backdrop, Tammah is a one-of-a-kind vacation destination. If you’re looking for a summer or fall getaway, consider staying at Tammah. We’re pretty sure you’ll love it. https://www.tammah.co/ Philo seeks opportunities to build or buy innovative, scalable hospitality concepts. If you have a project you would like to discuss, let’s connect. Stay tuned for more exciting real estate and venture studio projects from Philo.
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Thanks Utah Business and Foley & Lardner LLP for organizing the "Invest in the West: A Roundtable on Venture Capital in Utah" event last month. Philo Partner Cory Cozzens, along with other industry leaders like Blake Modersitzki, Trent Mano, Kat Kennedy, Phil Williams, Gabi Tellez, and others participated in the engaging discussion. Check out all the great insights:
🔗: https://lnkd.in/gkvjMuR6 Last month, Utah Business partnered with Foley & Lardner LLP to host a roundtable featuring Utah’s venture capital leaders. Moderated by Amy Rees Anderson, founder and managing partner at REES Capital, they discussed perfecting the pitch, the pros and cons of incubators, protecting one’s reputation and more. 🖋: Beth Taylor
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Sell first, then build. Applies to products, businesses, and real estate alike!
Build first or sell first? After a decade of building products and conducting 1000+ customer interviews, I've cracked the code: I've led discovery for 70+ startups since 2013 and sold $10M+ in services to founders (helping them raise over $20M and employ 500+ people). Along the way, I noticed the a recurring theme — The temptation: Create products that excite your team. The reality: Launch to crickets. No buyers in sight. I've been there. I've personally felt that $100,000 hole in my pocket. But there's a better way: I call it the 'Problem-Solution Fit' (i.e. selling first) Here's the framework I've developed and refined through years of experience: 1. Connect to the right people Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator strategically. Target 2nd connections, active in the last 30 days, with specific titles and company criteria. 2. Get them to describe challenges in their words Ask open-ended questions. Listen for what I call 'CURSEs': Crucial, Ubiquitous, Recurring, Specific, and Extreme problems. 3. Co-develop the MVP and price point with them Create a pilot offer. Test three versions: small, medium, and large. Be flexible and showcase your ability to listen. The results speak for themselves: - Find your first 10 paying customers - Build a waitlist of 50+ qualified leads - Spend as little as possible (~$10K) instead of 10x as much—or more! One of tarka early adopters, Brian Glaister (Head of Product at Axon), achieved over 700 customer connections, 200 new conversations, and 50 customer interviews in just 3 months, saving over $6,400 in hard discovery costs and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, building the wrong product. The outcome is clear: Build first, then sell —> Spend $100,000+ with nothing to show for it Sell first, then build —> Make money before you spend it. Selling first doesn't just save money. It gets you customers waiting in line, ready to pay, and invaluable insights to build the right product. This approach has helped the founders I've worked with avoid costly mistakes and find 'problem-solution fit'.
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Last week, those of us at Philo had the unique opportunity to head down to Southern Utah and raft the Colorado River in Moab. Luckily, three of our Philo members had served as river guides there before, and already knew every potentially dangerous rapid. Our Philo guys took great care of us, guiding us on exactly where and how to paddle to keep us safe. We compare our rafting experience to our role as a venture studio. At Philo, we focus on that important but underserved 0 to 1 space, with the goal to remove as much risk as possible from the startup process. In the business world, your raft would be the business idea. Before you EVER set foot in the water, you would make sure your raft is durable enough to handle the weight it carries, the speed and size of the river, and the impact upon the rocks. For a new business, we at Philo do everything possible so that a business idea meets what’s needed for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and weathers the validation process. Our process takes a business idea and litmus tests it against the market, making sure there are customers who'd be interested in the idea, and that the business will maintain its competitive advantage. As a studio, we have the capital resources to infuse a business with the finances needed to design, develop, scale, and market accordingly. Philo ensures that a business builds a raft large enough and durable enough to weather whatever unexpected rapids transpire. Once you’ve built your raft, it’s time to take it out to float. The business has made it past ideation and development and is ready to go to market. This part of the business process is incredibly fun and rewarding – but can also be daunting. Here’s the good news when building with a venture studio like Philo: we’ve already taken the raft out to float during the concept phase, so we already know with some certainty how it will handle the rapids. Just like rafting, when you launch a business, you know you’ll encounter unforeseen obstacles. Yet many businesses, shortly after launch, will run into an obstacle that tips them upside down and they’re unable to recover. The silver lining to building a business with a venture studio is that those rigorous testing and validation processes – combined with the wealth of in-house resources available to startups – actually remove many of the common pitfalls (i.e. rapids) that a traditional startup will encounter. We not only back a company with the funding necessary to go to market and continue to innovate, we also provide a business with a wealth of additional resources to launch, scale, and grow appropriately. When a startup within a venture studio does encounter a rapid, the company has access to the resources necessary to fix the issue. If you have a business idea you think is gold, but don’t want to absorb all of the risk of the startup yourself, reach out to us. We’d love to help move your business from idea to reality – safely and successfully.
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One final call for any Philo friends who want to join us this week for a fun mountain biking event up Traverse Mountain! We’ll meet at 9 am on Thursday, July 11th, at South Maple Hollow Trailhead in Draper, where we’ll enjoy breakfast followed by mountain biking on either Vertigo or Levitate. Again, register at https://lu.ma/04fbg2ix or reach out to Scott Evanson with any questions. Invite anyone you think would want to join us. Excited to see you Thursday morning!
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Several of us here at Philo love to mountain bike. We're inviting you Philo friends to join us next week for a fun morning of mountain biking up Traverse Mountain! We’ll meet at 9 am on Thursday, July 11th, at South Maple Hollow Trailhead in Draper, where we’ll enjoy breakfast followed by mountain biking on either Vertigo or Levitate. Register at https://lu.ma/04fbg2ix or reach out to Scott Evanson with any questions. Invite anyone you think would want to join us. Excited to see you all next week in the mountains!
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