Entrepreneurs Say It's Easier To Do Business In Wyoming

At a crowded entrepreneurship conference in Riverton, Gov. Mark Gordon had a bold prediction for the Cowboy State.

“I think we’re about to get into some incredible boom times,” the governor said at the recent gathering. “If you look at where we are right now globally and nationally, this couldn’t be a better time to be alive.

"We’re going to have some real challenges trying to figure out what to do (about water). But at the same time, we have more tools than we’ve ever had before.” 

Wyoming, he reminded the audience gathered for Central Wyoming College’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conference, is the state where the modern LLC was invented. 

It’s also the state where business leaders and lawmakers have pioneered digital banking and artificial intelligence-era regulations that are national models.

More importantly, he argued, Wyoming’s a state small enough that “virtually anyone can approach any of our leaders,” an advantage he believes larger innovation hubs can’t match. 

That optimism was echoed time and time again in a series of conversations Cowboy State Daily had with founders and ecosystem builders across Wyoming. 

The Cowboy State is still fighting old stereotypes and some of the gaps are real, but across the state, more and more businesses are choosing not just to build in Wyoming, but to stay here.

Venture Deals Show Building Momentum

The most concrete signal for the new vibe comes from the Wyoming Venture Capital “deal flow” report, which tracks venture-style investments in startups across the state.

In 2019, the Wyoming Business Council program's report tracked 12 venture-style deals. By 2024, there were twice as many. 

Last year, when Microsoft rolled out its gBeta Wyoming accelerator program, there were 35 deals. 

“We added 11 deals to last year, which is almost as many as we had in 2019,” Wyoming Business Council Investments Director Bert Adam told Cowboy State Daily.

It’s a step-change that suggests momentum is building in Wyoming. 

It’s even more notable, given that none of the recent, gigantic deals involving data centers are part of the report yet. They won’t flow in until the 2026 report is out.

Adam credited the Microsoft-sponsored gBETA program, which is a free, virtual, seven-week accelerator program offered through global venture capital firm gener8tor. 

It’s aimed at early-stage startups to help them grow by providing coaching and mentorship, as well as chances to meet with and pitch investors. 

Since inception in 2020, gBETA alumni have created more than 230 jobs, raised $42.7 million in follow-on funding, and brought $58 to Wyoming for every $1 invested by Microsoft.

UplinkRobotics was part of gBETA’s 2024 program, helping the Laramie-based company that’s 3D printing high-tech robots that inspect under homes and other places humans don’t want to go.

Why More Founders Are Choosing Wyoming

Reports like the deal flow gloss over an important detail: the real people who are making these bets that Wyoming isn’t just a good place to build a business, it’s the absolute right place.

Sam Seeton, founder of Infinite Outdoors, is a great example of the kind of human calculations that are going into that determination.

Seeton’s company uses technology to connect landowners with do-it-yourself hunters, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts. 

It’s an Airbnb style of booking, but for outdoor adventures. 

Seeton started the company in Colorado, but eventually decided Wyoming was better. He moved both his life and his company to Casper.

He credits Wyoming for his business’ continued success.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for the Wyoming ecosystem and the different opportunities that the local and state programs provide,” he said, highlighting Wyoming’s open access to programs as key.

“It’s the access to talk to people, I think, because we’re a smaller state,” Seeton said. "But it’s everybody at all of the Wyoming Business Council level and the Department of Workforce Service, and even the Impact 307 and all the different startup programs the university does across different communities.”

The competency and the friendliness are unmatched, Seeton said, and Wyoming really cares about clearing bureaucratic red tape. 

“You just get better attention to help you grow a lot quicker,” he said. “Whereas in Colorado, you might not even qualify for those things where you waste a year of your time.”

Where Are The Angels?

One big challenge Wyoming’s entrepreneurs have faced is the money problem. The climate is sunny and warm, as Seeton outlined. 

But when the startup goes to seek funding, all the angel investors want to know is why the company isn’t in Dallas or San Francisco or New Jersey or anywhere besides Wyoming.

It’s a roadblock that Power Theory’s Luke Macy has seen firsthand.

Macy’s company came out of Impact 307, which is University of Wyoming’s incubator, aimed at encouraging mid-sized manufacturers.

Macy found startup funding from the Kickstart Grant Program, which offers $5,000 to $50,000 in grants to support high-growth, early-stage businesses. 

The program, launched in 2024, is managed through the Wyoming Business Council. It’s one of many things on hold right now, with lawmakers reviewing the Business Council’s funding and performance. 

“Before Kickstart was here, it was very difficult to find pitch competitions or resources around $50,000,” he said. “We’re using our Kickstart funds to improve our technology, validate our technology, and then we’re getting ready to raise (funding) here soon.”

Macy also credited the gBETA Wyoming program, as well as a Colorado-based National Science Foundation accelerator program, with helping his company refine both its business model and its investor pitch.

Now it’s ready for the next level, and a run at the state’s biggest obstacle. That’s the lack of angel investors who can help with a first funding round in the $50,000 to $200,000 range.

“That just almost doesn’t exist, at least from my experience and what I’ve seen,” he said. “And so, I think after going through an accelerator phase, and maybe after receiving a kickstart grant, there’s this chasm that startups have to pass through.”

Why High-Growth Startups Leave

Lack of financing is among problems that have caused many high-growth startups to leave Wyoming, Cowboy State Daily has been told in previous interviews.

Blossom Ko Lumley is director of Startup Wyoming, a collaborative between Jackson’s Silicon Couloir and the Wyoming Business Council. 

That collaborative was started to strengthen Wyoming’s startup ecosystem, particularly when it comes to high-growth potential companies that can reach national scale.

Lumley prepared a report looking at Wyoming’s startup culture, to see why so many of the high-growth startups seemed to stall out at a certain point of development and leave.

What she found was weak “ground conditions” for growth-oriented companies. Some of the factors included things like the need for more technical assistance and difficulties in hiring specialized talent, but capital at crucial development stages was also listed as a vital missing link.

Persistence Pays Off

Estate Scribe founder Tyler Bass has heard the question more than once, as far as why they’re in Wyoming, while seeking investors for his software firm, which automates drafting and repetitive data entry for estate planning attorneys.

He gets it. 

Smaller, more rural states are riskier bets. He also knows if he located his company in Dallas, where the law firm he’s working with as his first customer is located, he might have an easier time of tapping venture capital.

But he prefers Wyoming, and so he’s committed himself to finding investors who actively want to place bets on smaller towns across the U.S. 

It’s something he’s already had some success doing in the $250,000 range, which is setting his company up for a May 1 start date.

Wyoming has been an unusually supportive environment for startups, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s been great because everybody has been, ‘Oh yeah, let’s grab coffee. Yes, let’s jump on a Zoom meeting.’”

Then with programs like gBETA, Bass has been able to meet people from across the state wrestling with the same challenges he faces.

“We’ve also taken the mindset that we want to bootstrap this company as far as we can,” he said. “At the end of the day, bringing on investors and stuff like that too early, you can lose control.”

Pouring everything into the company they can, meanwhile, has made them that much more determined to succeed. 

“Like it feels like your baby,” he said. “You’ll do anything to make it succeed.”

Manufacturing Momentum

Manufacturing Works Director Rocky Case told Cowboy State Daily the manufacturing trend in Wyoming is definitely on the upswing. 

It’s so far reached 6.5% of gross state product. There’s momentum behind that figure, and he expects it to continue climbing.

“I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but yes, manufacturing in Wyoming is growing,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “Yes, it’s a business-friendly climate. And yes, manufacturers in Wyoming or that are considering coming to Wyoming are supporting that broader base of critical manufacturing industry.”

By “critical” manufacturing industry, Case is referring to things like the Department of Defense, transportation, energy, and health care. 

“We have to realize Wyoming is a very large state with a very small population,” he said. “So, what’s going to be our contribution to that critical manufacturing infrastructure.”

Brian Gross, meanwhile, who has built factories around the world, told Cowboy State Daily Wyoming is always among his top choices when he’s siting a new business.

“So many things are so easy to do versus the rest of the world,” he said. “Any business filing, almost everything is online. If I have a problem I can’t solve in Wyoming, I can easily go to whatever state office and meet a person who will walk me through the issue and help me to solve it.

“If it is worse or better than before, I don’t know,” he continued. “But Wyoming is a dream location for doing business.”

Gaps are still real, but Wyoming is clearly winning the business world over, with more and more venture deals.

Founders more and more are saying even if there are challenges, Wyoming is not just where they want their business to be, it’s the right place.

In and of itself, that’s strengthening the nutrients that grow businesses.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.