That early entrepreneurial training is something that wasn't available years ago to people like Hall. He recalls graduating from Brigham Young University in 1972, when "universities did not look at entrepreneurs as anybody who was very bright because they thought you were supposed to go work for Mobil/Exxon. There were no courses. I really started in my life without any help at all. An MBA just taught you fundamentals, but how to be an entrepreneur was not available."

Money and more

Grow Utah also is making money and assistance available to entrepreneurs who have set up shop. While venture funds typically do bigger deals with later-stage companies, Grow Utah is focused on early-stage companies that have moved on from funding obtained from "family, friends and fools," Hall said.

Aided by a group of Weber State University students who receive scholarships in exchange for screening potential deals, Grow Utah looks for start-ups involved in technology that have had early sales, even if they are not necessarily profitable, and could benefit from funding between $50,000 and $500,000.

"It's an interesting thing that you can really launch a business that will succeed without that many dollars," Hall said. "Our average is $100,000. We've got 31 in place now. We're looking to make sure they're good people and not headed to Rio with our money."

Funded companies hail from Park City and along the Wasatch Front. They include Online Memorials, which produces recordings of loved ones that can be played back at their cemetery headstones; Mobile Optics, which produces camera and LCD systems to allow drivers to see in blind spots; and Elemental Business, a Web analytics firm.

Ultimately, the goal is the creation of strong companies with plenty of high-paying tech jobs.

"I really feel like it's the Lord's money, and I have a stewardship and I'm a manager of the funds, and therefore I'm going to do good things with them, and that's the whole focus here," Hall said. "There's a spiritual overtone to this."

And there's more than money.

"Utah is tops in the U.S. for startup companies, and there are thousands of entrepreneurs, mostly in technology of biomed, from Provo to Logan. Usually it's people with great ideas and dreams to succeed, but they're all needing money, and most of the time it's not money they need as much as some of the other things we do for them," Hall said.

The E Station

That's where the E Station comes in. Currently based in a former Greyhound Bus depot in downtown Ogden, the first E Station incubator is designed for five to seven businesses and about 30 total employees who can tap into the expertise of various partners.