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Stephen Olson and Malorie Black, both of Utah County, were among the first batch of winners in the Get Started: Business Idea Competition held by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity’s Startup State Initiative.

Courtesy Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity

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Gov. Spencer Cox poses for a photo with Malorie Black during an event at iHub in Provo in 2024.

Courtesy Malorie Black

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A pair of Utah County startup business owners are getting some financial help in bringing their ideas and products to the masses.

Stephen Olson of Lehi and Malorie Black of Provo were among the first batch of winners announced last month in the Get Started: Business Idea Competition. The campaign is held by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity’s Startup State Initiative.

The business pitch competition pits entrepreneurs and their aspiring business ventures against others from around the state in efforts to win $500 that aims to help achieve milestones critical to the early phases of starting a business.

Black is the founder and CEO of goGood, the platform that will connect volunteers with nonprofits for service opportunities with modern and engaging features that are appealing to people of the younger generation.

“I wanted to focus on helping the younger generation, especially those in their 20s, even high school kids, kind of make serving and donating like a part of their culture,” Black explained.

While there are plenty of other mobile device applications that digitize service opportunities, Black’s offering takes a different approach by what she describes as gamifying community service.

“When somebody serves, they get points for serving, and those points can be deemed in the community for like, a free pizza or something like that,” Black said. “So kind of bridging the gap between companies that want to give (and) those that are doing good.”

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Black says she has a passion for helping others and ending generational poverty.

Black often volunteers her time with different local organizations from helping at the county’s warming centers to other service projects.

Post education, she spent some time out of the state, working for multiple startups and a stint at Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas.

She suffered a concussion in late 2023, which led to a decision to reevaluate her life and focus on solving big problems full time.

Black returned to Utah County and looked for ways to mesh technology with service in the community.

After spending several months working for community service connection app Serve to be Free, Black decided to explore developing her own platform.

She formed networking relations through iHub in Provo, a resource space for entrepreneurs to help get their business ideas off the ground, as well as Utah Tech Week and the 2025 Silicon Slopes Summit.

Black said goGood has only been in development for a short time, but being recognized in the Get Started Challenge and winning the $500 of micro-funding felt like a boost of confidence.

“For me, it’s like … I’m winning this for my business, like somebody believed in it enough to grant me this funding,” she said.

The winnings will help with investing in the branding and logo design as well forming a limited liability company. She’s working with nonprofits to determine their needs and plans to have the goGood app functional for organizations to use by early to mid summer and for volunteers by the end of the year.

Aside from service opportunities, Black hopes to inspire females and other business owners to adamantly chase their dreams.

“I think the world needs more entrepreneurs, so I would say to go for it. There’s a lot of support out there just waiting to help you on your journey,” she said.

Tim Cooley, director of entrepreneurship and the Startup State Initiative, said the contest is designed to lighten the financial burden that comes with early stages of business and give entrepreneurs a fighting chance to get their business up and running.

Olson also has a vision for helping people, notably those who are on a health and wellness journey — beyond what they might see on a scale.

He’s the owner of Benchmark Body Metrics, a Lehi business that provides in-person body composition scans.

The X-ray analysis includes information on an individual’s muscle mass, fat mass and bone density, among other metabolic assessments, which can be used to assess health, fitness and track progress over time.

Olson said he had been working in the tech industry for a number of years but also enjoyed coaching at a local Crossfit gym, performance testing with athletes as well as doing different fitness-related activities.

At the end of 2023, Olson decided to make a shift in careers.

“Eventually, (I) got burned out of the corporate tech world and decided I wanted to launch a company and do something that I love,” Olson said. “And the thing that makes me the most excited is just helping people get more confident in their body.”

Olson said some of the challenges he endured involved securing office space and obtaining needed medical equipment for the body composition scans.

However, the experience of working with the state to get certifications and licenses was positive.

Of course, getting help from the state’s startup challenge was also helpful.

“It was really fun to see some of the businesses that other people are creating, and there’s some really, really creative and exciting stuff, and I was grateful to be a part of it,” Olson said.

He intends to put the winnings toward purchasing additional testing equipment to offer a wider variety of tests to customers.

Benchmark Body Metrics is located at 3381 W. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, in Lehi and is set to open at the end of March, according to Olson.

He said his experience in the corporate technology space was positive, but ultimately he wanted to control his own destiny.

“At the end of the day, I want to be the one who sets the responsibility and the outcomes and kind of want to take control of my own destiny in that way,” Olson said.