PROVO — Danny Jones, Brice Douglas and Santiago Gomez-Paz all took different routes on their way to Brigham Young University.
"I think we absolutely see this as potentially a billion-dollar company," said Douglas, who co-founded Zaymo along with Jones and Gomez-Paz. "It's easy to believe in yourself and like, when you're kind of in the idea, you believe in the idea," Jones said. "It was cool to go to this competition be presenting in such of big investors and have them be like, 'Oh yeah, that makes sense.' That, kind of, external validation was really good to get.
The Zaymo team in May attended the 2023 Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston and took home $875,000 in total cash investments after winning third place in what many consider the biggest and most prestigious collegiate business plan competition in the country. But to turn Zaymo into the next big startup to come out of the Beehive State, the team knows that it can't get complacent, even in the wake of recent success.