Chris Utah comes to FranChoice with two decades of building organizations as an owner and employee. Chris’ passion is helping people plan and execute their goals. He views their wins as his own which is why over these same years friends and colleagues have entrusted him to help them choose and grow their franchises.

Throughout his career Chris has established his reputation as an action oriented, outcome focused sales and operations leadership professional. He has built and optimized sales-driven organizations within highly competitive markets under challenging, short-term timeline requirements. His extensive experience in forging specialized teams in $0 – $50MM revenue companies made Chris a sought-after partner in several early-stage, venture-backed startups as well as in sell-side M&A firms. In addition to his formal resume, he’s invested time in helping friends and colleagues launch and grow their franchises over the years. The gratification Chris derived from this ultimately influenced his decision to help other entrepreneurs connect to the franchise opportunity best suited to their skillset and passion.

Chris has led channel and direct sales teams for a Bain Capital backed software company which was acquired by Dell. Prior to that, he built and managed sales teams for multiple startups funded by investors such as Anschutz Investment, Shelter Capital and HighBAR Ventures. These portfolio companies included an online music platform for college students that was acquired by Sony BMG and Universal Music. Later as a Vice President of an investment bank, Chris was responsible for building an internal business development department which accounted for a significant portion of the firm’s revenue within the first year of operation. Chris is also a founding member of a safety software company used by thousands of municipalities and corporations around the world. He grew the bootstrapped company organically from two to more than 100 remote global employees and from zero revenue to a $50MM valuation.

Chris is a former Marine who studied Government & International Politics at George Mason University. He enjoys spending time with his family, working on their ranch, playing with his Rhodesian Ridgebacks, traveling, working out, and boating.