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Planting Seeds, Growing Mesa: Kelley Keffer’s Hands-On Approach to Building Local Businesses

Mesa might be known for big names like Meta and Virgin Galactic, but the city’s most exciting growth is happening quietly—in small shops, studios, and labs where entrepreneurs are building businesses with the city right behind them. Take URBIX, for example. The company started inside LaunchPoint with just three offices and one lab. Today, it’s producing battery-grade graphite for electric vehicles and energy storage—and it’s still headquartered in Mesa, creating high-tech jobs and strengthening the local economy.
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Startup Central: Forging Arizona’s Hard Tech Future

Before the desert sun ever touched Clay Richardson’s workshop in Tempe, he was a 21-year-old in a Berkeley frat house, sleeping on a mattress in the corner, surrounded by coders and makers. Armed with $400, a duffel bag, and a burning curiosity, he dropped out of college and dove headfirst into the world of startups. “I taught myself hardware and software before I had dial-up internet,” Clay recalls, eyes lighting up. “I was building circuits from a robotics kit for Christmas and learning P-Basic on a microcontroller. Before I could walk, I was using using computers. Before I could read, I was devouring Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. That’s where it all started.”
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Before The Pitch

On the final night of Venture Start, the room didn’t feel like a competition. It felt like a culmination. Founders adjusted slides. Families filled chairs. Judges leaned in. There was laughter before the first pitch, quiet nerves behind the scenes, and the unmistakable energy of people who had spent weeks building something together not just ventures, but confidence.Six weeks earlier, these founders arrived with ideas. By Pitch Day, they arrived with clarity. Venture Start, a six-session accelerator launched by the Arizona Commerce Authority in partnership with the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University.

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