Ryan Porter remembers getting his first office. It wasn’t much: a single cubicle in a business incubator, costing $90 a month. 

But to him and his co-founder, it felt like everything.

That $90 cubicle became the starting point for LVT, a company that would go on to serve mobile security infrastructure across some of the country’s highest retail locations, critical infrastructure sites, and government facilities. 

But the path there wasn’t easy. They had to survive a housing crash, go 15 years without outside funding, and somehow still make payroll.

To understand how LVT got to where it is now, you have to go back to the beginning with two guys who didn’t even consider themselves to be technical people.

How the Idea Was Born

In 2005, Ryan Porter was working in construction finance. He watched money move between owners, contractors, and subcontractors on projects with plenty of moving parts.

And, often, there was plenty of miscommunication. Too many things to keep track of, and not enough visibility to see it all.

So, he had an idea: what if you could see what was happening on a project live? 

Not through reports or phone calls. Through real-time video that gave everyone the same picture.

Then, Bob Brenner (Ryan’s future business partner) walked into Ryan’s office one day asking if he had any marketing ideas. 

Ryan pitched the concept, and Bob accepted. That was it. No extended negotiation, no formal agreement. They became partners on the spot.

Recounting the event, Ryan said, “Neither of us are technical people. We’re not IT people at all.” They didn’t have any idea how to get started.

They assumed a company must already be doing this, so they searched. But as it turns out, nobody was.

“So we said, well, how hard can it be? Let’s just try to figure it out and do it ourselves,” said Ryan.

It actually turned out to be very hard. But their first project, a high-end residential build in Deer Valley, gave them everything they needed to start. 

They rigged up a pole with a fixed camera and an internet connection, and had Ryan’s parents in California pull up the live feed on their computer while Ryan stood on-site talking to them on the phone.

Ryan said about this experience, “They could see me. It was just like – that was kind of the aha moment. There is something here.”

Word quickly spread. Other contractors started calling, asking how to get the technology on their own sites. 

That was the start of their company, originally called HomeView Technologies. And it grew organically, one subscription at a time.

A Name Change 

However, the name didn’t last. On a commercial job site one day, a superintendent told Ryan he needed to rename the company. Ryan agreed it was probably time for a rebrand.

So, the new company name LiveView Technologies, or LVT, was born.

But little did Ryan know, a bigger reckoning was coming. In 2007, at the height of the housing boom, Ryan and Bob were preparing to expand into Las Vegas and Phoenix.

They were setting up office spaces, hiring new team members, and growing their clientele.

Then Ryan noticed something troubling in the market: an overwhelming number of spec homes, risky negative-amortization financing, and appraised values that didn’t seem to match.

Once he noticed this, he told his partner Bob, “It’s just a recipe for disaster.”

They pulled back, and instead of expanding further into residential construction, they diversified into other areas. 

In 2008, they partnered with the Utah Department of Transportation, which needed live video in remote areas to time snowplow deployment efficiently. They also leaned harder into commercial construction, betting that a commercial building boom would follow the residential one.

That pivot is what kept the company alive through the recession. And although they made it through, Ryan admits that it was tough.

Fifteen Years of No Funding

What followed after the recession was over a decade of what Ryan calls “cash crunch, pain, and suffering.” 

LVT was building two entirely different businesses at once: a software platform and a hardware fleet that had to be manufactured and maintained across the country. 

And there wasn’t an established playbook for either of them. “We were inventing the whole time,” Ryan said.

The company didn’t take its first round of outside funding until the last day of 2020. A whole fifteen years after they started. And through all of that, Ryan is proud of one specific fact: that LVT never missed a payroll.

The turning point, he says, wasn’t a single moment. But rather, a pattern. 

As LVT’s customer base started to include national accounts, it became clear that the business had real staying power.

Ryan said, “When we started to get into national level customers… I think that was when you’re like, okay, this is real.”

So they kept at it, trusting in the system. And from 2018 to 2022, the company posted a 120% year-over-year growth rate.

Advice Nobody Expected to Take

Ryan credits much of LVT’s success to their willingness to listen, even when the advice didn’t make sense at the time. 

Early on, a board member told Ryan that LVT needed to focus on the software side of the business rather than just the hardware and service.

Ryan’s first reaction wasn’t gratitude. He said, “He does not understand what we’re doing. Why would he give that advice? He doesn’t know what we’re doing. He’s spent an hour with us.”

But, years later, that software platform became the company’s key differentiator. That board member had turned out to be right.

Ryan took that moment as a lesson learned for the future. And that same instinct to listen shaped how LVT figured out its own identity. 

From 2005 to 2016, Ryan didn’t consider the company as a security business at all. He only saw it as an information company, delivering real-time video to create efficiency. 

But the customers kept describing it differently.

“Everybody thinks, well, if your camera is your security… customers kept saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to be security. We need security,’” Ryan said about the feedback.

Without in-house security expertise, the team had no choice but to listen closely and let the customers define the problem for them.

A Team Built to Last

LVT’s founding structure wasn’t built by one person with a vision. It was built by four people with complementary skills. 

Bob Brenner brought equipment and manufacturing experience. 

Steve Lindsay understood the technology and built the software platform. 

Dave Studdard led sales and marketing strategies. 

And Ryan handled the finance, administration, and operations.

Ryan says about his team, “Partnerships are really hard… It’s difficult, but the four of us found a way to make it work.”

Some of the company’s most valuable mentors weren’t formal advisors at all; they were customers. 

As LVT’s client base grew to include larger national accounts, those relationships became a source of trust and honest feedback.

“They knew the level that we were at, so we didn’t have to act like we were bigger than we were… we could ask them questions,” said Ryan.

When LVT eventually brought in outside investors in 2020, Ryan says the deciding factor wasn’t the size of the check. It was whether the relationship felt like a long-term partnership rather than a transaction.

“It is like a marriage,” he says. And he has treated every partnership like one.

Data Ownership in an AI World

As today’s world of AI reshapes what’s possible with video and surveillance data, Ryan says LVT has made a foundational decision early on that has paid off.

Customers own their data, not LVT.

“We are the vehicle that creates the data, but they own it,” Ryan said.

A third-party survey, conducted by a research firm that interviewed more than 2,000 people, found that most Americans are open to AI and video innovation. 

As long as there are clear rules and controls around how the data is used.

Ryan and his team took that information seriously when making their decisions about AI and technology moving forward.

Ryan said, “We luckily were very proactive with that… setting up our contracts that the customer owns the data, not us.”

This choice has put them one step ahead of the game as technology continues to grow, directly impacting the video and security industry.

Why Utah?

LVT may now be deployed nationwide, but its roots and manufacturing facility remain firmly in Utah. Ryan credits the state’s culture and talent pool as a real advantage.

“There’s a higher percentage of people that want to make a difference and really are willing to put the work in,” he says.

He also points to something less tangible: the speed at which trust builds with LVT’s teams, even in first meetings with clients.

He said, “There’s just a trust there that we built and a relationship that we built quickly… It’s just different.”

While the company continues to grow all around the nation, its home in Utah will always be a credit to its initial growth and success. 

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Ryan Porter’s journey holds plenty of wisdom for anyone looking to build something meaningful. Here are a few things worth taking with you:

  • Frustration with the status quo can become your business: LVT’s founding idea came directly from watching poor communication on construction projects.
  • Diversify before you’re forced to: Recognizing the warning signs of the 2008 housing crash allowed LVT to pivot into commercial construction and government partnerships before the downturn hit.
  • Listen even when advice seems wrong: The suggestion to focus on software felt off at the time, but it ultimately became the company’s defining strength.
  • Build a team with complementary strengths: LVT’s four founders each brought a different skill set, which helped the company hold together through its hardest years.
  • Choose partners for the long haul: Ryan turned down investors who felt transactional in favor of those willing to be true long-term partners.
  • Set financial guardrails before you start: Ryan and his wife agreed on a dedicated savings buffer with a clear rule: if it ran out, he’d stop building the business and get a job.
  • Decide quickly, not eventually: Ryan knows that his own tendency to delay decisions is one of his biggest leadership lessons. One he still works on today.

Looking Ahead

Twenty-one years into building LVT, Ryan says the company is only beginning to scratch the surface of what’s possible. 

What started as a livestreaming service for construction sites has become a security infrastructure network deployed in some of the country’s highest-risk environments. They now serve everything from convenience stores to critical infrastructure sites.

The next phase of growth is centered on AI. Not to replace the human side of business, but to remove the repetitive tasks so employees can focus on the more complex and meaningful parts of the job.

LVT continues to expand its footprint and its team, with a manufacturing facility in Spanish Fork and employees across nearly every state. 

Recognition has followed their growth: a $50 million Series B in 2022, a spot on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 in 2024, and the EY US Entrepreneur of the Year Mountain West Award in 2025.

For Ryan, though, the milestones aren’t the point. 

The goal has stayed the same since the earliest days in that $90 cubicle: build something real, take care of the people who work there, and never stop listening to the customers.

Want the full story behind Ryan Porter’s journey?

Listen to the complete MountainWest Capital Network Podcast episode, where Ryan shares his story of growing a small business idea into a nationwide company.

[Listen to the full episode here →]

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-lvts-growth-how-ryan-porter-built-his-business/id1818372923?i=1000783124146 


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3N67MulgtP3q0IxKCYhzIZ?si=E6w6b9HMRY6HPJvGmBJePg 

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About the MountainWest Capital Network Podcast: Your gateway to the Winners’ Circle, featuring stories and strategies from Utah’s fastest-growing companies. For more than 31 years, MountainWest Capital Network has celebrated entrepreneurial excellence through the Utah 100, recognizing the state’s most dynamic businesses and their founders.

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