SUMMER 2015
REPEAT AFTER ME! AEROCEAN TEAMMATES FROM UNIVERSITY OF TULSA CLAIM CONSECUTIVE GOVCUP VICTORIES PASSION FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP GOVCUP PUTS ALUMNI ON CAREER PATH OF HELPING STARTUPS FLOURISH
GOV CUP TEAM DORMATARG TARGETS DORMANT CANCER CELLS TO KEEP DISEASE FROM REOCCURRING
We’re Proud to Help
OKLAHOMA GROW Comprised of over 175 Oklahoma corporations and business groups, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable serves as the state’s major economic development support organization. We are a collaborative non-profit group whose sole purpose is advancing Oklahoma’s economic development – through business start-up, expansion, recruitment and quality improvement programs.
During the past 23 years, the Roundtable has supported hundreds of state, national and international business promotion activities resulting in millions of dollars of new corporate investment throughout Oklahoma. Our members are committed to the growth and diversification of our state’s economy.
We invite you to join us in our efforts! Contact us today. Rhonda Hooper Roundtable Chairman Jordan Advertising, Oklahoma City OklahOma Business ROundtaBle 655 ReseaRch PaRkway, suite 420 OklahOma city, OklahOma 73104 405-235-3787
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BUILDING A STRONGER OKLAHOM A
www.okbusinessroundtable.com
12 INSIDE i&E Profiles Get People Moving 6 Roll-2-Roll 8 Infinite Composites Technologies 10 Driven Analytics 12
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Best of Show 14 The University of Tulsa produced repeat winners in the 2015 GovCup, while East Central University swept top places in the Small Business Division.
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Power Surge 19 Magnetic Solutions Inc. from Northern Oklahoma College was recognized as the first Robert E. Craine Outstanding Venture award winner in the 2015 GovCup. Charlesson, LLC and Roughtail Brewing Co. 20 Making career connections and producing award winning beer. Path Finders 22 Three GovCup alumni share their stories on how the competition helped shape their careers as they began their entrepreneurial journeys. DormaTarg 26 From GovCup to an actual business opportunity.
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8 innovators & Entrepreneurs is produced by i2E, Inc., manager of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. For more information on any content contained herein, please contact i2E at 800-337-6822. Š Copyright 2015 i2E, Inc. All rights reserved.
i2E TEAM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The i2E management and staff is composed of professionals with extensive experience in technology commercialization, business development, venture investing, finance, organizational.
Howard G. Barnett, Jr., Chairman OSU-Tulsa, OSU-CHS
Scott Meacham President & CEO Rex Smitherman Senior Vice President, Operations Sarah Seagraves Senior Vice President, Marketing Mark Lauinger Senior Vice President, Client Services Tom Francis Director of Funds Administration Judy Beech Director of Finance Elaine Hamm Venture Advisor & Director, Proof of Concept Center Richard Rainey Venture Advisor & Director, OSCR Program Kevin Moore Venture Advisor & SeedStep Angel Manager Claire Robison Venture Advisor
Stephen Prescott, Vice Chair OMRF Michael LaBrie, Secretary McAfee & Taft Leslie Batchelor Center for Economic Development Law
Jay Calhoun Cherokee National Businesses Michael Carolina OCAST Rita Combs REYAP Youth Programs Steve Cropper
Duane Wilson LDW Services, LLC
PA R T N E R S Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST)
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Carl Edwards Price Edwards Company Oklahoma Business Roundtable Presbyterian Health Foundation
Darcy Wilborn Client Engagement Director
Philip Kurtz CareATC
Cindy Williams Underwriting Coordinator & Investment Compliance Officer
Hershel Lamirand III Capital Development Strategies
Kate Nelson Administrative Assistant
Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Elizabeth Frame Ellison Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation
Brad Krieger Arvest Bank
Jennifer Buettner Executive Assistant
Brien Thorstenberg Tulsa Regional Chamber
U.S. Economic Development Administration
Scott Thomas IT Manager
Zach Kinder Multimedia Specialist
Wes Stucky Development Management, Inc.
Philip Eller Eller Detrich, P.C.
Stacey Brandhorst Suzette Hatfield Crawley Ventures Venture Advisor
Shaun Fair Underwriting Specialist
Craig Shimasaki Moleculera Labs
Robert Brearton Richard Williamson T.D. Williamson American Fidelity Assurance Company
Joseph J. Ferretti James Lovely University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Venture Advisor
Katelynn Henderson Events Specialist
Darryl Schmidt BancFirst
Merl Lindstrom Phillips 66
City of Oklahoma City Oklahoma Business Roundtable Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation American Fidelity Foundation Presbyterian Health Foundation Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation The Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Oklahoma Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative
Fred Morgan The State Chamber David Myers Ponca City Development Authority David Pitts Bank SNB Mark Poole Summit Bank Teresa Rose Chesapeake Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing
www.i2E.org
facebook.com/OKGOVCUP twitter.com/i2E_Inc
Welcome from Scott Meacham ABOUT i2E WE INVEST IN ENTREPRENEURS TO BUILD SUCCESSFUL HIGH GROWTH OKLAHOMA COMPANIES Over our 17-year history, i2E’s nationally recognized services have provided business expertise and funding to more than 650 of Oklahoma’s emerging small businesses. With nearly $50 million of investment capital under management, we are focused on serving companies in all phases of the business life cycle, from startups looking for their first round of capital all the way to established businesses seeking funding to expand their markets or products. We also are helping lead new business developments into the marketplace more efficiently and more quickly while providing guidance to bring more funding to Oklahoma’s researchers and entrepreneurs. Through our proven business and venture development process, we turn ideas into successful enterprises ... i2E.
W H AT W E D O • Evaluate the market potential of new concepts • Assist with evaluation of business plans, marketing plans and raising capital • Provide guidance in building a management team, business structure and financial forecasting • Assist with developing an effective investor presentation • Assist in obtaining funding through federal grant programs • Work with research universities to encourage commercialization of research technologies • Provide grant capital assistance and equity investment
For the past 10 years, one of the most exciting rites of Spring in Oklahoma has been the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup awards dinner. It’s a fabulous event, where the top student teams from the Governor’s Cup business plan competition are awarded trophies and substantial cash prizes. A crowd of about 500 Oklahoma business and civic leaders applaud as the students are recognized by the Governor for their work and achievements in the annual business plan competition. This past April, we announced the winners in three categories of competition who were awarded $154,000 in scholarships and awards. It was a high energy, fast-moving event that pulsated with excitement. It’s that way every year. But neither the awards dinner nor the subsequent Tri-State competition in Las Vegas complete the entrepreneurial journey for many students. They go on to launch their concepts as new businesses or go to work for entrepreneurial companies. Many of the GovCup alumni attribute the direction of their careers to the networking or skills acquired in the competition itself. Over the years, student participants have helped start 23 Oklahoma small businesses following their Governor’s Cup experience. In this edition of I&E magazine, we invite you to read the story of this year’s Governor’s Cup winners (page 14), along with a closer look at some of the businesses and entrepreneurs that have emerged from the competition along the way. Beginning on page 6, we offer profiles of four of our client companies that have deep roots in the Governor’s Cup: Infinite Composite Technologies, Roll-2Roll, Get People Moving and Driven Analytics. All have unique stories to tell. We also share the experiences of three GovCup alumni who used the experience to launch entrepreneurial careers. Beginning on page 22, Michelle Witt, Stacey Brandhorst and Kenneth Knoll discuss how the competition helped them down the entrepreneurial path. Don’t miss their incredible stories. Finally, we look at some bioscience companies and people involved that have been impacted by the GovCup. Blaine Stansel is director of finance for Charlesson, LLC, which is developing new treatments for eye disease. As an MBA student at the University of Oklahoma, Blaine won the Governor’s Cup with an innovative concept for treating devastating eye diseases. Blaine also has stepped out as an entrepreneur as co-founder of Oklahoma City’s Roughtail Brewing Co. Read his story on page 24. Meanwhile, DormaTarg (page 26) is making great strides in developing a drug that will prevent dormant cancer cells from becoming active in the future, causing a recurrence of the disease. Kris Vermelis, DormaTarg’s chief of operations, got his start with the company when he was part of the DormaTarg GovCup team from the University of Oklahoma, which wrote a business plan around the concept in 2009. All of these stories show what a far-reaching, deep impact the Governor’s Cup has had on both Oklahoma and the students who participate each year. As you read about the Governor’s Cup experience and impacts, I encourage you to consider ways you or your company can participate in future competitions, either as a financial sponsor, a mentor or a judge of this fabulous event. Enjoy the magazine. – Scott Meacham President & CEO
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Profiles Get People Moving, LLC
Get People Moving ready to take personal mobility concept to the world
D
uring the 2014 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition, a team of students from the University of Central Oklahoma introduced the world to a three-wheeled vehicle known as the Personal Mobility Vehicle (PMV). With two large wheels in the front and a smaller wheel in the back, the PMV provides ergonomic seating and mobility over all types of terrain for amputees and mobility challenged users. The PMV is designed so that users can sit higher in the adjustable seat, allowing them to reach cabinets, and shelves and other items. Co-inventors of the patented device are Don Monaco and Maurice Haff, an instructor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCO. Haff mentored the Governor’s Cup team in the 2014 competition. “My students expressed interest in the project, as well as in competing in the 2014 Governor’s Cup,” Haff said. “They wanted to develop a business plan for commercializing the technology directed to helping people who have lost lower limbs, whether they are in developing countries or the USA.”
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Nathan Gardner, Managing Partner Location Edmond, OK Employees 5 Founders Product or Technology The Personal Mobility Vehicle (PMV) provides hand powered, rough terrain transport capability for amputees and mobility impaired individuals. Markets Targeted GetPeopleMoving has targeted the durable medical equipment and health The UCO team competed as one of six finalists after winning the Interview portion of the High Growth Graduate Division. After the competition, the Get Moving Team stayed with the business, helping to launch it as a new venture. Former team members and Haff are involved with the venture. Key officers of Get People Moving LLC are Haff, Nathan Gardner, Joel Niles, Tyler Dolan and Kimberly Cooley. Haff described the Governor’s Cup experience as ‘transformative’ for the student entrepreneurs. “I have observed them for a year following the Governor’s Cup, through the process of forming an LLC, working through the details of a Founder’s Agreement, experiencing the challenge of the i2E Proof of Concept Center and continuing the difficult process of launching a startup,” Haff said. “They each have grown far beyond the boundaries of their educational background and personal experience. I believe the Governor’s Cup was the cornerstone in that progression.” While Get People Moving’s early development has been bootstrapped, talks are under way with potential investors. The PMV is being positioned in the U.S. in the Food and Drug Administration’s Durable Medical Equipment category, which will require about $100,000 and 18 months to negotiate the FDA approval process, Haff said.
“We are particularly focused on the Veteran’s Administration because they have the authority to acquire products categorized as ‘Recreational Therapy,’ ” Haff said. “The PMV provides rough terrain capability that is essential for amputees in developing countries, and has a recreational appeal like a mountain bike as a cross-trainer for the health and fitness market in the USA.” Other potential markets include medical equipment stores and potentially online sales, Niles said. “We have discussed future ideas for markets and products or accessories for the PMV,” Niles said. “We have been pretty active with our research and prototyping to get our minimally viable product.” For both the team and its advisor, the 2014 Governor’s Cup opened doors for later accomplishments. It provided a foundation for Haff in guiding subsequent UCO teams to second and third place finishes. And for Niles and his teammates on the 2014 team, the Governor’s Cup experience inspired them to launch a company and their careers as entrepreneurs. “We just didn’t pull it out at the end of the competition,” Niles said. “We are grateful for all the feedback we received from i2E and for the opportunity to show the world the Personal Mobility Vehicle.”
& fitness industries as initial markets for the PMV. Future Plans The company plans to expand into recreation and sports markets. Funding Initially, the company was bootstrapped by the founders. Major Milestones Achieved The company’s achievements include finalist status in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup, becoming an Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center graduate, creating a website, a minimum viable product and making a presentation in the VentureWell 2015 Open Forum. GetPeopleMoving.com
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ROLL CALL
Profiles Roll-2-Roll Technologies, LLC
Stillwater’s Roll-2-Roll uses laser technology to align materials in manufacturing process
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tillwater’s Roll-2-Roll Technologies LLC, began with an idea on the campus of Oklahoma State University for technology that improves the manufacturing of rolled materials by keeping it aligned throughout the process. The concept was validated in the 2013 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. Roll-2-Roll placed second in the High Growth Graduate Division of the Oklahoma competition before winning the Tri-State competition in Las Vegas. The Governor’s Cup success and an on-campus competition netted team members and company founders a
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combined $70,000 to back the launch of Roll2-Roll. Founders and team members were Aravind Seshadri, team leader and now President and CTO; Carlo Branca, now head of Research and Development; and Pedro Velasco, current COO with the company. The Roll-2-Roll team also won first place in the OSU Riata Business Plan Competition that same year. “The Governor’s Cup was a great experience for us,” Seshadri said. “Our team consisted of engineers, and none of us were business majors. So the challenge for us was to convince
investors of the business opportunity for an engineering problem. The competition also enabled us to really dive into every aspect of the business plan, essentially made us create a master plan document for our business. This planning and attention to detail has immensely helped us in our business today.” The judges’ reactions to their concept encouraged the team to continue pursuing their technology and gauging the market for it. Roll2-Roll has completed a beta prototype of their lateral guiding system and expects to launch sales later this year.
“We did not consider the business plan competition as an academic exercise. From Day One, we looked at this opportunity to bootstrap our company.” – Aravind Seshadri
Aravind Seshadri President and CTO The Governor’s Cup experience taught Roll-2-Roll the value in solving a problem for customers. As engineers, they saw waste and alignment problems cost diaper manufacturers, who are manufacturers of rolled materials. “We were able to stand our ground against some excellent teams because we understood our customer’s pain and how we could solve it,” Seshadri said. “This is very important because solving customer pains equates to revenue and cash flow to the company, which is the lifeblood of a business.” Since the Governor’s Cup experience, Roll-2-Roll has kept close ties to i2E as a client company and participant of i2E-managed Proof of Concept Center. “The relationship has been invaluable to our company,” Seshadri said. “As soon as we realized that i2E was there to help we readily utilized their services and took advantage of the opportunity.” The relationship helped founders of the new business understand the perspective of investors and even think like them, Seshadri said. “Eventually, our close ties with i2E and their trust in us enabled us to raise our first round of funding,” Seshadri said. “We would have not raised over half a million dollars without this relationship.” Roll-2-Roll raised $520,000 as a seed investment in late 2014, as well as receiving a $300,000 Oklahoma Applied Research grant from OCAST that will enable the company to continue research and development. The company currently has two fulltime employees, an independent contractor and three service providers for its product development and testing efforts. “Currently, we are focused on starting with a select few customers in a niche market,” Seshadri said. “With good market adoption, we will expand to other markets within the roll-to-roll manufacturing industry.” Seshadri urges future Governor’s Cup participants to take a series of steps to successfully transition from an idea into an actual company. Through the competition, students should vet their idea, get validation of the business opportunity, understand the investor’s perspective, network with investors and business and community leaders, and bootstrap the company with any winnings during the competition. “We did not consider the business plan competition as an academic exercise,” Seshadri said. “From Day One, we looked at this as an opportunity to bootstrap our company.”
Location Stillwater, OK Employees 3 Product or Technology An electro-mechanical device called a lateral guide for roll-to-roll manufacturing applications which uses a patented fiber optic sensing technology and an adaptive control technology. The patented technologies are licensed from OSU. Market Targeted Manufacturers of rolled materials such as diapers, labels, packaging materials, etc. Future Plans Product will be released to customers by end of August 2015. Funding Received $520,000 Major Milestones Accomplished Industry-ready beta prototype completed. R2R-tech.com
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Profiles infinite Composites Technologies
To Infinite and Beyond: A New CleanNG Before CleanNG co-founders Michael Tate and R. Matt Villarreal graduated college, they had created the first Formula SAE compressed natural gas (CNG) race car. The team from Oklahoma State University used the vehicle to create several world records at Hallett Raceway and transformed their racetrack success into the inspiration to start a company known as CleanNG. Almost five years later, the company has not only defied the odds of failure rates among startups, but it has also received numerous awards, earned the attention of the media and the energy industry as a startup to watch, and has generated more than a million dollars in contracts from customers and government agencies.
The next step: rebranding the company as “Infinite Composites Technologies (ICT),” opening a new facility in Tulsa, and continuing to change the landscape of pressure vessel manufacturing. Tate and Villarreal recognized the need for better CNG fuel tanks while creating their Formula SAE race car. They designed an all-composite, high pressure, liner-less CNG tank – the only one of its kind in the world. Their business model won them second place in the Riata Business Plan competition, which gave them their initial funding to begin work on their innovative new tank design. 10
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Within the same year, the CleanNG team continued their success by placing as finalists for the OG&E Positive Energy Award in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. “CleanNG participated in the Governor’s Cup to gain exposure, get feedback on our business model and make an attempt to earn some cash,” Tate said of the experience. “The Governor’s Cup provided us valuable feedback about our initial business concept.” The feedback was positive: the idea had merit, and the company had potential. This gained the interest of i2E, and the company became a client and relocated to Tulsa to be closer to the Helmerich Advanced Technology Research Center (HRC) on the OSU-Tulsa campus. OSUTulsa’s HRC has the only known equipment in Oklahoma that can manufacture ICT’s all-composite CNG tanks. Between 2012 and 2014 the founders secured four paid pilot projects from customers in aerospace, transportation and industrial gas. “We wanted to validate the need for this technology, and we knew it wasn’t going to be limited to compressed natural gas, so we went after multiple industries to prove our assumptions,” said Villarreal, CEO. CleanNG introduced the first liner-less, composite vessel for high pressure gas storage in 2013. Following its launch, CleanNG found success selling products to private customers like Greenline Fuel Corp. and YETI Space, and signed a contract with government agencies that included NASA, the National Science Foundation and OCAST. These sales total more than $1.6 million in contracts.
“We wanted to validate the need for this technology, and we knew it wasn’t going to be limited to compressed natural gas, so we went after multiple industries to prove our assumptions.” – Matt Villarreal
R. Matt Villarreal Founder & CEO Michael T. Tate Founder & COO Location Tulsa, OK & Houston, TX
Additionally, the company was named a Top 50 Global Startup during the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Week and subsequently won the 2013 TCC Startup Cup competition. Now, two years after introducing its first product, CleanNG is introducing something else: a new name and a new focus. Currently, the founders are completing a four month accelerator program in Houston through SURGE Ventures, the No. 1 energy accelerator in the United States. The founders applied to SURGE at the recommendation of Aaron Miller at the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Once in Houston, the founders were introduced to some of the largest users and distributors of pressure vessels in the world, and realized that their brand CleanNG was limiting their potential customer base. This led to the rebranding as Infinite Composites Technologies (ICT), which will widen the landscape of potential customers and markets for the company’s products. Currently, ICT has nearly completed its funding round to open a new facility in Tulsa to produce its liner-less vessels. CleanNG proved itself to be a successful startup, but ICT has positioned itself to be an industrychanging company.
Employees 5 Product Infinite Composite Pressure Vessel (iCPV) Technology The company produces composite pressure vessels and structures, gas barrier and high-performance coatings, adsorbed natural gas, composite tooling, conformable pressure vessels. Markets Infinite Composites Technologies focuses on Aerospace, Industrial Gas Storage and Compressed Natural Gas markets. Future Plans New testing for new products and for new markets.
Ultra-Light Weight 185 lbs. @ 4500 psi SP All-Composite Max Storage Minimum Space Applications Automotive, Aerospace, Marine, Infrastructure
Major Milestones ICT successes include paid pilot projects in three markets; DoT testing; funding for next generation technology (adsorbed natural gas) secured.
Toughened Matrix 20 year Life
infinitecomposites.com
Scalable Design Pressures & Sizes
24” Diameter x 60” Length
The MagnumCel fuel storage system is the most advanced all-composite, compressed natural gas cylinder available. This system offers users more than 70 percent weight savings compared to type 1 CNG tanks, and 40 percent weight savings compared to type 3 tanks, while storing greater amounts of fuel.
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Profiles Driven Analytics Inc.
Data Driven #@+!
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et’s say you are driving your car down the highway when you receive a text alert that your vehicle has hit the magic mileage number for a required oil change. Maybe it is even time for a change of brake fluid or a new air filter. And the text also offers discounts on all the needed services from a nearby auto dealer. An Oklahoma City-based company called Driven Analytics is working to make this scenario a reality for millions of car owners. Driven Analytics has created connected car technology that monitors a vehicle’s systems and provides the car owner with maintenance information via a smartphone app, text or email.
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After second place finish in GovCup, Driven Analytics honored by CNBC as one of World’s 20 hottest startups
“We use the data to create value for multiple stakeholders in the industry,” said Stephen Soroosh, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. In this scenario, everyone wins, including the car owner. “For car owners, having information about driving habits can solve a number of pains, including detailed information pertaining to maintenance needs,” Soroosh said. “For dealerships, we give them a targeted marketing platform, sending their coupon or discount to a car owner exactly when they need maintenance. And for aftermarket parts/accessory companies, we allow them to target customers with special offers by segmenting them down to the year/ make/model/trim level and even mileage and geographic location.” The innovative concept brought Driven Analytics global publicity when it was named one of the world’s 20 hottest startups by the CNBC television network in 2014. The startup also has a deep connection with the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. Before the CNBC recognition, Soroosh was one of four University of Oklahoma students who wrote the business plan around the Driven Analytics concept for the 2014 Governor’s Cup. Jake Elliott, Mitchel Walser and Rachel Webb joined Soroosh on the team, and Ron Bolin, associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, was the advisor. Driven Analytics went on to place second in the High Growth Graduate Division of the Governor’s Cup and the Graduate Division of the Tri-State competition in Las Vegas. “The Governor’s Cup experience is good, but I have found that the academic framework of the competition is far from the reality of building a business,” Soroosh said.
“Still, we could not have launched without the prize money, and we are grateful for that.” Only Soroosh, now CEO, and Elliott, CTO remain with the company, which recently became an i2E client and is seeking an investment round of $800,000. “We are currently raising a seed round of funding in order to turn the prototype into a sellable product,” Soroosh said. Here is how the CNBC article on the world’s 20 hottest startups described Driven Analytics (Copyright © 2015 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved): “Driven Analytics uses connected car technology to better target car owners on behalf of dealerships, all the while reducing the anxiety associated with routine car maintenance for drivers. Using advanced algorithms and a data transmission device installed on new cars by the dealership, Driven Analytics provides a marketing platform that allows dealers to advertise maintenance services to their customers exactly when they need them. Once a vehicle is sold, Driven Analytics monitors the vehicle's systems and provides the car owner with actionable maintenance information via a smartphone app, text or email. Information includes details about the needed service, as well as discounts and coupons based on their needs. Coupons are designed to bring customers back to the car dealership that sold them their car, increasing customer retention for the dealership and ultimately leading to future sales.” It’s a scenario that is quickly becoming a reality.
Stephen Soroosh CEO Location Oklahoma City, OK No. of employees 4 Product or Technology Driven Analytics has developed vehicle telematics hardware that is coupled with a mobile app. Future Plans Within six months of closing on a seed round of investment, the company plans to test its product in 10 dealerships before scaling up to go nationwide. Funding To date, Driven Analytics has been funded by prize money won in business plan competitions and is negotiating an $800,000 seed investment by i2E. Milestones Driven Analytics has completed a successful prototype that awaits only investment to take it to potential customers. DrivenInfo.com
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SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST
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TU’s Philip McCoy and Gann Swann cap 2015 GovCup career as repeat winners in Graduate Division
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hilip McCoy and Gann Swann accomplished a rare feat in the 2015 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. They won the High Growth Graduate Division for the second consecutive year, finishing first with team AerOcean from the University of Tulsa. It was, as they say, deja vu all over again for the AerOcean team members. McCoy, an MBA student at TU, was team leader for both AerOcean and the 2014 winner, AeroHead. AerOcean wrote a business plan about an innovative technology that reduces irrigation costs by pulling moisture out of the atmosphere and using it to water crops. Dr. Todd Otanicar, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at TU, developed the technology and mentored the team during the competition. The AerOcean team also was named the OG&E Energy and Environmental winner of the Interview portion of the competition. AerOcean has the exclusive license to manufacture, market and sell the AerOcean Rainmaker technology. “Technology like this comes around only once in a generation,” McCoy said. “We anticipate soon being incorporated as a company, with Josh Donaldson moving into the CEO slot. Jake Starkweather will be serving as Chief Technical Officer, and I will be serving in a sales and marketing role.” Both Donaldson, a JD/MBA student at TU, and Starkweather were AerOcean team members. In addition to his position with AerOcean, McCoy also has realized a life-long dream of becoming an airline pilot. He recently began flying for Great Lakes Airlines after completing training in Cheyenne, Wyo. AerOcean’s victory gave TU a “fourpeat” in the Graduate Division, with AeroHead winning in 2014, EchoCharge in 2013 and Spectrum FX in 2012. McCoy attributed the long-term success of TU in the competition to the guidance of business professor Claire Cornell, who teaches entrepreneurship-related courses and has served as faculty advisor for many teams from the school. “She is brilliant, and seems to know the exact perfect balance between providing guidance and direction, yet remaining a hands-off advisor,” McCoy said. “She has had a tremendous impact on my time at TU, and a lot of the reason that TU has been so successful at both the Graduate and Undergraduate levels is due to her.”
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Second place winners in the 2015 Graduate Division of the Oklahoma competition and in the Tri-State competition was ParaNano from the University of Central Oklahoma and team leader, Chelsea Larsen, won the Graduate Division Pitch competition. CMR Innovations LLC from St. Gregory’s University was the third place winner and Melanie Reinhart went it alone as the sole team member. She overcame the intimidation factor of a one-person team by becoming an expert on every aspect of her business, which she has continued with since the competition. “This experience has made me a more rounded CEO and given me the knowledge I need to talk to investors about all facets of our business,” she said. “Being the first graduate student from St. Gregory’s to enter the competition made me feel like I was doing it for the entire graduate class of 2015, which made the placing that much sweeter.” CMR Innovations, LLC
In the High Growth Undergraduate Division, Raw from the University of Oklahoma won the first place prize. Team Raw pitched a business plan around a concept to deliver toxin-free cosmetics samples to doorsteps of consumers, who can try the products before committing to buying them. Raw team members were team leader Ali Davis and team members Lauren Abston, Quincy Tresemer, Cici Zhou and Caitlin Zuerker.
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ParaNano Raw
“Raw started as a class project three semesters ago,” Davis said. “I came up with the idea while working with Quincy Tresemer, and then Caitlin Zuerker joined us the next semester. Lauren Abston joined us at the beginning of this last semester and we asked Cici Zhou to join in the middle of the semester to help fill the science gap that all of us business majors were lacking.” University of Oklahoma entrepreneurship professor Dr. Lowell Busenitz was faculty advisor for Raw. “The reason why this team had so much fire in their bellies on this concept and why they did so well is they believe in it,” Dr. Busenitz said of the Raw team. “They have run up against the problem of untested cosmetics themselves.” “Without the team’s passion for their idea, Davis said it would have been hard for them to win. Their passion helped push them through rough days, endless practices and criticism.” At the end of the day, Raw was more than just a business plan to our team, it was something we could put our time and effort into knowing that we could make a difference. “Because of i2E and the Governor’s Cup, we received the funding and boost of encouragement needed to get us off the ground and help start our journey,” Davis said. “As intimidating as the judges and competition as a whole was to my team, we found that the goal is really to see students succeed, and for us, Governor’s Cup did just that.” Davis won the Pitch competition among High Growth Undergraduate teams, and also won the same competition at the Tri-State competition in Las Vegas in late May. In addition, team Raw was named winner of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Healthcare category during the Interview portion of the competition. Second place winner in the Undergraduate Division was Spur from the University of Oklahoma, with Pulse, LLC, from the University of Central Oklahoma claiming third place. First place teams in the High Growth divisions earned $20,000 each while second place earned $10,000 and third place earned $5,000.
Spur Pulse, LLC
“Because of i2E and the Governor’s Cup, we received the funding and boost of encouragement needed to get us off the ground and help start our journey. As intimidating as the judges and competition as a whole was to my team, we found that the goal is really to see students succeed, and for us, Governor’s Cup did just that.”
– Ali Davis
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In the Small Business Division, Miles Mitchell, from East Central University, claimed the $10,000 first place prize for his concept Suite Seat. Mitchell credited the Ada community for helping him prepare to go it alone in the competition. “I have an amazing group of friends in Ada,” Mitchell said. “They judged my presentations at our hangouts. They listened to my pitch recordings over the phone. They covered me with prayer and encouragement. My friends are my best critics because they really do care about my success. My victory is their
victory, and they made sure I was prepared.” His first place finish capped off a big night for ECU and Mitchell, who also won the Small Business Division Pitch competition. Teams from the school swept all three top positions in the competition. Mitchell attributed much of ECU’s success to faculty advisor Stacey Bolin, an instructor at ECU and Director of the school’s Wilburn L. Smith Center for Entrepreneurship. Second place winner in the Small Business Division was Gourmet Grub, and third place went to Back-Spin. Second place team in the
division earned $8,000 and third place $4,000. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and more than 400 others attended the dinner. Fallin was the event’s keynote speaker and awards presenter. “The Governor’s Cup is home grown entrepreneurship at its best,” said Scott Meacham, CEO of i2E, Inc., which manages the competition. “I love the intensity that the students bring to the ideas for which they are writing and pitching business plans. I expect to see many of these businesses working their way through our investment pipeline in the next few years.”
Oklahoma Business Roundtable Paulsen Award Scholarship Winners. Winners of a $5,000 Oklahoma Business Roundtable Paulsen Award scholarship that can be use on any Oklahoma campus in the Fall 2015 semester were Miranda McNabb, East Central University, Small Business Division; Austin Evans, University of Tulsa, High Growth Undergraduate Division; and Joshua Donaldson, University of Tulsa, High Growth Graduate Division.
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2015 GOVERNOR’S CUP WINNERS
Power to the People
SMALL BUSINESS DIVISION
Team from Northern Oklahoma College wins Outstanding Venture Award with concept to revolutionize power generating industry
First place – Suite Seat, East Central University Second place – Gourmet Grub, East Central University Third place – Back-Spin, East Central University HIGH GROWTH UNDERGRADUATE DIVISION First place – Raw, University of Oklahoma Second place – Spur, University of Oklahoma Third place – Pulse, LLC, University of Central Oklahoma HIGH GROWTH GRADUATE DIVISION First Place – AerOcean, University of Tulsa Second Place – ParaNano, LLC, University of Central Oklahoma Third Place – CMR Innovations, St. Gregory’s University ROBERT E. CRAINE OUTSTANDING VENTURE AWARD Magnetic Solutions, Inc., Northern Oklahoma College OKLAHOMA BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE PAULSEN AWARD SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS Small Business Division Miranda McNabb, East Central University High Growth Undergraduate Division Austin Evans, University of Tulsa High Growth Graduate Division Joshua Donaldson, University of Tulsa IBM PITCH WINNERS Small Business Division Miles Mitchell, East Central University High Growth Undergraduate Division Ali Davis, University of Oklahoma High Growth Graduate Division Chelsea Larsen, University of Central Oklahoma INTERVIEW WINNERS AT&T Information Technology/Communications CMR Communications, LLC, St. Gregory’s University Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Healthcare Raw, University of Oklahoma i2E Student Generated Technology Design Pulse, LLC, University of Central Oklahoma OG&E Energy and Environmental AerOcean, University of Tulsa Oklahoma Business Roundtable Manufacturing Material Science and Transportation XtremeMarine, University of Oklahoma
A concept from Northern Oklahoma College that could revolutionize the power generation industry was recognized as the first Robert E. Craine Outstanding Venture Award winner at the 2015 Governor’s Cup Awards Dinner. Magnetic Solutions, Inc., was honored for its vision to use powerful magnets to replace costly steam generation as an energy power source. The Outstanding Venture Award was created to honor the late Robert E. Craine, a Tulsa investor, businessman and supporter of the Governor’s Cup. The recognition represented “redemption for all our hard work developing our concept, creating the business plan and preparing for the presentation,” said Magnetic Solutions team leader Gregory Cusick, who continued to pursue the business after the competition. Other team members were Edgar Delgadillo and Brenna Lane; Laura Marshall was Faculty Advisor. Magnetic Solutions distinguished itself in the Governor’s Cup competition because of the potential impact the concept has on the power generation industry and consumers worldwide, Cusick said. The innovative concept has the potential to save power generating companies as much as $75 million annually in savings for fuel, maintenance and operational costs for each generator. “The concept that we designed and patented uses a combination of electromagnets and superconducting magnets to create an extremely efficient and powerful motor,” Cusick said. “We are currently discussing its potential application with OG&E to replace current methods of steam generation.” The Outstanding Venture award also shows that the state’s two-year colleges can nurture innovative ideas and encourage students to pursue their dreams, Marshall said. “Too often the general pubic thinks the two-year colleges can’t compete with universities,” Marshall said. “Faculty at Northern Oklahoma College encourage ideas. We urge students to research the problem and develop new, innovative ways of solving the issue.” Cusick said Marshall was a great resource for the team as it worked to complete the business plan and prepared for the competition. “The Governor’s Cup is an outstanding educational tool,” Cusick said. “The team and I gained some valuable experience and knowledge. The competition itself was intense and required an immense amount of dedication and work that was well worth it at the end. I can’t say enough good things about i2E and the Governor’s Cup competition.” Now Cusick is meeting with both potential customers and hearing from prospective investors in the concept. “If the funding is adequate, we would like to begin construction of our prototype this fall using OSU’s engineering laboratories,” he said.
For more information on the Governor’s Cup, visit okgovcup.org or like us on Facebook at okgovcup.
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Govcup Inspires Entrepreneur to Take First Steps Down Career Path
A
s a middle schooler growing up in Norman, Blaine Stansel dreamed of some day running his own business. He wanted to be an entrepreneur. But, his first job after graduation with an undergraduate degree in management from the University of Oklahoma wasn’t running a startup. Instead, he stepped into the world of retail. “I loathed it,” Stansel said. So, he went back to college to pursue an MBA and focus on a new path. He chose a concentration in finance, but found himself drawn once again to the startup world. “I took a course in entrepreneurship and I fell in love with it,” he said. “I ended up doing a double concentration, one in finance and one
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in entrepreneurship.” Entrepreneurs are risk takers who look for market opportunities as they start and build businesses. Stansel took his first steps down the entrepreneur’s path when he teamed with OU classmate Pauline Sein to write and pitch a business plan in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup. The pair won the Graduate Division of the 2008 competition with a business plan written around technology that greatly reduces the number of injections diabetics are required to take daily. Stansel attributes the Governor’s Cup experience for the career doors that opened after graduation, including the one that led to his role
over the past five years as Director of Finance for Oklahoma City-based Charlesson LLC. And the experience inspired him to start his own business, a craft beer brewery called Roughtail Brewing Co. “Really, without the Governor’s Cup, I wouldn’t have had the connections I had to get the job at Charlesson,” he said. “And without the Governor’s Cup, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to develop the skills needed to write an effective business plan and probably wouldn’t have the confidence needed to start a business.” Stansel was hired for the finance position at Charlessen by then CEO Mike Moradi, who also connected him to the technology for which his team wrote the
In Roughtail’s brief 5 year history, they have managed to produced 12 styles of award winning beers ranging from pilsners to Imperial Stouts. Boasting 8 yearround standards and 4 seasonals.
the t a . m . 5-7 p Ballpark 5 r e b Novemaw Bricktown Chickas
ence.
winning business plan. Charlesson is working to advance vision-related diabetic therapeutics, and also operates a thriving contract research subsidiary called EyeCRO, LLC. Meanwhile, Stansel had been brewing his own beers since college and then sharing them with likeminded beer enthusiasts in a home brew club called Red Earth Brewers. There he met Tony Tielli, who co-founded Roughtail Brewery with Stansel and is the company’s brewmaster. Stansel handles the business end of the brewery, which the pair founded in 2012. Roughtail operates a 10-barrel capacity brewery in Midwest City. Roughtail brews beers like Roughtail IPA, Red Republic and Polar Night Stout that are growing in popularity among Oklahoma craft beer fans. For Stansel, pouring beer brewed by his own company is the culmination of an entrepreneurial dream that began years ago. “I’ve actually wanted to be an entrepreneur since the seventh grade,” he said. “I lost a lot of that spark prior to my MBA, and the MBA classes and Governor’s Cup really ignited that spark again for me.” To students who are considering making a run at next year’s Governor’s Cup, Stansel urges them to seize the opportunity. “If you really want to learn how to get a business off the ground, especially a technology based business, there’s no better way,” he said. “It’s on-the-job training but you don’t have to be on the job. You are going to get different angles from the different judges, they are really going to vet your technology.”
roughtailbeer.com
e sci h t e t tas
One of the metro-area’s faster-growing beer tasting events is coming up soon, and it features quite the solid list of beer vendors. Tickets for the event are $30 and include a 14 oz. BrewFest mug, a free BrewFest T-shirt to the first 300 registered, samples of local craft beer, wine and spirits. Here’s a look at last year’s vendors.
REGISTER AT OKBIO.ORG FACEBOOK.COM/OKBIOBREWFEST Summer 2015 i&E
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The Entrepreneur’s Path Governor’s Cup alumni Michelle Witt, Stacey Brandhorst & Kenneth Knoll point to competition as key turning point for their entrepreneurial careers
learned in the GovCup and then learned how to teach/explain through mentoring that I fall back on constantly to help clients. Q: How did you come to relocate to Louisiana? A: My now-husband (Stephen Fain) used to work for SEM Group in Tulsa and they were sort of falling apart around 2012/2013. So, he ended up getting offered a position at Shell in New Orleans and was a great opportunity for him; so we made the move. Right about the same time, I was flirting around with starting my own consulting business and had just started working with another i2E company called Expert TA. For the last 3 years, I have worked with them to commercialize their educational software. (It is software that grades online homework. They were in need of sales/marketing help and I could do that from anywhere, so I could keep working with them when I made the move. I still do some consulting work with Expert TA, but have also worked with some new clients here in Louisiana. Q: What did you take away from the whole Governor’s Cup experience?
Career Crossroads MichelleWitt discovers passion for entrepreneurship in GovCup experience Michelle Witt describes the Governor’s Cup competition as a turning point in her life. As an MBA student at the University of Tulsa in 2008, Witt was part of the RedVault Team that won second place in the Graduate Division. “It’s the point where I finally found something I liked doing and wanted to pursue as a career,” she said of her GovCup experience. Witt also worked as a graduate assistant at TU and served as faculty advisor for Alterra from TU in 2009 and again in 2011, when she mentored the ISAO team that won second place in the graduate division. Now married and living in New Orleans, La., Witt works as a consultant for several businesses, including Tulsa’s Expert TA, with whom she connected through networking as a Gover-
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nor’s Cup participant and mentor. She recently took time to discuss her experiences with the GovCup and how it changed her career path. Q: What was the experience like serving as a faculty advisor as opposed to a student team member? A: All of those experiences were fantastic. Like they say, it’s one thing to learn something new, but it’s a WHOLE other thing to teach it. You realize what you actually don’t know when you try to teach it to someone else. It also makes you think of new ways to communicate and explain things because not everyone learns the same way or thinks of the things the same way. It’s a skill/talent that really great teachers have and it’s really an art. I’ve carried it with me even today. When I help entrepreneurs and start-ups, there are often fundamental things that I
A: My undergraduate is in Engineering, and I knew about two-and-a-half years in that I wasn’t really feeling the typical engineering roles. I was good at it and I liked it, but I have always been a multi-passionate person --jack-of-alltrades … renaissance woman, if you will. So, I started realizing that I wanted to be more big-picture so I could fulfill that multi-passionate piece of me and not feel like I was in a silo or box labeled “engineering.” As I’ve grown, I realized that I used to worry so much about not being an expert in something because I liked to do so many things. But, the Governor’s Cup was the first time it was actually such a HUGE advantage for me. And, I’ve turned it into a career because I saw that it could be when I participated in GovCup and then mentored and taught teams after.
Q: What were your first thoughts when you heard RedVault announced as one of the winners at the Awards Dinner? A: Oh, my God! Yes! I can’t wait to call mom & dad! People really believe in this and in me! I get to go to Vegas! Oh, my gosh -- this could be my company and job when I graduate! I can pay off my credit card bill with some of this! I can’t wait to tell everyone at TU and put the trophy up in the hall! I love this! Can I do it again?
Q: What’s the best part of the GovCup for students – the prize money, the team building, networking or writing the plan and pitching it? A: That’s really a hard one because I think they are all SO important – their value is just realized at different times. I think initially it’s the validation of hard work (and the prize money) that really hits the students first. You work so hard and then to have people believe in you and what you created is priceless. Then, they realize these magnificent connections they are making that lead to real jobs and exciting career opportunities. And you’ve already been scared out of your mind to present in front of investors so your fear of public speaking and networking is gone by the end of it. And I think the most important pieces around personal growth and development are all happening during the entire process, but the student realizes this later. For me, that’s how it’s been, anyway. Q: What would you say to future students contemplating entering a team in the competition? A: Take a hard look at yourself and what you want. Not everyone is cut out for it. And, then, if you even have the slightest twinge that you want to do it – do it. Don’t worry about whether you’ll win, get a job, etc. Just do it and trust the process. And remember - garbage in, garbage out. Don’t be afraid to make yourself uncomfortable … challenge yourself. What you put in, you will get back 10X.
Career Road trip! Governor’s Cup experience put Stacey Brandhorst on entrepreneur’s path The 2012 Governor’s Cup competition started Stacey Brandhorst down the entrepreneur’s path while she was still an MBA student at Oklahoma State University. Stacey was part of an OSU team that wrote a business plan around technology created in the lab of OSU chemistry professor Dr. Allen Apblett. They called their team PristineCal, and pitched a business built around the world’s first commercial grade calcium powder free of heavy metals and strontium. PristineCal went on to win the Interview portion of the GovCup, and Brandhorst went on to win the pitch competition. After the Governor’s Cup, Brandhorst and teammate Rachel Mui continued down the entrepreneur’s path as founders of PristineCal. They took the company through the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center (POCC) as members of the first class of businesses assessing the viability of their concepts in the program. Now Brandhorst has brought her experience and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship to i2E as a Venture Advisor based in i2E’s Tulsa office. “PristineCal was my first venture, but it certainly won’t be my last,” Stacey said. “Learning so much from our mentors at OSU, advisors at
i2E and the curriculum of the POCC really taught me to approach business in a different way.” Brandhorst recently took time to answer questions about her GovCup experience and how that led to her current position at i2E. The following are edited excerpts of the conversation. Q: What did you take away from the GovCup that serves you today in your career? A: The Governor’s Cup definitely taught me how to pitch my business and find answers to the hard questions. We knew the judges would be tough, and it encouraged us to go over every inch of our business plan. Obviously, the pitch taught me how to communicate the value of my company in a short amount of time and to ‘hit the highlights’ rather than to delve into every detail. More than anything, it opened our eyes to the resources Oklahoma has to support its entrepreneurs and their ventures. All of these serve me in my career at i2E now, especially being a fresh set of eyes on a client’s business and making sure everything makes sense, asking the questions they haven’t ever
answered because, as the entrepreneurs, they are so involved in every aspect, sometimes they can’t back out to 30,000 feet to talk to an investor on a surface level. I also love being a resource for Oklahoma’s entrepreneurs. It’s always great telling a start-up that we can help them and using my wonderful experiences with i2E as an example of the great work that they do. Q: How did the Governor’s Cup lead into the job you have today with i2E? A: Following the Governor’s Cup, one of my business partners, Rachel and I bought out the other two founders and continued on in i2E’s Proof of Concept Center. This was an in-depth look at the core business of PristineCal, everything from product to market to intellectual property. The work we did, guided by Dr. Elaine Hamm, really helped us see that we were in a tight spot with several aspects of the intellectual property, and that led us to a different exit than we had planned. i2E was very supportive during the entire process, and I think that Summer 2015
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being a hardworking and discerning student in the POCC, my work in the Governor’s Cup, and later experiences with entrepreneurship and start-ups at OSU, led them to approach me about the position. It’s an honor now to be working with Oklahoma entrepreneurs and helping them advance their business and being able to say, ‘I’ve been in your shoes....’ Q: How would you describe the whole Governor’s Cup experience? A: I would describe the competition as a unique opportunity for students to experience real entrepreneurship, teamwork and competition, as well as a front row seat to some of the up-and-coming technologies in Oklahoma. The best part for me was presenting and pitching. We loved talking about our business and showcasing the strength of the technology and its future applications.
GovCup a crash course in business development In 2007, Kenneth Knoll led Molecuprint, LLC, as team leader of the Governor’s Cup from the University of Tulsa. Molecuprint won first place in the Undergraduate Division. Kenneth went on to start his own entrepreneurial business, travel the world as a Bartlesville-based internal auditor for ConocoPhillips, and eventually went to work for i2E directing investments and providing business advice to entrepreneurs. Today, he is chief financial officer at Oklahoma City’s WeGoLook.com. Kenneth recently took the time to answer some questions about his Governor’s Cup experience.
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Q: What did you take away from the Governor’s Cup experience that serves you today in your career?
Q: What were your first thoughts when you heard your team’s name announced as a winner?
A: Every position I’ve held in my career has been one of evolving and escalating responsibilities combined with the need to be a subject matter resource across a broad range of disciplines and industries. The GovCup is a crash course of similar environment and demands. Business development has no playbook; every industry and marketplace among innovationbased companies has unique challenges and nuances. The GovCup leaves students to navigate this, pushes them outside academic boundaries and into real-world discovery and problem solving. For me, it reinforced my ability to thrive on unfamiliar challenges.
A: It’s funny, as the top three teams were announced, hearing 3rd place being announced as a team other than your own is half relief, half increased anxiety. Immediately your thought is, “Were we not good enough or better?” Of course the second place announcement is similar but worse since odds have worsened. But after the second place team received their award, our clever teammate Matt Ralston was quick to spot that only three trophies remained on the stage (we were a team of three). When they called our name I remember feeling like I had been pulled out of my chair. It was an incredible. It was the first time the University of Tulsa had placed first (though TU teams have several times since). It felt incredible. We had hundreds of hours invested in the effort and it paid off. And we wanted to move the technology forward after the competition, or so we thought.
Q: What was the best part of the Governor’s Cup for you? A: The presentation is the best part, hands down. It’s an opportunity to convince others to believe in your strategy, observe their reactions, and address their objections. That said, the latter is only possible if proper diligence is taken during the business development process; Q&A can uncover lack of depth and subject matter knowledge. The competition is a grind. There is a tremendous amount of effort poured into the discovery and strategy process. Business plan development can seem tedious, almost like an exercise; however, when done properly it evokes sincere thought and potential redirection. The product is not the plan but rather what’s learned getting there.
Q: What do you think of when you reflect back on your GovCup experience? A: When the glitz of the awards ceremony is over, the competition provides a very real lesson in just how difficult it is to implement and create a company out of a new technology or innovation. It requires tremendous perseverance and grit. I had been a small business entrepreneur prior to the competition, but afterwards, I was hooked on high growth, innovation-based entrepreneurship.
Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup
2015 Sponsors INTERVIEW SPONSORS
EVENT SPONSORS
AT&T
Ada Jobs Foundation
Greater OKC Chamber
Affiliated Builders Group
i2E, Inc.
Crawley Ventures
OG&E
East Central University President’s Circle
Oklahoma Business Roundtable
Foundation HealthCare IcyBreeze
GOLD SPONSORS
McAfee & Taft
E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation
McGladrey LLP Meinders School of Business
SILVER SPONSORS
Metro Technology Centers
Oklahoma Center for the Advancement
Northern Oklahoma College
of Science and Technology
Oklahoma Business Incubator Association
Oklahoma State Regents of Higher Education
Pierce Couch Henderickson Baysinger & Green LLP
Oklahoma State University
Ponca City Development Authority
The University of Tulsa
Rogers State University
University of Oklahoma
The Journal Record The Vose Foundation
IBM PITCH SPONSOR
Tulsa Regional Chamber University of Central Oklahoma
BRONZE SPONSORS American Fidelity Foundation Crowe & Dunlevy Oklahoma Department of Commerce Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Presbyterian Health Foundation LUNCH SPONSOR Panera Bread
For more information on the Governor’s Cup, visit okgovcup.org or like us on Facebook at okgovcup.
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KILLING NEW APPROACH TO CANCER
Oklahoma City’s DormaTarg targets cancer cells that remain dormant for years
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n 2004, Fortune magazine published an article called “Why We’re Losing The War on Cancer (And How to Win It)” in which author Clifton Leaf challenged the way the scientific community was attacking the dreaded disease. “He just ripped up the entire cancer research enterprise and drug development enterprise for looking at the wrong thing,” said Robert Hurst, Ph.D., a professor of Urology at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. “Looking at all the models, everything we had was directed at primary tumors,” Hurst said. “The problem we had was your surgeon takes it out – and they do quite a good job of that – but that’s not what kills you. What kills you is metastasis.”
Metastasis occurs when the cancer spreads from the original tumor to somewhere else in the body. Hurst is co-founder along with Michael Ihnat, Ph.D., of Oklahoma City-based DormaTarg, a company founded in 2007 to develop a new way to identify drugs that target suppressed metastatic cancer cells. “Cancer doesn’t start growing immediately,” Hurst said. “Sometimes these things can hang out for years. In breast cancer, if a woman hasn’t had a recurrence for 10 years, she’s still not home free.” Hurst attended the 2006 convention of the American Association for Cancer Research in which Leaf’s Fortune article was a hot topic. “The whole AACR was like an anthill that
Extracellular matrix is the substance or matter of a tissue which is not a cell. Typically it is composed of protein polymers enriched with sugary branches, shown here are fibronectin fibers, It is also known for sequestering or storing and then liberating or activating, growth factors and matrix proteases, thus directly affecting cell behavior. The confocal image herein, indicates chronological matrix deposition represented by the different colors. X63
had been kicked over,” he said. “I had in the back of my mind something going ‘ding, ding, ding.’ It occurred to me that we might have the answer.” Turns out that Hurst and Ihnat had conducted research into how cancer cells that are on what they called a normal “extra-cellular matrix” (ECM) in the body react to anti-cancer drugs. That extracellular matrix is not a friendly environment for cancer cells. “It changes cancer cells and inhibits their ability to grow,” Hurst said. “Once the cancer cells escape the friendly environment of the tumor with its ‘cancer-friendly’ ECM, they are on normal ECM, which is not friendly at all to cancer. There they can remain for years until one day they are able to escape the negative con-
trol of the normal ECM and begin growing as a metastatic tumor.” Hurst and Ihnat then screened some 3,000 compounds to see which might be effective against cancer cells that are on that normal extra-cellular matrix as opposed to cells that are in a test tube environment. They found three that showed promise. But when the OU researchers applied for grants from National Institute of Health to support their research, they were met with skepticism. So, they took another route. The pair founded DormaTarg in 2007 and successfully applied for SBIR grants to back their research. To date, Dormatarg has received three Phase 1 SBIR grants and a Phase 2 grant of approximately $2 million. Kris Vermelis, the company’s Chief of Operations, and a team from the University of Oklahoma submitted DormaTarg’s business plan in the 2009 Governor’s Cup. “To some, the Governor’s Cup competition is just an academic project,” Vermelis said. “In my experience, after countless hours of research and due diligence, it gave me the opportunity to look at the company as an actual business opportunity to pursue.” Today, DormaTarg is developing a series of small molecule oncology therapeutics that inhibit recurrence in metastasis prone cancers, with an initial focus on Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Success in early development is leading the company toward an Investigative New Drug filing with the FDA that would clear the way for Phase 1 human trials. “Our major milestone is identifying the compound and showing that this method works,” Hurst said. “We don’t really know how
it works, although we have some clues. It’s a very complex system with how cells interact with their environment.” DormaTarg has established a relationship with Kansas City-based regulatory consulting firm Beckloff Associates, which is providing expertise as it prepares for the FDA filing. Before taking that step, the company is working on its first round of investment financing, which includes a commitment of up to $500,000 from i2E. “i2E has been really helpful to us,” Hurst said. “It has put us in contact with the folks with the checkbooks and helped us make a pitch that people would listen to. I’m sure without i2E’s help we would have been way too scientific.” DormaTarg is very much a made-in-Oklahoma story, Hurst said. Its technology is licensed from OU and it employs six people at space it rents from the OUHSC in the College of Pharmacy. If their approach to targeting dormant cancer cells is successful, it will mean more than merely business to the co-founders. Hurst and Ihnat have each lost close family members to the disease. “We hope this will really make an impact on cancer, because both of us have a personal interest,” Hurst said. “Cancer is a ticking time bomb.”
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VeloCity: Writing for Your Wall S ’ A C I R E M OKC: TAUP ENGINE STAR
A1M AC C L T U U K D OS O D W E N N A ST TUPS S TA R
OKC: AMERICA’S
STARTUP ENGINE STAN D O UT ACCLA1M STARTU PS NEW KUDOS
Oklahoma City has grown by leaps and bounds, and now the world will know about our success. Check out VeloCity, an easy-to-share digital magazine that gives a dynamic new portrait of Oklahoma City and features articles, pictures, links, videos and more. The new startup-focused edition is available at www.velocityokc.com. Read and share it with friends, colleagues and family members. 28
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