i&E Winter 2016

WINTER 2016

PASS IT ON

STARTUP ADVICE FROM ENTREPRENEURS TAKING EXCITING CONCEPTS TO MARKET

FIRST IN CLASS

VENTURE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM PROVES THAT THE CUSTOMER’S ALWAYS RIGHT

MR. IN-CHARGE DIRK SPIERS IS TRANSFORMING THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE INDUSTRY ONE BATTERY AT A TIME

CASH IS KING BARRY MOLTZ, SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR AND AUTHOR DETHRONES THE GLITZ OF STARTUPS

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

2

i&E

Winter 2016

BUILDING A STRONGER OKLAHOM A

www.okbusinessroundtable.com

11

INSIDE i&E Profiles Arthrokinex 6 JustGoodNews.BIZ 8

6

i&E Updates SpectrumFX 10 Synercon Technologies 11 Well Checked 12 Monscierge 13

12

Power Up 14 A passionate evangelist for alternative energies, Oklahoma City entrepreneur Dirk Spiers founded Spiers New Technologies to recondition and repurpose batteries that power electric vehicles.

General Motors and Nissan are two exclusive customers.

Entrepreneurial Summit 18 Renowned business author and entrepreneur Barry Moltz brought a humorous speaking style about the serious subjects of failure and success to Oklahoma.

Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur 19 i2E’s Kevin Moore teamed with Dr. Elaine Hamm to bring a lesson to about 200 college students on the importance of developing realistic financial objections and connecting with first customers.

14

Go or No-Go 22 i2E’s Venture Assessment Program has become the go-to venue to help Oklahoma entrepreneurs evaluate the potential of their early stage concepts.

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. © 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 Carol Curtis Venture Advisor

Stephen Prescott, Vice Chair OMRF Michael LaBrie, Secretary McAfee & Taft Leslie Batchelor Center for Economic Development Law

Darryl Schmidt BancFirst Craig Shimasaki Moleculera Labs Brien Thorstenberg Tulsa Regional Chamber Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Richard Williamson T.D. Williamson

Robert Brearton Duane Wilson LDW Services, LLC American Fidelity Assurance Company Jay Calhoun Cherokee National Businesses Michael Carolina OCAST Rita Combs REYAP Youth Programs Steve Cropper

Richard Rainey

Venture Advisor & Director, OSCR Program

Carl Edwards Price Edwards Company Oklahoma Business Roundtable Presbyterian Health Foundation

Kevin Moore Venture Advisor & SeedStep Angel Manager

Philip Eller Eller Detrich, P.C.

Claire Robison Venture Advisor

Elizabeth Frame Ellison Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation

James Lovely Joseph J. Ferretti University of Oklahoma Venture Advisor Health Sciences Center Stacey Brandhorst Suzette Hatfield Venture Advisor Crawley Ventures Scott Thomas Brad Krieger IT Manager Arvest Bank Darcy Wilborn Philip Kurtz Client Engagement Director CareATC Cindy Williams Hershel Lamirand III Underwriting Coordinator & Investment Capital Development Strategies Compliance Officer Katelynn Henderson Events Specialist

Merl Lindstrom Phillips 66

Shaun Fair Underwriting Specialist

Fred Morgan The State Chamber

Zach Kinder Multimedia Specialist

David Myers Ponca City Development Authority

Jennifer Buettner Executive Assistant

David Pitts Bank SNB

Kate Nelson Administrative Assistant

Mark Poole First National Bank of Broken Arrow Teresa Rose Oklahoma City Community Foundation Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing

PA R T N E R S Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) U.S. Economic Development Administration Greater Oklahoma City Chamber 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

www.i2E.org

facebook.com/i2E

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

Oklahoma City entrepreneur Dirk Spiers is a visionary and a passionate evangelist for clean energy. He sees electric vehicles in our collective futures very soon.

In fact, Spiers founded his business, Spiers New Technologies (SNT), to recondition and repurpose batteries that power the Nissan Leafs, Chevy Volts, Toyota Priuses and similar types of highly energy efficient vehicles you often discover in the lane next to you.

In its first year of operation, SNT has already won exclusive contracts with General Motors and Nissan to recondition used batteries coming out of their electric vehicles.

I invite you to turn to page 14 and read our story of how far Spiers New Technologies has come in just a year, and what Dirk Spiers sees coming down the road for future drivers.

We also profile two other interesting Oklahoma startups in this issue of i&E magazine.

Arthrokinex provides relief to joint pain sufferers with a unique procedure that uses the patient’s own blood page 6. And JustGoodNews.

BIZ is building an archive of American achievement by reporting encouraging, positive business news on a state-by-state, sector-by-sector basis page 8.

In this edition, we also catch you up on the progress of businesses we profiled in the past. Beginning on page 10, read the updates on Monscierge, Well Checked, Synercon and SpectrumFX.

For Oklahoma entrepreneurs who are contemplating launching an innovative startup, i2E’s Venture Assessment Program (VAP) is quickly becoming the go-to venue to evaluate the idea. Led by Venture Advisor Stacey Brandhorst, our three-week class will help entrepreneurs discover whether there really are customers who will buy their new product.

Discover how the program is structured and what VAP alumni say about their experiences in the class on page 22.

Finally, I encourage you to read our report on the 2015 Entrepreneurial Summit and Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur workshop that brought entrepreneur and renowned business author Barry Moltz to Oklahoma as the keynote speaker page 18.

The Entrepreneurial Summit also featured a panel discussion with three Oklahoma entrepreneurs who are pursuing success with their own concepts. The trio of Dave King, founder of Exaptive; Kris Rush, cofounder of JustGoodNews.BIZ; and Spiers New Technologies founder Dirk Spiers sparked dozens of questions from the audience.

i2E’s Kevin Moore along with Dr. Elaine Hamm from Accele BioPharma conducted the Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur workshop for about 200 students who learned about the steps needed to connect with potential customers and the importance of realistic financial projections.

I encourage you to spend some time with this edition of i&E magazine and discover a few of the many exciting concepts that are emerging across Oklahoma. Enjoy.

– Scott Meacham President & CEO

Winter 2016 i&E

5

Profiles Arthrokinex Joint Health

Self-healing technology Arthrokinex brings joint pain relief through patient’s own blood

A

s the 2011-2012 NBA playoffs began almost four years ago, the Grantland sports website owned by ESPN asked a simple question in a headline: “Why did Kobe go to Germany?”

At issue was Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who had a spectacular resurgence during the 20112012 season.

Grantland answered its own question with the news that Kobe traveled to Germany the previous summer to undergo a therapy called Regenokine.

Developed by a German doctor, Regenokine involves extracting a patient’s blood, manipulating it and then putting it back into the body.

In the U.S., the procedure became known as the “Kobe shot,” while a number of other athletes traveled to Europe to undergo the therapy that is said to eliminate joint pain caused by osteoarthritis.

Now, an affordable treatment similar to the “Kobe shot” has come to the U.S., thanks to an Oklahoma City physician.

In 2012, Angelique Barreto, M.D., an Oklahoma City family and geriatric doctor, developed a regenerative medicine therapy using a patient’s own blood as a pain reliever. She also customized a unique anti-inflammatory diet plan and developed a combination of complementary medical-grade supplements.

6

i&E

Winter 2016

She calls it the ArthrokinexTM Joint Health Program.

The Arthrokinex therapy became the first of its kind in the United States.

A startup business, Angelique Barreto, M.D Arthrokinex Joint Health, was founded to develop a business model in which doctors and clinics around the country can offer the therapy to patients suffering from debilitating joint pain.

Rob Baughman joined Arthrokinex as CEO earlier this year to refine their strategy and implement their business model. Baughman was the senior marketing executive at ProCure Proton Therapy Centers and Alliance Oncology.

“We’ve already treated over 500 patients, and have clinics in Oklahoma City, Norman and Austin, Texas.”

Baughman said. “We expect to open a second Austin clinic very soon, as well as one in Dallas.”

“When we came to i2E, we were just starting the process of looking for capital. They worked with us to develop a term sheet for their portion of the investment and then opened it up to the SeedStep Angels. We see i2E as a value added partner, and they have helped us even more than we expected.”

Rob Baughman, CEO Location Oklahoma City, OK Employees 5 fulltime

Product or Technology An alternative therapy to joint pain

After a full year of proving itself in a successful clinical practice, the company is ready to launch the Arthrokinex expansion, first in Texas, then nationwide.

Baughman connected with i2E as the company began seeking investment partners to fund the national expansion to new clinical partners. “i2E has been tremendously helpful throughout the process,” he said. “When we came to i2E, we were just starting the process of looking for capital. They worked with us to develop a term sheet for their portion of the investment and then opened it up to the SeedStep Angels. We see i2E as a value added partner, and they have helped us even more than we expected.” i2E Venture advisor Rick Rainey said Arthrokinex offers not only pain relief for arthritis patients, but new sources of revenue for health care providers.

“This is an innovative procedure that not only improves osteoarthritis patient outcomes, but also serves as an additional treatment offering for physicians looking to add critical revenues,” Rainey said. “Physicians will be able to grow their practices seamlessly through third party patient recruitment and billing services.”

It’s more than expansion of a business model to those suffering from joint pain, however.

Patients who have undergone the Arthrokinex therapy report a number of benefits. Joint pain is reduced dramatically, almost immediately.

Patients also report increased mobility and are able to postpone expensive surgeries that require long rehabilitation periods.

“Anecdotally, we are seeing patients 18 months out that are still doing well,” Baughman said. “It kind of varies by patient, but the program is designed to provide good quality joint relief for at least a year.”

Several testimonials describing the relief the treatment brought are posted on the Arthrokinex website. Retired schoolteacher Pearl B, 69, is typical: “I had my right knee replaced and still have pain in it. I chose the Arthrokinex program for my left knee and the relief from pain was almost immediate. It has been over a year, and if my left knee starts hurting again, I plan to repeat this treatment.”

Sweet relief, indeed.

management using the patient’s own blood without narcotic or surgical intervention.

Markets Targeted Primary care or any physician looking to provide a cutting edge treatment they can offer osteoarthritis patients.

Future Plans They plan to expand to five or six clinics in Texas, offering the procedure by early 2016, with nationwide rollout to follow.

Funding Oklahoma City investor John Frick was an early investor; the company is working on a funding round led by i2E to support expansion.

Major Milestones The business model proved itself with a year of successful treatments at a single clinic; more than 500 patients have undergone the therapy. arthrokinex.com

Winter 2016

i&E

7

Profiles Just GOODNews.BIZ

A positive development for businesses, communities

When Wonderful Group announced plans for a new tile factory and 220 jobs in Lebanon, TN., the news didn’t escape the editors of JustGOODNewsBIZ. Nor were the 6,500 jobs Northrup Grumman is bringing to Palmdale, CA, or a $22 million R&D expansion and 350 jobs Galderma Labs is adding in Fort Worth, or the $10 million renovation

at

Oklahoma

City’s

Valir

Hospital and 900 new jobs at Boeing.

In fact, the good news of job creation,

business

expansion

and

corporate

innovation in local communities from every state are chronicled daily by Oklahoma City-based JustGOODNews.BIZ (JGN).

It’s about time. Recently the Pew Foundation reported that only 1 in 17 news stories today is considered positive. And very few of those are business stories.

So, the husband-and-wife team of Dick

and Kris Rush decided to help businesses and communities share their good news with the audiences that matter most to them.

Last year, the couple launched America’s first and only positive economic news service. JustGOODNews.BIZ strips away the clutter so readers can easily find positive

8

i&E

Winter 2016

business leads, jobs and opportunities. “We

Readers are influential entrepreneurs

cover who’s hiring, who’s expanding plus

and CEOs and their teams, along with

innovative companies and communities

small

with great ideas,” said Kris Rush, who is

chamber and economic developers. They

CEO of JustGOODNews.BIZ. “We deliver it

use JustGOODNews.BIZ to find business

state by state and sector by sector. Free of

connections with successful companies,

charge.”

job leads, investment opportunities and

site locations.

Kris and Dick are career chamber and

business

owners,

job

seekers,

economic development executives who have

a collective 70 years’ experience at the local,

to find one site that covers just positive news

state, national and international levels. Dick

for a change.

was President of Oklahoma’s State Chamber

for 24 years.

organizations and chambers approached

With

Web

development

Almost every reader says they’re happy

As the site grew, economic development

company

the JustGOODNews.BIZ team about having

PixelMongers, LLC, as a partner, the Rushes

their own news site within JGN’s platform.

launched JustGOODNews.BIZ fulltime in

In addition to a dedicated feed of the

January 2015.

community’s success stories, the site would

“We’re not only aggregating the most

feature the community’s marketing logo, latest

positive, encouraging news of the day,

videos, economic profile, information on jobs,

we are creating an archive of American

relocation information and available property.

achievement,” Kris said.

With 23,000 stories published so far,

Community sites launched this summer

its national editor and team of freelance

for Oklahoma City, Enid and Ponca City.

writers set out daily to find stories within

JGN generates revenues from news updates

their states.

plus ads from local supporters who want

So, JustGOODNews.BIZ’s Featured

Kris Rush, CEO Location Oklahoma City, OK Employees 3 plus a team of freelance writers Product or Technology Positive, encouraging national business news shared state-by-state, sector-bysector, and by sponsored Featured Communities. An archive of American business

probably won’t come up with Enid, OK on your own,” she said. “Using sector news on JGN, you can see where there

are

active

manufacturing

their brand associated with good economic

communities. If they are also a Featured

news there. Additional Texas and Florida

Community,

you

can

see

the

city’s

achievement.

Market Targeted Economic development organizations, chambers of commerce and businesses that want to share business expansion, job openings and innovation stories.

communities are targeted to be the next on

marketing material and get a better sense

board. While JustGOODNews.BIZ hopes to

of the city’s economic activity.”

always provide national, state and community

news free to readers, Phase II revenue can

of content fed directly to a community’s

be generated from selling positive business

or chamber of commerce’s site. The JGN

content to other news and data services

archive might even be a content source for

- and subscription-based access to JGN’s

a site selection venue such as StateBook

sector news stories from manufacturing,

International, Robison suggested.

technology, health care and biotechnology,

finance, retail, and other sectors.

of advisors has been valuable as Kris and Dick

Major Milestones

Growing traffic and a solid sales

Rush traveled down the entrepreneur’s path.

Since launch, JustGOODNews.BIZ has

operation are critical steps for this startup.

reported 23,000 good news business

The company has worked with i2E Venture

vision of what we want to accomplish and

stories from every state and sector in the

Advisor Claire Robison to focus its business

for the expert advice and guidance from the

nation. It’s consistently ranked #1, 2 or 3

plan and reach out to potential investors.

first-class staff there with Claire Robison as

on Google and Yahoo for positive business

JGN can be a low-cost platform for

our lead Venture Advisor and Kevin Moore

news. Inaugural Featured Community sites

communities to showcase their location

providing additional guidance,” Kris said.

ramped up in August.

assets to corporate site selectors anywhere in the country, Robison said.

“If you are a manufacturer in upstate

Maine who wants to put another plant in the Midwest, unless you have prior

Or, the JGN news feed could be a source

Future Plans Product will be released to customers by end of August 2015.

Funding Bootstrapped from startup; seeking investment to scale up marketing and sales efforts.

Advice and perspective from i2E’s team

“We’re so appreciative that i2E saw the

“We came looking for support, validation and,

potentially,

financing.

I

really

justgoodnews.biz

have to say it’s been an extraordinary experience.”

That’s all good news.

knowledge of potential site locations, you

Winter 2016

i&E

9

UPDATES i&E magazine routinely spotlights enterprising Oklahoma entrepreneurs who are taking exciting new concepts to the marketplace. We want to know how they are attacking the market and what problems their innovation solves for customers. For this issue, we’ve caught up with four entrepreneurs and asked them the status of their ventures. ing agent[s]” as a fire-fighting tool to its definitions. Firebane is the only known agent that meets this definition. Now recognized by international carriers we have begun marketing to US domestic and international carriers. We have also established a partnership with Aircare International to market and distribute each other’s products.

As a long-time commercial airline pilot, Kent Faith knows the very real fire danger posed by the lithium batteries carried aboard in cell phones, tablets and laptops by passengers. That’s why he co-founded a Tulsa-based company called SpectrumFX to market a fire suppression solution called Firebane®, which can extinguish the hottest fires, including those begun by malfunctioning lithium batteries.

What is the most significant milestone SpectrumFX has achieved in the last couple of years?

Over the last two years we have established ourselves and our brand, Firebane, in the commercial airline industry.

We have also developed additional new technology products that will be introduced to multiple industries in the next six months. Our agent Firebane is now recognized worldwide.

Where has Firebane been embraced by airlines and regulators as an effective fire-suppression agent?

We have continued to increase market presence internationally and on board about a dozen airlines worldwide. In December of 2014 the FAA reissued a circular to commercial airlines that now adds “Aqueous-based fire extinguish-

10

i&E

Winter 2016

There seems to be ongoing and growing concern over lithium batteries on commercial aircraft. How has that benefited SpectrumFX and its products?

With lithium fire events happening almost every day, the airline and other industries are now seeing the wide threat to safety posed by these fires and the inability of older technology including water to extinguish these fires. In addition the use of Halon (a toxic and no longer manufactured extinguishing agent) in aviation is now scheduled for replacement. International working groups are at this time trying to find a replacement, giving SpectrumFX a large stage to present.

How well known is Firebane in aviation circles and with regulators?

New technology many times is received coldly and we have faced many roadblocks by regulatory agencies including the FAA. We can only assume that current fire extinguishing agent producers and large manufacturing concerns and lobbies have had influence on our acceptance. However, since December of 2014 when the FAA contacted our consultants with a request for input in the new circular AC 120-80A, we are finding worldwide acceptance.

What other markets are you targeting in addition to airlines?

Our original intent was to work in aviation and auto racing, and we have continued that focus. Aviation has taken most of our efforts to date but the auto racing industry poses a new profit poten-

tial with multiple product developments that provide additional equipment that will deliver our agent on a wide range of fire threats. We have also sold Firebane to the mining industry in Africa, and we are continuing research on introduction of Firebane to the oil field.

What’s been the biggest challenge to you in making SpectrumFX a commercial success?

Although our focus on aviation is small in relation to fire threats, the applications for extinguishing fires are limitless.

Regulators pose the biggest challenge as we introduce our technology. In every industry we look at there are separate regulators that have to decide the value of our agent. In many of these industries there are stakeholder committees that make the rules. In most instances the stakeholders are our potential competitors, slowing progress.

How has the relationship you established with i2E benefited SpectrumFX? I can’t imagine how we would have made it without a partner like i2E. We have been introduced to many startups like ourselves and have begun relationships with the help of i2E that continue to help us grow.

This must be one of the reasons that the venture culture in Tulsa is so positive. I applaud i2E and its staff, in particular Mark Lauinger, our first venture advisor in stepping out on a limb to help us.

What’s been the most satisfying part of growing a startup business like this?

I think I am a farmer at heart. I enjoy the planting, the seeding, the cultivation and the fertilizing of our young business. I am ready now to bring this crop to market.

Synercon Technologies, LLC, was founded in August 2013, by Dr. Jeremy Daily.

Dr. Daily is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tulsa and a widely recognized expert in traffic crash reconstruction. Dr. Daily and his team of founders transitioned the technology developed at TU under a federal cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Justice. The technology called a Forensic Link Adapter extracts heavy vehicle crash data from the vehicle’s engine control module (ECM) in both a forensically sound and more efficient way than existing methods. With the help of i2E and its Immersion Program, Synercon underwent a development stage to lay a strategic foundation for a high growth opportunity.

Question: Where are you in the company life cycle; do you have a working product and customers?

Answer: A couple things happened at the same time. We started generating revenue with the Forensic Link Adapter, but didn’t have its development completely finalized. So it took us essentially a year of additional development to where we had what I consider product stabilization.

So now we are selling. We have, I think, 23 different entities as customers. Our gross sales are decent. But our expenses exceeded our revenue this past year, so we had a loss on the books. This year it’s all about sales. It’s developing the sales force, the contacts, the leads, executing sales on the grant cycles of state governments and highway patrols, as well as to private businesses.

What major milestones have you accomplished?

I would have to say product stabilization.

What do you mean by product stabilization?

If you think of the early days of cars, the horseless carriage came along and there were a whole lot of variations and iterations, and finally everybody kind of converged on four wheels with an internal combustion engine. So we are to that point and have all the major functions working the way they should. Now it’s just a matter of adding support for the rest. The way we are doing it is we are transitioning from a hardware company to a software company. Because the hardware is stabilized, we can update remotely all the software.

Other milestones?

Another milestone is that we were able to perform some crash tests through the university and demonstrate the superiority of our device in front of an audience of 200 crash investigators. So that was exciting. We’ve also engaged in a little bit of consulting work, and we did some specialty downloads.

The goal of Synercon is to help people get data from engine control modules in heavy trucks. Sometimes our customers just ask, ‘if I ship you an ECM can you get the data?’ And I say “yes”. So we will charge for what I call a downloading service.

What has been the biggest obstacle to growing a successful company?

There are management challenges, allocating time and resources to different projects. And there is an old software protocol that many trucks and buses use called J-1708. It was written by the society of automotive engineers back in the ‘80s. And we ended up using an approach to build our hardware that made developing the driver for the software for that protocol challenging. So it took us over a year; we basically had to learn how to do it ourselves. The frustrating part is this was ‘80s vintage technology, and we were struggling with it 35 years later. But we did it. We got that fixed, so we got that technical milestone, or hurdle, cleared.

Who are you targeting with your business?

We consider our beachhead market law enforcement and private investigators.

The private investigators are often hired by insurance adjusters. The other areas that are on the radar for this year are the fleets and their managers. They are similar to private investigators, but they are not. They work full-time for their companies, and they do a lot of other things, too.

How have you reached out to your customers?

So far it’s word-of-mouth and that’s one of the things we have to change. We’ve got to make a concerted effort to make contact with decisionmakers. We use trade shows right now to get the word out that we exist. But reaching the end users in the all the different states is this year’s goal. We are still passionate about getting to the truth behind these truck crashes with digital data.

Winter 2016

i&E

11

UPDATES Well Checked Systems International provides remote well site video monitoring, reporting, alerting and data storage and retrieval. Well Checked systems not only monitor for unexpected activity but are also able to routinely patrol and record all activity for userdefined periods and record these videos safely and securely offsite in the cloud for playback and review at any time.

These systems greatly reduce risk from unauthorized entry and activity as well as assist in the diagnosis of any equipment failures or breakdowns before they occur.

What has been the most significant obstacle you have faced in rolling out this technology to the energy industry?

The technical complexities of interfacing a video analysis tool with existing data acquisition technologies is always a challenge as every producer uses a different method of data collection.

Fortunately, our long-standing relationship with SCADA vendors and developers allowed us to push through that issue.

Additionally, the frame-by-frame video analysis necessary for that integration adds complexity but also allows the integration of the thermal tools.

How resistant or accepting have well operators been to adopting this well monitoring technology?

The acceptance of this technology has been rapid.

Operators immediately see the advantage over SCADA tools in the hands of their lease operators. It has allowed engineers to utilize the right tool for their view into the wellsite like SCADA and the lease operator to use a tool fitted to their job like VMI.

What is the most significant recent milestone that Well Check has accomplished?

I would say that the most significant milestone is that we are beginning to run a positive cash flow rather than negative. In this environment, that has been a significant challenge. As far as technology goes, we are releasing a Video Machine Interface (VMI) for the well sites. The patent on this technology is being filed this week. This VMI takes Well Site data collection and displays it on the video in the right areas. Therefore, when a person looks at a wellhead, he will see tubing pressure, casing pressure and possibly downhole values. When a person looks at an oil tank, they can see the level in that tank. This radically changed how lease operators see their wellsite remotely without requiring them to bring up a thick SCADA interface. It has been described by people in the industry as a disruptive technology. This, coupled with our new thermal imaging cameras, will give a view of the wellsite unrivaled by any technology in the field.

12

i&E

Winter 2016

How has the turndown in energy prices affected your business?

It has been very difficult. It has caused us to concentrate on the areas where we can truly lower lease operator expenses for operations. In this economy you have to show real cost benefit. Fortunately, our customers are seeing real cost benefit from our equipment.

What new technologies have you implemented or plan to implement?

Thermal cameras are rolling out over the next few months. The VMI and Thermal cameras have really been the forefront, but we have also released a line of Ultra High Def 12MP cameras for fullsite view that is coupled with our event based PTZ cameras. Additionally, we have expanded our on site NVR storage to allow up to 4 TB of local data in addition to the cloud storage.

When customers give you feedback, what is the one thing they say they like most about what your monitoring system brings to them?

Being able to have confidence that the wellsite is healthy even when lease operators are not there. It has huge advantages for work overs, incident cleanup and theft monitoring. The number one comment we get back from those we demo the system to is, “I have never seen anything like this before. I thought this was just another video solution.”

How has the relationship with i2E benefited your company along the way or still benefits your company?

The Bible says that “in the company of good counsel a man can go to war” (Prov 24:6). i2E is a constant resource of good counsel. I lean on their knowledge.

When times are tough, you need to be able to lean on those who have endured the hard times before. I want to have access to people that have seen companies like mine fail in the past, as well as succeed.

What has been the most satisfying aspect for you in nurturing this startup to the point you have it right now?

In the last year, we have prevented several major issues from occurring. Knowing that our service is not simply a good idea but an effective solution has been very satisfying. I would add to that, watching our staff do the things necessary to make us effective has been the key to that.

How has your company evolved in terms of employees, location, etc. Since we wrote about you a year or so ago?

We have added two new employees and moved our headquarters to Remington Tower in Tulsa.

in place for decades. When you are leading that sort of change, it takes a lot of educating and relationships with early adopters who are willing to communicate a better way to service guests than what has been used before. We initiated a reference letter program amongst Monscierge employees -­everyone was tasked with getting customer letters of referrals. We have been framing them and lining all of the walls in the office. Regardless of what else is taking place in the industry or how great our product is, if customers are unwilling to refer us to other hotels, then we’ve lost.

What hotel brands use your products around the world?

Monscierge is an international interactive software company that helps hotels connect savvy travelers to the trusted local recommendations they seek on-site and on-the-go. Founded in 2009 by Marcus Robinson, Monscierge uses technology to connect travelers to those recommendations, as well as critical information about hotels and other travel and entertainment venues.

From hotel lobby to phone to tablet and beyond, Monscierge has created a truly holistic system of elegant connections.

What is the most significant recent milestone that Monscierge has accomplished?

We’ve been able to significantly enhance the way hotels are communicating to their guests by incorporating SMS communication into our products.

The staff can also communicate with each other, and the brands now have insight into the conversations taking place at each property. Guest requests, complaints, local recommendations and special hotel offers are all being reviewed by owners and brands for an overall analysis at how the group is performing across the board, something that’s never been possible before now.

What has been the most significant obstacle you have faced in rolling out this technology to the hotel/ entertainment/travel industry?

By far the most challenging aspect of what we are trying to accomplish is that the technology and concepts are disrupting systems that have been

Some of our brands include Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, Warwick, Omni . . . we are spread across 62 countries currently.

How has the rollout of your mobile application been accepted by your customers?

Our guest-facing mobile app has been released and in use for months now, and we are receiving great feedback on it. We have also incorporated a staff-facing app that helps hotels manage tasks and guest requests and also facilitates text communication with guests.

Mobile and tablet apps are a huge part of our business right now due to the travel sector relying more and more on mobile access to things like shopping, dining, and maps.

What new technologies or areas of business do you plan to implement?

We have recently implemented digital door keys, a VIP guest recognition feature using beacon technology, wayfinding, and we’ve hired a data analyst that’s developing granular reporting metrics to help brands and corporate management to gain insight into each property’s operational efficiencies and predict future capex budgets.

When customers give you feedback, what is the one thing they say they like most about what your technology brings to them?

The staff loves being able to communicate with each other to communicate or assign tasks.

Management loves being off work or away from the physical property and using the technology to track what the staff is up to and response times to guest requests. The guest are excited to be able to text their hotel with questions or requests, even before checking in.

How has the relationship with i2E benefited your company along the way? i2E has been a great asset to Monscierge, from aiding with everything that goes with investment rounds to support with community recognition and promotion.

What has been the most satisfying aspect for you in nurturing this startup to the point you have it right now?

Seeing product adoption in the market and the value our products deliver to our clients. They are invested in using the products, and it makes me feel good to find that our products are changing the way hospitality and guests interact with one another daily.

How has your company evolved in terms of employees, location, etc.?

Overall we’ve increased in number of staff (now numbering 48 global employees), and are more diverse as a company. We’ve also had valued members of the hospitality industry leave their current employers and come work directly for us. We bring industry leading experts into Oklahoma City to speak with our teams and to help us design a better product, one that addresses the exact needs of guests and staff in the field. We also started hosting what we have nicknamed a HUTL, which is a Happy User Tuesday Luncheon.

We bring in lunch for the whole team; and everyone comes together to test products and review the user interface, client processes and more.

Winter 2016

i&E

13

Spiers New Technologies is

14

i&E Winter 2016

SNT pushes the envelope for battery reconditioning, repurposing

D

irk Spiers guided a pair of visitors across the floor of the bustling Spiers New Technologies (SNT) plant in Oklahoma City before abruptly halting the tour.

One of the guests had just revealed that he drove to the interview in a Chevy Volt electric vehicle.

Spiers, founder and President of SNT, smiled broadly in approval.

“Comrade!” he said. “It’s nice to see another electric vehicle driver in Oklahoma because I’m really trying to engage people here. You are an example that our numbers are growing rapidly.”

Spiers drives a Chevy Volt, too. And a Nissan Leaf. He’s a passionate evangelist for electric vehicle technology.

The batteries that power those electric vehicles are his business.

SNT provides lifecycle management of advanced energy systems and vehicle battery packs in 60,000 square feet of space across two buildings. The company began operations in December 2014.

“At the moment, our focus is predominantly battery packs for electric vehicles, but we also work with stationary energy storage,” Spiers said.

Spiers New Technologies conducts what its namesake calls the “4Rs” of battery troubleshooting – repair, remanufacturing, refurbishment and repurposing for both General Motors and Nissan through contracts with the big automakers.

Shipments of used vehicle batteries arrive almost daily at the Spiers plant, located in a former warehouse just east of the Centennial Expressway in Oklahoma City.

With a staff of about 20 people, including eight engineers, SNT puts batteries through grueling tests that reveal if individual cells can be reconditioned and placed back in vehicles, or repurposed for “second life” use.

A native of The Netherlands, Spiers came to Oklahoma four years ago to work for ATC Drivetrain, Inc., a remanufacturer of auto transmissions and engines. Spiers had worked with alternative energy systems in Europe and convinced ATC to start a small battery reconditioning unit here.

Winter 2016

i&E

15

In late 2014, Spiers decided to leave ATC and open his own battery reconditioning business. Backed by a West Coast investor at startup, he won a contract from GM to recondition its used batteries, which meant he urgently needed a manufacturing location.

“That was the beginning of the most stressful period of my life,” Spiers said.

“When we took this building over, it was nothing. It was cold. It was filthy. It had no bathrooms. GM said ‘you need to be in business by Dec 29th, because we are shipping battery packs.’ Everything you see here did not exist. We had to build it.”

In the year since the hurried move-in, the Spiers New Technologies plant has been turned into a manufacturing showcase. Now it hosts regular tours for people who fly in from around the world to see the operation.

In addition to GM and Nissan, Spiers New Technologies now has contracts with mobile charging station company FreeWire Technologies Inc. and Dorman Products Inc., an aftermarket supplier of batteries for the Toyota Prius hybrid.

With an investment round of $2.4 million in which i2E participated, the company

16

i&E

Winter 2016

expand the scope of its business.

“i2E also helped us with advice and getting closer ties to the community,” Spiers said. “That is a benefit that is worth as much as the investment.”

SNT’s Director of Engineering Bryan Schultz developed a mobile charging station that is marketed by Freewire. Spiers plans to manufacture the charging stations in a second leased facility just south of its current building.

A University of Oklahoma engineering graduate, Schultz brings the technical knowledge to the operation that allows SNT to break down batteries into individual cells and determine which can be reused in vehicles, which are good for second life use such as energy storage and which are ready for salvage.

Unlike traditional fossil fuels, vehicle batteries don’t consume diminishing resources, Schultz said as he breaks open an individual cell to show its construction.

“Basically, it’s highly refined dirt,” he said.

“In these, you have copper foil with graphite baked on to it, a sheet of plastic with a bunch of holes punched through it. Then on the other side you have a sort of rust, which is magnesium oxide on these particular cells, a black pigment dirt that is incredibly common.

Just 2 or 3 percent is lithium which is found in salt.”

Schultz demonstrates what he calls a large power cycler, which can measure all the voltages on each cell of a battery brought to the Spiers plant.

Battery packs are flowing in and out daily at the Oklahoma City plant as they are assessed, reconditioned or repurposed. Spiers tracks all of the inventory on a televised monitor in the foyer of the building.

With prices falling and driving range of next generation vehicles expanding, Spiers New Technologies is well positioned to meet growing worldwide demand for electric vehicles and alternative power sources. Spiers envisions opening additional branches on the West Coast and in Europe and Asia.

“We’ve had a phenomenal first year,” he said. “I’m really proud of what we have achieved.”

Future forecast: U.S. roads filled with electric vehicles

Dirk Spiers has peered into the future and here is what he sees: streets and highways full of electric vehicles (EVs) with millions of Americans behind the wheel.

Costs are falling, range is rising and people who drive EVs fall deeply in love with them, Spiers said.

“Ford did research on 10,000 people who drive electric vehicles, which is really, truly statistically significant,” Spiers said.

“Ninety percent said they would never go back to

a combustion engine. Imagine that. We are driving a first generation electric car, yet 93 percent will never go back to a combustion engine.”

Spiers walks the talk. He and his wife both drive a Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid and a Nissan Leaf.

With charging stations both at home and the office, stops at gas fuel stations are few and far between for Spiers.

“For me, it’s a black day if I have to go to a fuel station,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s half a year before I have to fill up.”

Electric vehicles are becoming more affordable for the driving public, Spiers said, citing the $29,000 price for a new Nissan Leaf that has an 84-mile battery range. That’s down from $42,000 when it debuted.

“If you go to $36,000, you have one with a 107-mile range,” he said. “It shows you how in a short period prices are coming down, range is going up and the vehicle’s performance is just phenomenal.

Instant torque.”

Newer battery technologies are emerging that will extend the range of EVs to 200 miles on a single charge, he said. The issue of “range anxiety” is diminishing for electric vehicle drivers.

In fact, in some parts of the country, the issue of range anxiety is just as much of a reality for internal combustion engine drivers as it is for drivers of EVs.

“Here in Oklahoma we have plenty of fuel stations,” Spiers said. “But the trend across the United States is that the number of fuel stations is going down, especially in metro areas. Range anxiety is as relative in a combustion engine as it is in an electric car.”

So, peer into the future with Dirk Spiers and here is what you see: Within a decade electric vehicles will cost less than their combustion counterparts, and millions of Americans will gladly trade in their old gas guzzler.

And, Oklahoma’s SNT will be reconditioning and repurposing many of the batteries used in those vehicles.

Winter 2016 i&E

17

SUCCESS, FAILURE AND THE POWER OF CASH AT 2015 ENTREPRENEURIAL SUMMIT

A

s keynote speaker for the Entrepreneurial Summit in November, Barry Moltz brought perspective to his Oklahoma audience as both a failed and successful entrepreneur and as a prolific author.

Then Moltz spiced the presentation with the ultimate reward for the audience participation he sought. He flashed a wad of cash.

Moltz caused a stir when he began handing out cash to anyone in the audience of about 300 Oklahoma entrepreneurs and college students who shared their own perspective during the presentation.

“That was a $20 when it left my hand,” Moltz declared when he pulled out the first bill and asked a row of people to pass it to a young man who answered a question.

“It was a $5 bill when it got here,” the audience member joked.

The audience erupted in laughter, but the gag served its purpose, Moltz said.

“It gets people to perk up and it keeps them engaged,” Moltz said. “I really believe

18

i&E

Winter 2016

if you are going to learn from any kind of presentation, you have to actively listen and not passively listen. So, money helps people actively listen.”

While the cash incentive was lighthearted, Moltz tackled some serious topics in his presentation, including that of failure.

He shared his own story of leaving a successful position at IBM for another company and then being fired a year later. Then he started up a company with two partners he didn’t really know and it was a bust.

There were lessons in each failure, he said.

Let it go. And learn from the failure.

Eventually, Moltz built a successful company that he sold before becoming a best-selling business author.

“If you fail, have a pity party for 24 hours,” he said. “But after 24 hours, let go and take another action and have another chance for success.”

Moltz’s keynote address followed a panel discussion moderated by i2E CEO Scott Meacham and featuring three Oklahoma

entrepreneurs whose startups are in different stages of the company lifecycle.

Dave King founded Exaptive in Boston and moved it to Oklahoma City when his wife got a job as a professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Kris Rush started JustGoodNews.BIZ as an Oklahoma City startup to publish local positive business news stories to a nationwide audience.

And Dirk Spiers founded Spiers New Technologies last year to provide battery reconditioning and repurposing services to major electric vehicle manufacturers like General Motors.

Moltz turned the tables on the panel and asked his own question from the audience during the panel’s Q&A. Moltz asked them to address the topic of “letting go” of a failed business if it came to that.

Exaptive’s King responded with his own concept of what “letting go” means.

“If Exaptive failed tomorrow there would be some other idea that would come out of that failure that might get a different company name, but in my mind would just

be a pivot of Exaptive or a pivot of what I learned as an entrepreneur,” he said.

After the Moltz presentation, the students and entrepreneurs shared a networking luncheon in which students gleaned as much knowledge as their table hosts could share.

“I sat at lunch with a lot of them, and I just want them to see that having your own company can be very exciting, but it’s not without its challenges and you have to be really committed to it for the long term,” said Moltz, who shared a table with eight students.

“The average “overnight” success takes seven to 10 years, so you really have to have the passion; just don’t do it for the money.”

The Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur session in the afternoon exclusively targeted college students who want to explore the possibilities of some day starting their own business.

Students heard presentations from Dr. Elaine Hamm, Vice President with Accele BioPharma, and Kevin Moore, i2E Venture Advisor and Manager of the SeedStep Angels.

Hamm delivered a fast-moving presentation on the critical steps of envisioning the first customers and obtaining unvarnished feedback about the concept before even launching the business.

“You can have the greatest idea in the world but if you don’t thoroughly understand your customer, it may go nowhere,” Hamm said. “Unfortunately, getting unbiased feedback from people is extremely difficult.”

Moore’s presentation focused on financial modeling and forecasting with realistic numbers.

“I wanted the students to understand that the most important part of the financials is being able to clearly demonstrate how they make money,” Moore said. “As a second takeaway, I wanted the students to understand the importance of being able to justify their assumptions in their financial models.”

Before heading back to his home base of Chicago, Moltz met one-on-one with three i2E clients.

“Hopefully, I’ve given them a different perspective in which to view the business world,” he said of his Oklahoma City presentation. “I think being an entrepreneur is very lonely. The more organizations there are like this, the more people who are here to support the entrepreneur, the more chance they will be successful. And if they are successful, it’s great for the community.”

Q&A

with Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur workshop speakers

With co-sponsorship from Oklahoma EPSCoR, i2E presented the annual Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur workshop in November to about 200 students at the Reed Center in Midwest City.

Dr. Elaine Hamm, Vice President for Oklahoma City’s Accele BioPharma, and Kevin Moore, i2E Venture Advisor and Manager of the SeedStep Angels, engaged the audience in lively sessions that covered topics such as connecting with the customer and creating realistic financial models.

From Dr. Hamm, the students heard a presentation on the necessity of obtaining unbiased feedback on their business idea and the importance of putting it all down on a business model canvass.

Moore challenged the future entrepreneurs to understand how their business will make money before creating financial assumptions that will be presented to potential investors.

The Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur workshop presenters took time to answer a few questions about their presentations.

Question: What did you want students to take away from your presentation?

Hamm: I hope the takeaway from the

workshop was you can have the greatest idea in the world but if you don’t thoroughly understand your customer it may go nowhere. And, it may have nothing to do with them not liking your product. You may not understand how to price your product such that your target customer can afford it, which impacts sales and your financials. You may not understand how to acquire (market to) your customer, making sales cycle long and customer acquisition expensive. And it could be that the end user may love your product but they are not the decision maker or the budget maker, which means you could have the entirely wrong customer. Overall, if you understand your customer in really great detail, the business model, the financials, the business plan, the pitch… those things become a lot easier.

Moore: At the most rudimentary level, I wanted the students to understand that the most important part of the financials is being able to clearly demonstrate how they make money. Surprisingly, I have seen many situations where entrepreneurs aren’t able to clearly explain how much it costs to make and sell one “unit” of their product or service and they leave potential investors confused

Who is Barry Moltz?

He worked for one of the largest companies in the world.

He has been fired more than once.

He started three businesses.

He sold his last business, but also went out of business AND was kicked out of his business (luckily, not in that order).

He has hired hundreds of people and, unfortunately, had to fire some of them. www.barrymoltz.com

Winter 2016

i&E

19

and worried about ever getting paid back. A second take away I wanted the students to get from the presentation is the importance of being able to justify their assumptions in their financial models.

I always say that “the output is only as good as the input” and it is often very telling when people just randomly make things up versus those who carefully research and develop realistic scenarios for what they expect to happen in their companies.

Applications are due by

3 PM FEBRUARY 15, 2016 Save the date, awards will be presented

MARCH 24, 2016 HALL OF FAME LEADERSHIP AWARD will be presented to an individual who has demonstrated leadership in the industry, and has assisted in the creation and advancement of bioscience companies and/or the broader biosciences community over time.

RESEARCHER RECOGNITION AWARD will honor the efforts and commitment of a researcher who is advancing knowledge in their area of expertise and inspiring and promoting continued excellence in research.

COMMUNITY RECOGNITION AWARD will honor individuals, companies or institutions for significant contributions to Oklahoma’s bioscience industry.

INNOVATION RECOGNITION AWARD will honor an individual or company who has been responsible for the creation of an innovative technology, product or service.

Apply today at WWW.OKBIO.ORG facebook.com/okbio 20

i&E

Winter 2016

Q: At the end of the presentation, a lot of students came up to ask you individual questions. What info were they seeking?

Hamm: A lot of them had not heard of the business model canvas so they were asking about where to find more information. Some asked how to do the activity we did with their own business team.

So I talked to them about how to brainstorm as a team and how to prioritize. And some just said “thanks.”

Moore: Many students had questions about what it takes to build a good financial model and what path to take to get their company off the ground. I always like to stress the importance of execution by telling students that it doesn’t matter how good their product is – if they can’t execute it doesn’t really matter. The ability to execute comes down to having a strong leader, a great team, and a great product-market fit.

Q: What is the most difficult part of the presentation for students to grasp?

Hamm: How to get the right feedback from your customer; the kind of feedback that gives you and investors the confidence that this is the right customer, the right product, the right business model. I joke that your startup is like your baby. And your baby may be incredibly ugly. But nobody would ever tell you that. They might say “Your baby has the most…luxurious mustache!” But that still means your baby is ugly. On a whole, people want to help but they don’t want to be rude. So they will give you polite feedback. “That’s really cool.”

“I wouldn’t use it but I really think my friend could use this.” That is positive feedback that gives entrepreneurs the idea that they are on the right track. But in reality, those answers are negative. So you have to ask the right kind of questions in the right way from lots of people and look at the data with the eyes of a scientist. It is really hard to do this…but it is the most important thing you can do.

Moore: If a person is uncomfortable with putting together a financial forecast, the most important thing for them to remember is they must earn more money by selling one “unit” than it cost them to make that one “unit” and sell it. It’s that simple. The basics of any financial model are built around this principle: Sales – Expenses = Net Profit. It is no more complicated than this, especially for a startup company. Financial forecasts should be very simple because they really are just a “best guess” of what people think will happen. They become challenging when there are too many “what ifs” and massaging of the numbers. It’s important that individuals not lose sight of what financial statements are intended to do and that is simply to demonstrate how the company makes money, what expenses they incur running the company, and is the company profitable.

Drop by www.i2E.org and see what’s new!

facebook.com/i2E • facebook.com/OKGOVCUP

“My favorite part of the program has been the weekly conference calls. I'm really impressed by how well i2E’s staff prepare for each call. They know our business model almost as well as we do. It's been nice working with smart, motivated people who tell it how it is, and want to see us succeed as much as we do. Overall, i2E exceeded all of my expectations and I am very happy that our company was a part of the VAP." – Sean Webster, Viatrax Automation

I

n a long-standing radio advertisement for a local business aired on an Oklahoma City radio station, the owner talks about taking care of the customer before he is interrupted with a question from his preschool daughter.

“Who is the customer?” she asks. “How do we find the customer?”

It’s an innocent question from a child, but it’s also one that new entrepreneurs and early stage startups enrolled in i2E’s Venture Assessment Program (VAP) are asked to answer.

The Venture Assessment Program is a one-evening-a-week class that meets for 90-minutes each night for three weeks. VAP classes are taught throughout the year.

i2E Venture Advisor Stacey Brandhorst moderates the class with assistance of fellow i2E Client Engagement Director Darcy Wilborn and i2E Sales Executive in Residence Catherine Brown. Class members are entrepreneurs whose startup businesses are in the very early stages of their lifecycles.

Often, the entrepreneurs bring preconceived ideas of who will want to buy their innovative new product or concept. The VAP is designed to investigate the product-market fit and business opportunity to see if reality matches the perception.

“Entrepreneurs come into the Venture Assessment Program to get a better look at their business and to hear some tough love from us,” Brandhorst said. “This is what we do; we’re the experts. We ask, ‘is there a market for your product?’ That’s the main thing we want to know. Who is going to be your first customer and who is going to be your next customer?”

Entrepreneurs work both inside the class and outside of it to answer those questions in each three-week VAP segment.

Brandhorst also conducts 30-minute, oneon-one calls with individual entrepreneurs each week. Every class has homework. The

22

i&E

Winter 2016

calls help her get to know the businesses better, and provide entrepreneurs with feedback from what they did in class that week.

“These are people who think they have an idea, but the VAP is all about proving it,” Brandhorst said. “Give us the proof that you have some customer feedback on your idea.”

In Class 1, entrepreneurs determine who is their customer. In Class 2, they learn how to contact prospective customers and then reach out to these prospective over the next week. In the third and final class, they learn to interpret what they heard from customers.

Based on what they heard from potential customers, it is time to make a go or no-go decision on the future of the business or perhaps pivot in a new direction.

Brandhorst was confronted with that decision herself, when she and a business partner enrolled in the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center (POCC), the predecessor of the VAP. In the end, they decided their venture was a “no-go,” and the partners moved on to new ventures.

“Now that I’m teaching similar concepts in the VAP, I realize that either answer is a win for the entrepreneurs,” she said. “If we say you are a go and you go forward with the business, that’s a win. But if we say there’s a fatal flaw and you should stop before you spend too much time and money, that’s a win, too.”

It is just another way of saying “the customer is always right,” except in this instance the feedback the customer provides VAP class members provide answers that can save entrepreneurs time and money.

“In the end, i2E and the POCC saved me another two years of potentially spinning my wheels,” Brandhorst said of her own experience. “There is a lot of good that comes from the Venture Assessment Program. I think in the end it’s going to strengthen the entrepreneurial community in Oklahoma.”

“The i2E VAP Program was well organized and nicely prepared. The class leaders did an excellent job of tailoring the material to each company and encouraging group input. Well worth the time and effort.”

– Mike Webster, Viatrax Automation

“The VAP provided clarity and direction for my startup and gave me to tools I need to build a solid foundation for a successful company. The program helped me think about all aspects of my business and analyze the risks associated. My favorite parts of the program were the discussions we had in class and hearing about other startups. I also enjoyed the homework/field work that we had to do outside of our meetings.”

– Kweku Brown, WhiteVan

"Working with i2E through the Venture Assessment Program program has helped us define how our validated product solution fits together in the marketplace.

We built relationships within our cohort that were also in the VAP program.

And we were pushed to further define the contours of our business. The VAP program helped us ignite what was necessary for our first round of capital like initiating beta testing, engaging industries in interviews and further refining our value proposition beyond necessary compliance – and into why businesses might be interested in our product.”

– Stephanie Conduff, LecheExpress

Innovation A Proven Investment in Oklahoma

OCAST has funded more than 2,500 research projects and provided support to hundreds of companies. The investment we make locally improves the quality of life globally while growing and diversifying Oklahoma’s economy.

Small Business >> Bioscience >> Health >> Manufacturing >> Energy >> Environment >> Nanotechnology >> Internships 866-265-2215 www.ocast.ok.gov facebook.com/ocast.ok.gov twitter.com/ocast

VeloCity: Writing for Your Wall S ’ A C I R E OKC: AM NGINE

PE U T R A A1M ST S AC C L KUD O D O UT S TA N T U P S NEW 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 startup-focused edition is available at www.greateroklahomacity.com/startups.

Read and share it with friends, colleagues and family members.

Read | Like | Share

24 i&E Winter 2016 More: greaterokc.tv and velocityokc.com