March Forum examines entrepreneurship and its growth in OKC

Recent efforts to grow a viable entrepreneurial ecosystem in Oklahoma have resulted in positive momentum, but more can be done to help entrepreneurs and startup businesses succeed in Oklahoma City and other communities across the state.

Those were some of the key takeaways from the March Chamber Forum, “Oklahoma City’s Entrepreneurial Outlook,” an online event sponsored by Cox Business and ADG.

Kent Shortridge, managing vice president of operations for Oklahoma Natural Gas and vice chair of economic development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, moderated the discussion.

Panelists representing various public- and private-sector entities shared their thoughts and insights into how Oklahoma is faring in encouraging entrepreneurship and what role their respective organizations are playing within Oklahoma City’s entrepreneurial community.

Evan Fay, manager of innovation and entrepreneurship for the Chamber, told the online audience that entrepreneurs and startups are the top net new creators of primary jobs within a community.

“What I have seen is that there is an amazing number of resources here in Oklahoma. The problem is that all of us are just so busy, we do a terrible job of marketing and telling our stories.”

“In the long run, if those companies are successful, they will create wealth, they will create jobs with higher wages and many more will go on and diversify our economy,” Fay said.

Fay boasted that Oklahoma City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown tremendously over the last five years, evidenced by more startups being launched and more funds being raised.

“[Oklahoma City] has a real opportunity to build high-growth, technology-enabled companies in the biosciences/biotechnology vertical through smart capital and smart talent,” he said, noting that weather and radar could be another opportunity for growth.

“There is not really any other city or region in the U.S. that has the opportunity we have right in our own backyard with the National Weather Center and our concentration of aerospace talent. Weather and radar is a new frontier; hopefully, we see some startup companies launch in that area soon.”

“Entrepreneurs do best when they are with other entrepreneurs and they have a sense of community.”

Oklahoma’s research universities and career technology centers play significant roles in the growth of the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among the ways the University of Oklahoma has been helping to grow the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is through the Tom Love Innovation Hub located at OU’s Research Park in Norman.

Since its creation in 2016, the innovation hub has been working with various partners across Oklahoma such as the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) to help drive the state’s innovation economy.

“We worked with OCAST to create a number of new programs to help folks connect businesses to federal funding, because there is about $4 billion the federal government spends every year on high-tech, high-growth startups,” said Tom Wavering, the innovation hub’s executive director.

“What I have seen is that there is an amazing number of resources here in Oklahoma. The problem is that all of us are just so busy, we do a terrible job of marketing and telling our stories,” he added.

Jennifer McGrail, who runs Launch Pad FT, a business incubator within Francis Tuttle Innovation Center in Edmond, said Oklahoma is one of the few states in the nation that has an actual tax incentive for businesses that want to establish and grow within a state-certified business incubator. Launch Pad FT is one of those incubators.

“Entrepreneurs do best when they are with other entrepreneurs and they have a sense of community,” McGrail said. “So that is one of the unique things we do in our facility – bring in entrepreneurs who may not know each other, get them together with other entrepreneurs in order to bounce ideas off each other. We also hold them accountable to work on their businesses and not just in their businesses while they are in the facility.”

Cortado Ventures Managing Partner Nathaniel Harding pointed out that the thousands of venture capital companies, mostly in places like California and New York, have typically overlooked the potential investment opportunities and unique industries that can be found in the middle of the country, especially in places like Oklahoma.

“Not only was there a mismatch of funding dollars and the West Coast overlooking what is happening in Oklahoma, but we are uniquely situated to do something about it. Cortado Ventures has already looked at approximately 400 companies and about half of them are either already in Oklahoma or want to move here or have some sort of significant presence here,” Harding said.

Fay explained that following the Chamber’s inaugural Oklahoma City Regional Startup Census in January 2020, the data taken from the census helped Chamber staff determine that Oklahoma City needed to invest in resources that encourages diversity within the entrepreneurial community but also increase access to early-stage capital.

“What we found was that the typical founder in a startup is a 35-39-year-old white male with at least a bachelor’s degree,” Fay said.

That census eventually led to the launch of three initiatives during the 2020 pandemic year: an online resource directory called Launch OKC Metro; a micro-lending program, Kiva U.S., that strengthens financial access for small businesses; and Cultivating Coders, a web development boot camp for minority and lower-income students.

“There is not really any other city or region in the U.S. that has the opportunity we have right in our own backyard with the National Weather Center and our concentration of aerospace talent. Weather and radar is a new frontier; hopefully, we see some startup companies launch in that area soon.”

Launch OKC Metro helps connect entrepreneurs with various resources at no cost that can help them achieve and sustain success, including educational content and access to mentors, as well as community discussions and access to events calendars. Kiva was launched in partnerships with the City of Oklahoma City and Progress OKC. They facilitate microloans of $15,000 or less, with 0% interest and a payback period of 36 months.

“Anywhere between 60-70 percent of borrowers have no credit or poor credit, and therefore have no access to traditional early-stage lines of credit to get their startup or small business going,” Fay said.

Cultivating Coders teaches computer coding to minority and lower-income students as part of a free, 12-week boot camp so they can gain the necessary skills to enter the workforce at a local technology company, or even one day become founders themselves. The program was recently expanded to include a computer coding boot camp for adults.

The focus next turned to what kind of partnerships are necessary to make communities stronger. Harding compared venture capital and early-stage funding to a team sport, saying within the investment and business community, everyone is focusing on what they do best and leveraging each other’s expertise.

It was no surprise that a question concerning how the pandemic has impacted the startup community was posed to the panelists near the end of the Forum. Fay thought the pandemic was beneficial because it forced everyone to conduct business virtually, and a lot of strong partnerships and collaborations were formed out of necessity.

“The city spent a lot of years investing public dollars in placemaking through MAPS, creating a place where people want to live and raise their families. But now, we need to pour our energies into building a talent pipeline, partnering with our universities and career techs and launching new reskilling and upscaling programs to augment all of that,” Fay said.

The pandemic actually provided a boon for Cortado Ventures, Harding admitted, explaining that during times of uncertainties, you typically see more startups launched or you have rapid technological innovation and disruption. He gave the number of grandparents who are now using Zoom as a good example of how a new technology is adopted.

The Chamber will hold its next Forum virtually on May 19 when the focus shifts to the economic development strategies of some of the tribal nations in Oklahoma today.