New program in OKC aims to focus on developing ideas, creating more startups

A new program aimed at stimulating entrepreneurial thinking and action is coming to Oklahoma City, and Chamber officials believe it will equip everyday people with the resources they need to solve problems affecting Oklahoma City residents as well as people around the country and world.

Created by Builders + Backers in partnership with Heartland Forward, a nonpartisan 501c3 organization based in Northwest Arkansas, and funded by the Walton Foundation, the Community Growth Program and Tool Kit will use four program pillars to equip what they call “Builders” to accelerate the entrepreneurial thinking needed to help communities like Oklahoma City thrive.

Builders are essentially people who think they may have an idea to solve a certain problem but may not have the financial backing to test that idea. The Community Growth Program provides $5,000 Pebble Grants to these builders in order for them to move forward with their ideas. This is accomplished through the Idea Accelerator, a 90-day, cohort-based Builder Bootcamp that teaches participants how to put their ideas into action and then test them. The goal for the bootcamps is to encourage and empower more people to start a business in the near future based on their ideas, said Evan Fay, program manager for innovation and entrepreneurship at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.

“After going through the Idea Accelerator, those builders feel like they know how to go through the process of thinking, ‘I may be on to something. I need to test this a little bit more’, or ‘Okay, I am on to something. Let me start a business.’ It’s kind of counterintuitive in a good way,” Fay said.

One of the program’s stipulations is that if you have already formed a company, then you are too far along to participate in the program.

“We want people who are literally trying to build a better mouse trap – everyday people who want to ideate and create and then equip them with the skills they need to say, ‘You know, I could be an entrepreneur one day or I could become an entrepreneur next week,’” Fay said.

Ten people will be going through the Idea Accelerator during its first iteration, which is scheduled to begin in late March. Applications for the first Oklahoma City cohort are already being accepted by Heartland Forward at buildersandbackers.com/idea-accelerator with the hope that other organizations will see its impact and will want to get involved as well. The deadline to apply is Dec. 12.

“We’ll partner with churches, with neighborhood nonprofits, with universities, with all types of organizations because there are no boundaries drawn around who could be a good fit for this program,” Fay said.

The Community Growth Program has already been successfully piloted in Oxford, Miss., and Tulsa.

“In Tulsa and Oxford, it was an incredibly diverse group of people,” Fay said. “There is a tremendous opportunity for a lot of different people from a lot of backgrounds and creeds to build, and hopefully this program will increase the diversity of people who have the agency and opportunity to build a company, have an opportunity to create jobs, et cetera.”

The Chamber and the Inasmuch Foundation have contributed equally to bring the Community Growth Program and its Idea Accelerator to Oklahoma City. With 10 people accepted for each cohort, that means Heartland Forward, with its $5,000 Pebble Grants, will provide a total of $50,000 to Oklahoma City Builders.

“Heartland Forward and Builders + Backers have run this program in two communities, so they know what the determinants for success are among the Builders selected for each cohort. The Chamber and the Inasmuch Foundation will weigh into the selection process in some way, alongside other entrepreneurial support organizations, so we’ll have a chance to select a cohort of Builders who can make a transformational impact on our city,” Fay said.

 This story originally appeared in the December edition of the VeloCity newsletter.