Skip to content
i2E
  • Programs
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • ACT Tulsa
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • OKBio
  • Client Portfolio
  • Services
    • Access to Funding
    • Venture Advisory Services
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Programs
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • ACT Tulsa
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • OKBio
  • Client Portfolio
  • Services
    • Access to Funding
    • Venture Advisory Services
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Contact
  • Media
Search

Summit a mix of ‘how-to,’ networking

Get in Touch

By Scott Meacham

Copyright © 2013, The Oklahoma Publishing Company

When it comes to building a vibrant, self-sustaining entrepreneurial economy, there’s the “how,” and then there’s the “what” — how do you do it, and what it takes to succeed.

Oklahomans received an excellent taste of both earlier this month at our state’s inaugural Entrepreneurial Summit.

We blended the annual Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur for college students with unique content for our state’s best and brightest entrepreneurs into an exciting new format.

Gov. Mary Fallin set the tone with the capacity crowd of more than 270 students and entrepreneurs, telling the story of her own son’s experience in the Governor’s Cup Business Plan Competition.

We offered three tracks. There was high growth and small business for the students, and a separate track specifically crafted for in-the-trenches entrepreneurs.

Bob Dorf, serial entrepreneur and co-author of the best-seller “The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company,” delivered practical advice to both groups.

His message: Of the many, many items on every entrepreneur’s very long list of things to do, talking to potential customers comes first.

The program was successful beyond our expectations. With the governor weighing in on the side of new business creation and an expert like Bob, who literally wrote the book, delivering practical, useful direction, attendees’ high marks for content weren’t a surprise.

What we didn’t quite anticipate were the incredible connections that occurred so naturally between the college students, who came because they are considering entrepreneurship as a viable career path, and the entrepreneurs who have already chosen that path.

At lunch, we assigned entrepreneurs and others from Oklahoma’s economic development organizations to be table hosts. We gave the students a list of who was at each table and a little information about their background.

That’s all it took.

It was really cool seeing students from all over the state mixing with Oklahoma’s entrepreneurial community. The students didn’t hang back. They made beelines to the entrepreneurs, who, it turned out, were just as impressed with the students as students were with the entrepreneurs.

Watching the students go from table to table and the entrepreneurs moving around reaching out to more and more of the kids was inspiring. They didn’t want to leave.

Technology, risk capital, and market share are all critical to an expanding innovation economy — but nothing is more important than entrepreneurial passion and talent.

In that regard, Oklahoma has once again struck pay dirt.

Scott Meacham is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state appropriations from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Contact Meacham at [email protected].

Did You Know? About 15 to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, regardless of age, is engaged in running a startup or more established business, once labor force participation rates per generation are factored in. Source: GEM 2012 US Report

Click here to read the article at newsok.com

More News

Loading...
Blog, i2E
09.28.23

Celebrating 25 Years Supporting Innovation

Read more
Blog, i2E
09.18.23

i2E partners with MidAmerica to launch innovative pilot program fostering entrepreneurial education

Read more
headshot of Meredith Wilkerson
Blog, i2E
02.15.23

i2E Spotlight: Meredith Wilkerson, Life Sciences Venture Advisor & OKBio Director

Read more
Black doctor smiling with stethoscope
Blog, i2E
02.09.23

Titan Intake Automates Patient Referrals to Accelerate Care

Read more
man and woman reviewing paperwork at a table
Blog, i2E, News
01.10.23

Stories of Oklahoma Innovation: Building a Startup

Read more
woman in lab conducting a study
Blog, i2E
12.13.22

Bayesic Technologies Improves Effectiveness and Efficiency of Data Analysis in Healthcare

Read more
Bison grazing fields
Blog
11.30.22

Bison Underground Merges Nature, Science, and Technology to Tackle Climate Change

Read more
African American family sitting on couch reading and chatting
Blog, E3, i2E
11.22.22

Fokes Connects Families, Caregivers and Care Agencies for Smoother Communications and Care 

Read more
i2e blog post graphic
Blog, News
11.03.22

Introducing: Stories of Oklahoma Innovation

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.28.22

Oklahoma Grown! i2E Invests in BIO startups

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

Moleculera Labs BIO

Read more
i2E

Oklahoma City Office

840 Research Parkway, Suite 250
OKC, OK 73104
+1 (405) 235.2305

Tulsa Office

100 S. Cincinnati Ave – Suite 514
Tulsa, OK 74103
+1 (918) 582.5592

  • Client Portfolio
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Resources

© 2023 i2E Privacy Policy

Follow us:

Linkedin Twitter Facebook Instagram

Programs

  • E3
  • Bridge2
  • ACT Tulsa
  • Love's Entrepreneur's Cup
  • OKBio
  • Client Portfolio

Services

  • Access to Funding
  • Venture Advisory Services
  • Contact
  • About
  • Our Values
  • Our Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Corporate Partners
  • Media
i2E