Oklahoma Entrepreneurs to Pitch Businesses at Buffalo Lounge in Austin, Texas
Contact: Josh O’Brien, Director
Office of Entrepreneurial Development
(405) 813-2412 or email jobrien@i2E.org
Oklahoma’s Buffalo Lounge at the 512 Bar in Austin, Texas, will come to life at 9 p.m. March 11 when nine interactive entrepreneurs pitch their concepts to a panel of judges for $10,000 in prizes.
Finalists for the Buffalo Lounge Elevator Pitch Competition were selected last week from among video-taped submissions by a panel of investment professionals at i2E, Inc., a co-sponsor of the event along the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber as part of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development.
Oklahoma entrepreneurs and companies that will make 90-second pitches about their innovative concepts at the Buffalo Lounge event will be:
- Josh Wright, Buzzam Radio, Oklahoma City;
- Chris Zenthoefer, Docvia, Tulsa;
- Jeff Moore, Littlefish/Fountain Ventures, Norman;
- James Simpson, Goldfire Studios, Oklahoma City;
- Dustin Curzon, Narrable, Tulsa;
- Autumn Worten, RenKid, Tulsa;
- Jacob Johnson, ReTenant, LLC, Tulsa;
- Ross Faith, SpectrumFX, Tulsa;
- and Jay Wright, SpokesMe, Oklahoma City.
In addition to the $5,000 first prize, two $2,500 prizes will be awarded at the Buffalo Lounge event.
“The audience and the judges at the Buffalo Lounge are going to hear some awesome innovative concepts pitched in an energetic style,” said Josh O’Brien, Director of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development. “We’re really pleased with the quality of the ideas and the pitches that were submitted for this competition.”
A panel of Oklahoma investors will rank the Buffalo Lounge pitches based on criteria that include quality of pitch, business viability, market opportunity, competitive advantage, management and energy of the pitch. O’Brien said organizers hope to do a follow-up event in Oklahoma later this year.
The Buffalo Lounge is a collaborative effort to spotlight Oklahoma companies and innovators at the South By Southwest Conference, which last year attracted more than 50,000 visitors in the areas of film, music and interactive. Several successful companies such as Twitter, Foursquare, Phonebooth and Highlight were either introduced or spotlighted at SXSW.
The Buffalo Lounge began in 2010 when the Oklahoma Film & Music Office, the Idea Collective and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber led an effort to create a collaborative initiative to increase Oklahoma’s presence at the SXSW festival.
More than 30 Oklahoma companies, agencies and organizations have participated in previous events held by the Buffalo Lounge in Austin. This year, the Buffalo Lounge will host four events at The 512, as well as a booth at the SXSW Exhibit Hall.
For more information or questions about The Buffalo Lounge Elevator Pitch Competition, contact Josh O’Brien at jobrien@i2E.org or (405) 813-2412. For more information about the Buffalo Lounge and other Oklahoma activities at the SXSW Festival, please visit www.thebuffalolounge.com. For more information about SXSW, visit http://sxsw.com.
