Call us: 1.405.235.2305
info@i2E.org
  • Events
  • News
  • Resources
  • Library
  • Love’s Cup
i2Ei2Ei2Ei2E
  • About
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Venture Advisory Services
    • Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • e3
  • Concept Fund
  • iMCI
  • Portfolio
  • Contact

Great ideas, hard work help overcome obstacles

    Home News Great ideas, hard work help overcome obstacles
    NextPrevious

    Great ideas, hard work help overcome obstacles

    By sarah | News | 0 comment | 8 August, 2017 | 0

    By Scott Meacham
    Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co.

    In the 13-year history of Oklahoma’s collegiate business plan competition, now known as the Love’s Cup, more than 35 student business plans have gone on to become clients of i2E.

    The journey from building a business plan in business school to creating a company that collects revenue from real customers is packed with starts and stops, twists and turns, bumps and canyons.

    TeleVet, an online platform that connects veterinary clinics to their existing clients to help diagnose and treat pets outside the clinic walls, has been navigating those challenges since 2013.

    Telemedicine for pets wasn’t the starting concept. Co-founders Price Fallin and Steven Carter had called 50 vets to validate their original venture concept — readily accessible medical records for horses. The company was accepted into a startup accelerator. Carter and Fallin found two developers to help build out the system, and went to work.

    “Then we started to realize that even though vets said they liked the information we would provide, our idea would mean changing the way the equine vet industry works, which would prove to be too big of an idea to sell,” Fallin said. “We narrowed our focus to a subset of our original plan.”

    Their developers quit on them, and Fallin decided to learn to code himself. He did research, took online courses, and built a prototype from scratch.

    TeleVet launched a beta pilot and had some early customer success. An international veterinary organization expressed interest in buying the fledgling company with Carter and Fallin staying on to run it. When that fell through, the two entrepreneurs kept going. They signed up some vet clinics, qualified for proof of concept funding through i2E, and focused on building strategic partnerships.

    Then, just when their trickle of funding was about gone, TeleVet re-connected with Ken Parker, CEO of NextThought in Norman, and co-founder of RiskMetrics Group, which was acquired for more than $1.5 billion in 2010.

    “I was impressed with what they were doing and how far they had come,” said Parker, who had met the team previously. “They were determined to figure this thing out and do what it takes. They weren’t going to play video games and watch ‘Game of Thrones.’ They met the criteria for a minimum viable product. Their ideas were solid. They are humble and hardworking, doing smart things, but just ran out of money.”

    Parker helped TeleVet make a showing and connections at industry conferences. He became an investor in TeleVet and a member of the company’s board.

    “Something like this is going to happen,” Parker said. “Why not here? Why not these guys? Why not now?”

    And that’s the point. I can’t think of any reason why not — for TeleVet and for many other tenacious Oklahoma entrepreneurs. Can you?

    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 support from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology and is an integral part of Oklahoma’s Innovation Model. Contact Meacham at i2E_Comments@i2E.org.

    Read the article at newsok.com

     

     

     

    Ken Parker, Love's Cup, Price Fallin, Scott Meacham, Steven Carter, TeleVet

    Related Posts

    • Finding a STEM spark for Oklahoma students

      By sarah | 0 comment

      By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. All over Oklahoma, students from kindergarten to college are heading back to school. My biggest hope is that somehow, some way, Oklahoma’s teachers, parents, andRead more

    • Love’s Cup impact on Oklahoma entrepreneur community deep — and wide

      By sarah | 0 comment

      By Scott Meacham When the world is running along in normal ways at normal speeds, we tend not to think as much about connections between disconnected things. For me lately, in the third quarter ofRead more

    • 2020 Love’s Cup: 42 teams, 168 students in virtual competition

      By sarah | 0 comment

      By Scott Meacham Every spring, the celebratory conclusion of the annual Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup brings into sharp focus—and the limelight—the months of hard work that teams from Oklahoma’s colleges and universities put into this businessRead more

    • MaxQ swiftly responds to Coronavirus crisis with a pivot

      By sarah | 0 comment

      By Scott Meacham Great ideas and great companies don’t go away during times of crisis. Many just require a little more nurturing. Other businesses recognize that with quick action and a bit of a pivot,Read more

    • Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup overcomes pandemic to conduct virtual competition, honor winners in online ceremony

      By sarah | 0 comment

      Contact: Sarah Seagraves, Senior VP for Marketing (405) 813-2403 sseagraves@i2E.org May 1, 2020 OKLAHOMA CITY — Student entrepreneurs from college campuses across Oklahoma pitched winning business plans online to virtual panels of judges in theRead more

    Leave a Comment

    Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    NextPrevious
    i2E-300dpi-Trans-Light
    • Events
    • News
    • Resources
    • Library
    • Love’s Cup

    Oklahoma City Office

    840 Research Parkway, Suite 250
    OKC, OK 73104
    PHONE 405/235-2305
    Click HERE for printable map with directions.

    Tulsa Office

    618 E. Third Street, Suite 1
    Tulsa, OK 74120
    PHONE 918/582-5592
    Click HERE for printable map with directions.
    Copyright 2021 i2E, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
    • About i2E
    • Services
    • Investments
    • Development
      • Love’s Cup
        • Forms
        • High Growth
        • Small Business
        • Timeline
    • Portfolio 3
    • Contact
    i2E