Experience & Expertise
Building a startup is not easy. In fact, creating and building a company that grows the economy with real solutions to real problems while also creating high-paying jobs that add to the permanent fabric of Oklahoma’s economy is an overwhelming challenge. There is no such thing as instant entrepreneurship or overnight success, and not just any entrepreneur can do it.
At i2E, it is our job and our passion to help innovators and entrepreneurs build, launch and grow great ideas. We know what it takes because we have worked for over two decades with more than 760 startup companies to develop a repeatable model of success. It is our people that set us apart. Not only have our venture advisors helped hundreds of startups commercialize their ideas they have also worked in the same industries as the startups they are advising.
Rick Rainey, an i2E Senior Venture Advisor, has worked with pharmaceutical companies on FDA regulatory issues for many years. There is no other venture development firm in the state with a staff member who has supported numerous companies with therapeutic drugs, diagnostics or medical devices through the FDA process. Life Sciences Venture Advisor and OKBio Director, Meredith Wilkerson, holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She has completed multiple post-doctoral fellowships, led clinical trials and spent six years working to move university technology to commercial markets. Think of her contribution to technical founders in biotech.
VP of Operations, Darcy Wilborn, has led i2E’s six-week accelerator program titled E3, serving more than 200 companies over the past eight years. E3 is not a six-week lunch-and-learn. We take founders through the muck and dirt of starting a company. We explore the details of finding customers, talking to them, and developing sales and pricing strategies. And, sometimes, we tell founders that as great as their enthusiasm and ideas may be, they don’t have a business case—and should reevaluate their idea by putting their energy into creating an alternative solution to the same or different problem in the marketplace.
i2E was created to help commercialize technologies and innovations with big markets and can scale to serve those markets. We are the benchmark for how a state goes about building and supporting entrepreneurs with innovative, high-growth, scalable technologies.
When you partner with i2E, you get one-on-one advising and mentorship from our experts throughout the development of your idea. Contact us today to turn your dreams into a reality!
