By Scott Meacham We can get the national perspective of the pandemic’s current and after-effect on the banking and finance industries from the Wall Street Journal, but to get an Oklahoma banker’s perspective on the industry post-pandemic, I reached out to Darryl Schmidt, CEO of BancFirst. BancFirst is the largest state-chartered bank in Oklahoma withRead more
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By Scott Meacham Information technology plays a super-sized role In Oklahoma’s innovation economy. More than half of our TBFP Concept Fund investments and about 44 percent of investments from the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund have been in IT, software, telecommunication, and internet firms, Brett Kolomyjec, Oklahoma entrepreneur and CEO of Happily, is upbeat about post-pandemicRead more
By Scott Meacham The pandemic’s immediate and expected after-effect on the traditional energy sectors of oil and gas is harsh. However, the outlook is different for battery solutions based on advanced materials. Paige Johnson, founder and CEO of Tulsa-based Ten-Nine Technologies, is a leader in this expanding segment on the continuum of energy alternatives. JohnsonRead more
By Scott Meacham I don’t get to write that often about the energy industry; i2E’s charter is to expand Oklahoma’s entrepreneurial ventures in non-traditional sectors to diversify our state’s economy. But this week, benefitting from the sage perspective of C. Michael Ming, the original general manager of General Electric’s Global Research O&G Technology Center inRead more
By Scott Meacham Continuing the quest of gathering opinions from leaders and influencers across Oklahoma on the topic of “first the pandemic and then what,” I turned to Walt Duncan, president of Duncan Oil Properties, Inc., a long-standing, privately held oil and gas exploration and production company. “The declines that we saw in April andRead more
By Scott Meacham For this third column in my series exploring the long-term impact of the COVID pandemic on the fields of clinical research, I drew on the experience and insight Dr. Stephen M. Prescott, president of Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). The pandemic has already been a disruptor with a number of changes thatRead more
By Scott Meacham This second column in our series with Oklahoma thought leaders discussing the short- and long-term effects of the COVID pandemic is a from-the-trenches view of the pandemic’s impact on the medical industry. Dr. Ryan Dennis is an Oklahoma physician, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Linear Health Sciences,Read more
By Scott Meacham If anyone had told me a year ago that we would be in the situation we are in today, I might not have said it out loud, but I would have thought that they were completely nuts. The global pandemic has given me a new standard for what a worst caseRead more
By Scott Meacham A flywheel is a heavy and perfectly balanced wheel that collects energy over time and releases it fast. “Flywheel” is a perfect description of the multi-phase, city-wide strategy powered by Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL) and a $50 million multi-year investment by the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF). TIL is aimed at makingRead more
By Scott Meacham It is always amazing to me how often entrepreneurship and life-changing innovations come out of parents’ love and concern for their children’s health. That’s the back story on PhotoniCare, a young company that provides a ground-breaking imaging technology, called the TOMi™ Scope, which allows physicians, for the first time ever, to non-invasivelyRead more
By Scott Meacham Datebox, which officially rebranded as Happily last year, started four years ago as a budget-friendly subscription service that delivered a box with items and plans for one great at-home date. The vision was straightforward: Couples want to spend more quality time together. Datebox helped them rediscover that a date doesn’t have toRead more
By Scott Meacham Companies that are more diverse produce better financial results — much better, according to the most recent report in the McKinsey & Company series “Delivering through Diversity.” In the McKinsey report, companies in the top quartile for ethnic/cultural diversity on executive teams were 33% more likely to have industry-leading profitability. Moreover, companiesRead more
By Scott Meacham It’s official. The country is in a recession. Of course, we didn’t need the recent announcement by the National Bureau of Economic Research to tell us that. Given its unusualness, our hope is that we have nearly bottomed out from the pandemic free-fall and that economic recovery will come quickly. However, weRead more
By Scott Meacham If you asked me to name the profession most similar to entrepreneurship, I would say science. Both are based on problem-solving, experimentation, data, and the confidence to recognize that failure is a critical aspect of the path to success. Paige Johnson, founder and CEO of Tulsa-based Ten-Nine Technologies, is a noted researchRead more
By Scott Meacham I often get the question “What is a typical day like working with entrepreneurs ?” My answer is short: There is no such thing as a typical day, and that is perfectly okay. I like it that way. The variability and unexpected nature of entrepreneurship is what makes working with startups andRead more
By Scott Meacham This past week, we reopened our offices. For a few weeks, for the safety or our staff and the community, we shuttered our space and worked remotely, although we never really “closed.” Working remotely, we negotiated term sheets, concluded a major funding round for an exciting new Oklahoma startup, and held theRead more
By Scott Meacham Oklahoma is a state that has learned how to live through boom and bust. While we are constantly working to diversify our economy, the sectors of energy, agriculture, and aerospace dominate. With a mix like that, Oklahomans have had to learn how to take a 360 degree view. From tornados to swingsRead more
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 business plan and pitch competition. I am floored by the enthusiasm, work ethic, and talent of these students. I start outRead more
By Scott Meacham A most difficult and heart-rending aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that COVID patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities are so alone. Quarantine is mandatory. No outside visitors. Not friends, family, or even next of kin. A patient’s only human contact is with “strangers” wearing face masks and shields, gloves andRead more
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, they can not only survive a crisis, but that they can actually improve the situation. MaxQ, a Stillwater company thatRead more
