By Scott Meacham It is hard to start a business — very, very hard. This is true on Main Street, for information technology businesses and in biotech. For all entrepreneurs, building a company is a race against time, a race in which every milestone of success increases the pressure on the business plan. The biggestRead more
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By Stephen Prescott, M.D. When Novartis announced earlier this month that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved the company’s new drug to treat sickle cell anemia, the press release didn’t mention Oklahoma. But it should have. That drug, known as Adakveo, is as Oklahoman as redbuds and scissor-tailed flycatchers. Indeed, but for workRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman I set a goal for this summer’s series of columns to reflect on and write about my lessons-learned during my past six years of immersion in entrepreneurship. Our focus at i2E is on high-growth technology or life sciences businesses, but startups of every stripe are vital toRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Every year around the middle of October, I start writing in my head at least one holiday-focused column before the end of the year. I try to jot down a few ideas, feeling good that I have started well in advance, and then the whirlwind ofRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. It’s been almost 20 years since i2E first began providing business expertise and funding to Oklahoma’s emerging small businesses. In that time, we’ve supported more than 675 companies. Portfolio companies have attracted $590 million in private investment from banks, venture capital funds, angels and otherRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Last week, speaking at the Oklahoma Venture Forum’s chairman’s luncheon, I caught looks of interest, and perhaps a little surprise, when I told the audience that it is my firm belief that Oklahoma has entered the era of the high-growth entrepreneur. We have built theRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The state stepped up almost two decades ago to help Oklahoma-based startup companies bridge the investment gap and leverage other private, federal, and institutional sources of capital. i2E Inc., in partnership with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, has been theRead more
Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Company Selexys was one of the top five largest mergers and acquisitions of U.S.-based companies in the fourth quarter of 2016. That deal and the sale of WeGoLook are proof positive that Oklahoma’s strategy of public/private venture capital funds works. When the recent fourth-quarter and full-year MoneyTreeRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Company If you look at economic development from the state perspective, there are three areas of concentration. One, Oklahoma can be in an arms race against other states for the next new manufacturing plant or the next corporation looking to move. Two, the state can createRead more
Scott Rollins, CEO of Selexys Pharmaceuticals/Oklahoman photo provided by OCAST By Jim Stafford Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Selexys Pharmaceuticals president and CEO Scott Rollins reflected on the lessons learned in the wake of the richest transaction in the history of Oklahoma biosciences — the recent $665 million sale of Selexys to industryRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. I’ve been writing (and talking) a lot about the exits of WeGoLook and Selexys over the few weeks. In fact, when I sat down to work on this column, my wife even asked me if I was ever going to come up with somethingRead more
By Stephen Prescott, M.D. Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Happy New Year! In the world of health and business, 2016 brought its share of headlines. But many of those stories read like the ghosts of Christmases past. There was outrage over a massive price hike for an old drug (EpiPen). Health insurance costsRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. As 2016 draws to a close, entrepreneurs and early stage investors in Oklahoma are ending the year with big smiles. In the past few weeks, the exits of Selexys and WeGoLook have been strong validations that in this state we do have the talent, capitalRead more
By Paula Burkes Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Most scientists spend a lifetime hoping their research contributes to a body of work that collectively will lead to a new drug that will treat or cure a disease. For Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s Rodger “Rod” McEver, that body of knowledge was developed in hisRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Company Now that the acquisition announcements of Selexys by Novartis and of WeGoLook by Crawford & Co. have been made, I’m looking forward to what happens next. In the case of Selexys, like any biotech deal, seeing the “next” will take some time. But with WeGoLook,Read more
By The Oklahoman Editorial Board Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. OKLAHOMA legislators have another tough session ahead, one in which they are expected to have perhaps $600 million less to appropriate than they did in 2016 — when there was $1.3 billion less than the year before. It will be challenging work, toRead more
Oklahoma startups are cashing in By Jack Money Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Company Chalk up WeGoLook, LLC’s deal with Crawford & Co. as another success story for i2E and the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. On Dec. 6, Crawford & Co. announced it would acquire an 85 percent membershipRead more
Two major acquisitions of local firms good news in several ways By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Company I had an amazing Friday a couple of weeks ago. Literally, in one day, I found out that two of i2E’s portfolio companies were being acquired by major corporations — the two biggest exitsRead more
Modest Oklahoma investments lead to innovation By Scott Meacham Copyright 2016, © The Oklahoma Publishing Company Most of us have probably read to ourselves, our children or our grandchildren that all-time favorite, “The Little Engine that Could.” This simple tale has been teaching the value of optimism and hard work to millions of young (andRead more
If you are in a decision-making position in an Oklahoma company, is there any reason you wouldn’t want to consider doing business with a startup? You might think that there’s too much risk with a startup. Personally, I like optimism and passion. I favor businesses that stretch, that run lean, and that focus on cashflow. And I like to be part of helping a new business grow. I bet when you think about it, you do too.
