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By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Last week, after I wrote about valuation — the negotiation that happens between entrepreneur and investor over what the startup company is worth on the day the investor writes a check — I got a little good-natured kidding from some of my friends. You soundRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. There is no aspect of the relationship between entrepreneur and potential investor that has more opportunity for conflict than the negotiation of the value of the company for the purpose of the investor making an investment. Every company founder wants the value of the companyRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The other day, Bob Hogrefe, CEO of Access Optics, posed this thought-starter: What is it that battlefield observation systems, minimally invasive robotic surgery, and cellphones all have in common? The answer? All three rely on very small compact imaging systems — systems that Bob andRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Oklahoma’s innovation economy is a complex system with many moving parts. Our state’s innovation engine is driven by motivated and coachable entrepreneurs with ideas and technologies that disrupt. To be successful, Oklahoma’s entrepreneurs need investment capital from angels, venture capitalists and banks. They need world-classRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. In entrepreneurship, just like anything else, ratings and rankings are important, if for no other reason than they help shape how we view ourselves. Therefore, it’s important to know how Oklahoma stacks up to other states, especially states that are most like us. Oklahoma wasRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © (2018), The Oklahoma Publishing Co. This week, we are at the midpoint of the year — and, at least here in Oklahoma, smack in the middle of the dog days of summer. It’s easy in July in the Midwest to succumb to the summer doldrums — that is unless youRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © (2018), The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Jeff Weber, CEO of zone·tv, was in the first graduating class of the Management Information Systems (MIS) program at the University of Oklahoma College of Business. Now, as CEO of zone·tv, Jeff is tapping into his Oklahoma and MIS roots to build the data scienceRead more

By Jack Money Copyright © (2018) The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Oklahoma City’s Innovation District is about to become more innovative. On Monday, the Oil & Gas Technology Center owned by Baker Hughes, a General Electric company, will become the BHGE Energy Innovation Center of North America. Along with the new name comes plans to refocusRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. At a time when cable and satellite carriers like AT&T, Comcast, Cox, Dish, and more are having challenges in their core businesses, Jeff Weber, CEO of zone·tv, sees a huge opportunity in cable and satellite TV. “Consumers are leaving cable and satellite, cutting back onRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © (2018), The Oklahoma Publishing Co. It’s a promising sign when an entrepreneur with a successful track record inside an industry decides to build a solution to solve a problem that’s industrywide. That’s the story behind Whiteboard CRM in Oklahoma City. Launched about three years ago by CEO Brian Bomar, aRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Entrepreneurs never have enough time or money. That’s a hard, cold fact. Another hard, cold fact is that venture capitalists often avoid investing in Series A rounds if equity in a company is more diluted than they like. And a third hard cold fact isRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © (2018), The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Through the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup Business Competition, we meet 250 to 300 college, university, and graduate students every year. While they all won’t go on to start companies, almost every student we talk to during the Love’s Cup, views entrepreneurship as a viable career option.Read more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The State Science & Technology Institute (SSTI), the national network that serves those involved in technology-based economic development, recently announced a list of the most active technology-based economic development funds in the U.S. and Canada. SSTI reviewed PitchBook data from hundreds of nonprofit, public, orRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Anybody who’s ever heard me talk about building out Oklahoma’s innovation economy has heard me say that capital begets capital and deal flow begets deal flow. The challenge is that it takes a predictable continuum of investment capital to build a robust pipeline of startups,Read more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The fight against cancer in Oklahoma took a giant leap forward last week with the announcement that the Stephenson Cancer Center has become a National Cancer Institute Designated Cancer Center. NCI-designated Cancer Centers represent only the top 2 percent of Cancer Centers nationwide. I haveRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright ©2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Whether the weather fascinates, frustrates, or frightens, weather is big business for Oklahoma. In Norman alone, there are more than 1,100 people working in the weather industry. About 100 of those (nearly half are degreed meteorologists) are employed by Weather Decision Technologies (WDT), a firm thatRead more

By Sarah Terry- Cobo Courtesy of The Journal Record OKLAHOMA CITY – Laura Fleet is pushing in the clutch and revving the engine. She is looking to expand her technology startup from Oklahoma to the rest of the U.S. The founder of the SendaRide mobile application said she used her knowledge of the health careRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. We’ve just completed Oklahoma’s 14th annual statewide collegiate business plan competition. Last Thursday evening, as we honored the 2018 Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup winners at the traditional celebratory gala, I was struck — as I am every year — with just how impactful this business planRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. If you are a regular reader of these columns, and I hope you are, you can tell that I like history. There are the lessons, of course, and the perspective we gain from looking back. And there are the celebratory moments. There’s always an “aha”Read more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The U.S. trucking industry is vital to the nation’s economy. Trucks move more than 70 percent of the country’s cargo and the industry employs more than 7 million people. Nearly half of those people are driving the trucks. Driving a truck is tough; turnover ratesRead more