Oklahoma Venture Forum Podcast

Douglas Sorocco is the owner of Dunlap Codding in Oklahoma City, an intellectual property attorney, PHOSITA blogger, chemist, visionary, social entrepreneur and creator of DC on Film Row. He’s also one of the volunteer co-directors of the new Oklahoma Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program (OKEMP). Modeled after MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service (MIT VMS), OKEMP matches an entrepreneur with a team of un...

Transparency, trust, and transformation at the Better Business Bureau of Central Oklahoma. How does an Oklahoma organization anticipate its 90th birthday? In the case of the Better Business Bureau of Central Oklahoma, it stays true to the core values established in 1930 while continually adapting its services to the business community. “Transparency is one of the core values of our business,” says...

After earning his Ph. D. in Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin, Rob Reynolds began his career as a university faculty member teaching languages and literature. He has also served in university administration, as a textbook publishing executive, and as a co-founder and/or leader of multiple educational technology startups. Reynolds currently serves as Executive Director of TEL Library, a...

Serial Entrepreneur Philip Kurtz on navigating a graceful exit. After a 30 year journey, Philip Kurtz found his exit. “When I got to CareATC,” says Kurtz of the company he recently exited, “it was like everything I’d done in my life had prepared me for this particular job. I believed if I could blend a lot of the tools I’d learned over the last 30 years, I could have a major impact.”   Those...

OKC's newest (and youngest) toy-tech startup Wristworld is an augmented reality puzzle RPG using wristbands.  Travel through four holographic lands, interact with characters to solve the mystery, show off your 3D character and carry a whole world...on your wrist! What better way to design a toy-line than let kids be the creators?   That’s the idea behind Wristworld, the first product of...

Craig Watters circles the globe. His journey may take him to Pakistan or India before he stops to form rings in Africa. Along the way, the Director of Oklahoma State University’s new Riata Institute for Global Social Entrepreneurship connects individuals to technologies uniquely suited to their communities and cultures. “I like what I do because it gets to the heart of what I think entrepreneurshi...

Goggle Auctions is a virtual reality application hosting live, weekly auto auctions empowering car dealerships and other wholesale used vehicle purchasers to purchase pre-owned vehicles from the convenience of their own office through an intelligent, immersive, and engaging live auction experience in a VR headset. https://www.goggleauctions.com/ The Oklahoma Venture Forum (OVF) is the state’s pree...

The keynote speaker for the OVF Chairman's Award for Economic Impact event on May 08, 2019 will be Piyush Patel, Speaker, Angel Investor and Best-Selling Author of Lead Your Tribe, Love Your Work. Mr. Patel has 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and is the former CEO of Digital-Tutors.   It is with great distinction and great humility that the Oklahoma Venture Forum honors the Chickasaw...

“Oklahoma now has a Lieutenant Governor who is also a small business owner,” says Matt Pinnell. “So, naturally, I’m going to be going around the state seeking out opportunities to speak to entrepreneurs.”    Before he was Lieutenant Governor, Matt Pinnell and his wife Lisa launched Binxy Baby, a company that sells baby hammocks that fit into shopping carts. Today the business is thriving...

Is anything bigger than basketball in Oklahoma City? Ask Brian Byrnes, the senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for the Thunder, and the answer might surprise you. “The Thunder has made a community investment play that is beyond basketball,” says Byrnes. “It’s called the Thunder Launchpad.”  Introduced in January of 2018 as part of the Thunder’s 10th season, The Launchpad is an accele...

Paelode Systems is an Oklahoma-based startup company that creates efficiencies in the oil & gas sector by applying technology to solve business-critical problems in innovative ways. With a combined 40 years of experience in the information technology and oil & gas sectors, the founders of Paelode Systems have witnessed many of these inefficient processes first-hand, and in late 2017, decid...

“I can see the curve of the earth from up here,” says Todd Blasdel of the view from his office in Oklahoma City. “It’s quite spectacular.” The Lead for Strategic Innovation at Devon Energy has a 42nd-floor office in Oklahoma’s tallest building, and his window on the world is a lot like his job description: “I not only scout external innovations, but I also facilitate internal innovations,” he says...

Dan Shuart has over 30 years of experience in the Technology Industry. Dan has held executive positions across multiple industries, from Insurance to Energy. He started Global Straticom in 1995 as a technology consulting company helping growth companies develop agile technology strategies. Today Global Straticom has a diverse portfolio of innovations to help companies of every size develop and uti...

NextStream is the new kid on the block in downtown Oklahoma City’s Innovation District, but it’s already developing five new technologies for the oil and gas industry. “Those technologies will soon make their own splash,” says James Roller, NextStream’s Managing Director. “I can’t tell you what they are, but I can tell you that they will fit into the continued evolution of the oil and gas industry...

"Evolving to Capture New Opportunities in a Dynamic Market." The November long presenter was Braden Merritt, Director of Investor Relations of Humphreys Capital. In this role, he communicates fund strategy and performance, coordinates fund offering materials and investor correspondence, and reports to the Investment Committee.   Braden is a 7-year combat veteran who began his career as a reco...

Have you ever wondered what Top Producers are doing differently? Year after year, they close an extraordinary amount of loans, receive an extraordinary amount of referrals, and make an extraordinary amount of money. But, what makes them so extraordinary? Brian Bomar spent two years following some of these Top Producers to learn what it was that set them apart. He examined their behaviors, studied...

This month, we hear from Jason Shultz, a Partner at HoganTaylor and the Director of their technology spin-off myPortal. Shultz has been a key driver of HoganTaylor’s use of national, cutting-edge technology in its audit processes, which allows audit engagement teams to perform focused, risk-based testing, address specific fraud risk factors, and identify potential operational inefficiencies. &nbsp...

The October 2018 Short Presenter was Cindy Convery, CEO of Raw Space for Rent online startup. Convery is the founder of RawSpaceForRent.com, an online community marketplace that connects people looking to rent out their unused space with people looking for unique space rentals: events, art openings, workspace.     Prior to founding RawSpaceForRent.com, Cindy owned Foothill Productio...

Our long presentation speaker for September 2018 was Kedar Pai from Plasma Bionics, the Winner of Most Promising Business from the Oklahoma Venture Forum 2018 Awards. It took eight years and more than one pivot to get Plasma Bionics to where they are today: A high-tech manufacturing company that utilizes portable cold plasma technology to sterilize veterinary instruments.   Pai gives us an up...

We hear from Shoaib Shaikh all about the Stillwater startup XploSafe that is now producing a full line of products that protect personnel that deal with unstable and hazardous compounds such as first responders, industrial safety personnel, researchers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and threat assessment officials. XploSafe has a very skilled and highly motivated team that is addressing some of the...

For our July 2018 meeting, we take a closer look at Economic Growth in local communities featuring Enid, Oklahoma. Pete Dillingham from No Man's Land Beef Jerky speaks with us about his journey to this place in his career and this business venture. https://www.nmlbeefjerky.com/   www. OVF.org The Oklahoma Venture Forum (OVF) is the state’s preeminent organization fostering innovation and econ...

Taking a closer look at Economic Growth in local communities: Featuring Enid, Oklahoma. We visit with Brent Kisling of GrowEnid, Enid's Regional Development Alliance. https://growenid.com/ www. OVF.org The Oklahoma Venture Forum (OVF) is the state’s preeminent organization fostering innovation and economic growth. We introduce investors, mentors and support organizations to entrepreneurs, providin...