i&E Summer 2017

SUMMER 2017

DO IT. ENJOY IT. LOVE IT. Love’s Travel Stops ... the ultimate role model for Oklahoma’s emerging entrepreneurs

PROFILES:

MAXQ, TELEVET, PROGENTEC, SIMERGENT

We’re Proud to Help

OKLAHOMA GROW Comprised of over 160 Oklahoma corporations and business groups, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable serves as the state’s primary economic development support organization.

We are a collaborative non-profit group whose sole purpose is advancing Oklahoma’s economic development – through business start-up, expansion and recruitment programs. We also focus on projects to develop and grow our state’s workforce.

During the past 26 years, the Roundtable has supported hundreds of state, national and global business promotion activities – resulting in thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in corporate investment throughout Oklahoma. Our members are committed to the growth and diversification of our state’s economy.

We invite you to join us in our efforts.

Contact us today.

CHAIRMAN Rob Martinovich

Chief Administrative Officer ONEOK, Inc. Tulsa

OKLAHOMA BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE 655 RESEARCH PARKWAY, SUITE 420 OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 73104 | 405-235-3787 www.okbusinessroundtable.com 2

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INSIDE MaxQ 6 Televet 8 Progentec 10 Simergent 12

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Love’s Cup Winners 18 This year’s winners in the Love’s Cup competition pitched everything from medical solutions to high-tech innovations

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In Love with Entrepreneurship 20 Jenny Love Meyer tells Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup audience to have passion for their ventures as did Love's Travel Stops co-founders Tom and Judy Love Toucan Play This Game 21 A student-created venture, Toucan Pay, found the right direction by reaching out to potential customers in i2E’s Venture Assessment Program Jumpstarting Rural Entrepreneurship 22 i2E’s is taking a GrowOK version of its popular Venture Assessment Program to rural Oklahoma and tribal entrepreneurs in communities across the state

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innovators & Entrepreneurs is produced by i2E, Inc., manager of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center.

For more information on any content contained herein, please contact i2E at 405-235-2305. © Copyright 2017 i2E, Inc. All rights reserved.

i2E TEAM

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The i2E management and staff is composed of professionals with extensive experience in technology commercialization, business development, venture investing, finance, organizational.

Stephen Prescott, Chairman OMRF

Scott Meacham President & CEO Rex Smitherman Senior Vice President, Operations Sarah Seagraves Senior Vice President, Marketing Mark Lauinger Senior Vice President, Client Services Tom Francis Director of Funds Administration Judy Beech Director of Finance Carol Curtis

Venture Advisor & Director of Academic Research Assessment

Mark Poole, Vice Chair First National Bank of Broken Arrow Michael LaBrie, Secretary McAfee & Taft Leslie Batchelor Center for Economic Development Law

Craig Shimasaki Moleculera Labs Brien Thorstenberg Tulsa Regional Chamber Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Richard Williamson T.D. Williamson Duane Wilson LDW Services, LLC

Howard G. Barnett, Jr., OSU-Tulsa, OSU-CHS

PA R T N E R S Robert Brearton The Oklahoma Experimental Program to American Fidelity Assurance Company Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Jay Calhoun Cherokee Nation Businesses Cherokee Nation Michael Carolina OCAST

Chickasaw Nation

Steve Cropper

Choctaw Nation

Carl Edwards Price Edwards Company Presbyterian Health Foundation

Greater Oklahoma City Chamber

Richard Rainey

Venture Advisor & Director, SBRA Program

Love’s Travel Stops

Philip Eller Muscogee(Creek) Nation Eller Detrich, P.C. James Lovely Oklahoma Business Roundtable Joseph J. Ferretti Venture Advisor University of Oklahoma Oklahoma Center for the Advancement Stacey Brandhorst Health Sciences Center of Science and Technology (OCAST) Venture Advisor & Director of Cheryl Hill Venture Assessment Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Hill Manufacturing/Hill Equipment Scott Thomas Danny Hilliard Presbyterian Health Foundation IT Manager Chickasaw Nation U.S. Department of Treasury Darcy Wilborn Ronnie Irani Client Engagement Director RKI Energy Resources U.S. Economic Development Cindy Henson Administration Philip Kurtz Underwriting Coordinator & Investment CareATC Compliance Officer State Small Business Credit Initiative Hershel Lamirand III Katelynn Henderson Capital Development Strategies Events Specialist Merl Lindstrom Shaun Fair Phillips 66 Underwriting Specialist Fred Morgan Jennifer Buettner The State Chamber Executive Assistant David Pitts Kate Nelson Bank SNB Administrative Assistant Ryan Posey HSI Sensing Teresa Rose Crook Oklahoma City Community Foundation Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing Claudia San Pedro Sonic Corporation Darryl Schmidt BancFirst

www.i2E.org

facebook.com/i2E

facebook.com/lovescup twitter.com/i2E_Inc

ABOUT i2E WE INVEST IN ENTREPRENEURS TO BUILD SUCCESSFUL HIGH GROWTH OKLAHOMA COMPANIES Over our 20-year history, i2E’s nationally recognized services have provided business expertise and funding to over 700 of Oklahoma’s emerging small businesses. With more than $60 million of investment capital under management, we are focused on serving companies in all phases of the business life cycle, from startups looking for their first round of capital all the way to established businesses seeking funding to expand their markets or products.

We also help lead new business developments into the marketplace more efficiently and more quickly while providing guidance to bring more funding to Oklahoma’s researchers and entrepreneurs.

Through our proven business and venture development process, we turn ideas into successful enterprises ... i2E.

W H AT W E D O • Evaluate the market potential of new concepts • Assist with evaluation of business plans, marketing plans and raising capital • Provide guidance in building a management team, business structure and financial forecasting • Assist with developing an effective investor presentation • Assist in obtaining funding through federal grant programs • Work with research universities to encourage commercialization of research technologies • Provide grant capital assistance and equity investment

Welcome from Scott Meacham When the founding sponsor of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup went out of the business of grant funding last year, our Oklahoma competition was at a crossroads. For the past decade, more than 1,300 Oklahoma college students from across the state took their first steps down the entrepreneur’s path as participants in the Governor’s Cup.

But without a title prize sponsor, we had no way to present the type of experience that would both provide students with a real world experience of writing and pitching a business plan as well as rewarding their efforts with thousands of dollars in cash prizes.

Then Love’s Travel Stops stepped up. The Oklahoma-based corporation, which began as an entrepreneurial venture of Tom and Judy Love in 1964, became the title sponsor of the renamed Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup beginning in 2017.

With Love’s backing the students and their entrepreneurial plans, this year’s competition emerged as the most competitive and rewarding to date.

We are grateful for the sponsorship of Love’s Travel Stops and for the keynote address at our awards banquet by Jenny Love Meyer, vice president for Communications and daughter of the Love’s founders.

In this edition of i&E magazine, we are proud to publish Jenny’s keynote (page 20) in its entirety because it both speaks to today’s students and gives us insight into the entrepreneurship of Tom and Judy Love.

We also recap the awesome competition from this year’s event and recognize the winners in this edition (page 14).

Also in this edition of i&E magazine, you will discover profiles of two companies that began as Governor’s Cup teams, Televet and MaxQ, in addition to stories on two other outstanding i2E client companies, Simergent and Progentec.(beginning in page 6).

Finally, we kicked off the very first GrowOK venture assessment class this spring for rural and tribal entrepreneurs. We take a firsthand look at how the inaugural class was presented – and received at the Chickasaw Nation’s Carl Albert Center in Ada. (page 22)

We also talked to an entrepreneur who is both an alumnus of the Love’s Cup and our Venture Assessment program, and came away impressed about the potential of his company, Toucan Pay. (page 21).

As always, I encourage you to read this edition of i&E cover-tocover to discover just a few of the many entrepreneurial ventures that are emerging throughout our state.

– Scott Meacham President & CEO

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Profiles MAXQ

COLD BLOODED SUCCESS Stillwater’s MaxQ puts insulation technology to work the nation’s blood collection industry

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n early 2011, a team of Oklahoma State University engineering students conceived the concept of a light-weight, super thin insulation for space-bound “cube” satellites.

Operating under the name MaxQ, they took their idea to NASA, only to be turned down.

However, NASA softened the rejection by offering some insightful advice to the Oklahoma-based entrepreneurs.

Seek more earthly applications.

“We were advised to apply our insulation concept on terrestrial packaging needs,” said Saravan Kumar, Ph.D., now CEO of Stillwater-based MaxQ. “The feedback from NASA encouraged us to compete for a different market.”

MaxQ’s founders set their sights on a new market, the nation’s blood collection industry.

Today, MaxQ offers a comprehensive suite of validated, reusable or one-way systems for the blood collection, vaccine, pharmaceuticals and life sciences industries.

“We drive costs, inefficiencies, and hassles out of customers’ product

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transport workflow, Kumar said. “Our experts develop packaging solutions for each customer’s unique situation.”

“Life-saving biological products like blood, vaccines and pharmaceuticals must be stored and transported within a specific cold chain,” Kumar said. “For instance, a unit of blood, which costs $250 to $500, must be maintained under precise temperatures during transport.

Deviation from required temperature range during handling could potentially affect the viability of the blood unit leading to it being scrapped or, worse yet, lead to adverse clinical outcomes during transfusion.”

MaxQ’s packaging systems are employed by major hospitals and blood banks across the United States and Canada. The flourishing company was built as a Stillwater-based business, where it has access to students from OSU and Meridian Technology Center which have helped its growth.

MaxQ’s founding partners validated their business plan and, then, raised seed capital while still OSU students through a series of collegiate business plan competitions.

MaxQ won second place in OSU’s Riata Business Plan competition, then won the Student Generated Technology Interview award in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup, and was named a finalist in the competition.

“As a student startup venture, the process of creating a business plan was invaluable,” Kumar said. “It was an early opportunity for the team to work together and analyze different facets of establishing and running a sustainable venture. It motivated us to research and draft business models for capturing market demand for our solutions.”

MaxQ’s recently closed on an $889,000 Series A investment round led by i2E. The investment round included $300,000 from the i2E-managed OklahomaSeed Capital Fund, along with $125,000 from the Oklahoma Angel Fund, which is also managed by i2E. The remaining $464,000 was invested by members of the SeedStep Angels group that was founded and is managed by i2E. In addition, MaxQ received a $444,500 Phase II B matching grant from the National Science Foundation, bringing the total round to $1.33 million.

“The majority of funds from this Series A investment round will be used to expand our marketing and sales operations, and vertically integrate production,” Kumar said. “With this capital raise, our primary goal is to establish MaxQ as the leading total packaging solutions provider in the blood packaging industry.”.

In addition, MaxQ has received both Phase I and Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards, multiple grants from OCAST, as well as funds from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, now known as VentureWell.

The company also received seed funding in 2012 from the Blue Print 4 Business venture accelerator in Oklahoma City.

“Oklahoma represents a resourcerich startup ecosystem for entrepre-

neurs,” Kumar said. “We have access to vital resources such as technology development and accelerated research support from OCAST, product development and manufacturing support services offered by the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, and most importantly, access to critical growth capital and mentoring resources provided by i2E.” MaxQ’s management is working with i2E to close its Series A investment round. “We are excited about the opportunity to work with our strategic investors to expand our market and technology applications.,” Kumar said.

Fast forward from 2012 to 2017, and you discover the company is continuing to receive wide scale technology adoption in the healthcare industry.

MaxQ recently executed a multiyear purchase agreement with a major blood banking conglomerate and is in the process of establishing a national brand distribution agreement with Cardinal Health, which serves nearly 70 percent of the hospitals in the United States.

The company also has broadened the horizons for its core insulation technology into the construction industry.

“Our core insulation technology is ideally suited for large scale volume needs such as structural insulation for mobile homes, refrigerated trucks, rail cars, and insulation for residential and commercial buildings,” said Balaji Jayakumar, Ph.D., MaxQ’s Chief Operating Officer.

The vision of the MaxQ management team was apparent back in its days as a university-based concept competing in the Governor’s Cup, Whitson said.

“They are very tenacious and hardworking,” Whitson said. “I have noticed that successful entrepreneurs all have one trait in common. They know deep down no matter what they will ultimately prevail and succeed. The MaxQ team has that trait in spades.”

Saravan Kumar, Ph.D. CEO Stillwater, OK Employees 8 Year Founded 2012

Product or Technology Validated packaging systems for the blood supply chain and associated life science industries.

Markets Served MaxQ provides its packaging systems to the blood bank industry, pharmaceutical, vaccines and life sciences industries.

Future Plans MaxQ envisions a sizeable increase in customer acquisition, significant expansion in manufacturing resources and growth in team personnel by the addition of high technology jobs that will generate sustainable value for its customers and end-users in the blood supply chain.

Funding MaxQ recently closed on an $889,000 Series A investment round led by i2E. It has also received commitment for additional non-dilutive funding from the National Science Foundation.

Milestones MaxQ has successfully developed and launched validated packaging systems specific to the blood transport industry and has executed a multi-year agreement with a major blood banking conglomerate. packmaxq.com

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Profiles Televet, Inc.

T E L EDigitalV ER Efor PetsT

Televet bridges both time and distance between veterinarians and pet owners in time of emergency

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et’s say that your beautiful collie – let’s call her Lassie – turns up sick one evening. Won’t eat. Won’t drink. Can’t hold her head up.

Your vet’s office – located across town – is already closed for the night.

What do you do?

An Oklahoma-based startup called Televet is providing the answer. Televet is building a digital bridge between pet owners and veterinarians that allows vets to remotely provide care to animals.

“Televet is a platform that enables veterinary clinics to provide remote care, connecting veterinarians with their clients no matter where they are,” said Price Fallin, co-founder and chief technology officer of the company. “We help pet owners stay in touch with their existing vet beyond the vet’s physical location.”

Televet has built a website and a

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mobile app that links pet owners and vets, helping bridge both distance and time.

Pet owners can get a virtual consultation at any time, while veterinarians have a new source of revenue.

“In the virtual consultation, they can include things about what’s wrong with their pet, attach pictures or videos to the consultation, as well as instant message and video chat with their vet,” Fallin said.

Televet had its roots on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, where a team of students that included Fallin and company CEO Steven Carter conceived an idea to connect horse owner and veterinarians.

The OU students called their company “Horse Facts” and entered a business plan around the concept in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup. They won the AT&T Information Technology and Communications

Interview Award and placed third in the overall Undergraduate division.

The four members of the Horse Facts team were Carter, Fallin, Robert Cowlishaw and Erin Dowdy.

The competition spurred Carter and Fallin to continue down the entrepreneur’s path with the concept. It also helped them make important connections along the way.

“I think the best take away from the competition was getting a glimpse of what it is like trying to start a company with a team of people,” Fallin said. “The best connection I made was with the staff at i2E that I continue to work with today. They’ve helped me beyond the competition to this day in all of my efforts of actually starting up a company.”

After the launch of Horse Facts, the entrepreneurs decided the equine market was too limited, so they pivoted into the

The best connection I made was with the staff at i2E that I continue to work with today.

They’ve helped me beyond the competition to this day in all of my efforts of actually starting up a company.

bigger market of small animal clinics and rebranded themselves as Televet.

The journey included a stop in Austin, Texas, where the company incubated in an accelerator called the Capital Factory.

However, the expensive, competitive Austin startup scene and a more inviting Oklahoma environment lured them back to the Sooner State.

“It’s hard to compare Oklahoma to Austin since that city is like the Silicon Valley of the South,” Fallin said. “In Austin, it all seems more like a big competition between startups whether they are in the same industry or not. In Oklahoma, there is more of a win-win vibe.”

The company is now positioning itself for a second round of funding from the OCAST Technology Business Finance Program (TBFP). “i2E has been helpful in raising shortterm funding for the company,” Fallin said. “They’ve also pushed us to make some company changes so that we can be in a better position to raise a new round, which we are currently working on.

Beyond the financial impact that they’ve had on our company, we have also been given some good advice when we needed some outside perspective.”

Ken Parker, co-founder and CEO of Norman-based NextThought, LLC, serves in an advisory role for Televet, which he calls an idea “whose time has come” in

– Price Fallin

using mobile technology to connect pets and vets.

“TeleVet is a great example of starting with an idea, exploring it rapidly, and pivoting to find product-market fit,” Parker said. “They were smart about it." The journey down the entrepreneur’s path has provided Fallin with new perspective and respect for the challenge of building a company.

There are no shortcuts, he said. Success doesn’t happen overnight.

“I think the biggest thing for anyone interested in starting a new venture to understand is that it takes a lot of time, effort and belief,” he said. “Persistence is key. It takes a lot of time and effort just get to your first sale. The main point is to not give up so quick and to keep at it.”

Fallin and Carter have advanced their company to the point where they have completed a version 1.0 of their system with both a working website and mobile app. And they have revenue from paying customers with the promise of many more soon to climb aboard.

“Our current effort is to work with our strategic partners in order to scale our sales efforts,” Fallin said.

That’s good news for both veterinarians and for anxious pet owners. The next time Lassie comes down with an illness late in the evening, it may be Televet that connects her owners with the vet for a diagnosis.

Steven Carter CEO Oklahoma City, OK Employees 3 Year founded 2015

Product or technology Televet is advancing telemedicine technology for pets that connects pet owners remotely with veterinarians.

Markets served Televet serves both pet owners and veterinarians through its innovative mobile technology.

Future plans The company plans to roll out the Televet Wellness Plan integration; remote consultations will be included for pet owners as part of their vet’s wellness programs.

Funding Angel investment and TBFP funding through i2E. Milestones The most exciting milestone achieved by the company is that is now has paying customers and the numbers of customers served and key partnerships with vet wellness companies is growing. www.gettelevet.com

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Profiles Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.

FUTURE VISION OMRF scientists develop technology that quells lupus flares before they happen

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pair of scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have developed technology that could some day allow doctors to intervene as much as three months in advance to blunt lupus disease flares.

You could call it “Future Vision” for health care professionals.

However, the company that is working to commercialize the work of OMRF researchers Judith James, Ph.D., M.D., and Melissa Munroe, Ph.D., M.D., is called Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.

Through the Accelerate Fund, i2E recently led a $1,200,000 investment in Progentec Diagnostics that also included 10 i&E

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Chicago based OCA Ventures and Mayo Clinic as co-investors. The company is led

by Sanjiv Sharma, Chairman, and Mohan Purushothaman, Ph.D., President and CEO.

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs).

That means that the body’s immune system attacks its own tissue, resulting in inflammation, pain and damage to organs such as the kidneys.

In their work at OMRF, Drs. James and Munroe identified a series of disease mediators, which are molecules that regulate inflammation and increase or decrease the chance that a lupus patient will experience a disease flare.

“The mediators can be used to calculate a disease score, which serves as a method of identifying patients who are likely to experience heightened disease activity,” said i2E Venture Advisor Rick Rainey, who has worked closely with Progentec Diagnostics.

“With such information, doctors could intervene as much as three months in advance to blunt or even prevent spikes in disease activity,” Rainey said.

James said that the OMRF scientists turned to Manu Nair, the Foundation’s Vice President of Technology Ventures, to determine a path to commercialization for the discoveries they have made.

If you can predict flare and dampen it, you avoid that hospital cost, and long term you could avoid organ damage in general, and related medical needs like kidney transplant, which for payers is very attractive.”

“We decided that we needed to bring in expertise that could really help us take something that we saw could be really important to our patients,” James said. “Since we were in an early stage, we needed a partner, and that’s how we found Progentec.”

Nair said that Progentec is developing a suite of products based on the OMRF discoveries. The first one could guide health care professionals in determining the right medicine for lupus patients who may be going into a lupus flare.

That’s important to both doctors and the insurance companies that pay for health care.

“Doctors that we spoke to love this candidate test, because they can actually have a good tool for their patients, and to manage the patients and give the right medication,” Nair said. “If you can predict flare and dampen it, you avoid that hospital cost, and long term you could avoid organ damage in general, and related medical needs like kidney transplant, which for payers is very attractive.”

A second piece to the Progentec suite of lupus related products, is a diagnostic test that can identify lupus patients, years before they show symptoms of the disease, Nair said.

“Right now the gold standard for identifying lupus patients is an old test that people are using because they have nothing better available,” he said. “It is not highly specific and sensitive. The Progentec test we are developing has close to 90 percent sensitivity.

“What it will do is identify patients at least three or four years before they are currently being diagnosed.”

OMRF scientists have already demonstrated a proof of concept of the lupus biomarkers, said i2E’s Rainey.

Now, Progentec is working to move the technology into commercialization.

“The subsequent steps must be focused on moving the technology into the clinic, and into the hands of the physicians,” Rainey said. “The primary risks associated with these later commercialization steps are primarily execution in nature. Are the paths to market as well thought-out as they need to be? Are the right managers in place to not only develop the ‘go-to-market’ strategies but implement them?”

Nair described the recruitment of Purushothaman and Sharma as a good story for the technology because both bring commercialization expertise to the company.

“With the recent closing of the i2E-led investment, Progentec is taking some critical first steps in validating the tests and getting them closer to commercialization” Purushothaman said.

“We’ve got two studies that we are starting,” he said. “One is starting at OMRF, and the other is going to be a multi-centered trial, at OMRF and two other centers, including Mayo Clinic.

Most of the investment money is going to go into these and other clinical studies.”

With i2E’s help, Progentec is starting down a path that could some day allow physicians to peer into the future to identify lupus patients and prevent devastating lupus flares.

That’s lupus “Future Vision.”

– Manu Nair

Mohan Purushothaman CEO Oklahoma City Employees 3 Year founded 2015

Product or Technology Biomarker based diagnostics for managing Lupus.

Markets Served US and Global Markets.

Future plans Europe, Canada & Other Global Markets. New Products include tests for Early Diagnosis of Lupus, Disease Activity Index for Lupus.

Funding Milestone i2E Led Convertible Note.

Major Milestones Initiation of two critical studies nearing completion. www.progentec.com

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Profiles Simergent

an af fordable

MEDICAL MIRACLE Simergent, LLC, plans to roll out low cost dialysis technology to developing nations worldwide

“Around the world, there are about 2.3 million kidney patients who will die each year because they can’t afford dialysis or they can’t access it because there is not a dialysis center on every corner in other countries like we have here in the United States”, said Steve Lindo, cofounder and CEO of Norman-based Simergent LLC.” Simergent was founded to provide a solution to this distressing world-wide problem. It has created technology to bring what is known as peritoneal dialysis to patients in emerging countries around the world.

Peritoneal dialysis is a technology for filtering toxins out of the blood of people whose kidneys have failed. It is an alternative to hemodialysis, which is the most prevalent dialysis method by far in the United States.

In hemodialysis, patients go to a dialysis clinic approximately three times a week, usually in the middle of the day, and are connected to a filtering machine through a needle in their arm.

The machine pulls the blood from the patient, filters it and returns it.

“Peritoneal dialysis is performed in the patient’s own home at night while they sleep,” Lindo said. “There is no blood and no needles involved. Instead, the patient has a surgically implanted port in their abdomen and a machine delivers a sugar and electrolyte solution into their abdomen.”

The solution delivered by peritoneal dialysis draws wastes, chemicals, and extra water from the tiny blood vessels in the peritoneal membrane into the dialysate solution. The used solution is drained from the abdomen through the tube, taking the wastes from the blood with it.

“When the patient wakes up in the morning, they disconnect themselves from this tubing and they can go about their day,” Lindo said. “There are no interruptions during the middle of the day; they can live a normal life. Most patients, if given a choice, would choose peritoneal dialysis over hemodialysis.”

OK, then why is hemodialysis so prevalent in the United States?

It all has to do with how dialysis reimbursement payments were originally set up by Medicare. Up until 2011, clinics that offered hemodialysis were reimbursed a higher amount than peritoneal dialysis due to the extra drugs which only hemodialysis patients needed.

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But that’s not the case in emerging countries around the world.

And those are the markets that Simergent is targeting with its low-cost, easy-to-use technology.

“We are really focused on building an affordable home dialysis device that is meant for emerging markets,” Lindo said. “We are targeting Mexico, India and China initially.”

Simergent was founded by Lindo and his business partner, Rick Pendergraft, Ph.D. Both are Oklahoma natives and University of Oklahoma engineering graduates. The pair met at OU in the mid-1990s where they built an Indy-type electric race car with which a team from OU competed against other universities.

After college, Piedmont-native Lindo moved first to Dallas then to Chicago working for medical device manufacturers. He was the Lead System Designer for Baxter Healthcare's marketleading Automated Peritoneal Dialysis system.

Norman-based Pendergraft holds a Ph.D. from OU and has 16 years of experience as a software developer and instrumentation/ controls design engineer. He has written software for the banking, insurance and aerospace industries prior to his medical device experience.

The pair designed a peritoneal device that offers ease of use and a price point far below competing devices. For example, a leading

“Our competitors’ devices sell for up to $18,000 in some markets, whereas ours will sell for about $3,000. We provide a tremendous difference in price.”

– Steve Lindo

competitive device only displays a few text characters to communicate with users.

“Our machine has a color touchscreen on it, and we can show pictorial guidance to show patients exactly how to connect themselves and which piece goes where,” Lindo said. “Our competitors’ devices sell for up to $18,000 in some markets, whereas ours will sell for about $3,000. We provide a tremendous difference in price.”

Although Lindo remains in Chicago, the company is based in Oklahoma.

Simergent is working to close a $1 million funding round led by i2E that will carry it through a human factors study that is required for FDA approval.

Simergent will use the funds to meet regulatory requirements for the human factors study, as well as hire a pair of software developers to design the user interface and additional therapeutic technology for its device.

“Right now we have a fully functioning prototype,” Lindo said. “It can deliver an

entire therapy. The human factors study is our primary end point for this round of funding to prove that our device is easy to use and the design can be frozen.”

Simergent has generated so much interest in the potential of its device that the initial seed round has been oversubscribed and will likely close as a $1.2 million funding round, Lindo said.

As the Simergent founders look around the world, they see an enormous need for an affordable, easy-to-use device like they have created.

With millions dying worldwide each year because of a lack of access to dialysis, there is an obvious problem in need of a solution.

“More than 2.3 million kidney patients die each year because they can’t afford dialysis or don’t have access,” Lindo said. “That’s the problem we are really addressing; it’s making this technology more accessible and more affordable so we can drive that number down to zero.”

Steve Lindo CEO Norman, OK Employees 4 Year Founded 2014

Produce or Technology An easy-to-use, affordable dialysis device for patients suffering from kidney failure.

Markets Targeted The company initially plans to address dialysis markets in the emerging nations of China, India and Mexico.

Future Plans Simergent may develop additional dialysis products meant for the U.S. market, as well as worldwide markets.

Major Milestone Simergent has proven that its fluid management technology works, and it has developed a fully functional prototype.

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Spreading the LOVE Love’s Cup boasts record number of students and teams as well as new schools receiving top honors

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For team VisuALS from Oklahoma Christian University (OC), writing a business plan and pitching a concept for the 2017 Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup brought more than a walk across the Awards Dinner stage. Or a cash award.

The Love’s Cup provided a real world experience that the OC team drew upon to launch its student-developed medical technology as an Oklahoma startup.

The OC students took the idea and built an affordable system that lets physically impaired people communicate via eye tracking technology. They wrote a business plan around the concept and pitched it to Love’s Cup judges.

Now they are taking the concept to the medical technology industry.

Using off-the-shelf technology and writing their own software, OC students created an affordable system that allows communication by people who have lost their ability to speak because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or other muscle wasting diseases.

They successfully tested the technology with a beta customer who suffers from ALS and had been unable to speak for a year.

“The senior capstone project team was made up of four electrical and computer engineering students,” said Russ McGuire, OC Entrepreneur-in-Residence who served as the team’s advisor. “I helped them recruit a junior in marketing and a junior in accounting to help with the business strategy and planning.”

The VisuALS team became the first OC team to win the Love’s Cup competition, claiming first place among 31 teams in the Small Business Division. VisuALS received a $10,000 prize for its winning business plan and oral presentation.

VisuALS team leader was Joshua Bilello, and team members were Aubrey Gonzalez, Preston Kemp, Kevin McGuire, Jevon Seaman and Tyler Sriver.

In the wake of the competition, the OC team has been featured in newspapers and television across the nation, and on the website of NBC’s Today show.

The Love’s Cup was only the beginning, said VisuALS team member Jevon Seaman.

It was a real world type of experience that will carry over into their careers.

“I’ve done hundreds of balance sheets and income statements for my courses,” said Seaman, a rising OC senior accounting major. “But to actually start from the ground and work my way up building our own financials and projections, then learning how to properly and accurately assess a market and build financials based off of that, that’s

something that you can’t learn in school.

That kind of experience is invaluable, and you don’t get it just going to class.”

With both the OC advisor McGuire and engineering professor Steve Maher aboard, VisuALS is taking the lessons learned from the Love’s Cup and continuing down the entrepreneur’s path as a real world company. Student team members are staying on in either management positions or as consultants.

The Love’s Cup provided a taste of real world experience for a record 300 students in the 2017 competition, which followed 13 years of the competition when it was known as the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup.

For East Central University advisor Stacey Bolin, the second place Small Business Division finish of StoPanic continued a string of success over several years for ECU teams. Bolin said Love’s Cup participants gain self-confidence as they learn how to overcome difficult obstacles as the write a business plan and pitch it before a panel of judges.

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“Students learn that entrepreneurship is not easy, but it is rewarding and they have the skills to reach their goals,” Bolin said.

The experience of writing a business plan and pitching the concept before a panel of judges provides “undeniable” value to students, said Calvin Becker, a marketing and management instructor at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami. Becker served as advisor to NEO team The Social Niche.

“You are going into a room with a group that is real knowledgeable in the business world already, so the plan has to be thorough and you have to be prepared to answer any questions as though someone is going to buy it and put it into use,” Becker said. “It’s a great deal; they don’t have another class that is in-depth as this.”

The Social Niche placed third in the Small Business division, becoming the first team from NEO to finish in the competition’s top three.

In addition to the Small Business Division, student entrepreneurs also competed in the High Growth Undergraduate and Graduate

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divisions of the 2017 Love’s Cup. Teams from the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State University emerged as first place winners in the High Growth Divisions.

Winning a cash prize of $20,000 in the High Growth Graduate Division was Composite Damage Solutions from TU. Team leader was Matthew Faeth, and team members were Troy Berman and Travis McClanahan. Michael Keller was advisor.

First place and a $20,000 cash prize in the High Growth Undergraduate Division went to VisionaRX from Oklahoma State University. Team leader was Jacquelyn Lane, and team members were Rachel Davis and Chance Imhoff.

The winning teams in each division were among a record 58 teams representing colleges and universities across Oklahoma in the 2017 competition. They were recognized at the Love’s Cup Awards Dinner on April 13 at the Chevy Events Center in Oklahoma City.

Now in its 13th year, the 2017 competition was presented as the inaugural Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup competition.

Oklahoma City-based Love’s Travel Stops replaced the founding sponsor, the Donald

W. Reynolds Foundation, as signature sponsor this year.

Student entrepreneurs competed for more than $150,000 in cash awards and scholarships.

The Awards Dinner was highlighted by remarks from Jenny Love Meyer, Love’s Travel Stops vice president for Communications and daughter of Love’s founders Tom and Judy Love. The tenacity of the 300 students who competed in the 2017 competition similar to the determination that her parents displayed in advancing Love’s as a startup concept in 1964, Meyer told the audience.

“If you have passion about what you do and take ownership with it, you will succeed, as many students in the competition have gone on to do,” Meyer said. “Love’s is proud to be part of a competition that encourages innovators, role models and leaders.” Today, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores operates fuel stations and convenience stores at more than 420 locations nationwide. It employs 17,000 people in 40 states and has annual revenue of $22 billion.

“Whether the competitors take their ideas beyond the boardroom or whether they take their skills learned from this competition and put them to work at companies like Love’s, hopefully, or many other fine

companies in Oklahoma, the Love’s Cup teaches students valuable lessons,” Meyer added. “They are learning to problem solve, to work together and to innovate in the face of challenges and so much more.”

Meyer also handed out the Love’s Cup trophies to the winning teams.

Advisors who have led students though the competition virtually every year of its existence know the value it brings.

Lowell Busenitz, Ph.D., a professor and Michael F. Price Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Oklahoma, has served as advisor for at least 50 teams that have competed in the GovCup/Love’s Cup over the years.

The biggest takeaway for OU students has been “learning what it means to make a professional presentation and handle the ‘hotseat’ (the Q&A),” Busenitz said.

“Also being able to think through an entire business concept. We are finding the commercial banks and consultants like our graduates.”

Another educator who has advised dozens of team through the competition is Claire Cornell, Applied Instructor of Entrepreneurship and Assistant Director of Entrepreneurship at the University of Tulsa’s Collins College of Business.

“The competition is experiential learning at its best,” Cornell said. “I love watching students being able to achieve more than they thought was possible of themselves.”

That sentiment is echoed by Robert Greve, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Assessment and Assurance of Learning at Oklahoma City University.

“The competition opens students’ eyes to possibilities,” Greve said. “Students also gain confidence and a ‘can do’ attitude. This may translate to intrapreneurship within an organization, but may cause a student to venture out on their own.”

At the University of Central Oklahoma, this experience has translated into at least two ongoing businesses that came out of the competition. UCO faculty advisor Maurice Haff, a professor in UCO’s College of Business, called the competition a major confidence builder for students.

“The experience convinced the students that their business concept had merit and that they have the capability to make it happen,” Haff said. “The Love’s Cup experience is one of the best opportunities faculty can provide students to gain an entrepreneurial mindset and the confidence that they can have a significant positive impact on their communities, the nation and the world.”

Scott Meacham, President and CEO of i2E, Inc., which manages the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup, closed the Awards Dinner with remarks in which he thanked Love’s Travel Stops for its sponsorship and lauded the record number of students who participated in the 2017 event.

“What we’ve seen here tonight are the first important steps down the entrepreneur’s path for many of these students,” Meacham said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how they emerge as entrepreneurs as they advance their innovations toward the marketplace.”

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S R E N N I W E TH Small Business Division First Place: VisuALS - Oklahoma Christian University Second Place: StoPanic - East Central University Third Place: The Social Niche - Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Undergraduate First Place: VisionaRX - Oklahoma State University Second Place: Toucan - University of Central Oklahoma Third Place: BLOOM - University of Oklahoma Graduate First Place: Composite Damage Solutions - University of Tulsa Second Place: ObturaTech - University of Oklahoma Third Place: Turning Systems, LLC - University of Central Oklahoma

Interview Winners Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Healthcare Award: Redcedar Products, Oklahoma State University i2E, Inc. Student Generated Award: 60Days Studios, University of Oklahoma Oklahoma Business Roundtable Material Sciences and Transportation Award: Reactiv, University of Oklahoma OCAST Information Technology/Communications Award: 3DMe, University of Oklahoma OG&E Positive Energy and Environmental Award: Omnibus V2G Technologies, Oklahoma City University

2017 Paulsen Award Scholarship Winners Small Business Division: Miranda McNabb, East Central University High Growth Undergraduate Division: Yusuf Shurbaji, University of Central Oklahoma High Growth Graduate Division: Gerred Edwards, Oklahoma City University

2017 IBM Pitch Winners High Growth Undergraduate Division: Jacquelyn Lane, Oklahoma State University High Growth Graduate Division: Troy McClanahan, University of Tulsa Small Business Division: Srijita Ghosh, East Central University 18

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enny Love Meyer, Vice President of Communications for Love’s Travel Stops, provided the keynote address to an audience of about 500 at the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup Awards Dinner on April 13.

Below are excerpts of what she told the student entrepreneurs who competed in the competition: We believe in the spirit this competition fosters, and the life skills it teaches the students. We know each team of students goes through a rigorous process. We applaud each and every one of them for their hard work and dedication.

The fact that you are here tonight is a major accomplishment.

As you know, this is the first year that Love’s has been involved with the Love’s Cup. When we learned of the opportunity to get involved, it was really an easy decision. Without vision, passion and the entrepreneurial spirit that many of the students in this competition embody, Love’s simply wouldn’t be what it is today.

When you mention entrepreneurs in Oklahoma, some folks come to mind. To me, it is my parents, Tom and Judy Love. They started Love’s more than 50 years ago. A lot of the success we have is really due to their entrepreneurship. My dad says it’s a lot of luck, and I agree with him, but certainly a willingness to do more. When they were in the early part of their business there was a lot of hard decisions that were made, and necessity bore that out.

But we’ve grown to a company of more than 17,000 employees nationwide, more than 420 stores in 40 states, soon to be 42 states. But we still encourage the entrepreneurial spirit upon which we were founded. Promoting the founders’ mentality, as my dad calls it, to all of our employees in all areas of Love’s, helps us continue to grow and succeed in new areas.

My dad says that if every employee were to act as if they were the owner, that company would experience even greater success.

If you have passion about what you do, and take ownership with it, you will succeed, as many students in the completion have gone on to do. Love’s is proud to be part of a competition that encourages innovators

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“Love’s is proud to be part of a competition that encourages innovators and role models and leaders. Because of our own beginning and culture of encouraging entrepreneurship, this is very important for us to support.”

– Jenny Love Meyer

and role models and leaders. Because of our own beginning and culture of encouraging entrepreneurship, this is very important for us to support. Whether the competitors take their ideas beyond the boardroom or whether they take their skills learned from this competition and put them to work at companies like Love’s, hopefully, or many other fine companies in Oklahoma, the Love’s Cup teaches students valuable lessons. They are learning to problem solve, to work together and to innovate in the face of challenges and so much more.

If you’ve had a chance to watch the competitors in action, it’s evident that they enjoy themselves. If you enjoy what you’re doing, you will be successful whether it’s a multi-billion dollar idea or just something that you are passionate about.

Do it. Enjoy it. Love it and you will experience success.

Tom and Judy Love opened their first retail business in 1964 in an abandoned filling station in Watonga, Oklahoma. From that humble beginning, they grew the company into the multi-billion dollar, multi-state Love’s Travel Stops. Today, Love’s operates 430 travel stops in 41 states. Love’s stepped up to become Signature Sponsor of the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup beginning with the 2017 competition.

“When my wife Judy and I opened our first filling station 53 years ago in a little rural town located in western Oklahoma – Watonga, I’d like to claim we knew it would grow into the company that it is today, but that would be a lie. We knew we wanted to grow our little enterprise but had no idea it could become what it is today. Dreaming big is available to all who are driven to go for it! A persistent myth I see today is the sense that a budding entrepreneur needs a blockbuster Silicone Valley idea to have a shot at making it big. Not true. Sam Walton proved that in 1945 with a little franchised dime store. He leveraged that into one of the most successful firms this planet’s ever seen with Walmart. The central theme of the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup should be discovering the next Sam Walton, as well as Bill Gates.” – Tom Love

TOUCAN PLAY THIS GAME Student generated ‘split payment’ concept evolves into real business endeavor

As he stood in line to pay a utility bill for himself and roommates, a frustrated Yusuf Shurbaji decided there had to be a better way for multiple parties to split a payment between credit cards.

“I started thinking more about it when I got home that nearly everyone will split expenses with other people, but there is no way to split the payment,” said Shurbaji, a 22-year-old 2017 graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma. “You either have to pay them back or make separate payments.”

So, he conceived a concept called Toucan Pay to solve that multiple party payment dilemma.

Toucan became the foundation for the second place-winning Undergraduate Division team from UCO in the 2017 Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup. The team that included Shurbaji, Nasir Malik and Dillon Koense wrote a business plan that described the Toucan vision, then pitched it to Love’s Cup judges.

That second-place finish was good enough to send the team on to the Tri-State competition in Las Vegas.

A native of Ardmore who earned a Strategic Communications degree from UCO, Shurbaji called on the experience he gained during the 2016 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup for the Love’s Cup competition.

In 2016, he helped guide the Heart Optic team from UCO a second place finish in the Oklahoma competition, and followed that

up by winning first place in the Tri-State competition.

Shurbaji ascribed the success in both years to a “strong, close team” that really kept both the customer and investor in mind. Each aspect of its presentation had significant strength.

“We didn’t necessarily have the best market plan or best customer interviews or the best research or the best writing or maybe even the best design,” Shurbaji said. “But we made sure that each one of those things was very, very good. It’s enough to make it a well rounded business and a good investment.”

Now Shurbaji and his partners are working to make the Toucan concept a business reality. They have taken some important steps, including developing a software prototype and taking the concept through i2E’s Venture Assessment Program (VAP).

The Venture Assessment Program is a one-evening-a-week class for that meets for 90-minutes each night for three weeks. VAP classes are taught throughout the year. i2E Venture Advisor Stacey Brandhorst moderates the class with assistance of fellow i2E Client Engagement Director Darcy Wilborn. Class members are entrepreneurs whose startup businesses are in the very early stages of their lifecycles.

“Entrepreneurs come into the Venture Assessment Program to get a better look at their business and to hear some tough love from us,” Brandhorst said. “I think the VAP is really good for Toucan Pay because they are at this unique stage of taking their business from an academic point of view to a real world point of view, and they are extremely open to receiving feedback that

maybe we wouldn’t have given during the business plan competition.”

Toucan enrolled in the VAP in part because the team wanted some critical eyes on their concept, Shurbaji said.

“The idea that we could have someone there that could be looking over our shoulders to ensure the path that we are taking is the correct one, that was kind of self insurance that we are doing the right thing,” he said. “For us, the VAP is a vehicle to becoming an i2E client, hopefully, and then, God willing, to get an investment in the future if everything pans out.”

The VAP challenges entrepreneurs to find out just who their first customers are and if there is real demand for the concept.

That is the “tough love” feedback that Toucan was seeking.

“We know we are going to get feedback and advice that we aren’t crazy about,” Shurbaji said. “But it’s going to be really helpful for us and allow us to prepare for those things and mitigate those before they become an issue.”

Brandhorst said Toucan was a great fit for i2E’s Venture Assessment Program because it needed direction on what the next steps should be to advance the company.

“I have really high hopes about it being a potentially successful business and hopefully an i2E portfolio company soon,” she said. “We love that these solutions come from a real world problem that the entrepreneur was facing because he’s someone that understands it.”

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TOUGH LOVE

Seated on the second row in a classroom at the Chickasaw Nation’s Carl Albert Services Center here, Matthew Hasley began having some doubts about his business plans.

And that was a good thing.

A Duncan resident and member of the Comanche Nation, Hasley was among a group of eight entrepreneurs from six startups who participated the first GrowOK venture assessment program for Native Americans and rural Oklahomans in late May. Hasley took careful notes as he watched the third and final GrowOK class presentation by i2E’s Stacey Brandhorst.

Hasley’s proposed business is called Let’s Play Arcade, a modern version of an arcade center that will be updated with augmented and virtual reality technologies.

“One of the good things about this class is it started putting doubts in my head, which to me is a good thing because I was getting nothing but positivity from the people I’ve asked about it,” Hasley said. “This made me definitely think in a different way; ‘if I’m feeling this way, how do I work around that issue?’ ” Similar to the Venture Assessment Program taught by i2E in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the GrowOK program seeks to help rural and tribal entrepreneurs understand the markets they serve and connect with potential customers.

In three weekly classes, entrepreneurs assess the viability of their business

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Native American and rural entrepreneurs gain honest customer feedback about new business concepts in GrowOK class

concept. GrowOK debuted at the Chickasaw Nation’s Carl Albert Business Services Center.

“Let’s get in and let’s figure out if there’s a deal here,” Brandhorst said of GrowOK. “Let’s figure out who’s the buyer here and let’s take a deep dive into the customer.”

The GrowOK concept was exported to rural Oklahoma with assistance of a $199,749 matching federal grant and five Oklahoma funding partners.

The federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded the grant in November. State partners include the Cherokee Nation, Choctaw Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma Business Roundtable and the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology (OCAST). Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Inc., is also a supporting partner.

The GrowOK class provides Native American and rural entrepreneurs with valuable information about identifying customers, along with marketing techniques, and necessary skills to launch new businesses, said Randa Covington, Chickasaw Business Network Manager for the Chickasaw Nation.

“We were proud to host the first GrowOK sessions at the Chickasaw Nation,” Covington said. “Our Chickasaw entrepreneurs received training, skills, and tools that could be useful in any business venture. Entrepreneurs take away solid research tools and resources that are invaluable and are taught in a hands-on format with instruction throughout each step to achieve pertinent feedback about their product or service.”

GrowOK also is being presented this summer in Durant, Tahlequah and Okmulgee.

“My job in three short weeks is to guide these companies to create a clear value proposition,” Brandhorst said. “We want them to be able to say what they do and who they do it for better than they did in the beginning, and then take them through the customer discovery process.”

The GrowOK program is segmented into three, two-hour classes that dive into distinct areas. The first night, the entrepreneurs assess who their customers are and the value their product or business brings to the market.

In the second week, Brandhorst and the entrepreneurs explore how they are going to find their customers and who is going to be the first to buy their product.

What type of questions will get an honest answer from the potential customer?

At the beginning of the third class, Brandhorst stood before the entrepreneurs and said “I want to leave you guys with a plan.” She outlined the steps needed to contact a minimum of seven potential customers.

“We set them up with questions to ask and set them up with a list of names to call and then kind of turn them loose,” she said. “Lastly, we talk about the pitch and sources of capital.”

At the end of two hours, the class had its homework assignment. Over the next week, they were to contact seven potential customers and ask questions that would reap honest answers about the type of business or product that would be offered.

The entrepreneurs file a report on their findings to Brandhorst, who follows up with one-on-one phone call discussions with each entrepreneur.

As she completed her GrowOK assessment form at the end of the third class, Kelly Michelle from Duncan said the program gave her a sense of confidence that she’s not going it alone. Michelle’s business is Designs by Kelly, a sort of DIY decor and interior design business.

“I just feel a lot of support here,” Michelle said. “They are not just going to throw us to the wolves after we are done, because after this class there are a couple more phone calls. They are going above and beyond, trying to identify whether the business we want to do is viable, and if not, steer us in a new direction. I really appreciate that.”

GrowOK class members drove from Duncan, Midwest City, Norman and Coalgate to soak up the business advice that they hope will set them in a profitable direction.

“The best feeling that I have is that at the end of the class everyone is saying we wish the class were longer,” Brandhorst said. “It’s also great to hear someone say ‘I’ve never thought about it like that before’ or ‘you’re teaching me things about my business I wished I had learned earlier.’ Those types of things are really rewarding.”

Energizing young minds for a

BRIGHTER ENERGY FUTURE We are proud to mentor and recognize the 2017 OG&E Positive Energy and Environmental Interview winners, Omnibus V2G Technologies from Oklahoma City University. The Omnibus team proposed the conversion of school buses to electric buses with a new routing concept for greater efficiency and cost savings.

These students are driving a brighter energy future.

Š2017 OGE Energy Corp.

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FORTUNATE FUTURE

In Oklahoma City, our one-of-a-kind beginnings have led to a spirit of entrepreneurship and bootstrap-based success. Growth in our tech, aero, bio and energy sectors are just the latest illustration of the rewards Oklahoma City offers those looking for an opportunity to thrive. Join us and put this unique spirit to work for you in Oklahoma City.

GREATEROKLAHOMACITY.COM 24

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