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Jul 31, 2023

18 Tulsans win initial funding for their pursuits through Tulsa Idea Challenge

More than 250 participated in the first Tulsa Idea Challenge, where they were

More than 250 participated in the first Tulsa Idea Challenge, where they were randomly paired with others and worked over two days to learn how to identify a problem, break it down and create an actionable plan.

Nicole Murray (left) and Misha Shah won the Tulsa Idea Challenge with their idea of Our Safety Drone, which helps schools identify immediate threats on campus.

"What I saw were people who had just met working together," said Kathleen Hale, a partner with Builders + Backers. "People get excited about building things. This can unite people. No matter their background."

"The fact is that in a lot of cities, people don't want a lot of voices to be at the table to solve problems," said Kathleen Hale, a partner with Builders + Backers. "Tulsa is a really great example of a city who wants to hear more voices and see more ideas."

One of the ideas hangs next to other ideas during a session at the Tulsa Idea Challenge.

"What I love about this program is we are investing in Tulsans," said Ben Stewart (center), executive director of Tulsa Remote. "We are trying to bring their vision to fruition." He's joined by Justin Harlan (left), managing director of Tulsa Remote, and Francis Jee with Atento Capital.

What's the next big idea? It could come from one of 18 Tulsans.

They now have a total of $50,000 after competing in the first Tulsa Idea Challenge.

After 1,300 people entered the competition, 250 were picked and participated in a workshop where they learned how to take an idea and transform it into something. The resulting ideas then competed in a number of categories.

"There are thousands of people with ideas in every corner of Tulsa," said Kathleen Hale, a partner with Builders + Backers. "What the challenge allowed people to do is find out what can I do about it? They just needed an opportunity."

Most of the people who made the cut to compete aren't entrepreneurs. They found themselves randomly paired with others and worked over two days to learn how to identify a problem, break it down and create an actionable plan. They ran through exercises developed by Builders + Backers, an organization that invests in entrepreneurs while also giving them proprietary programming to best seize opportunities of the digital era.

"What I saw were people who had just met working together," Hale said. "People get excited about building things. This can unite people. No matter their background."

The challenge was a partnership between Builders + Backers, Atento Capital, a Tulsa-based venture capital firm, and Tulsa Remote, which attracts remote workers to move to the city by giving out $10,000 grants from the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

"What I love about this program is we are investing in Tulsans," said Ben Stewart, executive director of Tulsa Remote. "We are trying to bring their vision to fruition."

Hale said that she has found Tulsa to be an outlier when it comes to ideas.

"The fact is that in a lot of cities, people don't want a lot of voices to be at the table to solve problems," she said. "People don't trust that others have the ideas to solve it. Tulsa is a really great example of a city who wants to hear more voices and see more ideas. The supportive nature of those in the community who are building things is unique."

Here are the ideas that won each category:

All-Star Idea, $25,000: Our Safety Drone, which helps schools identify immediate threats on campus through security drones to improve overall safety and response times.

This idea came from Nicole Murray and Misha Shah. Murray moved to Tulsa in 1996 and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. After earning an undergraduate and master's degree in education, she was an elementary and special needs teacher in Tulsa before becoming dean of students at Collegiate Hall Charter School.

Shah relocated from Nashville four months ago through Tulsa Remote. She brought with her more than 17 years of experience working with entrepreneurs through her own company, Think Latitude. Their idea is to help save lives in active shooter situations at schools. It also helps confirm quickly when possible threats aren't on campus allowing educators, police and parents to be on the same page.

Without this solution, the creators argue, parents are generally alerted about a lockdown without details about the location and severity.

Rather than relying on alerts by educators, Our Safety Drone automatically delivers alerts and notifies authorities of the specific person, location and amount of weapons at the time of the threat.

Judges Favorite, $7,500: Before You Buy, I Know A Guy is an app connecting consumers purchasing used vehicles with reputable mechanics for inspection.

Most Collaborative Team, $7,500: A peer-to-peer, short-term rental app that would help small businesses find commercial spaces.

Best Experimenters, $5,000: A concept that sells vertical farming units to retail locations in food deserts that would allow for climate independent, vertical farming that increases food access.

Unexpected Novel Idea, $1,000: This idea allows social media users to preemptively decide what they want to do with their online presence after their death.

Best Tulsa Changemaker Idea, $1,000: Mobile Laundry provides access to laundry services at schools for grades pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

Most Digitized, $1,000: A digital-forward experiment that uses smart welding goggles to improve welding safety and output.

Best Social Impact, $1,000: An inclusive upskilling program that trains under-represented workers to learn how to recycle e-waste such as old phones, laptops and unused household appliances.

Best Healthcare Idea, $1,000: Street Shepards is a program that provides expertly trained, empathetic navigators to help guide individuals experiencing homelessness.

Learn more about the Tulsa Idea Challenge at tulsaideachallenge.com.

Stories by Rhett Morgan, Michael Overall, Curtis Killman and Kevin Canfield

[email protected]

Apply for a summer 2023 cohort of the Builders + Backers' Idea Accelerator powered by Heartland Forward and George Kaiser Family Foundation, which comes with $5,000 in Pebble Funds to test and launch a new venture. Apply by May 22.

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