Thunder announces entrepreneurial initiative
The Oklahoma City Thunder, an organization that knows a little something about successful launches, on Thursday unveiled an initiative designed to boost technological innovation through local entrepreneurship.
Thunder Launchpad is a business accelerator program designed in collaboration with the organization Stitch-Crew. The program is designed to help founders conceive, design and scale business ventures in Oklahoma.
Thunder Launchpad will operate out of a leased 2,200-square-foot space in the Monterey building at 309 NW 13 in Midtown.
“From day one, we’ve always believed the Thunder can be an additive to OKC,” said Brian Byrnes, Thunder senior vice president of sales and marketing. “It’s always been at the forefront of what we do, and it’s from that lens we looked at this opportunity.”
The Launchpad will host two 12-week
batches of startups a year to help owners grow from good idea to successful business. Each batch will have up to 10 ventures. Those selected to participate in the program will receive free space and shared services to help get their company running.
At the end of the program, founders present their company to investors and stakeholders. The Thunder Launchpad has particular interest in ventures in
industries such as agriculture, energy, health, government and financial services throughout the Midwest.
Collaborative culture
While the space bears the name and logo of Oklahoma City’s professional basketball team, Stitch-Crew is the organization in
the partnership that will work more directly with the startups. StitchCrew helps technology-driven entrepreneurs, having worked with startups across the Midwest. Founder Erika Lucas said Oklahoma needs the services offered by Thunder Launchpad.
“Investors were already working in the Midwest, but not in Oklahoma,” Lucas said. “We started to ask ourselves, ‘What’s happening? Why are we not seeing more activity?’”
In examining these questions, a need for more collaboration, the ability for entrepreneurs not to work in silos and providing a coordination of resources were deemed important to help turn Oklahoma into a place desirable for successful startups. She described the need for a change in thinking — instead of pursuing other companies to relocate to Oklahoma, why not help them originate here instead?
“The biggest challenge is to build collaborative culture,” Lucas said. “We need to stop saying no to crazy ideas.”
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber President & CEO Roy Williams believes this type of concept goes beyond helping just the startups, but is of assistance to Oklahoma City as a whole.
“It’s really complementary relative to the innovation district,” Williams said. “What you want is a vibrant place that offers entrepreneurs multiple options about how to take their idea and turn it into a successful business.”
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber isn’t directly involved with the venture, but plans to support it by directing hopeful entrepreneurs in the organization’s direction. He applauded the Thunder’s willingness to support a venture like this, a venture many would consider nontraditional for a professional sports team.
“The Thunder is such a well known brand in the entire state of Oklahoma, so I think it brings a great deal of credibility to the entrepreneur,” Williams said. “In other markets, the team isn’t owned by someone local or invested in their community. When you look at (Thunder) ownership, they’re all entrepreneurs, and a lot of their sponsorship is entrepreneurs.”
Entrepreneurs interested in the program have until Feb. 25 to apply. Applications can be found online at thunderlaunchpad.com.