Funding and how to find it dominated a roundtable discussion at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s first Technology Council meeting of the year at the Vast Bank building.

The conversation starter for the March 6 meeting, sponsored by OU-Tulsa, was a council survey showing that the primary challenges of operating in the local tech ecosystem were funding and investments and access to talent.

While many look to venture capitalists for funding, other paths exist. One of them is the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), the state’s agency for technology-based economic development. 

Matt Villareal, co-founder of Infinite Composites Technologies, said that, through OCAST, his company partners with educational institutions such as the University of Tulsa and OSU-Tulsa.

“I don’t want to have to go to the VCs because that funding is expensive,” Villareal said. “Funding from OCAST doesn’t cost any equity. It’s a good amount of work to get the proposal, and it’s competitive. But that’s the best funding I think you can get in this state.” 

Billion Minds co-founder Ryan Tubbs said collaborating with higher education, as he does with universities that include the University of Oklahoma, TU and Tulsa Community College, can improve a firm’s visibility.

“Publishing papers together enhances credibility,” he said. “You become much more investable and then you become much more trusted as a start-up even with potential customers when you have a published research paper that supports your findings.” 

Through the Chamber, several Tech Council companies already work with Mind the Bridge, a Silicon Valley-based innovation advisory firm that focuses on connecting corporations, governments and start-up companies to enhance their collective growth.

But a few council members said they should be trying to foster those kinds of relationships locally.

“We should be selling ourselves within our own ecosystem,” said Tammy Torkleson, president of Indigo Technology Group. “I’m very passionate about creating that ecosystem here in Tulsa.”

Torkleson asked the Chamber to convene companies with tech firms that work in their industry.

“Why shouldn’t we sit in front of them and say, ‘This is what we’re doing? This is how we do it,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a pitch for investment. It’s just you need to know who we are and who we serve and go from there.”

Some mutual encouragement would help, as well, Tubbs said. 

“We should be cheering each other on, too,” he said. “I don’t know any of you at all, and I should. Every time you post some thought leadership piece or publish a white paper, I should be shouting that from the rooftops on the basis of rising tides lift all boats.

“The more attraction we can bring to this area, the more interest we get from organizations and investors. We need to celebrate each other.”