Last week ended with four special days that will bear fruit for many years to come for BSV, our investors, our portfolio companies, our hometown of Norman, and all of Cleveland County.
The four days revolved around three big events:
Early Thursday morning: a press conference during which we announced our alliance with the Norman Economic Development Coalition (The Coalition), Cleveland County, and the City of Norman to support entrepreneurial and economic growth.
Later Thursday morning: a BSV CEO Fireside Chat in which I moderated a panel of CEOs from three of our portfolio companies.
Thursday afternoon and all of Friday: our 2nd Annual BSV CEO Summit during which our management team, our venture partners, our BSV Fund Advisors and our BSV Venture Studio Advisors interacted with CEOs from our portfolio companies.
Before I get into the details of these events, I want to thank everyone responsible for making last week such a great success: our management team, our advisors and venture partners, our portfolio companies, our strategic allies at The Coalition, Governor Stitt, the Cleveland County Commissioners, the Mayor of Norman, and more. It took a great deal of planning, careful execution and a lot of hard work, and I'm confident it will pay significant dividends for our investors and for everyone involved.
Here are results of this great collective effort.
Wednesday, April 17
We kicked things off with a team dinner at a Norman restaurant. Our friends at Visit Norman gave us the use of their mini-bus to transport team members between our hotel and the restaurant. John Pohl, our Venture Partner for Marketing & Investor Relations, serving as our driver:
During the dinner, two good friends of mine who happen to be University of Oklahoma legends - Barry Switzer (who coached OU to three national championships and the Dallas Cowboys to a Super Bowl trophy) and Joe Washington (a two-time All-American running back at OU and an NFL star for 12 years) - stopped by to share some stories with our group:
Thursday, April 18
Thursday was a huge day. It began with a press conference organized by BSV and The Coalition (which is run by BSC Fund Advisors Lawrence and Elizabeth McKinney). The event was attended by the TV and print media as well as hundreds of interested citizens, including many BSV LPs.
The purpose of the press conference was to make several important announcements:
A strategic alliance between BSV and The Coalition to pursue long-term jobs and economic growth for Cleveland County by nurturing entrepreneurs and providing needed services - including seed capital, venture capital and guidance - to ensure success.
The creation of a $2 million Cleveland County Centurions Growth Fund – which will be managed by BSV – to support $50,000-to-$200,000 investments in 20-to-30 entrepreneurial organizations throughout Cleveland County.
Ongoing collaboration between The Coalition’s Start-Up 405 incubator and BSV’s Venture Studio to give these entrepreneurs access to a uniquely wide range of support services, including strategic and operational guidance.
An annual Beyond-the-Norm Innovation Week every April – commencing in 2025 – promoting Cleveland County’s spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship and providing a showcase to expose local entrepreneurs to prospective investors, customers, and partners.
In addition to Lawrence and me, speakers at the press conference included Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Cleveland County Commissioners Rod Cleveland, Rusty Grissom and Jacob McHughes, City of Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila, and OU's Michael Schade. Here's the Governor delivering his powerful speech:
Governor Stitt, a Norman native whose oft-stated goal is to make Oklahoma a "Top 10 State for Business," has been a staunch supporter of BSV from Day One. When he spoke at our office grand opening ceremony in 2022, he mentioned that he'd be taking his son to his favorite donut shop, Donut King, after the ceremony. Following his speech on Thursday, I him "We wanted to save you a trip" and presented him a box of Donut King donuts to bring home to his family. Here's the presentation photo:
The statewide media was there for the event, including Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5, shown interviewing me below.
Shortly after the press conference, we held our 1st Annual BSV CEO Fireside Chat. BSV portfolio company CEOs Hannah Granade of BossTax, Jesse McCool of Wheeler Bio, and Robert Sewell of VesprSolar did a wonderful job of thoughtfully articulating their insights and lessons learned from their inspiring entrepreneurial experiences.
After relocating to BSV headquarters, it was time to begin our 2nd Annual BSV CEO Summit. First, our group of portfolio company CEOs and BSV advisors, venture partners and managers was treated to a presentation and workshop conducted by two Ernst & Young partners on "EY's 7 Drivers of Growth." I was able to arrange this very special event due to my having had the good fortune of being one of 36 people nationally named by Ernst & Young to its 2024 EY Entrepreneurs Access Network (EAN) cohort.
We then began a series of presentations by our portfolio company CEOs, who shared details on their companies' progress, challenges and opportunities and received feedback from an audience of their peers as well as BSV advisors, venture partners and managers. As you'd expect, each of the CEO was extremely well prepared and very open to hearing their audience's feedback. And the audience members could not have been more sincere about their desire to provide helpful comments and suggestions.
Here's legendary entrepreneur Scott Rollins of Moat Biotechnology presenting:
Most our group then gathered for dinner, where we took this team photo:
Shown above (L to R) are Wheeler Bio CEO Jesse McCool, BSV Venture Fund Advisor Jeff Feeney, VesprSolar CEO Robert Sewell, Exum Instruments CFO Mike Minyard, BSV Fund Advisor Brian Cantrell, BSV Co-Founder Jeff Moore, BSV Fund I LP Dick Vojvoda, BossTax CEO Hannah Granade, BSV Fund Advisor Dwain Celistan, BSV Fund Advisor Elizabeth McKinney, IV Ensure CEO Mitchell Berenson, BSV Fund Advisor Lawrence McKinney, BSV Fund I LP Dr. Michael Talbert, BSV Venture Studio Advisor and VinSense Interim CEO John Hanak, BSV Founder James Spann, BSV Fund Advisor GR Underwood, BSV Fund Advisor Lisa Risser, BSV Investment Committee Member Chuck Thompson, BSV Venture Partner and Venture Studio Advisor Sowmya Sridhar, BSV Operations Manager Eliza McCloy, BSV VP Finance Kendall Tucker, BSV Investment Committee Member and Cadenza Bio CEO Carol Curtis, BSV Venture Fund Manager Meghna Vaidyanath, Myri Health CEO Pinkey Patel, BSV Venture Partner Dave Beaulieu, BSV Fundraising Advisor Jeff Spray, and BSV Venture Partner for Marketing & Investor Relations John Pohl.
Friday, April 19
Friday morning we picked up where we left off Thursday with our CEO presentations. Here's Mike Minyard of Exum Instruments giving his presentation:
Following the 10 CEO presentations, BSV Venture Studio Manager Meghna Vaidyanath and BSV Venture Partner Mia Jackson gave a presentation on the unique approach our Venture Studio is taking to help optimize the performance our portfolio companies - and hence the performance of our portfolio.
After dinner at our headquarters featuring Oklahoma barbeque, several members of our group attended a free public concert by local band Beau Jennings & the Tigers that was co-sponsored by BSV and The Coalition. (Beau, in the center below, is Director Real Estate Operations for OU.)
Saturday, April 20
As we always do on Sooner Football game days, on Saturday we hosted a tailgate prior to the Sooners Spring Game, the most heavily-attended spring game in the country. As always, our offices were decorated with beautiful Native American art courtesy of Norman's Tribes Gallery. Below is artist Peter Paul Bruno of the Potawatomi Tribe creating his latest artwork:
Just before heading over to the game, I got to show off my electric rising desk to the amazingly cute Marilyn Lewis, the 18-month-old daughter of BSV Venture Associate Thomas Lewis II:
Here's hoping that Marilyn is a BSV Venture Associate at the 32nd Annual BSV CEO Summit!
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I want to thank everyone responsible for making last week such a great success: our management team, our advisors and venture partners, our portfolio companies, our strategic allies at The Coalition, Governor Stitt, the Cleveland County Commissioners, the Mayor of Norman, and more. It took a great deal of planning, careful execution and a lot of hard work, and I'm confident it will pay significant dividends for our investors and for everyone involved.
