Tulsa Entrepreneurs Win $2,500 in Tulsa StartUp Series Live Pitch

The Tulsa StartUp Series named Remember the Member as the winner of the Tech/Apps Pitch Series held at 36°North. Will Edwards and Evan Tipton are founders of the Tulsa-based startup. Their app simplifies social and professional networking by helping users remember people they meet and important facts such as name, employer, family and other personal details.

“The live pitch presentations were terrific,” Edwards said. “We are so grateful and humbled to win.” The startup received a $2,500 cash prize to test or advance their business, a three-month membership to 36°North, a spot in the Venture Assessment Program at i2E and a mentor who will be available to meet with them weekly for at least three months.

Remember the Member was one of five finalists in the Tech/Apps Pitch Series to advance to the live pitch round. Other finalists were Drive Life, Church Portal, The Vote Note and 13 Unbracketed.

“We are excited to see this entrepreneurship competition live on in this new format,” Tipton said. “The Tulsa Startup Series puts a spotlight on entrepreneurs in Tulsa and is part of the innovation that will move our city forward.”

The Tulsa StartUp Series, powered by Tulsa Community College and the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation, helps entrepreneurs innovate and accelerate their businesses with the focus on delivering resources and mentoring opportunities to entrepreneurs.

“The Tulsa StartUp Series was designed to shorten the competition timeline and provide more intensive resources to innovate and accelerate startups,” Autumn Worten, Tulsa StartUp Series Chair said. “The inaugural monthly pitch series with the live pitch round was a huge success where entrepreneurs tested their startup idea in front of a panel of judges, got feedback, and networked.”

The Tulsa StartUp Series features five pitch competitions categorized by business segment and culminates with Demo Day during Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. The five Pitch Series winners get an automatic bid to compete at Demo Day, where the winner receives $15,000, a year-long membership to 36°North and a dedicated mentor.

Each Pitch Series focuses on a different business segment:

· Pitch Series 1: Tech/Apps (Submissions December 3-January 6)

· Pitch Series 2: K-12 Students (Submissions February 3-March 2)

· Pitch Series 3 Physical Products (Submissions April 6-May 4)

· Pitch Series 4: Food/Retail (Submissions June 1-July 6)

· Pitch Series 5: Wild Card (August 3-September 7)

TCC and LTFF have supported entrepreneurial innovation, growth and creativity since 2007 when the competition began as the Tulsa Entrepreneurial Spirit Award by former Mayor Kathy Taylor. The competition later adapted to the TCC StartUp Cup Powered by the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation. This year, the competition reinvented itself to the Tulsa StartUp Series to meet the needs of local entrepreneurs. In total, Tulsa’s original startup competition has generated more than 2,300 full-time, part-time and contract jobs and a total economic impact for Tulsa of more than $57.7 million.

You can learn more about the Tulsa StartUp Series at www.tulsastartupseries.com, including instructions for submitting video pitches and competition rules.

PHOTE: Evan Tipton, Remember the Member, fills out the $2,500 check after winning the Tulsa Startup Series Tech/Apps monthly pitch series as business partner Will Edwards watches.