Entrepreneurial Presentations to be Featured at OVF June 9th Luncheon

Dynah Korhummel, Vice President, Innovative Equine Technologies

Innovative Equine Technologies is a company which prototypes and builds veterinary medical devices, and is located in the Norman Economic Development Coalition’s Center on 3209 Flood Avenue in Norman, OK. The company has been in business for a year and a half and has just launched its first medical device last month. The focus of the first device was a system that could help prevent the disease that is the number 2 killer of horses in the world. The disease itself is called Laminitis or Founder. The basis of the company’s criteria to prototype and build medical devices is based solely on scientific studies and scientific evidence. There is no treatment device or system on the market today that will treat this disease. The only other treatment for this disease is the constant application of ice bags around the horse’s hoofs which is highly laborious and inefficient. The company’s next focus will be a product that concentrates on a blood test that will help determine whether the horses are in fact in the paracute phase of the disease.

Buddy Stefanoff, Vice President and Chief Design Engineer, Crossroads LED

CROSSROADS LED designs and manufactures energy-efficient light-emitting diode linear arrays (LED tubes) primarily for the amusement park and entertainment industries. These arrays (tubes) replace inefficient incandescent and fluorescent lighting systems currently used within these industries. The company also offers these LED arrays for the automotive accessory lighting industry to accent show cars and trucks. These niche markets represent over $100 million annual sales and are relatively untapped with few competitors.

The foundation of CROSSROADS LED began in 2003 with Team LED (owned by CROSSROADS LED’s Vice President, Buddy Stefanoff), whose specialty was in the design and manufacture of multicolor LED linear arrays for the automotive accessory lighting industry. Building on that technology, CROSSROADS LED formed in February 2010 with the transfer of Team LED’s intellectual property and broadened the application of the technology to focus on LED lighting for amusement parks, rides and entertainment venues. They are presently providing two (2) of the three (3) largest U.S. amusement ride manufacturers with their lighting products. Additionally, they have completed the installation of 84, 11-foot high LED arrays around the perimeter of the racetrack at the Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), a division of Speedway Motor Sports, Inc., for which they have received national media attention in the TMS LED press release announced during the televised Indianapolis 500 race. CROSSROADS LED continues to grow and expand its client list as they discover new markets and opportunities for their expanding product line.

Taylor Foster, Founder & CEO, Tributes of Life

Tributes of Life, headquartered in Muskogee, OK, is a web-based publishing company that has created a memorial keepsake called the Book of Life. The Book of Life is like a blank canvas that offers families the opportunity to create a treasure trove of memories on paper. These memories include unlimited color photographs, stories, scriptures, poems and other personal experiences. The book is comprehensively designed on their website by the family and friends of the deceased. Not only is the Book of Life a lasting memorial for families to cherish for generations, it offers grief support during the time of loss. Sales of the Book of Life are driven through partner funeral homes, nationwide.

Please join us for lunch on Wednesday, June 9, 2010, 11:45 a.m. at the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park Conference Center. The Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park Conference Center is located at 655 Research Parkway, Suite 100, in Oklahoma City. For directions to PHFCC, please visit www.phfcc.com/directions.htm.

Non-members and guests please make reservations with Mindy Young, OVF Executive Director, at mindy@ovf.org or (405) 341-6545. The cost for non-members and guests is $35. Cash, check, VISA, or MasterCard accepted at the door.

Chairman’s Perspective

Dear Venture Forum Members,

It is rewarding to see that Oklahoma is being discovered for its robust entrepreneurial spirit. The May edition of Inc. magazine recognized a handful of locations as part of its “Incubation Nation” report. Oklahoma City and the public-private partnership i2E were referenced side-by-side with cities such as Atlanta, Cleveland, Austin and others. Kudos to i2E, its President and CEO, Tom Walker, and the rest of its exceptional staff for this worthy acknowledgement.

Also, the Kauffman Foundation just issued a report indicating that Oklahoma had the highest entrepreneurial activity rates in the country. In Oklahoma, 470 per 100,000 adults create businesses each month. Montana had the same rate followed by Arizona, Texas and Idaho. Those with the lowest rates were Mississippi, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Minnesota. The complete data is available at www.kauffman.org/kiea.

According to this report from the Kauffman Foundation, 2009 represented the highest level of business startups in 14 years, even higher than the 1999-2000 technology boom. Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation suggests that since “entrepreneurs drive the economy, the growth in 2009 business startups is encouraging and hopefully points to a hopeful trend in terms of our economic recovery.” This bodes well for Oklahoma in view of our top ranking.

It has truly been an honor to serve as Chairman of the Oklahoma Venture Forum over the past year. As my term comes to an end, it is my pleasure to pass the torch to Richard Zahn. Richard is not only a gentleman and a scholar, but is also dedicated to the fostering the growth of new and existing businesses in Oklahoma and genuinely interested in advancing the mission of OVF. Please join me in welcoming Richard as the incoming Chairman of OVF.

OVF Member Profile

Staff One

Talk to Jon Scoggins of Staff One, and this becomes clear: Here’s a company that focuses on the Three R’s. No traditional grade school curriculum is involved, though crunching the numbers, reading the regulations, and polishing the communications are all part of the equation. Or as Mr. Scoggins, Staff One’s Director of Business Development, puts it: There’s revenue, risk, and reputation.

“Regarding revenue, Staff One helps small businesses to maximize returns on the human capital investments they’ve made,” notes Jon Scoggins.

With respect to the second “R,” he says, “At Staff One we insulate our client companies from risk by reviewing employment practices and providing guidance and training on how to reduce overall business liabilities and exposures.”

Lastly, there’s reputation. “The strength of any company is its people,” he says. “An employer’s reputation can be dramatically enhanced through better employee communication and access to a better, more affordable benefits offering.”

For over 20 years, Staff One has provided HR outsourcing to small and mid-sized businesses. Clients from forty three states utilize Staff One’s expertise; the company maintains offices in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia. Mr. Scoggins divides his time between the Oklahoma City and Tulsa offices.

“I work closely with business owners and professionals to help them understand the impact a sound human resource strategy can have,” he says. “At this time a lot of companies are focused on weathering the current economic storm. Yet those businesses don’t realize that human resources practices have the potential to increase a company’s productivity and profitability.”

A primer on HR practices helps to put things in perspective. According to Staff One’s Business Development Director, there are two distinct categories in human resources: strategic and transactional. Strategic functions focus on retention of employees, lines of communication, and core competencies. Transactional functions revolve around paperwork and compliance issues.

“Strategic functions can generate revenue for a company,” notes Jon Scoggins, “whereas transactional functions, although necessary, do not bring in profits.”

“Our goal at Staff One is to grab a hold of literally every non -profit producing employee related administrative function that a company has and allow them to shove it out their front door. This enables the business owner to focus all their energies on those things that have a positive impact on their bottom line.”

“In other words, there’s the business of running a business, and the business that goes along with that, of being an employer. We simply eliminate the one so that businesses can focus on the other.”
When transactional paperwork flies off the desk of entrepreneurs, something happens. Jon Scoggins calls it “peace of mind.”

In fact, Staff One offers peace of mind by the bucketfuls. The four “buckets,” or service offerings, include 1.) Payroll and Tax Administration, 2.) Compliance Management, 3.) Employer Liability Management and 4.) Risk and Safety Management. These services are offered via a high tech, high touch delivery system.

“From the high tech side, we have tried to create an offering for businesses who want to move towards a paperless world.”

“We offer a very comprehensive internet based platform, i.e., payroll reporting, training modules, benefit administration, etc.”

Jon Scoggins goes on to say, “We’ve always been a very high touch company in terms of our client delivery model. For example, we assign a true human resources professional to each one of our work site locations.”

“That professional is in daily contact with the client company. In fact, we have a group of HR specialists who spend all of their time out in the field.”

“Ultimately, any company’s strength is its human capital,” says Jon Scoggins.

That sounds like wisdom from a true human resources professional.