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Tulsa Idea Challenge Winners Announced
$50,000 awarded to 20 Tulsans to continue their entrepreneurial journey
Tulsa, OK | May 7, 2024 – The second Tulsa Idea Challenge ended Sunday and 20 Tulsans were awarded $50,000 in prize money to continue their entrepreneurial journey.
Designed to encourage innovation in Tulsa, the workshop and competition helped more than 200 participants learn how to collaborate and transform an idea into action. According to organizers, ten teams of Tulsans were awarded a portion of the prize money for ideas that ranged from an AI-generated donor retention platform to an eco-conscious hair product.
Participants were randomly paired and worked together as teams over two days to learn how to identify a problem, break it down and create an actionable plan that offers a real-world solution through purposely-crafted exercises developed by Builders + Backers.
The following awards were presented to winning teams:
- Grand Prize $25,000 - Impact Echo by Mason Harmon and Chalon Jones combines the ancient art of voicemail and the future-defining power of AI into a platform designed to streamline donor retention.
- Judge’s Favorite $7,500 - Sugar Cane Shields by Denia Shed and Michelle Simmons is an eco-conscious disposal system for excess hair dye, reducing the 42,000 pounds of daily waste polluting local waterways with harsh chemicals.
- Most Collaborative Partnership $7,500 - Salvador Segovia and Cheryl Hayes idea facilitates connections between individuals with autism and their support networks via a resource directory with local services, support groups and activities in Tulsa.
- Best Experimenters $4,000 - Progress Passport by Sara Gayle and Chris Walonski is an educational and resource-based platform that gamifies the process of reintegration for formerly incarcerated women.
- Most Novel Idea $1,000 - Michael Walker and Samuel Gabor idea would create a marketplace for ethically sourced data voluntarily created by creatives in order to train AI-models.
- Tulsa Impact Idea $1,000 - David Fickes and Alex Dipboye envision a community benefit corporation that would utilize Oklahoma’s bounty of land to build solar panel infrastructure in order to capture, store and sell electricity.
- Best AI Idea $1,000 - Talk Switch by Nathaniel Floyd and Tahlia Roper is a customizable voice converter that makes education more accessible to all learners, especially those with auditory disabilities.
- Best Health & Wellness Idea $1,000 - Danielle Anderson and Vanessa Boshuizen proposed a sensory concierge service that makes individualized sensory modifications to create better medical outcomes for neurodivergent patients.
- Best Social Impact Idea $1,000 - Talk2Me by Sarah Dennis and David Cardamone is a custom communication kiosk that creates a seamless experience for individuals with communication needs such as those experiencing a language.
- Best Consumer Product Idea $1,000 - Jesica Paige and Nicole Newton proposed an underwater obstacle course that helps emerging swimmers gain confidence and have fun in a safe way.
Winners will be offered fast-track spots in the summer of the Builders + Backers' Idea Accelerator, which comes with $5,000 in Pebble Funds to test and launch a new venture in partnership with Heartland Forward. Winners will also enjoy benefits from 36 Degrees North including free co-working for the rest of May and a direct connection to Tulsa’s innovation ecosystem and business community to further their entrepreneurial idea.
Last year’s grand prize winners Misha Shah and Nicole Murray have since accelerated their idea, Our Safety Drone, which uses security drones to improve school safety, into a startup business. In November 2023 they were awarded $25,000 after pitching the startup at Builders + Backers’ Heartland Summit, and are now poised to build and launch products that will keep schools safer in 2024 and beyond.
The Tulsa Idea Challenge, held at the University of Tulsa, May 4-5, 2024, was presented by 36 Degrees North, Builders + Backers and Tulsa Remote. More information is available at tulsaideachallenge.com.
High resolution photos and videos are available here.
About Tulsa Remote
Tulsa Remote is a unique recruitment initiative aimed at attracting talented individuals to Tulsa.
About 36 Degrees North
36 Degrees North (36°N) is Tulsa’s basecamp for entrepreneurs, remote workers, and innovators providing the high-quality workspace, helpful resources, and diverse community needed to build growing companies that drive economic impact. With a combined 70,000 square feet of office, collaboration, and event space in the heart of Downtown Tulsa, 36°N is the central gathering point for Tulsa’s entrepreneurial community.
About Builders + Backers
Builders + Backers invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building ventures to power an entirely different future - one where technology creates value for many instead of capturing it for a few. Through proprietary programming, Builders + Backers also inspires and equips people to best seize the opportunities of our digital era - from experimentation and solving problems in their local communities to starting new ventures that could scale. By backing the most creative builders across the country, we can shape the digital future to be one in which more people participate and thrive.
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