Why I Launched Here

We build Web applications to facilitate rapid communication of medial information. For example, if you are transported by ambulance, we can send a text message to registered emergency contacts saying what hospital you are going to. We also have a membership program where you go online and securely register with the local ambulance. If you cannot communicate, a sticker on the back of your drivers' license with an eight-digit pin number provides a licensed medic access to your vital medical records.

We started the company in 2004 with two practicing physicians, and the engineers and software technicians came a year later. We self-funded about $3.5 million from a small group of owners that were passionate about it and wanted to do this. Now we have just under 10 employees.

There are some big pros and some big cons being in Tulsa. We are in the middle of the country -- you can be in New York or San Francisco in the same amount of time. There is a low cost of living. Tulsa has a stable economy and a relatively educated talent pool.

The con is that you are cut off from financial markets -- private equity and venture capital firms and the folks that typically put money into early-stage ventures. So you either self-fund and bet the farm, or you go out and find a venture capitalist. The closest market to venture capital is Austin.

In the four years that I have been CEO, we have been able to maintain a very low burn rate -- what a venture spends per month. We bought an old building and restored it in downtown Tulsa. We couldn't have this experience in Seattle or San Francisco, but we can afford it here.

My partners and I have taken the philosophy 'love where you live, and if you want something to happen, put your own time and money behind it.' -Catherine Clifford

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