New company helps commercialize faculty technologies

Monday, February 13, 2012

READ ADDITIONAL STORIES ON COWBOY TECHNOLOGIES:

Cowboy Technology Angels seeks investors for technologies developed at OSU 

Oklahoma State University ASSET program serves Oklahoma companies and Federal Government 

By Aubrey Raupe

Oklahoma State University is on the leading edge in the national push to increase business start-ups based on technology developed by OSU research faculty with the founding of Cowboy Technologies, LLC. The privately owned company receives the majority of its funding from the OSU Center for Innovation and Economic Development, Inc.   

Cowboy Technologies, located in the Henry Bellmon Research Center, is a catalyst in the university technology commercialization process by serving as an early seed investor funding strictly OSU inventions. After laboratory proof of concept, Cowboy Technologies works with faculty to provide investment funding. Funding is then used for product and business development to transition the faculty’s invention into a market ready product. 

Steve Wood, CEO of Cowboy Technologies, said the faculty and administration at OSU has been very receptive to the program and it’s mission.

“My compliments to the faculty at OSU,” Wood said. “Cowboy Technologies has been well received. We engage with them about the realistic commercial potential and market position for their invention. Everyone has had open minds about what we are trying to accomplish and appreciate our efforts to assist them.”

The projects that Cowboy Technologies invests in are entering the critical phase of technology development, known as the “Valley of Death.” Most commercialization efforts fail due to inadequate planning, incorrect markets, lack of investment and the absence of experienced management. Cowboy Technologies bridges the valley of death by utilizing a systematic risk reduction process targeted to overcome these critical failures. Providing seed funding, using diverse university resources and sourcing future capital are key elements in this process to establish a sustainable start-up company. 

According to Jai Rajendran, manager of Cowboy Technologies, the company’s mission “to be a catalyst for commercializing university inventions,” corresponds to OSU’s land grant outreach mission by bringing faculty inventions from “campus to community.”  

“We believe Cowboy Technologies is a modern adaptation of the land grant mission which takes technologies developed on campus and footprints them into the wider community,” Wood said. “We believe this form of outreach is our mission, and we take that mission very seriously.”

For further information, contact Cowboy Technologies at (405) 744-4156 or visit the web site at http://www.cowboytechllc.com.