The first place winner of the third annual Tulsa Mayor’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award is a Claremore resident and a Rogers State University Innovation Center incubator client.
Jeremy Green, founder of Real Time Rehab, a DVD-based physical therapy program, received the $30,000 grand prize at the award program held Tuesday night.
The third-annual contest began in April and included more than 85 entries before being narrowed down to seven finalists and then to three winners and a single grand prize recipient.
“Winning the Spirit Award gives us immediate funding for some new opportunities and a little bit of breathing room,” Green said.
His RSU Innovation Center office is full of DVDs, notebooks, computers and lots of energy. A graduate of Sequoyah High School and Oklahoma State University, Green lives in Claremore and enjoys working close to home.
Green said he came up with the idea for the company when he was in school for physical therapy and decided to defer his education to create Real Time Rehab.
Instead of giving patients a piece of paper with descriptions of prescribed exercises to be completed at home, Real Time Rehab allows physical therapists to design a DVD for each patient. The patient can then watch someone demonstrate the required exercises in the comfort of their own home.
“If I am a therapist I might be able to help 30 or 40 people a week, this way I could help millions,” Green said.
With the help of his brother-in-law Jason Reed, who owns Martini Shot Productions, Green was able to record demonstrations of many of the exercises commonly prescribed by physical therapists.
He consults with several physical therapists as well as an occupational therapist to create a product to fit the industry and the patient’s needs.
Green, age 30, has been an RSU Innovation Center client for more than three years and a part of the incubator program since the spring. Jeri Koehler, RSU Innovation Center business development specialist, helped Green with a business plan several years ago and continued to work with him as an incubator client.
“Jeremy Green has worked tenaciously to get Real Time Rehab where it is today. He is an ideal client because he is passionate about his business and does whatever it takes in order to succeed,” Koehler said. “With his success in the Tulsa Spirit Awards, his business is geared to grow exponentially as he provides solutions to physical therapists and physicians throughout the United States.”
Green said the staff and resources at the RSU Innovation Center helped him succeed with his business.
“They are smart and good to work with,” he said.
RSU established the Innovation Center in 2002 to foster economic development and address the educational needs of business and industry in northeastern Oklahoma. The Innovation Center does this by focusing on business and technology incubator services, entrepreneurial training and business counseling.
The Innovation Center features a business and technology incubator program geared toward growing early stage technology, light manufacturing, and professional service-based companies.
Real Time Rehab was a perfect fit for the Innovation Center incubator program because of the nature of Green’s technology-focused business, Koehler said.
Clients play a fee each month to lease the space and have access to services and support. The monthly fee is often less than it would be for other commercial office space.
“Jeremy is an outstanding entrepreneur with a very promising business model. The Innovation Center is very proud to have an incubator client recognized for its achievements and potential,” said Dr. Ray Brown, RSU vice president for economic and community development.
For reservations and more information contact the Innovation Center at (918) 343-7533.