Local entrepreneurs, Sean McCullough and Adam Duffy of Ping.fm are joining forces with Seesmic. Seesmic acquired Ping.fm and plans to integrate Ping.fm into all of its applications in the near future. Ping.fm is a status update services, which allows users to updates posts on over 50 social networks through SMS, mobile apps, IM services and third party applications that support the services.

“Ping.fm is a Tulsa start-up success story. They showcase that great ideas can be discovered and funded and location is not a deterrent for success. The Collaboratorium team and members are proud and wish them the best in the next chapter of the Ping.fm story,” said Sean Griffin, Collaboratorium Chair.

McCullough and Duffy have been members of the Collaboratorium, an entrepreneurial resource center located in downtown Tulsa since it’s opening in May 2009.

“The Collaboratorium played a critical role in our success. The dynamic and supportive environment allowed us to focus our business model and create greater value for our customers and investor. We look forward to giving back to the Collaboratorium and the City of Tulsa as we continue down our entrepreneurial journey,” said Sean McCullough, Ping.fm co-founder,

Ping.fm’s founders Adam Duffy and Sean McCullough will join Seesmic as full-time employees and continue to work on Ping.fm. For more information about Ping.fm and Seesmic, visit seesmic.com

The 2009 Tulsey Awards set a record voting, bringing in over 14,000 votes for their favorite nominee. The special Golden Driller awards recognize the pioneers and innovators of the Tulsa community. The Tulseys are publicly driven awards consisting of eleven categories: Civic, Emerging, Entertainment, Franchise, Green, Interactive, Legend, Restaurateur, Serial, Young and the Tulseys Entrepreneur of the Year. All votes were made online at the Tulseys website, www.thetulseys.com.

2009 Tulsey Winners Are:
Civic – George Kaiser, George Kaiser Family Foundation
Emerging – Melanie Henry, 918moms.com
Entertainment – Ben Sumner, Up Late with Ben Sumner
Franchise – Chester Cadieux, QuikTrip
Green – Libby Auld, Elote Café and Catering
Interactive – Natasha Ball, Tasha DoesTulsa.com
Legend – Charles Kingsley, Coney I-Lander
Restaurateur – Blake Ewing, Joe Momma’s Pizza
Serial – Gavin Manes, Avansic
Young – Jonathan Conneely, Bootcamp Tulsa
Tulsey Entrepreneur of the Year – Blake Ewing, Joe Momma’s Pizza

The Mayor’s Tulseys culminated the end of Tulsa Global Entrepreneurship Week.

2009 Tulsey Sponsors included: Tulsa Technology Center, Tulsa Community College, University of Tulsa, Tulsa Metro Chamber and the Lobeck Taylor Foundation. Special Media Sponsor: Tulsa Business Journal

Real Time Rehab received the $30,000 check from SpiritBank and free space in the Tulsa Collaboratorium from Kanbar Properties as the grand prize winner of the 2009 Mayor’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. Real Time Rehab provides physical therapists and clinicians with personalized rehabilitation programs for their patients. The programs are burned onto DVDs, providing patients with clear, step-by-step demonstrations of the exercises they need to perform to ensure a speedy and complete recovery.

Part-Time Pros, who connects degreed, experienced professionals with part-time and contract employment took 2nd place and Cog Togs Inc., came in 3rd place with a social site that lets kids trade personalized beads with their friends then connect online to a social. Part-Time Pros received a check of $5,000 and Cog Togs Inc. received a check of $2,500, both provided by Spirit Bank.

A special award new to the business model competition this year is the Skunk Whisperer Award, named after the 2007 third place winner of the Spirit Award, Ned Bruha the Skunk Whisperer. During the 2007 Spirit Awards, money was not given to second and third place winners. Although Ned didn’t receive any money, he has credited the Spirit Award as a catalyst in growing his business through the coaching and promotion received as part of his award.

The 2009 Skunk Whisperer Award recipient, Elote Café and Catering, received a six month advisory board made up of Spirit Award judges and coaches. Elote also received a visually driven game plan process graphically facilitated by Chair of the Spirit Award, Sean Griffin. Elote Café and Catering is known for their fresh innovative Mexican food in the heart of downtown Tulsa with use of local ingredients and sustainable practices.

Celebrating its third year, the Mayor’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award is designed to promote small business growth in Tulsa by providing networking and other business opportunities to area small businesses. Mayor Taylor announced that Tulsa Community College will be spear heading the Tulsa Spirit Award going forward as part of their ongoing commitment to growing entrepreneurialism in Tulsa. SpiritBank also announced that they would continue to sponsor the Spirit Awards going forward.