May 31, 2023

Unitranche

Supportive Business Potential

Oklahoma best place to start a business in 2023

Oklahoma best place to start a business in 2023

AgBoost founder Sean Akadiri, left, talks with StitchCrew co-founder Erika Lucas.

Forbes isn’t a big fan of starting a business in Oklahoma.

In a list destined to trigger groans in some parts of the country, ego boosts in others, and a whole lot of misunderstanding of data — Oklahoma is 42nd in “Best States to Start a Business in 2023.”

But how accurate is a list like that anyway? What factors get left out? Is Oklahoma — birthplace of businesses like Continental Resources, Love’s Travel Stops, Sonic, Paycom and more — really such a bad place to start a business?

Not exactly, according to local entrepreneurs and venture capitalists familiar with the process of launching new businesses in Oklahoma.

Forbes based its ranking off of “18 key metrics across five categories” to determine which states are best, or worst. The five broad categories include business costs, business climate, financial accessibility, economy and workforce.