About Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City sales tax collections are up from this time last year, bucking a statewide trend that saw sales tax fall 1.5 percent in the latest reporting period. Despite the price of oil being half what it was a year ago and the rig count also down by half, "Our sales tax is still positive," Doug Dowler, Oklahoma City's budget director, said Wednesday.  "Obviously, there's some other strengths in our economy besides oil."

There have been multiple articles recently in the national press about how the middle of country is gaining attention as a source of promising technology deals. Big-name investors, including Steve Case, billionaire co-founder of AOL, are in the hunt.

Case's investment firm, Revolution, has covered 8,000 miles in the last three years, searching out quality startups on the premise that high-growth companies can start and scale anywhere, not just in Silicon Valley or the East Coast.

The momentum is in Oklahoma's favor — if only we stay the course to take advantage of it.