Building Social Impact
Atento and its founder, Michael Basch, have been involved in the launch of 10 major initiatives in Tulsa, operating as an unofficial nonprofit venture studio in partnership with the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Our involvement has included ideation, development, leadership recruitment, and launch.
Organizations
In 2019, Tulsa was the largest city in the country without a 4-year public university and punched below its weight in tech workers per capita. To address this issue, we recruited Atlas School, formerly Holberton, to Tulsa and it has become an independent Tulsa organization with 238 graduates and another 150 in the program. Graduates earn a $60k average salary, more than double their average salary when entering the program.
Atlas has continued to evolve so that the curriculum matches the ever-changing tech landscape. Atlas received major grants from the BlackRock Foundation and Google in 2025 and has recently increased wraparound services and lowered program tuition to just $5,000.
In 2019, Tulsa was the largest city in the country without a 4-year public university and punched below its weight in tech workers per capita. To address this issue, we recruited Atlas School, formerly Holberton, to Tulsa and it has become an independent Tulsa organization with 238 graduates and another 150 in the program. Graduates earn a $60k average salary, more than double their average salary when entering the program.
Atlas has continued to evolve so that the curriculum matches the ever-changing tech landscape. Atlas received major grants from the BlackRock Foundation and Google in 2025 and has recently increased wraparound services and lowered program tuition to just $5,000.
In 2019, Tulsa was the largest city in the country without a 4-year public university and punched below its weight in tech workers per capita. To address this issue, we recruited Atlas School, formerly Holberton, to Tulsa and it has become an independent Tulsa organization with 238 graduates and another 150 in the program. Graduates earn a $60k average salary, more than double their average salary when entering the program.
Atlas has continued to evolve so that the curriculum matches the ever-changing tech landscape. Atlas received major grants from the BlackRock Foundation and Google in 2025 and has recently increased wraparound services and lowered program tuition to just $5,000.
In 2021, we recognized that Tulsa was the capital of Black wealth before and after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, with hard-earned rebuilding erased in the 1960s by a destructive highway project in the name of urban renewal. To help rebuild Black Wall Street in Tulsa, we launched Build in Tulsa, an entrepreneurial support organization with a focus on under-represented founders.
Build in Tulsa knows that talent is distributed equitably, but opportunity is not. Black entrepreneurs and other underrepresented minorities receive just 2-3% of venture capital funding. Build in Tulsa has supported over 450 entrepreneurs through their accelerator and venture development programs, and Build in Tulsa participants have raised over $20M of capital.
In 2021, we recognized that Tulsa was the capital of Black wealth before and after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, with hard-earned rebuilding erased in the 1960s by a destructive highway project in the name of urban renewal. To help rebuild Black Wall Street in Tulsa, we launched Build in Tulsa, an entrepreneurial support organization with a focus on under-represented founders.
Build in Tulsa knows that talent is distributed equitably, but opportunity is not. Black entrepreneurs and other underrepresented minorities receive just 2-3% of venture capital funding. Build in Tulsa has supported over 450 entrepreneurs through their accelerator and venture development programs, and Build in Tulsa participants have raised over $20M of capital.
In 2021, we recognized that Tulsa was the capital of Black wealth before and after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, with hard-earned rebuilding erased in the 1960s by a destructive highway project in the name of urban renewal. To help rebuild Black Wall Street in Tulsa, we launched Build in Tulsa, an entrepreneurial support organization with a focus on under-represented founders.
Build in Tulsa knows that talent is distributed equitably, but opportunity is not. Black entrepreneurs and other underrepresented minorities receive just 2-3% of venture capital funding. Build in Tulsa has supported over 450 entrepreneurs through their accelerator and venture development programs, and Build in Tulsa participants have raised over $20M of capital.
This program linking angel investors from Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas, and beyond was founded in 2021 to increase angel investing and support entrepreneurship in the “412 Highway Corridor” between the two regions and the broader Heartland.
The brainchild of Atento Capital and the Walton Family Foundation, this program lives on via Endeavor Heartland and has expanded to include Kansas City, Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama.
This program linking angel investors from Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas, and beyond was founded in 2021 to increase angel investing and support entrepreneurship in the “412 Highway Corridor” between the two regions and the broader Heartland.
The brainchild of Atento Capital and the Walton Family Foundation, this program lives on via Endeavor Heartland and has expanded to include Kansas City, Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama.
This program linking angel investors from Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas, and beyond was founded in 2021 to increase angel investing and support entrepreneurship in the “412 Highway Corridor” between the two regions and the broader Heartland.
The brainchild of Atento Capital and the Walton Family Foundation, this program lives on via Endeavor Heartland and has expanded to include Kansas City, Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama.
We believed that startups could be successful in Tulsa, they just needed talent so they could grow. With that in mind, in 2020 we launched inTulsa. InTulsa helps startups and established companies recruit local talent, as well as bringing in people with much-needed skills from overseas through the Tulsa Visa Network. The program supports 62 entrepreneurs, software engineers, and business professionals—resulting in 115 people, including family members, living and working in Tulsa. The Visa Network’s membership represents talent from 25 different countries.
InTulsa has placed more than 300 people and continues to bring talent to Tulsa as part of Experience Tulsa.
We believed that startups could be successful in Tulsa, they just needed talent so they could grow. With that in mind, in 2020 we launched inTulsa. InTulsa helps startups and established companies recruit local talent, as well as bringing in people with much-needed skills from overseas through the Tulsa Visa Network. The program supports 62 entrepreneurs, software engineers, and business professionals—resulting in 115 people, including family members, living and working in Tulsa. The Visa Network’s membership represents talent from 25 different countries.
InTulsa has placed more than 300 people and continues to bring talent to Tulsa as part of Experience Tulsa.
We believed that startups could be successful in Tulsa, they just needed talent so they could grow. With that in mind, in 2020 we launched inTulsa. InTulsa helps startups and established companies recruit local talent, as well as bringing in people with much-needed skills from overseas through the Tulsa Visa Network. The program supports 62 entrepreneurs, software engineers, and business professionals—resulting in 115 people, including family members, living and working in Tulsa. The Visa Network’s membership represents talent from 25 different countries.
InTulsa has placed more than 300 people and continues to bring talent to Tulsa as part of Experience Tulsa.
We looked to diversify Tulsa’s economy into industries of the future, namely cybersecurity, aerospace, and advanced aerial mobility (drones), and energy—sectors that Tulsa had an unfair right to win. Mike recruited TIL’s first founder from the NYC Economic Development Corporation to launch the organization in 2020.
TIL has raised nearly $90 million in federal funding for innovation in Tulsa, via the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) and the Tech Hubs programs.
We looked to diversify Tulsa’s economy into industries of the future, namely cybersecurity, aerospace, and advanced aerial mobility (drones), and energy—sectors that Tulsa had an unfair right to win. Mike recruited TIL’s first founder from the NYC Economic Development Corporation to launch the organization in 2020.
TIL has raised nearly $90 million in federal funding for innovation in Tulsa, via the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) and the Tech Hubs programs.
We looked to diversify Tulsa’s economy into industries of the future, namely cybersecurity, aerospace, and advanced aerial mobility (drones), and energy—sectors that Tulsa had an unfair right to win. Mike recruited TIL’s first founder from the NYC Economic Development Corporation to launch the organization in 2020.
TIL has raised nearly $90 million in federal funding for innovation in Tulsa, via the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) and the Tech Hubs programs.
This is the world’s largest and most successful remote worker recruitment program, with over 3,500 professionals and 5,000 total people relocated to Tulsa since 2018–over 1% of the city’s population. In late 2017, in partnership with Tulsa Tomorrow and GKFF, Michael Basch brought 58 friends to Tulsa on a recruiting trip. In a survey afterwards, 85% said they would move here if they had the right opportunity. 7 actually did, 4 of whom were remote workers or sole proprietors.
This was the inspiration that led to Tulsa Remote, a program that Mike ideated and developed before its launch.
This is the world’s largest and most successful remote worker recruitment program, with over 3,500 professionals and 5,000 total people relocated to Tulsa since 2018–over 1% of the city’s population. In late 2017, in partnership with Tulsa Tomorrow and GKFF, Michael Basch brought 58 friends to Tulsa on a recruiting trip. In a survey afterwards, 85% said they would move here if they had the right opportunity. 7 actually did, 4 of whom were remote workers or sole proprietors.
This was the inspiration that led to Tulsa Remote, a program that Mike ideated and developed before its launch.
This is the world’s largest and most successful remote worker recruitment program, with over 3,500 professionals and 5,000 total people relocated to Tulsa since 2018–over 1% of the city’s population. In late 2017, in partnership with Tulsa Tomorrow and GKFF, Michael Basch brought 58 friends to Tulsa on a recruiting trip. In a survey afterwards, 85% said they would move here if they had the right opportunity. 7 actually did, 4 of whom were remote workers or sole proprietors.
This was the inspiration that led to Tulsa Remote, a program that Mike ideated and developed before its launch.
In 2020 we had a global pandemic and businesses needed help with their PPP loans, so we launched Tulsa Responds, which is now a 40-person team serving Tulsa in partnership with state and local government and other nonprofits. Today, they help with Medicaid enrollment, SBA loans, tax returns, and more.
In 2020 we had a global pandemic and businesses needed help with their PPP loans, so we launched Tulsa Responds, which is now a 40-person team serving Tulsa in partnership with state and local government and other nonprofits. Today, they help with Medicaid enrollment, SBA loans, tax returns, and more.
In 2020 we had a global pandemic and businesses needed help with their PPP loans, so we launched Tulsa Responds, which is now a 40-person team serving Tulsa in partnership with state and local government and other nonprofits. Today, they help with Medicaid enrollment, SBA loans, tax returns, and more.
Given the shortage of corporations hiring university graduates at scale in Tulsa, we created these programs in 2021 to recruit top level talent out of universities to internships in Tulsa as well as 1-year fully funded fellowships for service work in Tulsa. These programs bring hundreds of young people to Tulsa every year.
Given the shortage of corporations hiring university graduates at scale in Tulsa, we created these programs in 2021 to recruit top level talent out of universities to internships in Tulsa as well as 1-year fully funded fellowships for service work in Tulsa. These programs bring hundreds of young people to Tulsa every year.
Given the shortage of corporations hiring university graduates at scale in Tulsa, we created these programs in 2021 to recruit top level talent out of universities to internships in Tulsa as well as 1-year fully funded fellowships for service work in Tulsa. These programs bring hundreds of young people to Tulsa every year.
This is our most recent project, bringing top Latin American deep tech startups to Tulsa. Through strategic partnerships with Latin American partners and tailored support packages, we help international founders scale their companies, access capital, and integrate into Tulsa’s growing innovation ecosystem. Across cohorts in 2024 and 2025, we’ve hosted 22 companies and 40 founders in Tulsa.
As of May 2025, 18 out of the 22 companies or more than 75% are interested in coming back to Tulsa to stay. The program was profiled in Fortune here. As of 2026, 6 companies have already established US headquarters in Tulsa and more are planning to move.
This is our most recent project, bringing top Latin American deep tech startups to Tulsa. Through strategic partnerships with Latin American partners and tailored support packages, we help international founders scale their companies, access capital, and integrate into Tulsa’s growing innovation ecosystem. Across cohorts in 2024 and 2025, we’ve hosted 22 companies and 40 founders in Tulsa.
As of May 2025, 18 out of the 22 companies or more than 75% are interested in coming back to Tulsa to stay. The program was profiled in Fortune here. As of 2026, 6 companies have already established US headquarters in Tulsa and more are planning to move.
This is our most recent project, bringing top Latin American deep tech startups to Tulsa. Through strategic partnerships with Latin American partners and tailored support packages, we help international founders scale their companies, access capital, and integrate into Tulsa’s growing innovation ecosystem. Across cohorts in 2024 and 2025, we’ve hosted 22 companies and 40 founders in Tulsa.
As of May 2025, 18 out of the 22 companies or more than 75% are interested in coming back to Tulsa to stay. The program was profiled in Fortune here. As of 2026, 6 companies have already established US headquarters in Tulsa and more are planning to move.