Combining self-made success and business experience, Mike Whitaker has started his second life chapter as a strategic resource for people who want to attain their life goals. Mike is a personal and business change thinker.

With more than 20 years of experience moving businesses from start-ups to marketable positions, Mike has a proven record as a business development specialist. Mike also coaches individuals and companies on turnarounds, ideas, strategic planning and creative business concepts – helping them move more quickly toward satisfying outcomes.

“I’ve had success and made enough mistakes to know the right moves in most business situations, from business start-up to cashing the final check. My confidence in my knowledge and abilities comes from my experience, education, mentors and a well-demonstrated gut instinct about ideas and people – paired with a humility that allows for the possibility of being wrong and learning more about the world.” 

Mike is the founder of Idea Gateway, an entrepreneurial development platform that creates innovative business models for entrepreneurs and investors. Idea Gateway creates and publishes its own intellectual property and occasionally contributes to opportunities started by others.  Idea Gateway is currently launching a photo technology software company, Memory Pix Technologies – currently operating at Seattle’s Space Needle.

In addition to his interest in Idea Gateway, Mike owns a growing Oklahoma City manufacturing company, Lucas Color Card, which he started in his garage in 1995. With only $480 in start up cash, Mike went on to develop Lucas into a $12 million enterprise. By 2008, Mike and partners had grown the multi-factory company beyond $100 million in annual sales.  However, the 2008 U.S. bank failures ruined the pending sale of this asset and by 2009, Mike learned some very hard lessons about “partners” as the business was destroyed by ego-driven decisions. In 2010, Mike repurchased the Lucas division from the bank and Lucas has since steamed upward.

“One of my greatest learned traits is resilience. Resilience is a trait that we entrepreneurs must have to persevere through the hard times, to knock down the walls that others would avoid, to not accept ‘no’ for an answer. Resilience allows me to recover from punches that come with risk. I value it now more than ever. It is why I can do this again and again.”

Mike is also an investor and advisor to Invision Capital Group of Chicago, a private equity fund with holdings in many diversified industries within the lower-middle market. He actively pursues additional business acquisitions.

Mike attended the University of Kansas where he received his B.S. in Cognitive Psychology. He earned his MBA from the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. He is married and has three children.

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Mike Whitaker understands venture creation at its essence—how one lives and breathes a venture.  His ability to connect with, educate, motivate and inspire those who would pursue the entrepreneurial path is unmatched.  It is that ability to combine real substance and a disciplined approach with vision, passion and drive that sets him apart.
Michael H. Morris, Ph.D. 
Professor and N. Malone Mitchell Chair
Head, School of Entrepreneurship,Oklahoma State University

Mike is an innovative thinker with a noteworthy passion for entrepreneurism. He takes the process of thinking beyond the obvious in business to the next evolution of start up and concept development. He is a good speaker with a wealth of personal experience to draw from.
Shelli Todd
Director of OKSTARTUP Entrepreneurship Programs
Oklahoma Department of Commerce

Start Working with Mike Today! Call Toll-Free 1-877-843-4110