Monthly Archive for December, 2006

Dec27th2006

Review your Business Plan with some of the best minds in Houston

Published
by
kurt
on December 27, 2006
in General and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

No kidding, that’s what one of the testimonials on their web site says. We’re talking about the M.I.T. Forum of Texas‘ New Venture Clinic. They have several sessions coming up and are taking submissions right now for those interested in having their business plan reviewed by a panel of experts in different business disciplines. Here is a more detailed description from their site:

“The New Venture Clinic provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs at new business ventures to receive private, low-risk counsel from an advisory panel of business experts in relevant areas such as strategy, finance, law, marketing and sales. As such it’s a perfect opportunity to “fine-tune” a business plan before approaching investors or taking a product to market.

The New Venture Clinic leadership team is looking for prospective clients that meet the following criteria:

  • Located in Texas
  • Developing a technology focused business
  • Revenues under $2M annually
  • Possess a written, fundamentally valid business plan
  • Possess a PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentation
  • Has the potential to be a successful business

To submit a nomination please send your name and contact information, the nominee’s contact information, as well as a brief description of why the nominee is appropriate for New Venture Clinic to newventure@mitforumtexas.org.”

C’mon, what have you got to lose? This is completely free to those selected (except for the price of dinner), so I recommend that you submit your business plan as soon as possible. If nothing else, You will come out of the experience better prepared to present your business plan to the toughest audiences around: investors.

You can find even more information here.

Dec22nd2006

Don’t Miss the upcoming Nanotechnology Venture Forum

Published
by
kurt
on December 22, 2006
in Events, NanoTech and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

The 6th Annual Rice Alliance Nanotechnolgy Venture Forum is just around the corner and will show off one of Houston’s key areas of strength. Last year, they had over 500 attendees and I hear that this year looks to be even bigger than last.

According to the site…

” You should attend the forum if you are seeking:
- investment opportunities in emerging nanotechnology companies
- customers or strategic partners in the nanotechnology industry
- management opportunities
- assistance to start an entrepreneurial enterprise
- news about leading edge nanotechnology technologies”

I know I’ll be there if for no other reason than to hear all of the great things that we will be seeing soon from Houston companies.

Go here to register for the event.

Dec22nd2006

VC’s betting on Energy, Internet, & Asia for 2007

Published
by
kurt
on December 22, 2006
in Energy, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

According to this CNET article, it looks like venture capitalists are betting big on Energy and Internet startups, as well as companies outside the US (read Asia).

From the article:

“The National Venture Capital Associations (NVCA) on Monday published the results of a survey of 200 venture capitalists, conducted earlier this month, which indicates investment plans for the coming year. Venture capitalists said start-ups in hot sectors will continue to attract dollars. … Investment in energy-related companies was projected to increase by more than 90 percent, while Internet and media-related investments are expected to climb about 70 percent.”

Here’s hoping that Houston startups get a good piece of that pie.

Dec18th2006

Startup Houston has added a new Events Calendar

Published
by
kurt
on December 18, 2006
in General
. 0 Comments

We have now added an event calendar so that you can see all of the activities in town that might be of interest to IT/Web2.0/Nano/Bio/Energy technology startups. While there are not too many events at the moment due to end-of-year issues, I expect a lot to be happening in January. Make sure to check back here for all of the latest so you can get maximum exposure at these events.

Note: Blue dates in the calendar indicate blog post dates, while Red dates in the calendar indicate event dates

Dec18th2006

Houston Startup News - Playing Catch-Up

Published
by
kurt
on December 18, 2006
in IT and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Since this blog was recently started, I thought I would go back and find some recent startup news happenings to bring things up to speed. So what’s been going on lately in Houston Startup land? Have a look…

  • Whiteboard Labs Back in September, The Houston Business Journal wrote an article on WhiteBoard Labs. It seems that Whiteboard Labs is doing well with a dual approach of offering both products (MotionNotes being one, allowing conversion of powerpoint presentations to flash) and other services (web design). They’re revenue in 2005 was $550k and they are expecting revenue in 2006 to come in at $1.2m. That’s a very nice growth rate of almost 120%. Here’s wishing them the best of luck in 2007.
  • Another company covered by HBJ in their Entrepreneur section is Enterprise Systems Corp. They secured Nortel Premium Partner status in record time (only 9 months) as a startup. Enterprise is now the 4th largest distributor of Nortel systems in the Houston area. The company is projecting 2006 revenue of $4.5 million for 2006, an almost 30% increase over 2005 and nearly a 650% percent increase since 2002. Go here to see how they have managed their cash flow challenges along with their quick growth.
  • P.O.P. Broadcasting was in the news this last February announcing the launch of their Point of Purchase (P.O.P.) ShelfAds™. According to their press release “Offered exclusively by P.O.P. Broadcasting, ShelfAds are attached to shelves and displays within the store and are automatically triggered by an infrared sensor to play one of several brief advertisements when the customer stops in front of the product display. ShelfAds are wireless ad players, branded uniquely for each advertiser, that feature a high-resolution digital TV screen, sound and a special electronic display for product promotions along the retail shelf.” They are so confident of the product’s effectiveness that if sales for the advertiser and retailer are not increased, the advertisements are free. Now that is confidence! Good Luck P.O.P. and let us know how those sales figures come out.

Dec14th2006

SBA makes (good) example of Small Business contribution in Houston

Published
by
kurt
on December 14, 2006
in General
. 1 Comment

In a press release that just came out yesterday, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy (for small business) announces a study that they conducted in the Houston area involving 63,000 different businesses. The report evaluates economic impact of both small and large businesses within six to eight employment centers in the Houston metropolitan region. In addition to the central business district (CBD) downtown, the subcenters evaluated were: the Galleria, Carillon (Energy Corridor), Greenspoint, Clear Lake, Baytown, LaPorte, and Pasadena. It qualifies small business as those with fewer than 45 employees.

Their final assessment? “We thus interpret the evidence to strongly suggest that small firms are a crucial element in urban economic development as their success is likely to lead to economic growth not only for the firm itself, but for the entire local economy.”

I find this report to be very encouraging for the Houston Small Business Community as a whole and hope it also further encourages local and city government to promote and incentivize startup businesses in the greater Houston area.

Check here for the full report and then let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

Dec12th2006

Rice Alliance announces 10 Most Promising I.T. Companies

Published
by
kurt
on December 12, 2006
in General, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

At the conclusion of the Rice Alliance IT Venture Forum that I reported on earlier, they announced 10 companies who were judged to be the most promising I.T. companies from the 40 companies who presented their 90 second elevator pitch to the forum. The 10 companies were selected by a hand-picked judging panel made up of Houston area investors and business leaders.

The following list, provided courtesy of the Rice Alliance, awards the Most Promising Information Technology Companies, as selected by the judging panel:

Commerciant is a provider of wireless, hand-held payment processing technology.


Gimmal Group has a team of consultants and system integration professionals with deep expertise in Enterprise Content Management solutions.


Kinesix Software develops software systems that allow users to improve their command-and-control functions with the most dynamic, sophisticated and accurate real-time graphics available.


MEDeCOACH is a health improvement company that delivers an internet solution for changing lifestyle habits linked to high health care costs.


P.O.P. Broadcasting has a technology that delivers content (advertising) wirelessly to the Point of Product worldwide through their P.O.P. Shelf Ads which deliver the advertiser’s message one-on-one.


Public Games is a game publisher with and Online Platform and Brand Licensing solution that enables third party game development studios to reach new Online Game markets faster.


Spring Medical Systems develops and licenses Electronic Health Records solutions for physicians in private practice.


TenantMarket is an online service that helps rental property owners fill vacancies faster with better renters by enabling landlords to search, find, filter and contact prospective renters.


Valt.X Technologies develops failsafe computer security and desktop management semiconductors to protect and recover computers from electronic attacks.


Vnet World Corp. brings virtual classrooms to even the most remote places on earth. http://www.vnetworld.com

Congratulations to these companies for a great showing and hopefully we will continue to see and report on the great things that they develop!

Dec8th2006

Rice Alliance I.T. Venture Forum Has Record Turnout

Published
by
kurt
on December 8, 2006
in IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 4 Comments

For those of you who were not able to attend the 4th Annual Rice Alliance Information Technology Venture Forum today and yesterday, all I can say is that you definitely missed out. Attendance at this year’s event was up by 30% over last year and everyone there agreed that they are seeing a lot more activity in the startup arena in Houston than in quite a while (that’s partly what motivated me to start this blog). For participating companies, there were three big opportunities to get in front of potential investors.

First, was the 90 second elevator pitch that all companies participated in. Second, was the company showcase, where all companies had table space to set up and show off their offerings. And Third, was a VC panel that listened to five companies provide a 10 minute presentation of their business plan and provide feedback and advice. (Actually the presentations were supposed to be 10 minutes, with 2 minutes for Q&A, but most ended up going long so all questions were held until after the panel. Also, some of the presenters could have benefited from less material).

In addition to these, there were lots of opportunities to network with VC’s, Angel Investors, Banks, and other companies. Again, if you didn’t attend I would definitely put it on your calendar for next year, because hearing what the VC panelists and speakers had to say, as well as just an opportunity to network and increase awareness of your company with others was worth the price of admission alone.

A few other notes and observations from the forum:

  • Day 1 was mostly spent on the 90 second elevator pitches from the 45 startup companies that had signed up. Some notable standouts were: Commerciant, ideatango, Inquate, Kinesix, MEDeCOACH, Public Games, P.O.P. Broadcasting, Realscape, SOAPKNOX, Synerzip, Tenant Market, truehome, VALTx, VisionMonitor, & VNET World Corp. For a complete list of all companies that presented, check here.
  • Hands down, the best presentation of all (IMHO) was P.O.P Broadcasting. Very dynamic speaker and CEO in Earl Littman, who received a hearty round of applause at the completion of his pitch. “Like printing money, only it’s legal!”
  • You can go here to listen to all of the 90-second elevator pitches.
  • On Day 2 Rob Schultz with IllinoisVENTURES spoke about how he feels that right now is the best time to start an I.T. venture. Part of what IllinoisVENTURES does is to partner with emerging technology groups coming out of the University of Illinois to help them commercialize their research. He also mentioned the growth in the Web2.0 space and I asked him if he thought that we are in the beginning of the next boom for internet technologies and companies or sitting on another bubble. His response was to say that he felt that today’s business environment is different and that the companies of today are a lot more conscious of how they use capital and their pursuit of profit and that he was very optimistic about the possibilities.
  • Another comment came afterwards from Brad Burke with the Rice Alliance that he was not aware of any similar activity at Rice specifically focused on commercializing technologies coming out of Rice. Does anyone out there know if there is any group working on this in Houston?
  • Also on Day 2, Rice Alliance awarded 10 of the 45 companies in attendance an award for most promising technologies based on their 90 second elevator pitches, as voted on by a panel of about 30 judges scattered throughout the audience. Unfortunately I did not get the complete list while I was there, but will post it shortly (someone with the Rice Alliance promised to forward it to me).

That’s it! If you attended, please drop a comment and let everyone know how you felt things went. I will have some additional posts on some of the latest goings on from the companies that attended, so make sure to come back and check that out.

:: Kurt ::

Dec7th2006

Welcome to the new Startup Houston blog !

Published
by
kurt
on December 7, 2006
in General
. 1 Comment

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the new Startup Houston blog, where I will be writing about the latest startup activities going on in the greater Houston area. I will cover everything from the latest activities at various startup companies around town, as well as activies with related VC firms with Houston activity and info from places like the Houston Technology Center and the Rice Alliance that are promoting startup activities in Houston. There is a lot of new activity going on in Houston and I hope to do my part to help promote it. If you have any information about startups in the Houston area, feel free to forward that in formation to me so that we can share it with everyone else.

My next post will have full coverage of the Rice Alliance’s IT Venture Forum that was held here in Houston today and yesterday (Dec. 5th and 6th).

Stay Tuned!

~ Kurt