Startup Houston

I recently attended two wonderful events for energy technology companies.

First, was the HTC Energy Venture Forum, held at the Hyatt hotel downtown.  The company I am with, VisionMonitor, was one of 45 other companies giving presentations to the investment community to potentially get additional funding.  It was also a good marketing opportunity as several energy company representatives were also in attendance.  Hopefully we are doing well enough that we won’t need to go back next year, but I highly recommend it for any energy technology company that is looking to get funding and improve their visibility in the energy community in Houston.

Second, was Microsoft’s Energy Forum 2007, held at the Marriott Westchase.  I will definitely say that Microsoft knows how to put on a good show and this one was no exception.  I saw attendees there from every major energy player, whether or not they have offices in Houston, and their vendor booths were sold out well in advance of the show.  The keynote speaker was the CEO of Shell Oil, the luncheon speaker was James Baker III, and the closing speaker was an editor for the Wall Street Journal.  If you are a technology company that provides solutions for energy companies, this is one show that I would not miss the opportunity to sponsor.  Most of the sessions were good as well (I liked BP’s the best, where they showcased Microsoft’s Sharepoint integration with Biztalk, InfoPath and Virtual Earth), although it seemed that several of the speakers and topics changed at the last minute, which I thought was kind of odd.  All in all though, a great show, and one that we will definitely attend in ‘08.