Mar28th2008
I have seen recent articles from Stacey Higginbotham with the Austin office of GigaOm as well as StartupHouston’s own Josh Tabin talking about what it takes to make a town a successful breeding area for technology startups and decided to follow up on a point that Josh made about the need for close proximity to foster collaborative effort. I am also of the belief that even though we live in an ever-increasingly virtual world, there is value in having highly talented people grouped together in a specific geographic area, especially in a city that is as spread out as Houston is. This not only adds some of the intangible social aspects, but helps to build the identity of a startup community.
To that wit, I would like to make a proposal, and that is to identify an area in town that all startups would consider first on their list of areas to set up shop. The area that I am proposing would be called the Houston Startup Corridor. The Houston Startup Corridor would encompass the Midtown/Montrose/Museum areas and is indicated in the Google Map below (this map is publicly available). Things to like about the Midtown/Montrose/Museum areas are that they are eclectic, artsy, have reasonable rental and lease rates, and have close access to great resources like the Houston Technology Center and Rice University. In fact, the Houston Startup Corridor would be anchored by the Houston Technology Center on one end and Rice University on the other.
There are already a few companies and groups that are moving into this area. One is the Caroline Collective, a coworking and office space at 4820 Caroline that is intended to foster collaboration and innovation across Houston’s technology and creative communities. I also understand that the Caroline Collective has already signed up a handful of startups for their new offices and will be announcing them soon. Another company is MouthWateringMedia, founders of JamsBio.com, at 4203 Montrose, providing a unique way for people to frame the memories of the their life with the music that made it special. They got a great deal on a one year lease and love the cultural feel the Montrose area provides.
So, what do you think? Do you think that outlining a specific area where Houston’s tech startups should call home will help to grow the startup community in general? Do you think that this area offers the best environment for startups to set up shop? Take a look at the map and tell us what you think in our comments section.
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Mar26th2008
The Houston Business Journal recently reported on an Australian-backed VC firm, Zikyn Inc., that has opened an office at 11200 Westheimer. The CEO, Bridgette Penel, says that Zikyn is “a combination seed capital, incubator and venture capital firm” with an average expected investment of “$200k and up.” Also, apparently they are not limiting themselves to any specific industries. Penel says “We’re open to anyone with a great business or concept.”
With all of the great ideas in Houston’s tech startup community, hopefully we will be hearing soon about someone who has given Zikyn a good reason to invest.
You can read the complete Houston Business Journal article on Zikyn here.
Mar26th2008
Local Houston startup Advologix has announced the Spring 2008 release of AdvologixPM, a web-based law practice management solution for law firms of all sizes. The Spring 2008 release has significant new user, firm, mobile, and support enhancements that bring new levels of productivity, revenue generation, and ease of use to lawyers and their practices.
We covered Advologix some time back and introduced our readers to them. Since then, Paul and Jonathan have been regulars at the Houston Startup Happy Hour and active members of the vibrant Houston startup community. Make a point of getting them to demo AdvologixPM at the next happy hour on April 3rd.
Mar26th2008
The Houston area is emerging as a center for the life sciences industry. Numerous start-up companies have emerged in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and telemedicine. This is generating a demand for leaders with a background in both entrepreneurship and the life sciences. To educate these leaders, Rice University Executive Education, the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, and BioHouston have collaborated to offer the Life Sciences Entrepreneurial Management Certificate. Participants will learn about market opportunities, intellectual property issues, life science business plans, sources of funding, and the successful launch and management of a life science start-up.
Registration:
General Registrants ($995)–Register Online
Members of Houston Academic Institutions ($500)–To register, please contact the Registrar at 713-348-6060
| Course Schedule: Spring 2008 |
Unit 1: Understanding the Life Science Industry and Business Environment
| Module 1 |
Overview of the Biotech/Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Industry |
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| Module 2 |
Understanding the Regulatory Process of FDA |
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| Module 3 |
Understanding Intellectual Property Protection and Licensing |
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| Module 4 |
Assessing the Market Opportunity |
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Unit 2: Business Strategy and Planning in Life Science Entrepreneurship
| Module 5 |
Business Strategy and Planning |
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| Module 6 |
Communicating Your Plan |
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| Module 7 |
Sources of Funding |
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Unit 3: Company Formation in Life Science Entrepreneurship
| Module 8 |
Issues and Strategies in Forming a Company |
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| Module 9 |
Management, Corporate Governance & Human Resources |
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| Module 10 |
Issues in Growth, Sales and Exit Strategies |
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| Module 11 |
Elevator Pitches |
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Participants will receive admission to the 7th Annual Rice Alliance Life Science Technology Forum on May 15, 2008. |
Mar26th2008
Applications for the 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards are due THIS FRIDAY 3/28. Hosted by Ernst & Young, this is a great opportunity to recognize men and women around the country who have successfully built businesses of all sizes.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Successful entrepreneurs from companies of varying sizes-emerging businesses to middle-market companies to enterprises-who take businesses to the next level. An Entrepreneur Of The Year nominee must be an owner / manager of a private or public company with primary responsibility for the recent performance of the company and an active member of top management. The nominee’s company must be at least two years old.
You can apply yourself or nominate others online.
Thanks to Steve Latham at Spur Digital for the heads up.
Mar26th2008
Data Call Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DCLT) announced today that it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire 100% of Podcast Ready, Inc., a local Houston startup and portfolio company of DFJ Mercury, in an all stock deal.
Podcast Ready was created to accelerate adoption of podcasting by making subscribing and listening to podcasts easier and more portable. Recently, Podcast Ready closed a deal to have their myPodder software pre-loaded on over 5 million MP3 players of Sansa and Coby. Data Call will be able to leverage this distribution along with their Digital Signage technologies.
Mar11th2008
Apparently, we at Startup Houston are not alone in how great we think Houston is for technology startups. Forbes announced their Top 10 Up-and-Coming Tech Cities yesterday and Houston was listed #4 above a litany of other great cities. Here is the short list:
- Columbus, OH
- Santa Fe, NM
- Palm Beach County, FL
- Houston, TX
- Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Boise City, ID
- Iowa City, IA
- Lake Charles, LA
- Yuma, AZ
How well Houston fared on this list was no surprise to those of us who understand what this city has to offer with its centers in life science, nanotechnology and energy related technology as well as becoming a major center for social media. What will be challenging is how well the city can commercialize innovations and discoveries.
Great quote by Walter Ulrich, chief executive officer of the Houston Technology Center in the piece:
“Fifteen years ago, we had all the assets, but we weren’t really developing them. So all the leaders of Houston got together and recognized that the city needed to diversify its economy. There’s been this tremendous transition.”
Tremendous indeed!
Mar11th2008
People have told us that the hardest thing to do in Houston is to find talent and to find capital. More specifically, we get asked all the time about finding great talent in Houston. People want to find great developers, designers or their next CEO. Well, we’ve just put up our job board to help make that process a little easier.
This is a very exciting time to be a part of Houston’s startup community, with new companies popping up each week. On our job board you’ll find that there are several startups with great opportunities to join their team, including some that we’ve featured here on our site.
If you are a startup company that wants to post a new position, the rules are pretty simple. You can post a job for free for 30 days using our coupon code of ‘SH101′. After the first 30 days, if you want to continue the listing, the cost is just $30.
Please only post jobs in Houston here, and only if you’re a technology company that is less than four years old.
Click here to see Houston’s hottest startup jobs.
Mar7th2008
For the April Startup Happy Hour, we are looking to shake things up and try a new location as well as a new format. What we are looking for is a place that has a little more room, more parking space, and has a good layout that lends itself to doing presentations. Why you ask? Well, in the April meetup, we would like to get two featured startups to give a 3 minute overview of their startup / product / site so that we can start doing more of what we love to do the most, and that is to showcase Houston startups. After that, we will probably have an open mike for anyone who wants to come up and give a quick show of what they or their company are working on.
Let us know what you think:
- Would you like to be one of the featured startups at our April Startup Happy Hour? Let us know.
- Would you like to be a sponsor with featured branding at our Startup Happy Hour? Let us know.
- Would you like our next happy hour to be at The Tasting Room on Kirby? Ziggy’s? Somewhere else? Let us know.
- Have any other suggestions for keeping the happy hour fresh while showcasing and networking startups? Let us know.
See a trend here? Let us know. 
Mar7th2008
Thanks to all who braved the rain and cold and made it out to our March Houston Startup Happy Hour. All in all we had about 40 people show up, had several new faces, and had a great time. Here are some of the pics:
Click here to see more of the March Startup Happy Hour photos on Flickr.
Here are some of the startups and tech companies that came out:
Let us know how we can make the April Startup Happy Hour even better in our comments section!
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