Friday, 6th of May 2011 at 05:20:07 AMShion Deysarkar, the founder of 80Legs.com has a very interesting post on his Tumblr blog about What Houston Startups Need Next. I will say up front that I don’t like his tone, and that I think he’s minimizing (to the point of insulting) all the effort that I and a handful of other dedicated, community-minded people have put in over the last few years to help grow Houston’s startup scene. With that said, I think HE’S RIGHT. Houston does not have a hacker culture, we don’t value ideas and creativity over commercial and financial gain. We don’t celebrate technology over money and we believe that success is the material wealth gained from exploiting a market, not the learning journey. This is simply a fact, not one to cry over or worry about. I think that this is true for every place on the planet except for Silicon Valley and small pockets of other cities like Portland, Seattle, Austin, Boulder, and NYC. This isn’t just about Hackerspaces, it’s about a mentality that says ‘let’s push the envelope’ on what can be accomplished. I don’t feel the need to go line by line to refute what he said about Houston, because I share his frustration. He doesn’t know about things happening around this town because no one is talking about them. One perfect example is his comment that Rice isn’t doing enough in “Developing technology commercialization programs”. The Rice Jones MBA school (where Shion himself graduated a few years ago) had a business plan competition on the same day that his post came out. I’m not talking about the massive, ‘largest in the world’ Rice Business Plan Competition held a few weeks ago (where I was honored to be a judge for the seventh time), I’m talking about the one created by my close friend, mentor and former HTC colleague Dr. Tom Kraft for the commercialization of ideas here in Houston at Rice. The problem is that nobody knew about it and therefore couldn’t attend or at least support it. Houston does not have a talent or ideas problem, we have a communications problem. We collectively don’t know what is going on and that makes it very hard to say we have a culture about anything – whether it’s technology, art, fashion etc. We’re a big place – 640 square miles and really several separate, but interconnected business clusters. We don’t have startup monoculture like Silicon Valley, since our world is focused on Energy and Healthcare. This isn’t bad, just different. If we want to create a hacker culture, we should hack – get some ‘hacker-only’ events together (like the poker game he describes though I take issue with it being ’1000x better’). I don’t mind that I won’t be invited since in Shion’s estimation I am “at best our lawyers and accountants” I still want to help foster that kind of community. I support anything and everything that brings technologists together to do great things, even if I’m not one myself. I work with some very talented, very hardcore web and design technologists every day so as a ‘business’ guy, I know my place in that world. Houston is getting a lot of recognition for being a business friendly and entrepreneur driven place lately and I applaud that, but I still think (and I know that Shion and Aziz Gilani will agree) that we can be doing a lot better. We need new ideas, new startups, new patrons, and most of all new ways to help support the people that are doing good – instead of merely pointing out obvious problems. I hope it’s clear that I’m doing something about it.
|
||||||
  30 Boxes //
StartupHouston |
||||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Startup Houston - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
I agreed with the basic premise of his post but a lot of the assumptions he made are just wrong. There are a lot of other culture and historical factors that contribute to why the Houston technology culture is what it is. Urban sprawl, oil & gas/energy dominance and a general lack of understanding of what technology start-ups do and need are at the top of the list.
As you mentioned to build that culture is less about “spaces” and “meetups” and more about adopting a mindset that leads people to explore ideas not just for the commercial viability, but because there is an undercurrent of interest to move them forward and share (that means sharing without worrying about NDAs or figuring out ways to avoid contributing to the open source community).
Also I wouldn’t discount the “marketing” types. We all know that Wozniak was the chief technical visionary for Apple. However, Apple would not be what it is today with the marketing and branding mindset that Jobs provided. You need both halves of the equation.
Hate to say it, but one word got a president elected. So why call it HACKER? Would you buy any product called HACKER? Yes, there is a HUGE Communications GAP!
The word ‘hacker’ is viewed as a very positive to this community. There are no negative connotations to the word itself and it basically means ‘someone who can make something or make it better’. Houstonians have a very difficult time telling other people about the community to themselves and to outsiders.
And let’s not forget that some of those “non-tech” community organizers are technical people who have taken on new roles. I’ll use myself as an example. While I am currently a management consultant, I have a degree in Management Information Systems, was a programmer/analyst and IT consultant for many years, and helped start and grow several tech startups.
I agreed with what he said for the most part, but was disappointed as to the single mindedness as to the approach. We may need more engineering types stepping up and taking some lead, but it would be a mistake to remove the creativity of (relatively) non tech folks from the equation. I’d rather see a cooperation of mutual interest in what all kinds of hackers bring to the table. THAT is what really changes things. The ideal hacker community to me is made up of artists, engineers and “marketing types”, all who share similar “why not” attitude and a belief in technology’s role in it. I like the way Kelsey puts it in Apple’s terms.
Houston hacker community? Haven’t known about it, but maybe because I wasn’t looking much when I got here. Maybe because it’s somewhat a transplant culture here. I’m not as aware of the hacker culture here as I am at times still involved with fellow hackers back in my previous culture of Atlanta or the BBS I ran back in Mississippi. But I’m ready to make changes again to here & “now”.
My place in this world is multifaceted in constant evolution, so Shion would be quite confused as to where I should sit, but I think I might mind not being invited. I certainly would like to be more involved and share locally with other hackers.
So I agree with you more than I agree with Shion from the standpoint that the problem is communications.
Although I haven’t read Shion’s post, I have experienced how infuriatingly disconnected Houston creative professionals (or ‘makers’ or ‘hackers’) can be. It’s all mixed up in our “I’ll do it myself” culture. Someone will tell me “I’m doing so-and-so because we don’t have it here,” and I’ll say “have you heard of Spacetaker or Houston Technology Center or do you KNOW that we have one of the oldest and largest inventor support groups in the country??!! And they say no, I don’t have time or I don’t want to share my idea. I agree with Marc that people are too focused on winning the money. They end up short-changing themselves. How can we get people to collaborate?
I have been working hard for almost a year now, after taking over the volunteer curator position for Houston’s Startup Digest from another hard worker. And yes, the events just are few, far between, and not focused on technology and entrepreneurship. While I recognize how great the Rice Business Plan competition is to our community – it is not an entrepreneurial and technology focused event. It is a graduate student event. And maybe some of those winners will become tech startups, entrepreneurs, VC’s and community builders but where is the Technology Entrepreneur doesn’t have to have just paid $50,000+ on an MBA business plan competition in Houston?
I do want to say that it is starting to happen, we are getting better quality events, events LED by tech startups and entrepreneurs and the conversation is happening. It just is going to take time, patience, and more posts and debates like this one and Shion’s. So Thank you all for participating in the debate! And go organize and lead a tech startup focused event in Houston then send me the info to list in the Startup Digest.
There is a point I would hi-lite from Shion’s post.
- Events driven by hackers
We don’t need any more events which are the primary source of income for the organization hosting the event. We have plenty of those already. Nor do we really need another high powered, high priced ra ra event bringing somewhat well-known, well paid speakers into the area.
The community needs to continue putting together camp style get togethers where the like minded can mix. Many of those which have been successful in the past have dropped off the schedule…
@kelsey – I agree with your comment about “adopting a mindset”, but I don’t believe this is directly actionable…
Anyone reading this blog is perfectly capable of pulling together a group which has a similar interest in some technology. If you we can’t do that effectively, then how are we ever going to be able to pull startups together? After all that’s all a startup is. A group of people with a passion for the technology going after a market opportunity – hopefully
I’ll throw my two cents in, as well, and will be speaking totally from personal experience. I think the tone of Shion’s post is totally wrong, condescending, and was written from the perspective that “creation” is the exclusive work of programmers.
Monthly Events like OpenCoffee Club and GroundUP Houston do not lack hard substance, are not primarily attended by people in the idea stage, and do not lack takeaways or gained knowledge. These are valuable networking events with a heavy concentration of attendees who make things.
Regarding his comments about Houston not having a hacker culture, if in fact that’s true, I say “so what?”. I’ve built many startups over the years that nobody ever heard of. Some failed and other were successful beyond anything I thought possible. I bootstrapped my way through the idea, launch, and growth stages, and made it all the way to an exit/acquisition. I did much of this without an entrepreneurial support system and accomplished a lot while making a living as one of the “service professionals” he is critical of. The extent to which hackers are operating under the radar is far greater than one might imagine.
GroundUP Houston was started as a way to draw these entrepreneurs out into the open and the positive feedback we’re getting is tremendous. It’s inspiring others to do similar things, which will only help others become a part of this growing community of “makers.” Shion’s poker game is 100X better than that? Better than Houston Startup Weekend? Give me a break. It’s hard not to feel insulted.
My suggestion to Shion: Learn more about innovative programs like UHGBC, attend some networking events like the ones I mentioned, and become a magnet to the entrepreneurs you hope to unite, not just the ones you know. Be positive and you’ll motivate people. When you get riled, find a way to inspire.
Thank you, Marc for getting this dialog started.
[...] a chain of private and public retorts from a handful of local startup community leaders. One response from Marc Nathan, one of Houston’s most well-known startup community organizers, took issue [...]
Here is my comment on Javid Jamae’s excellent post on this topic: http://javidjamae.com/2011/05/12/growing-the-houston-startup-community/comment-page-1/#comment-346
I’d just like to add, Houston has a hacker culture, and we are putting on events
http://www.txrxlabs.org/
I would completely disagree that Houston does not have a hacker culture. I think our hacker culture is diluted by high population and big sprawl.
There is an established hackerspace right here in Houston with a diverse membership. Check out http://txrxlabs.org if you are interested.
While I can’t fault the ideas behind Shion’s article, there’s one more flaw in it that wasn’t covered…
Hi, I’m Bear Naff, one of members of Tx/Rx Labs. We’re a hacker/makerspace that’s been running for about two years now if you include some of our early organizational meetings before we had a set location. Aside from the normal hackerspace aims of providing tool access and skill pooling, our long-term goal is to provide space and community support for other local orgs to gel and network around. You can find more information at our website: http://txrxlabs.org
Speaking from personal experience, there is a technique for doing things like this in Houston. Houston isn’t a very rewarding town to start an organization in – the lack of local boosterism that can compete for people’s attention on the national level makes the physical size of the city a big problem when it comes to getting people to know about you.
The only solution for that is perserverence. Do your thing for its own sake. Keep doing it. When people boggle that your organization actually exists in Houston, keep doing it.
I have lived in Palo Alto, DC, and Houston, and Houston is in the middle, both geographically and “mentally” regarding hacker culture. DC was purely pecuniary, with “beltway bandits” and inside connections running the scene. In Palo Alto in the 1980s and 1990s you could overhear and participate in hacker talk at coffeehouses and folks’ homes. One aspect of its high cost of living is that single guys (and gals) would often rent a large house together, so that created its own sort of community – hanging out with the Xanadu developers, 8 dudes shared a house in Los Altos Hills!
But, there’s plenty of hacker activity here in Houston too. Not networking events or poker games, but actual stuff being created and folks sharing knowledge amongst each other. Ideas and companies are being created out of these events. The Python, NSObjects and iPhone communities are some examples. Shion hasn’t been to any of them as far as I’m aware.
However, Shion does highlight one very real issue: the lack of spinoffs from Rice. Let’s add to that the lack of spinoffs from Texas Medical Center. Stanford was the genesis of several hundred companies; Boston’s Medical Center the same. Here in Houston? Our most successful cluster of startup tech companies have all been related to systems management and security (we can look to BMC for the genesis of this) – consumed mostly by our big energy companies, nothing to do with the TMC or Rice. We don’t need formal “technology transfer” processes, though that would help, for IP that does exist within these institutions. Really, though, hackers will come up with their own technology instead of riding on something pre-existing. More important would simply be some start-up contracts – good hackers need to survive, so they need some “sugar daddy” customer coming from these institutions!
Hello, I’d like to throw my student perspective in the mix. My name is Michelle and I’m a Bioengineering student at Rice University. Spending the majority of my senior year working on my capstone project in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, a 2yo collaborative workspace for engineering students at Rice, I’m proud to say that my device has the potential to be a start-up company. We won grand prizes for two competitions sponsored by the Rice Alliance (elevator pitch and undergrad business plan) and for the past few weeks my team and I have already met with a company interested in leasing our device. I am also involved in a second Rice start-up, SimpApply.
While the Rice Alliance events are great for exposure, they offer limited resources and so-so networking opportunities. I think the creative minds and spirits are alive at Rice but lack direction and often the “swag” to carry on with their inventions. Through this process, I have found that most of my contacts have been through Rice donors (I work at the Rice Annual Fund) or professionals in the TMC (our project is funded by BCM)and not through the Jones school or HTC.
Specifically at Rice,having organizations such as HTC, EO Houston, GroundUp have an early hand in the undergraduate capstone projects would add another dimension to these projects that may make the idea of a start-up more attainable. It would also allow these organizations to establish more relationships with the Rice community and foster a “start-up” mindset within students. It really does kill me sometimes to see my peers complete a project that could help save millions of lives only to abandon the project only to sit at a desk for 40 hours a week.
P.S. If someone knows someone that would be interested in helping my team’s start-up, I’d be grateful! michelle.kerkstra (gmail).
I am working on solving this problem too! I created a monthly get together called the Web Workers Lunch (yes this is a shameless shameless plug) to fill the gap that is being created by the demise of many of the tech user groups in town. If you are interested in coming hit me up: daniel [at] designfrontier.net and I’ll make sure you get the invite for the next one. They are the first Monday of every month!