Author Archive for kurt

Jul2nd2008

StartupHouston interviews Tara Hunt and Alex Hillman about Caroline Collective opening

Published
by
kurt
on July 2, 2008
in Conversations, Events, General and IT and Web 2.0
. 1 Comment

Continuing on our coverage about the Caroline Collective Opening and its impact on Houston’s technology startup and art scenes, we are posting interviews from various people who were at the opening party.

Part of the reason that we felt that this opening was different and signified that something special was happening in Houston, was the attention it drew not just from within the city, but from others outside.  Two pioneers in the CoWorking space flew in from both the west coast and the east coast to attend the opening party.  We’re talking about Tara Hunt with Citizen Space in San Francisco and Alex Hillman with Independents Hall in Philadelphia. 

Tara Hunt of Citizen Space and Alex Hillman of Independents Hall

Tara - Meeting Tara at this event was just a joy.  She carries so much genuine enthusiasm for CoWorking in general and Caroline Collective specifically that its hard not to be caught up in it.  It was Tara Hunt that infomed us that the Caroline Collective is the largest coworking space in the world based on square footage (yeah, the world) and is the first coworking space to also incorporate art space.  Overall a great interview and we look forward to hearing more great things that Tara is doing at Citizen Space.  You can also read her blog at http://www.horsepigcow.com .

Listen to the Interview with Tara Hunt

Alex - Alex Hillman also brought a lot of energy to the Caroline Collective opening.  (You can hear in my interview with him, how I mistakenly introduce him as one of the originators of the CoWorking concept ((not to be confused with Jelly)), and how he sets me straight on how Tara has pioneered the coworking space, how Independents Hall has contributed, and ultimately what he thinks Caroline Collective will mean for Houston’s Startup community).  A great interview not to be missed.  You can also read his blog at http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com/ .

Listen to the Interview with Alex Hillman

 

You can also see our whole set of shots of the opening party on Flickr here and all of the photos taken by a host of photographers at the event at the Caroline Collective Flickr group.

Jul1st2008

Next Houston Startup Happy Hour is this Thursday, July 3rd

Published
by
kurt
on July 1, 2008
in Events, General, Houston Startup Happy Hour, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

houston_startup_happy_hour_minilogo_1.png

Startup Houston and the Houston Technology Center are proud to present

Start JULY off with a BANG at the Houston Startup Happy Hour!!!

Here is your chance to meet Houston’s growing network of emerging startups, entreprenuers, investors, and technology enthusiasts to share drinks, tips and beta invites. Swap business cards and war stories and learn something new about Houston’s Tech Scene!

This month we will feature a demo from one of Houston’s hottest startup companies: SnapStream Media !!

 

Join Us For:

  • ->   Free drinks for the first 25 people
  • ->   Wine-by-the-glass drink specials from 6 pm to 8 pm
  • ->   Complimentary hors d’oeuvres
  • ->   A live demo of SnapStream’s new TV search software!
  • ->   Open mic for all startups to make announcements and provide sneak peeks of their latest sites and services
  • ->  Meet Houston’s hottest innovative startups and entrepreneurs

 

The July Houston Startup Happy Hour features a live presentation of SnapStream’s latest release of their TV search software. SnapStream’s consumer product was showcased by Bill Gates in his keynote at the Windows XP Launch in 2001 and since then it’s received lots of industry awards and recognition, including PC Magazine Editor’s Choice. Snapstream’s newest product, SnapStream Enterprise, allows organizations to record and search within thousands of hours of TV recordings. It’s used by 1) presidential campaigns, 2) city/state/federal governments, 3) TV shows (like E!’s The Soup), 4) K-12 schools and universities, and many more. Come meet the founders and see a demo of their TV search software in action at Thursday’s Houston Startup Happy Hour!

Thanks again to SnapStream for also being the sponsor of the July Houston Startup Happy Hour!

 

The Tasting Room

When:
Thursday, July 3rd
6pm - 9pm

Where:
The Tasting Room @ River Oaks
2409 W. Alabama
(713) 526-2242
(Click here for map)

RSVP (here)
 Continue reading ‘Next Houston Startup Happy Hour is this Thursday, July 3rd’

Jun25th2008

Caroline Collective Opening puts Houston on the Web 2.0 map

Published
by
kurt
on June 25, 2008
in General
. 1 Comment

Let me begin by saying sorry for the delay in getting our coverage of the Caroline Collective opening posted, but we hope you find that the resulting interviews are worth the wait.

Now, I’m sure many of you are aware of several other Web 2.0 events that have taken place in Houston such as BarCamp, Got Social Media, Rice Alliance IT and Web 2.0 Venture Forum & StartupWeekend Houston, arranged by pioneers in the field such as Erica OGrady, Marc Nathan, & Kelsey Ruger, but Caroline Collective is a permanent installation and as of their opening party Saturday night have officially put Houston on the map when it comes to the world of Web 2.0.  Several different people noted for their leadership in the coworking space and experience with emerging Web 2.0 startups, came to Houston to celebrate the grand opening of Caroline Collective: Tara Hunt with Citizen Space, Alex Hillman with Independents Hall, and Gwen Bell most recently with TechStars.  Now, you might have read a few things about Caroline Collective (like here, here, here, & here), but what you might not have known is that the Caroline Collective is also the largest coworking space in the world based on square footage (uh huh, we said the world) and is the first coworking space to also incorporate art space, according to Tara Hunt. 

This was also an event that owed a lot of its success to new Web 2.0 apps. Solicitations for volunteers to work on the space as well as to provide donations were done via Twitter. The donations list was managed through Google Docs.

We interviewed several people who were there at the event.  Everyone from the founders (Matthew Wettergreen and Ned Dodington), to organizers and promoters (Monica Danna and Gwen Bell), to the new tenants (Erica OGrady, Tracey Lee Wallace & JJ Lassberg, Joe Litzinger , & Linda Etuk), founders and innovators of other coworking spaces (Tara Hunt and Alex Hillman), and other leaders in Houston and the surrounding area’s technology scene (Walter Ulrich and Bill Erickson) shared their thoughts on what the opening of the Caroline Collective means for Houston’s technology startup and art communities. 

This week we will be bringing you all of these great interviews in celebration of what the Caroline Collective means for Houston’s startup and art communities, starting with the interviews of Matthew Wettergreen and Ned Doddington. 

Interview with Matthew Wettergreen

Interview with Ned Dodington

Stay tuned for more interviews this week!

You can also see our whole set of shots of the opening party on Flickr here and all of the photos taken by a host of photographers at the event at the Caroline Collective Flickr group.

Jun6th2008

Don’t Miss the Caroline Collective Opening Party this Saturday (tomorrow)

Published
by
kurt
on June 6, 2008
in Events, General and IT and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Houston, TX (June 05, 2008) Houston’s first coworking venue, Caroline Collective, opens its doors with a celebration on Saturday, June 7th. The facility provides Houston’s creative and technical communities with the collaborative and networking environment of a traditional office space, in a nontraditional cafe-like community collaboration space.  The inaugural event is co-hosted by ArtStorm featuring collage artist Patrick Turk, and the tenants of Caroline.  The public party is from 7-10pm.

With support of local businesses, Caroline Collective will have a variety of eats, beats, and beverages throughout the night. Libations will be supplied by Houston’s own Saint Arnold Brewery, Texas-bred Tito’s Vodka and Green Drinks, a weekly collaboration between Monica Pope’s Beaver’s and New Living.   Tasty bites will be provided by local Chef David Grossman, Rice Village’s Kahn’s Deli and Author/Chef Clive Berkman, sponsored by Blogcatalog.   Icy treats provided by Trentino Gelato and collaborative cutting edge sounds by Boondock’s successful monthly, Don’t Fight It, featuring DJ Dave Wrangler, Piss Heavy, and Young Squaddy. Copy dot com will serve as the official printing provider of Caroline Collective.

Special guests include author and social media expert, Tara Hunt, co-founder of San Francisco’s coworking venue, Citizen Space, and Alex Hillman, founder of Philadelphia’s Independents Hall.  Caroline Collective is honored that these two coworking mavens will be present for the ceremonial opening of Houston’s first coworking space.

As the global marketplace continues to free the worker from a physical location, more and more independent professionals work as either “digital nomads” or based out of home office. Successful coworking operations already exist in worldwide cities such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Paris, Vancouver, Milan, and Buenos Aires.

Co-founders of Caroline Collective, and Rice University graduate students, Ned Dodington and Matthew Wettergreen conceived the coworking space in Houston after experiencing coworking environments in San Francisco’s Citizen Space and Philadelphia’s Independents Hall.

“The coworking movement strives to combine the relaxed working environment of the home office with a dynamic social atmosphere,” explains Doddington. “The model encourages the free flow of projects and ideas and is founded on the belief that working together is working smarter.”

Continue reading ‘Don’t Miss the Caroline Collective Opening Party this Saturday (tomorrow)’

Jun3rd2008

Next Houston Startup Happy Hour is this Thursday, June 5th

Published
by
kurt
on June 3, 2008
in Events, Houston Startup Happy Hour, Houston Venture Capitalists, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

houston_startup_happy_hour_minilogo_1.png

Startup Houston and the Houston Technology Center are proud to present
The June Houston Startup Happy Hour.

Open Call for Demos! Show up and Show Off!

The June Houston Startup Happy Hour features an open call for any startups who want to demo their sites to just show up and demo. We will have an area in the back to set up for laptops with power and wireless access. We will be putting together a video of all demos and promoting them on our site. Come one, come all and show Houston what you’ve got!  There will also be an open mic opportunity for all startups to share recent announcements with the rest of Houston’s startup community.

Email us if interested: events “@” startuphouston.com  

New Location! New Format!

Here is your chance to meet Houston’s growing network of emerging startups, entreprenuers, investors, and technology enthusiasts to share drinks, tips and beta invites. Swap business cards and war stories and learn something new about Houston’s Tech Scene!

Join Us For:

  • Free drinks for the first 25 people
  • Wine-by-the-glass drink specials from 6 pm to 8 pm
  • Complimentary hors d’oeuvres
  • An open call for startups to demo
  • Open mic for all startups to make announcements and provide sneak peeks of their latest sites and services
  • Meet Houston’s hottest innovative startups and entrepreneurs

The Tasting Room

When:
Thursday, June 5th
6pm - 9pm

Where:
The Tasting Room @ River Oaks
2409 W. Alabama
(713) 526-2242
(Click here for map)

RSVP (here)
 Continue reading ‘Next Houston Startup Happy Hour is this Thursday, June 5th’

Apr30th2008

Join us for the next Houston Startup Happy Hour on Thursday May 1st

Published
by
kurt
on April 30, 2008
in Conversations, Houston Startup Happy Hour, Houston Venture Capitalists, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

houston_startup_happy_hour_minilogo_1.png

Startup Houston and the Houston Technology Center are proud to present
The May Houston Startup Happy Hour.

Demo by Strongroom Solutions

 strongroom_solutions_logo2.jpg

The May Houston Startup Happy Hour features a live presentation of StrongRoom Solutions. StrongRoom Solutions offers a B2B service called the Payables Lockbox that is an online bill-pay service that lets business customers view, approve, and pay invoices online. There will also be an open mic opportunity for all startups to share recent announcements with the rest of Houston’s startup community.

New Location! New Format!

Here is your chance to meet Houston’s growing network of emerging startups, entreprenuers, investors, and technology enthusiasts to share drinks, tips and beta invites. Swap business cards and war stories and learn something new about Houston’s Tech Scene!

Join Us For:

  • Free drinks for the first 25 people
  • Wine-by-the-glass drink specials from 6 pm to 8 pm
  • Complimentary hors d’oeuvres
  • A live demo of the Strongroom Solutions site
  • Open mic for all startups to make announcements and provide sneak peeks of their latest sites and services
  • Meet Houston’s hottest innovative startups and entrepreneurs

The Tasting Room

When:
Thursday, May 1st (tomorrow)
6pm - 9pm

Where:
The Tasting Room @ River Oaks
2409 W. Alabama
(713) 526-2242
(Click here for map)

RSVP (here)
Sponsored by Phillips & Reiter, LLC

phillipsreiter_logo3.jpg

Our sponsor for the May Startup Happy Hour is Phillips & Reiter, LLC. Phillips & Reiter is a new kind of law firm, offering an innovative approach to managing legal services. Their senior legal executives provide counsel to growing organizations on an as-needed basis, at a fraction of the cost compared to hiring a full-time General Counsel or traditional law firms. P&R has offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth. Continue reading ‘Join us for the next Houston Startup Happy Hour on Thursday May 1st’

Apr23rd2008

Constant Contact is in H-Town to Show off their Email Marketing Service

Published
by
kurt
on April 23, 2008
in Education and General
. 0 Comments

I received an email earlier today from Julie Niehoff of Constact Contact informing me that they are having a lunch-n-learn at the UofH Small Business Development Center on how effective ways of using their email marketing service.  Constant Contact is one of the better known email marketing services out there so if you are looking for some good info on making the most out of your email marketing campaigns it might be a good idea to check this out.

Here are the details:

Date: Friday, April 25th
Time: 11:30-1:30 pm
Cost: $19 if you pay online

Location :
University of Houston SBDC
2302 Fannin, Suite 200
Houston, Texas 77002

Class Description:

This session covers best practices in email marketing and how to use it in your business planning and strategy to achieve specific goals. Topics will include list building, how to avoid spam, tips for scheduling and examples of successful email campaigns and how they were set up to build business and drive sales.
– Specific instruction on how to get your email promotions and updates opened
– How to position the value of your message so that recipients will act on it

Click to register online!

Apr23rd2008

Guy Kawasaki is speaking at the Houston Technology Center tomorrow night (Thursday)

Published
by
kurt
on April 23, 2008
in Conversations, Events, General, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 3 Comments

guy.jpgAs we wrote here, Guy Kawasaki is coming to Houston to speak at the Houston Technology Center about his book, The Art of the Start.  We will be there covering the event and asking questions that we hope will help Houston’s entrepreneurs and startups.  In addition, we’d like to ask for your input. 

What questions would you like to see us ask Guy that you think would help entreprenuers and startup companies in Houston to succeed?  Add your questions in the comments section.

Apr8th2008

April Houston Startup Happy Hour Jams with JamsBio

Published
by
kurt
on April 8, 2008
in Events, General, Houston Startup Happy Hour, Houston Venture Capitalists, IT and Web 2.0, VC and Angel Funding and Video
. 0 Comments

 houston_startup_happy_hour_minilogo_1.png

 We had a great time at the April Houston Startup Happy Hour this past Thursday with the JamsBio launch.  The turnout was greater than we expected and filled the entire bar area (see photos and video below).  We went with a different venue (The Tasting Room) and format (Demos + Networking) for this month’s startup happy hour and I’ll have to say that while we still have some tweaking to do, it was a great event. 

jamsbio_logo_whitebg.gif

Stephen Newman, Matt Williams and the rest of the JamsBio crew did a great job with their demo as well as bringing lots of free T-shirts for everyone and we were excited to be part of their launch.  Also, many thanks to JamsBio for also sponsoring the event so that we could offer free drinks to many of you who made it by early.

http://www.vimeo.com/877795

I learned of two new social media startups at the event that are due to launch in private beta soon, and one established startup that just successfully secured their second round of funding.  Unfortunately, I can’t report on them yet, but there are a lot of details that will be coming out soon.  Marc Nathan of the HTC also announced Guy Kawasaki’s upcoming appearance at the HTC to give a presentation on The Art of The Start.  Overall, very exciting to see the many new things going on in Houston’s startup community.

DSC00444 DSC00432

Here are some of the other startups and tech companies that were seen at the event:

Based on our April experience, here is how we plan to run the May event.

  • We are looking for a startup company to demo their latest and greatest features or newest version of their site. Please send an email to [events 'at' startuphouston 'dot' com] if interested.
  • The demo will be held in the back room (called The Wine Cellar) of The Tasting Room on the big Plasma screen TV.  This will help to cut down on some of the crowd noise we experienced in April’s event and will let the demoing company present longer if needed.
  • We are also looking for sponsors for the event.  The cost is $200 and goes directly back into promoting the event.
  • The startup that is demoing their company can also be the sponsor, but does not have to be.  It does make some sense though because the funds will be used to drive more people to the event who will also see the demo.
  • We will provide as much promotion as possible for both the demoing company and the sponsoring company

Let us know your thoughts.  Did you make it to the Happy Hour?  Was it a good event?  Did you meet new and interesting startups and people?  Did you like the demo or would you recommend another way to show off Houston’s hottest startups?  Tell us what you think in the comments section.

Apr2nd2008

StartupHouston included in Guy Kawasaki’s AllTop for Startup Blogs

Published
by
kurt
on April 2, 2008
in General
. 1 Comment

Speaking of Guy Kawasaki, he has recently started a new company called AllTop, where they aggregate and categorize all of the leading news and commentary from across all of the top news and blog sites.  Several Houston personalities and startup companies have been featured recently such as Erica O’Grady, OpMom, and Sk*rt, and now StartupHouston has been added to the AllTop section for startup blogs. You can find us listed at http://startups.alltop.com . Many of the other sites listed are also excellent resources for all different types of things startup-related with information on everything from funding to partnering to exiting.

Check it out and let us know what you think or also tell us if you’ve been listed somewhere within AllTop in the comments.  http://startups.alltop.com