Apr2nd2008
I found out today via Marc Nathan and also via Dwight Silverman’s TechBlog that Guy Kawasaki is coming to the Houston Technology Center to speak about The Art of The Start on Thursday, April 24th at 7pm. I can’t tell you how excited I was to hear this news as this is obviously the type of speaker that could increase visibility for Houston in the startup world.
Apparently Guy was pretty impressed by all of the Houstonians at SXSWi and asked Dwight if he could set up an opportunity for him to come to Houston and speak. With all of the great minds in the Houston tech and startup communities, I’m sure we’ll have a lot more to impress Guy with when he gets here.
You can find more details over at Dwight Silverman’s Chron TechBlog.
You can register for the event on the Houston Technology Center site (here)
Also, we’re putting together a list of startup questions for Guy, so if you have any good ones that you would like to share or get answered, make sure to add them in our comments section.
Update: Hurry and register now because I’m told that they are already nearing capacity
Apr1st2008
Startup Houston and the Houston Technology Center are proud to present
The April Houston Startup Happy Hour.
Sponsored by JamsBio
The April Houston Startup Happy Hour features a completely new format including a live presentation of JamsBio.com launched publicly this week by Mouth Watering Media LLC. JamsBio is a new and unique website created by and for music lovers to exchange memories about life experiences and the music associated with them. 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 new JamsBio site, launching this week!
- Free T-Shirts, compliments of JamsBio
- 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, April 3rd
6pm - 9pm
Where:
The Tasting Room @ River Oaks
2409 W. Alabama
(713) 526-2242
(Click here for map)
RSVP (here)
Meet Houston’s most innovative startups and entrepreneurs!
The Tasting Room at River Oaks has a great venue where there is room to socialize with the group, as well as areas to have side conversations. Try some great wines (and other mixed drinks) and share the latest and greatest info on yourself and your new tech venture. The wine cellar room also has a plasma screen TV and laptop that can be used to give other demos and show off your site.
Continue reading ‘Join Us for the April Houston Startup Happy Hour this Thursday’
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.
View Larger Map
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.
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!
Feb20th2008
Join us for the next OpenCoffee Club!
About : The Houston OpenCoffee Club encourages open and informal discussion and networking among entrepreneurs, technology enthusiasts, and investors to help grow startup companies in the Houston area.
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
8:00AM - 10:00AM
The Coffee Groundz
2503 Bagby St
Houston, TX 77006
(713) 874-0082
Map
You can RSVP and see who else is attending here.
You can find additional information on the Houston OpenCoffee Club on our Meetup page and on the StartupHouston blog. You can also find information about how OpenCoffee Club got started and what it is all about here and here.
Feb13th2008
Join the Houston Interactive Marketing Association (HiMA) and the Got Social Media network for cocktails and appetizers at their “countdown to Valentines Day” happy hour on February 13 at Zushi (hip, new sushi restaurant just east of Memorial Park). The first 50 people receive a free drink on HiMA and one lucky person will win a great prize just in time for Valentine’s Day.
RSVP and more details here.
Feb13th2008
The Houston Business Journal just came out with their annual list of the largest Venture Capital Firms in the Houston Area and I think you’ll find it very interesting. The firms are listed in order of amount of capital under management. You find more details about each of these firms, including specific information on Capital Under Management, # of Investments in 2007, Minimum Investment/ Preferred Amount/ Maximum Investment, Levels of Investment, Preferred Industries, and Top Local Executive by clicking here.
Here’s the List:
- Essex Woodlands Health Ventures
21 Waterway Ave., Suite 225,
The Woodlands, 77380
# 281-364-1555
http://www.ewhv.com
- Vanguard Ventures
1330 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1550,
Houston 77056
# 713-877-1662
http://www.vanguardventures.com
- PTV Sciences
221 W. 6th St., Suite 700,
Austin 78701
# 512-542-0010
http://www.ptvsciences.com
- Sternhill Partners
777 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 250
Houston, TX 77056
# 713-622-2727
www.sternhillpartners.com
- SMH Private Equity Group
600 Travis, Suite 300
Houston 77025
# 713-224-3100
http://www.smhpeg.com
- Texas Ventures
(formerly Aegis Capital Group)
1800 W. Loop South, Suite 475
Houston 77027
# 713-599-1300
http://www.texasventures.com
- DFJ Mercury
1 Greenway Plaza, Suite 860
Houston 77046
# 713-715-6820
http://www.dfjmercury.com
More detailed info here
Did we miss anyone or any important details? If you have any additional information on VC’s in Houston, make sure to post it in the comments section.
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