Participants will receive high-level visibility within [...]]]> The Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship is soliciting applications for the I.T./Web 2.0 Venture Forum at Rice University on December 10.  Your early-stage company could be one of 50 companies invited to present, which is a great opportunity to gain recognition and establish connections with business leaders and investors.

Participants will receive high-level visibility within the I.T./Web 2.0 community and the opportunity to present their business opportunity and establish significant relationships through contact with potential investors, strategic partners, and potential customers.  Some of last year’s presenters included: Nutshell Mail, Adjungo, Omnibase Logic, PopScreen, Simploos, and Vendor Safe.  And some of the investors included:  Hunt Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, Silverton Partners, Sierra Ventures and DFJ Mercury.

For a fee of $75, presenters at the I.T./Web 2.0 Venture Forum will receive:

• Company profile and logo in the written program materials
• 3-foot exhibit table in the Company Showcase
• Valuable time in front of an audience that averages 400-425 attendees
• Attendance at the networking reception, along with breakfast, lunch and breaks

To apply, submit your 2-3 page Executive Summary to tvforum@rice.edu by Friday, October 16, 2009.  Guidelines for preparing your executive summary can be found here.  For additional information, feel free to call Kerri Smith at 713.348.4542.

If you are a startup or working on one, try and make it to tonight’s happy hour at Caroline…they will be tremendous networking opportunities for you there…trust me. You don’t want to miss this ad-hoc gathering.

This beauty comes our way courtesy of Hall Martin, former executive director of the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) and current director of the Austin Entrepreneur Network. In this piece, Hall summarizes an interview with John Huston, who is the current president of the Angel Capital Association, in which he outlines the ten possible outcomes [...]]]>

This beauty comes our way courtesy of Hall Martin, former executive director of the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) and current director of the Austin Entrepreneur Network. In this piece, Hall summarizes an interview with John Huston, who is the current president of the Angel Capital Association, in which he outlines the ten possible outcomes of an angel investment. Awesome stuff!!!

What I find fascinating is that the math supports his findings in that historically, somewhere between 1-2 deals out of ten (I recall seeing a Kauffman report claiming around 15% but I cannot seem to track it down again) make up all of the return that venture and angel investors make. Perhaps this might shed some light on the capital raising process for entrepreneurs and help them understand why the cost of equity is so high and very hard to close.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5174186[/vimeo]

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5294735[/vimeo]

This from Joao Prado Maia of the Houston PHP Users Group:

Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the PHP language, will be in Houston in June and graciously volunteered to do a presentation to our group! Sorry about the last minute modification, but we will need to move our meeting from [...]]]> UPDATE: Here are some videos from the event:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5174186[/vimeo]

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5294735[/vimeo]

This from Joao Prado Maia of the Houston PHP Users Group:

Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the PHP language, will be in Houston in June and graciously volunteered to do a presentation to our group! Sorry about the last minute modification, but we will need to move our meeting from our usual date/time to Wednesday June 10th at 6:00pm. The presentation details below from Rasmus himself:
————

Architecture, Performance, Optimization and Security.

I take a look at the performance of some popular PHP applications and go
through and show the common mistakes people make and show how much of a difference just a little bit of optimization makes.

Then, if there is still time and interest I’ll explain the current state
of XSS on the Web with some live examples of XSS issues on some local
sites. I usually like to have 2-3 hours, but I can squeeze it into less.

————-
I hope to see you all here for this great opportunity!

– Joao

We took March off for SXSWi but are back in full swing for the April 2009 Houston Startup Happy Hour this upcoming Thursday, April 2nd from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Saute Bistro at 2303 Richmond Avenue. This will be a dual purpose happy hour in that we are also kicking off BioCamp Houston ’09 [...]]]>

We took March off for SXSWi but are back in full swing for the April 2009 Houston Startup Happy Hour this upcoming Thursday, April 2nd from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Saute Bistro at 2303 Richmond Avenue. This will be a dual purpose happy hour in that we are also kicking off BioCamp Houston ’09 Weekend. The weekend will start with the happy hour Thursday night, move into the 6th Annual BioHouston Chili Cook-off 2009 held by our friends at BioHouston on Friday from 12:00 – 5:00 p.m. and then BioCamp Houston ’09 at Rice University’s Keck Hall from 9:00 a.m. until we close her down. We’ll conclude the weekend at Valhala, Rice’s on campus graduate student pub.

Should be an amazing weekend so all of you researchers, doctoral students, biopreneurs, doctors, Hooters’ waitresses, and other bioenthusiasts come and help make it a weekend to remember.

Time: April 1, 2009 from 11:15am to 1:15pm Location: Maggiano’s Restaurant – Galleria Location Street: 2019 Post Oak Blvd City/Town: Houston, TX 77056 Website or Map: http://www.mapquest.com/map… Contact Info: (713) 961-2700 Event Type: monthly, luncheon

Green Talk Getting Skeptics to Buy Using Interactive Marketing Tactics

A growing population of environmentally conscious consumers is emerging from the convergence of environmental concern, energy prices and limitless [...]]]>

Time: April 1, 2009 from 11:15am to 1:15pm
Location: Maggiano’s Restaurant – Galleria Location
Street: 2019 Post Oak Blvd
City/Town: Houston, TX 77056
Website or Map: http://www.mapquest.com/map…
Contact Info: (713) 961-2700
Event Type: monthly, luncheon

Green Talk
Getting Skeptics to Buy Using Interactive Marketing Tactics

A growing population of environmentally conscious consumers is emerging from the convergence of environmental concern, energy prices and limitless information. These customers are demanding “real green” products from “real green” companies and are skeptical about most companies’ claim on green. The outcome is a longer selling cycle and a reduction in customer loyalty. Join guest panel speakers from Houston’s leading green businesses: New Living, Green Lily Events and forGreen Marketing & Design. They will address key issues at the forefront of the challenging green marketplace and share how they overcome obstacles using interactive marketing strategies.

Key Takeaways:

• Discover the language and communication style that appeals to niche consumers;
• Learn how to use the interactive & social media tools that connect with the green audience;
• Polish your marketing voice to attract and retain a specific targeted audience;
• Engage with a cautious and even smarter consumer;
• Customize your online marketing efforts to create a community of buyers; and
• Outpace your competition through a unique brand message.

About the Panel Speakers
MARY FRANCES Blatchley is founder and president for both forBri, Inc. and forGreen Marketing and Design. Her experience encompasses everything from innovative marketing strategy to interactive technology to green initiatives. Mary Frances has been helping her clients build strong brands with beautifully executed, award winning campaigns for nearly 20 years.

JEFF Kaplan founded New Living in 2007 and began selling eco-friendly products on one aisle of Wagner Hardware in January 2008. Jeff later leased the entire store and recycled the historic building into New Living, Houston’s Green Building + Home Store. He is completely passionate about making the green building movement accessible for everyone and hopes that New Living can be a paradigm shift for how business is done.

JESSICA Zapatero is Founder and Director at Green Lily Events has over 11 years experience in social and corporate event planning. Her passion for sustainability was the inspiration to create a new, progressive event planning company. She considers the effects of the environment at every level of planning resulting in a lighter footprint event.

Startup Company Lawyer has a great post that breaks down the various elements of determining what kind of entity your startup should operate within. Great read from a great blog.

This is the first year that SXSWi is throwing [...]]]> This coming Monday, February 16, SXSW Interactive is hosting a pre-party in Houston to bring together the emerging tech/Web 2.0/social media scene in our neck of the woods. the event will be from 7-9 pm at the House of Blues Foundation Room located at 1294 Caroline Street.

This is the first year that SXSWi is throwing a pre-party in Houston (they’ve always done SF, NY, Seattle, etc), which really validates the hard work we’ve all been doing to prop up the local tech community. You can RSVP to interpress<at>sxsw<dot>com but do so soon…they are limiting attendance at 300 people.

For those of you not from around these parts:

“The SXSW Interactive Festival offers five days of panels, Core Conversations, book readings and keynote discussions. Also look for the Film and Interactive Trade Show, the ScreenBurn Arcade, the all-new Accelerator Event plus an exciting lineup of evening activities. Attendees benefit from hands-on, how-to training as well as long-term, big-picture analysis in an atmosphere that charges creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. More to the point, coming to SXSW Interactive is a great way to recharge your creativity. Listen to some podcasts or watch videos from the 2008 event to get a better idea of what to expect.

“The 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival will take place Friday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 17. The ScreenBurn at SXSW Arcade will run from Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15, and the Film + Interactive Exhibition & Trade Show will open Saturday, March 14 and close Monday, March 16.

“Daytime panel programming (as well as the Trade Show & Exhibition) takes place at the Austin Convention Center located at 500 E. Cesar Chavez. For 2009 additional panel programming will also take place at the Austin Hilton Downtown, which is located right across the street from the Austin Convention Center at 500 East 4th Street. Evening events will occur at the Hilton and at various nightspots around the city.”

See you there!!!