The Houston Innovation Initiative is a group started by Houston Council Member Jarvis Johnson and Yvette Golan of World Innova and here is a quick summary of what they are all about:

The Houston Innovation Initiative (HII) joins government leaders focused on solving city challenges to the technology and innovation leaders who can help. [...]]]>

The Houston Innovation Initiative is a group started by Houston Council Member Jarvis Johnson and Yvette Golan of World Innova and here is a quick summary of what they are all about:

The Houston Innovation Initiative (HII) joins government leaders focused on solving city challenges to the technology and innovation leaders who can help. HII’s introductions inform the technology community of areas the city seeks cost savings and efficiencies, while equipping city leaders with the resources of technology associations who have demonstrated superior innovation access, information, and credibility. In short, HII’s platform connects problems with solutions, needs with resources, and experience with the appetite to learn.

Today, the Houston Innovation Initiative, is hosting the February Forum; a private roundtable event between 100 of Houston’s city and technology leaders, designed to help the city solve specific challenges with new and innovative technology.

After the roundtable event, HII is sponsoring an open mixer from 6pm – 8pm where everyone that shares a passion for technology and innovation can come together and share information.  Below is just a sampling of the people from the event that are expected to be at the mixer.

• Bart Bartkowiak, Information Technology Director for the City of Beaumont;
• Anne Clutterbuck, Mayor Pro-Tem of the City of Houston;
• Bill Crow, Executive-in-Residence from the Houston Technology Center;
• Richard Haut, Senior Research Scientist, Houston Advanced Research Center;
• Kenneth Hernandez, Dean of Career Technical Education, Energy Institute at Houston Community College;
• Richard Lewis, Chief Information Officer, City of Houston;
• Bernie Satterwhite, City Manager of the City of Bellaire;
• Bill Sherrill, Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston;
• James Tillman, Assistant Director of Houston’s Finance Department;
• Dwight Williams, General Manager of HTV Houston Television
• Leo Womack, President of the Houston Angel Network;
• Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

Here is a Google Map link to the event:  Tasting Room at River Oaks, 2409 West Alabama St.

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FreeTimeStudios, an independent mobile game development studio founded by Nathan Eror and headquartered in Houston, TX, announced yesterday that their new game, SlapHappy, is now available via the iTunes Store for an introductory price of 99 cents.

For those of you not aware, Nathan has been very active in Houston’s development community and is [...]]]>

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FreeTimeStudios, an independent mobile game development studio founded by Nathan Eror and headquartered in Houston, TX, announced yesterday that their new game, SlapHappy, is now available via the iTunes Store for an introductory price of 99 cents.

For those of you not aware, Nathan has been very active in Houston’s development community and is also the organizer for the Houston iPhone Dev Camp and co-organizer of the Houston iPhone Developer’s Meetup, so its great to see a lot of his hard effort beginning to pay off, both professionally and for Houston’s Startup & Tech Community.

Here is a description of the game provided by Nathan:

Remember that game you played as a kid? SlapHappy!™ brings you back to the playground where the simplest things brought hours of fun.

Hold your hand over your friend’s, and pull your hand away before you get slapped. Once you see your friend’s hand start to move, the faster and harder you pull your hand away, the higher your score. Move too soon and you lose.

Battle 6 different characters, each quicker and stronger than the last. Don’t blink or you will get SLAPPED!

SlapHappy!™ is OpenFeint enabled. Compare your highest score and best reaction times with your friends and everyone else in the world, and unlock achievements to boost your OpenFeint gamerscore.

SlapHappy!™ is simple, fun and addictive! Are you quick enough?

Click below if you would like to see a video of the game in action:

More info on SlapHappy can be found via the links below:

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Werkadoo, the Houston startup that aims to compete with the likes of ODesk and eLance for the business of contractors and freelancers and be the “eHarmony of Business,” officially launched their site yesterday!  Below are the screenshots of their beta invitation and launch sites, as well as information from the announcement of their [...]]]>

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Werkadoo, the Houston startup that aims to compete with the likes of ODesk and eLance for the business of contractors and freelancers and be the “eHarmony of Business,” officially launched their site yesterday!  Below are the screenshots of their beta invitation and launch sites, as well as information from the announcement of their launch, provided by the founders: Travis Skweres and Bridgette Penel .

Check them out at http://www.werkadoo.com

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NEW SITE

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OLD BETA INVITE SITE

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Local Houston startup Werkadoo is proud to launch it’s web-based platform to the public! Werkadoo’s goal is to link the best-fit professionals looking for work with businesses that need their services in an exciting new way.  In fact, Werkadoo.com aims to be the ‘eHarmony of Business’. Unlike traditional job boards, Werkadoo matches people to projects based on their resume and skills as well as 7 work dimensions and behavioral preferences. Research has shown that employee/employer compatibility on a human level is the most indicating factor of whether or not a project will be successful or fail. By measuring the human element as well as one’s resume, Werkadoo helps reduce the risk that comes with hiring unknown talent, and connects the best fit people the business in need.

Why Businesses Use Werkadoo:

1. Hire on-demand talent easily.
2. Receive your top 10 matches based on your needs, don’t sift through 1,000 resumes.
3. Drastically reduce the time it takes to source a candidate for a position.
4. Ensure that the candidates chosen are a good fit both on a skill and personal level.
5. Hire pre-formed teams for larger projects. They’re ready to work instantly!

Why Professionals Use Werkadoo:

1. Stand out from the resume pile.
2. Don’t search, get matched to projects that best fit you, so you can focus on doing what you do best.
3. Fill a full-time schedule with several Werkadoo clients, and make more money.
4. Form and join teams on Werkadoo, and compete for bigger projects!
5. Plug in all the great communication and collaboration tools you use all in one place.

How We’re Different From oDesk, eLance, Monster, CareerBuilder, And All The Other Guys:

1. When you post a position with us, you’re not bombarded with irrelevant resumes.
2. We match you to the best-fit candidates on a skill and behavioral level.
3. We bring you the top 10 people you should be talking to for your open position.
4. As a professional, you don’t have to search endlessly for positions, we match you to them.
5. We never take a commission out of your paycheck.
6. You can form and join teams on Werkadoo, and compete for larger projects.
7. You can hire these teams on the spot, and save the trouble of assembling them yourself.
8. We don’t force you into a box, use any online tools you want to get work done.
9.. You can get us on the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, just call.
10. Not sure what you need? We have Werkadoo Ambassadors standing by to walk you through the process.

In this economy, businesses need on-demand talent they can hire easily to get things done. At the same time, professionals need an effective way to find work and make money. Werkadoo is dedicated to improving the way businesses and professionals find each other, so give us a try today.

www.Werkadoo.com

Twitter: @Werkadoo
Facebook: http://facebook.com/werkadoo

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Werkadoo is also a Houston Technology Center client company. We wish Werkadoo the best of luck on their launch!

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Anthony Broussard gave a great interview about his company Quantum Potato to the BusinessMakers radio show. You can hear the entire interview here http://www.thebusinessmakers.com/episodes/shows/2010/january-2010/episode-240/anthony-broussard.html

He talks about how his [...]]]> In light of the article written in the Houston Chronicle by Purva Patel last week: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/6808624.html# some other news has come out about the Houston mobile development scene.

Anthony Broussard gave a great interview about his company Quantum Potato to the BusinessMakers radio show. You can hear the entire interview here http://www.thebusinessmakers.com/episodes/shows/2010/january-2010/episode-240/anthony-broussard.html

He talks about how his very first game called Enlightenment Vision: http://linktoapp.com/enlightenment_vision was approved in four days by the App Store.

There is still time to register to attend the iPhone Dev Camp Houston

What is iPhoneDevCamp Houston?

iPhoneDevCamp Houston is a participant-driven gathering of like-minded individuals – also known as an unconference – with the goal of bringing together current and future iPhone developers and business owners to network, share ideas, and explore opportunities.

Dates:  Jan 30 – 31, 2010
Location:  CoffeeGroundz at 2503 Bagby Street
Registration: http://iphonedevcamphouston.eventbrite.com/?ref=ecount
Web Site:  iPhoneDevCampHouston.com
Facebook Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/iPhoneDevCamp-Houston/207773391733
Twitter Page:  http://twitter.com/ipdchouston
Twitter Hash Tag:  #ipdchouston

Houston iPhone Application Service Companies:

Sorry for the last minute post, but I wanted to get this out there in the hopes that you (the community of Houston startups/techs/entrepreneurs/investors) will be able to provide some input.

I, along with several others, very recently received an invitation to attend a meeting with members of the Houston City Council, to talk about how [...]]]>

Sorry for the last minute post, but I wanted to get this out there in the hopes that you (the community of Houston startups/techs/entrepreneurs/investors) will be able to provide some input.

I, along with several others, very recently received an invitation to attend a meeting with members of the Houston City Council, to talk about how they can best support Innovation amongst Houston’s Startups and Entrepreneurs. Now, I have my own ideas about what the City should be doing to help grow and foster Innovation in Houston (hint: it starts and ends with $$$), but I would really like to get thoughts from the entire community. After all, this discussion is meant to help grow the community (ie. you), therefore shouldn’t the ideas come from you as well?

The meeting is at 8:30 tomorrow morning (Tuesday), so please comment quickly!

Here is the invitation I received, so you can get the full gist of the meeting:

By most counts, Houston is the nation’s leader in innovation. But how do we make Houston itself an innovative city? Council Member Jarvis Johnson and the Houston Innovation Initiative would like to hear your thoughts on how our innovative industries can better our city, and how our city can spur economic growth for our industries. We’d like to hear your ideas on how to implement plans for collaboration, creative financing, education, and other programs.

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Update:  I wanted to go ahead and list what my ideas so that it could start the discussion.  I will also make sure to mention each and every one of your comments at the meeting, in addition to my own.

Here are my thoughts on what the City of Houston should consider doing to help foster Innovation in Houston

• Look to Replicate what other successful Startup Cities have done:  $$$
  I was pointed to a couple of great articles by Paul Graham (thanks to Brian Armstrong) on what ingredients are necessary to create an innovative city culture that leads to successful startups.
  • How to be silicon valley:  http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
  • Can you buy silicon valley:  http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html
  • Most of my following comments stem from some of the points that Paul makes in his articles/posts.
• Promote a Geographical Area for Innovators and Startups to Concentrate/Congregate:  $
  Companies get started when there are a lot of like minded people in close proximity.  Houston is very spread out and so efforts must be made to define a small Geographic Area within the city for like-minded technology professionals to get together and discuss tech, and hopefully, starting new companies.  I took a stab at this a while back with my concept for the Houston Startup Corridor.
• More Industry Speakers:  $$
  Nothing helps to inspire innovation more than hearing from those who have gone out and achieved success.  Houston needs to bring in additional thought leaders and speakers from outside of Houston to come in and talk about how they became successful and, more specifically, how that success might be replicated in Houston.  This speaker could be mixed in with some other speakers from Houston.
• Establish a Home-Base for Tech Meetups: $$
  Some meet at different restaurants or pubs around town, but I have yet to see a place with the perfect setup.  I have seen one that has come close.  Maybe the City could partner with CoffeeGroundz to absorb some of the cost of leasing the space next door to them, which is perfect for events and has plenty of  coffee, food, and other beverages that can be purchased to help offset the cost.
• Establish a Seed-Fund for Houston Tech Startups:  $$$
  Organizations such as Y-Combinator and TechStars have proven that it does not take a lot of money to fund successful startups (relatively speaking).  The question is more one of focus.  If Houston wants to see more successful tech startups, then it needs to put its money where its mouth is (and I’m not just talking about the City, I’m talking about all organizations/investors with investment capital looking for a good home) and start a seed fund.  Oh, the things we could do with just $500k – $1m.
• Plug in the Colleges: $
  Get students and professors from the Computer Science schools at all of the Houston Universities to come together for a single event such as BarCamp and also help to attract major Tech speakers to come to the events (see above).
• Focus your Vision and then Throw Everything You’ve Got at it: $$$
  Whether its trying be the next iPhone App Startup Leader, the Cloud-Based Computing Startup Leader, or the Web 3.0 Startup Leader (whatever that is), Houston needs to set a focused and audacious goal of becoming the world leader at some new emerging IT/Web/Mobile technology and then throw every resource it has at accomplishing that goal. It is only this kind of focused, all-out, goal setting that will get us ahead of the curve and give us enough time to become established and noteworthy in that area before other cities have a shot at it.
• Leverage what is Cool and Unique about Houston: $$$
  Houston has a lot of things about it that are cool and innovative. I especially love Houston’s art scene. If Austin is known for their Tech and Live Music, then why can’t Houston be known for Tech and Art. Both Tech and Art involve innovation and creativity { just ask any programmer } and I would like to see more events sponsored that combine these things together into a street festival. (Think EOTribe/Information Superhighway/BarCamp Houston + Westheimer Block Party/Art Car Light Parade/ArtCrawl Houston)