SCHIPULCON 2011

October 6-7 Norris Conference Centers at CityCentre Houston, TX

Register

Schipul, The Web Marketing Company – helmed by none other the venerable startup champion Ed Schipul is putting on another design/technology/marketing event that is spanning two days at the beginning of October.

From the press release:

Focused around the central themes of Create, Profit and Reach, speakers such [...]]]>

SCHIPULCON 2011

October 6-7
Norris Conference Centers at CityCentre
Houston, TX

Register

Schipul, The Web Marketing Company – helmed by none other the venerable startup champion Ed Schipul is putting on another design/technology/marketing event that is spanning two days at the beginning of October.

From the press release:

Focused around the central themes of Create, Profit and Reach, speakers such as Dries Buytaert (founder of Drupal), Liza Kindred (founder of Lullabot), Giovanni Gallucci (photographer and marketing strategist) and Don Vaughn (Baylor College of Medicine neuroscientist) and lead marketers for brands like Tito’s Vodka and St. Arnold’s Brewery, will present perspective-shifting talks, intended to stimulate new thinking – and, more importantly, gamechanging action.  Collaborative sketching for design ideation, turning time into profit and shattering business secrets with social media are just a few of the confirmed speaker topics set to offer big-picture perspective and strategies for creating, profiting and reaching new entrepreneurial horizons. And with live robot and RC helicopter demos on the schedule, the two-day engagement is certain to be chock-full of surprises.

Entrepreneurs and MAKERS will be thrown together for two days in different sessions in the hopes that innovative and actionable ideas for business will result. Ed and the entire Schipul crew (affectionately known as ‘Schipulites’) are gearing up to make this the best conference that they have produced to date. Aside from their many community support roles – most visibly as organizers and sponsors of Houston NetSquared, the Schipulites are well known for throwing great parties like the kickoff event at St. Arnold’s Brewery (free registration).

]]> http://www.startuphouston.com/2011/09/21/schipulcon-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.startuphouston.com/2011/07/11/houston-startup-support-network/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=houston-startup-support-network http://www.startuphouston.com/2011/07/11/houston-startup-support-network/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:12:14 +0000 Marc Nathan http://www.startuphouston.com/?p=1639 Javid Jamae, a startup entrepreneur and active member of the Houston hacking community is leading the charge to create a peer-led group of product focused technology startups here in Houston. It’s going to be a series of regular monthly meetings where startups can talk to one another in a comfortable, informal environment. It’s a great [...]]]> Javid Jamae, a startup entrepreneur and active member of the Houston hacking community is leading the charge to create a peer-led group of product focused technology startups here in Houston. It’s going to be a series of regular monthly meetings where startups can talk to one another in a comfortable, informal environment. It’s a great idea and he’s taking applications until the end of July here:

http://javidjamae.wufoo.com/forms/houston-startup-support-network/

—Overview—
We’re taking applications from local Houston startups to join other startups in a once-a-month, invite-only, support network. The basic idea is that you will sit with 8-10 other startups to discuss tips, tricks, strategy, techniques, and solutions to problems that each of the participants is facing. The application deadline is July 31, 2011.

—Meetup Details—
The meetups will be held monthly and will last approximately 1.5 hours. We’ll start with 30 minutes of open networking, after which people will break up into their assigned groups. In each group, two companies will have the spotlight during each meeting (20 minutes each). During this their 20 minutes, each spotlight company can describe a challenge that they are currently facing, share some insight about a success/strategy/failure, or opt to use the time for general discussion around a topic of interest to their startup. The rest of the group will provide ideas, feedback, and discussion. After the spotlight teams are done, the group will have general discussion for another 20 minutes to allow other participants to ask questions or ask for guidance. The spotlight teams will rotate every month. The meeting structure is open to amendment based on feedback from participants.

After the meeting, whoever wants to hang around and network with their group or with other groups is more than welcome. We will also create a mailing list for each team so they can continue the discussion between meetup events. The mailing list can also be used to help prep other participants on the questions you may want to ask during the next meeting.

—How teams are grouped—
We will be grouping startups together with other companies that are in a similar stage of growth. Early-stage startups will be grouped with one another, and growth-stage startups will be grouped separately. This method of grouping will attempt to create balanced groups whose members can provide reciprocal advice for one another.

—Who can participate—
Participation will be restricted to startups that have a product that is live with an active user community. Beta-stage startups are fine so long as there is an active user base. Alpha stage startups will also be considered so long as there are active plans to move into beta or public release reasonably soon. There will be no idea-stage startups admitted, so if all you have is a business plan, mockups, or funding, but you have no product, you won’t be admitted. Likewise, service providers will not be admitted. This means that no lawyers, web-design shops, marketing companies, social-media mavens, accountants, venture capitalists, angel investors, or small business consulting firms will be admitted. There are plenty of networking events and support groups for all of those folks. This group is dedicated to supporting startups and startups alone.

—Cost—
The meetups will always be free to attend. We will never try to charge you for participation in this group. The only cost to you (ever) will be the cost of your own meal if we hold the meetings at a restaurant.

—First Meeting—
We’re planning for a first meeting in mid August, but no date, time, or venue has been selected yet.

—Rules—
There will be no product-pitches unless someone is asking their group to critique their pitch. The focus of the meetups will always be to help each other to grow and improve. There will never be any selling of products or services, there will never be any sponsors or advertisers. If anyone tries to sell you something during the meetup, they will be asked to leave and will not be invited back.

—Commitment—
There is no cost, but there is a commitment you have to make. You (or another representatie from your company) has to show up every month. If you don’t show up for 2 months in a row, your slot will be offered to somebody else.

—About the organizers—
This meetup is being led by Javid Jamae (@javidjamae on Twitter), with help from a number of other Houston startup-community members. If you’ve been to any of the Houston startup events, you’ve probably met most of them. Some of the organizers own or work for startups and others do not. Those organizers who do not work for startups will only be there to help facilitate the meetings until the teams become self-organizing.

The main event [...]]]> Grace Rodriguez (DFJ Mercury & Culture Pilot) has been very busy planning the third year of Houston@TXSW (formerly known as Houston@SXSW) that supports and promotes Houston’s creative community — highlighting its film, interactive/tech, and music talent — by bringing them together and spotlighting Houston at a single event during the annual SXSW conference.

The main event is:

http://houstontxsw2011.eventbrite.com/

Monday, March 14th starting at 4pm

Republic Live
301 West 5th Street
Austin, TX 78701

The kick off event is:

Thursday, March 3

8:00pm - 10:00pm

The Fairview

More info (and Sponsor opportunities):

info@houstontxsw.us

http://www.houstontxsw.us

http://twitter.com/houstontxsw

http://facebook.com/HoustonTXSW

There are still two weeks left to register to attend what has become Houston’s single most important event for the technology startup community – the Rice IT/Web 2.0 Venture forum. This is where startups pitch deals and VC’s from all over the state come to tell us what they want to see. It’s [...]]]>

There are still two weeks left to register to attend what has become Houston’s single most important event for the technology startup community – the Rice IT/Web 2.0 Venture forum. This is where startups pitch deals and VC’s from all over the state come to tell us what they want to see. It’s also an incredible networking opportunity for people who are thinking about starting a company to gain some insight as to the trends, language and people involved with our community. I can’t overemphasize enough what a ‘can’t miss’ event this will be (and not just because I’m pitching this year as one of the fifty other startups).

You can download the free iPhone app for the event here: iTunes App

To give you an better idea about some of the speakers:

Chip Davis runs one of Houston’s largest private equity shops and has invested in early stage technology companies.

Blair Garrou really needs no introduction – he effectively is the Venture Capitalist for early stage technology startups and has more passion for helping entrepreneurs and more experience in dealing with startups than just about any other individual in Houston.

Morris Miller is an entrepreneur in his own right and had the vision to angel invest in three kids running a web hosting firm at Trinity that turned into the Cadillac of Web Hosts, Rackspace.

Nicholas Seet was the 2005 winner of the Rice Business Plan Competition that has since gone on to secure VC funding and deploy a video ad network management system across the net.

Doug Erwin is one of Houston’s most successful tech business leaders who has several wins under his belt including Compaq, RLXTechnologies, PentaSafe and most recently The Planet who just completed a merger with web hosting firm SoftLayer earlier this month.

Thursday,December 9th, 2010
8:00am – 6:30pm
Rice University Jones School

Event Info and Registration Here

Registration Prices:
Early Registration (before Dec. 6 at 5 p.m.): $75
Walk-up Registration: $100
Rice Alliance members, underwriters, or sponsors: Free
Rice faculty, staff, or student: Free

Description and Agenda:

More than 40 of the most promising early-stage I.T companies have been hand-picked to present and showcase their new venture to an audience of more than 400 venture capitalists, early-stage investors, successful entrepreneurs, academic and business leaders. Attendees will benefit from networking and learning opportunities.

8:00 – 9:00 AM Registration

9:00 – 9:15 AM Welcoming Remarks

Brad Burke, Managing Director, Rice Alliance

9:15 – 9:45 AM Opening Keynote - Tomasz Tunguz, Redpoint Ventures

Business Plan Presentations and Feedback

9:45 – 10:00 AM Introductions – Venture Capital Feedback Panel

Charles L. (Chip) Davis, Managing Director, SMH Private Equity Group
Mike Dodd, Venture Partner, Austin Ventures
Blair Garrou, Managing Director, DFJ Mercury
Morris Miller, Managing Director, Cutstone Ventures
Alan Ying, Venture Partner, Chrysalis Ventures

10:00 – 10:30 AM Business Plan Presentations

10:30 – 11:00 AM Networking Break

11:00 – 12:00 PM Business Plan Presentations (continued)

12:00 – 1:00 PM Lunch and Networking

1:00 – 1:15 PM Afternoon Remarks and Introductions

Brad Burke, Managing Director, Rice Alliance

1:15 – 1:45 PM Afternoon Keynote – Nicholas Seet, Founder, Auditude

1:45 – 2:30 PM Elevator Pitches – Session I

2:30 – 3:00 PM Networking Break

3:00 – 3:45 PM Elevator Pitches – Session II

3:45 – 4:15 PM Company Updates

4:15 – 4:45 PM Closing Keynote – Doug Erwin, Former Chairman and CEO, The Planet

4:45 – 5:00 PM Announce “Top 10 Rising Ventures”

5:00 – 6:30 PM Company Showcase and Networking Reception

The Caroline Collective is celebrating its two year birthday today starting at 4pm at 4820 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004. Anyone involved with startups, social media and the tech and creative community should come by and help them mark this incredible milestone.

It’s hard to believe that such a critically important part of the Houston community [...]]]>

The Caroline Collective is celebrating its two year birthday today starting at 4pm at 4820 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004. Anyone involved with startups, social media and the tech and creative community should come by and help them mark this incredible milestone.

It’s hard to believe that such a critically important part of the Houston community has only been in existence for two years. The original founders, Matthew Wettergreen and Ned Doddington as well as the core supporters, who really are more like co-founders, Grace Rodriguez and Monica Danna have a lot to be proud of today and deserve a huge amount of credit for making Caroline the central hub of community activity. All of the coworkers, supporters and volunteers who have shaped Caroline to what it is have a hand in this success.I’m sure that those intrepid individuals who showed up to clean and paint a disused old warehouse in a not so great part of town never really thought that they would end up turning it into the home base for countless incredible events where friends are made, ideas are hatched and a community is strengthened.

Caroline has followed the path of many successful startups. They first uncovered a demand and then found a way to serve their audience. Sure, they’ve had their share of common startup issues – founder disputes, cash flow problems and market education obstacles. In the end, the passion of the founders enabled the organization to learn, pivot and execute. What started out as an interesting social experiment has turned into a flourishing movement.

I am in awe of what the Caroline Collective has accomplished in two short years and I’m eagerly looking forward to many more in the future. Startup Houston raises a St. Arnold’s to the people that have made Houston’s grassroots startup community a reality.

P.S. I hear that Caroline Collective has a big announcement at 6pm tonight, so expect to be surprised.

UPDATE: The big announcement really was a big announcement – Grace Rodriguez, the founder of http://www.aynbrand.com and tireless supporter of the Houston community was given a full partnership of Caroline Collective. She was completely taken by surprised and the crowd burst into applause. She absolutely deserves this and the picture I sent out just afterwards says it all:

marc1919

This is @gracerodriguez right after she was surprised to learn that she’s now a full partner@carolineco – 100% deserved http://twitpic.com/25yxej

Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010 Time: 6:00pm – 10:00pm Location: pg+co loft Where: 1305 Sterrett Street Houston, TX 77002 View Map RSVP on Facebook

We’re making it a neighborhood affair… with an open house at our new digs slated for April 8th, the lovely colab ladies and the Primer Grey team wanted to make it about more than just us. Over [...]]]>

Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time: 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Location: pg+co loft
Where: 1305 Sterrett Street Houston, TX 77002
View Map
RSVP on Facebook

We’re making it a neighborhood affair… with an open house at our new digs slated for April 8th, the lovely colab ladies and the Primer Grey team wanted to make it about more than just us. Over the last couple of months in our new space we’ve kept an open door policy, and people have taken us up on it.

We’ve quickly learned that our neighborhood is filled with some amazing talent, and not all of them hang a sign from their door. It was after spending a Sunday on our patio cleaning up some winter brush–and after word got out–that we started getting some cool visitors.

Music talents like Andrew Karnavas, David Wrangler; photogs and visual folks Zen Film, Everett Taasevigen, Clint Shuttlesworth, Imelda Bettinger, and the Studio Holloman folks; Hung et al. over at Ray’s Franks and More; art talents like DiverseWorks, Ray and Rosie Phillips and Kat Sola, Cel at Stella Rose; Dan Joyce and company over at Net Victories; loft mates Jay and Jessica Grieves; neighbors IST and M Architects, 002 Magazine ; the deliciously mobile, Stella Rose, the kind folks of Last Concert Cafe; and of course, you can’t forget Saint Arnold. The list goes on and on and on.

Then we thought, wow, there’s so much talent in this little corner of the world that some people probably don’t even know exists. Wouldn’t it be great if we could introduce all our new friends to all our other friends? And so our lil’ open house became a block party, one inspired by movements like Support Local. Grow Together. (SLGT) and Only in Houston (OiH).

We hope everyone can make it, because there are old friends to see and new friends to be had.

You can expect music inside, booze (thanks to Saint Arnold) and the like, as well as DJ requests via Twitter (DJ Good Grief & Young $quaddy), awesome folks and good times. If you’re one of the above mentioned people and want to bring something to the party, feel free, it’s a blank canvas of activity.

Katie Laird of The Business Makers’ Overtime Show will be in the house recording for an upcoming show.

WHO’S IN?
We have confirmed neighbors: 002 Magazine, Stella Rose, Zen Film, Saint Arnold, Net Victories, and more.

Bring people you want other people to drink beer with. We welcome you to the neighborhood.

More details as they’re available via updates here and @pgteam and @hellocolab.

Date: Tuesday March 9, 2010 Time: 6:00pm – 9:30pm Location: Caroline Collective 4820 Caroline Houston, Texas 77004 RSVP on Facebook

Since that starts at 6, you can then go to the monthly NetSquared meetup – generously sponsored [...]]]> Even if you’re not planning on coming to Austin for SXSW, you should plan on coming to the Houston@SXSW Pre-party at Caroline Collective

Date: Tuesday March 9, 2010
Time: 6:00pm – 9:30pm
Location: Caroline Collective 4820 Caroline Houston, Texas 77004
RSVP on Facebook

Since that starts at 6, you can then go to the monthly NetSquared meetup – generously sponsored by Schipul, The Web Marketing Company where I’m giving a talk on why Non-profits need to foster a vibrant Tech Startup Community and vice versa.

Date: Tuesday March 9, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Stag’s Head Pub 2128 Portsmouth St. Houston, TX 77098
RSVP on Meetup

On Wednesday, you can show up to the Social Media Shin-Dig hosted by new marketing firm, The Black Sheep Agency but only if you’re one of the lucky first 100 to RSVP:

Date: Wednesday March 10, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Beaver’s 2310 Decatur Street Houston, TX 77007-7519
RSVP on Pingg

Oh, and that bonus

fourth

event this week: There is an intimate little gathering of 25,000 in Austin starting on Friday that you might not have heard of called South by Southwest. Don’t forget to register for the Houston@SXSW party on Monday night starting at 7pm