Let’s Get Started!
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.
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:
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.
This Friday (2/15/08), the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University will be holding its annual MBA Tech Transfer Challenge at the Texas A&M Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship:
“This event, a required part of the Mays MBA program, challenges teams of students to analyze and determine the commercial viability of an invention developed at Texas A&M. The Challenge culminates with presentations by the MBA teams to judges from the business and academic communities.
“The Challenge is an integral part of the MBA program and provides our students with a unique opportunity to develop their analysis, teamwork and presentation skills. Prior to the judging session, the teams work for one week to learn the technology, identify market applications, assess marketplace acceptance, identify competitive technologies and form an opinion of the invention’s commercial viability. The students summarize their results in a written report and an oral presentation to a judging panel. Each team presents in the first round to a subset of the judges. The top teams from the first round advance to the final round where they present in front of the entire judging group as well as their peers. This year, we have also added a wildcard round for all second place teams from the morning flights, in which one team will also move forward to the finals. The Challenge concludes with a networking and awards reception. This year, $6,000 in prize money will be awarded to the top three teams. It is a busy and rewarding week for the students.”
This year, Startup Houston’s Josh Tabin will be one of the event’s judges. Texas A&M graduates have been an integral part of the Houston startup scene for many years and continue to add to its vibrancy. Here are some local startups by former Aggies:
I am sure to be missing some…please let me know if you are an Aggie and have a startup in the greater Houston area (let’s just assume it includes Bryan/College Station).
Last month I put myself on the line and made some predictions about trends on the Web in 2008 at the Houston Technology Center and posted the presentation here. One of my big items for 2008 is profile management which I suggested would be driven by the adoption of OpenID. Well last week, OpenID got a tremendous boost when Microsoft, Google, Verisign and IBM joined AOL and Yahoo in supporting the open-source standard.
Bottom line, if you have not done this already, your Web 2.0 startup needs to adopt this ASAP. Late last week I noticed that local Houston startup Yippi had added OpenID to its site. Kudos to them for getting on board.
The New York Times makes a compelling case for Seattle’s tech startup scene as a promising future competitor to Silicon Valley. The statement that resonates the most is:
“A start-up ecosystem needs social networks, support businesses and a business culture that views failure as a badge of honor, not shame.”
I think Houston has elements one and two, but lacks three. Agree or disagree. Let’s hear your thoughts.
The Small Business Development Center at the University of Houston has a nice slate of seminars for small business owners and entrepreneurs lined up in February and March. Here are some that might be worthwhile for Startup Houston readers:
Panelist include: Richard Scruggs, Houston Angel Network; Gary Henderson, Amegy Bank; Fred Whitlock, DRDA; Nancy Comenares, AmeriSource; Miguel Ruiz, SBA.
Cost: $19 if registered and paid on line. Pre-registration required.
Cost: $39 if registered and paid online.
Cost: $49 if registered and paid online.
Cost: $39 if registered and paid online.
The SBDC’s full calendar is here.
Congratulations to Josh Tabin on being featured in the Moneymakers / Business section of the Houston Chronicle today. Here is a quick excerpt:
Tabin recently spoke with Chronicle technology reporter Brad Hem about the state of Houston’s tech sector.
Q: One of Houston’s biggest promoters of technology is Walter Ulrich, who leads the Houston Technology Center. His vision calls for Houston to become an epicenter for development and commercialization of technology in five years. How realistic is that?
A: I think it’s as realistic as people want to make it. No one can argue that Houston doesn’t have the resources to make it happen. Rice University is a flagship research university for the country.
They have a fantastic engineering program. It’s a major center for nanotechnology. The health science center here is a fantastic place for innovation in the life sciences and biotech area. There’s a lot of commercialization that happens out of there. You’ve got NASA with a major presence. When it comes to energy, Houston is second to none. So when you look at the industry, there’s a huge presence here.
You can read the complete article and more of Josh’s insight here. Also, a big thanks to Brad Hem and the Houston Chronicle for the coverage. As I’m sure you are finding out, there are a lot more great startup companies to write about here in Houston.
The Rice Alliance has gone and outdone themselves again by nearly doubling the amount of funds that will be awarded at this year’s Business Plan Competition. They will be awarding over $600,000 dollars in funds for approximately 36 different graduate teams from around the world, which enables them to lay claim to hosting “the largest and richest intercollegiate MBA/graduate-level business plan competition in the world, with more prize money, more teams competing, and more judges than any other competition.” (Somebody please tell me they are videotaping this thing, because I think this would make a great reality show). Also, according to their web site, every team will receive some type of cash award so noone goes home empty handed.
Are you a graduate team with a killer business plan? You can still register your team by submitting your executive summary before February 21st here and you can find all of the complete details about the event here.
The UP Experience will be in SugarLand tomorrow and it looks to be a very promising event. If you are going, please make sure to come back here and give us the scoop in our comments section, or provide us a link to your blog post. You can find more information about The UP Experience here.
You can also see our previous coverage of Ernie Rapp and The UP Experience here and here.
If you love <3 Startups as much as we do, then you don’t want to miss our next Houston Startup Happy Hour this Thursday (tomorrow), Feb. 7th!
Our last Houston Startup Happy Hour was such a smash (over 100 people) that we decided to make it part of a full time schedule. From now on the happy hour will always be on the first Thursday of every month, starting with our next event on Thursday, February 7th (tomorrow). Sonoma Wine Bar has a great venue where everyone feels instantly relaxed, can try some great wines (and other mixed drinks), and share the latest and greatest info on themselves and their new tech ventures.
So 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!
Here are more of the specifics:
When: Thursday, February 7th (tomorrow), 6pm – 9pm
Where: Sonoma Wine Bar
Map: Click Here
RSVP: Click Here
Hope to see you there!
A Few Updates:
• I just confirmed with Sonoma that we will have a screen, projector, and laptop (and free wifi) there for people to be able to show off their sites. This is a great chance to show people more about what you do or give them a sneak peek at that beta you’ve been working on.
• Rakesh Agrawal of SnapStream will be giving away a couple of “Set” decks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(game)) at the happy hour.
• And, last but not least, if you are an experienced developer, sales engineer, or office manager, SnapStream is currently looking to fill these positions and you can find out more from Rakesh at the happy hour or see the info on their site here.
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