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Three great posts about the Startup Weekend experience: Javid Jamae: http://javidjamae.com/2011/11/05/startup-weekend-a-schedule-and-plan-of-action/ Austin Fatheree: http://www.rivvir.com/startup_weekend_toolbox/ The Squarefoot: http://www.thesquarefoot.com/houston/startup-weekend-houston-entrepreneurs-kauffman-foundation After reading these, how could you not want to participate? There’s a new player in the Houston investment scene and they launched in a big way last Thursday night.
RedHouse hosted a party at their offices at 802 Lovett that featured beer, food, Lemonade Day (they raised $7000 from the party-goers, that was split with a group supporting Navy SEALS), and more beer along with over 300 people from the investment (think bankers and VC’s) and technology (think developers, product managers and service providers), most of whom had worked for the principals of RedHouse at some point in their careers. RedHouse Associates is an angel investment and consulting firm made up of a tight-knit group of seasoned enterprise software veterans based here in Houston. Their focus is on cloud-based, enterprise companies that are looking to ramp up their existing sales processes. To say that these are “Brand Name” people is a bit of an understatement. Mike Clark and Keith Kreuer have a long history of starting (and more importantly, finishing) enterprise software companies, the most well-known being PentaSafe. The two of them have been privately investing as angels in other companies like BBS Technologies and R1Soft for several years. They are both venture advisors to DFJMercury, the most active early-stage VC firm focused on tech in the Houston and Mid-Continent areas. Mike and Keith joined forces with their long-time friend Doug Erwin – a man who needs no introduction to those in the Houston technology community. Doug was most recently the CEO of the Planet who engineered several successful mergers before selling the whole consolidated company to SoftLayer in Dallas a few months ago. Doug is widely known as a world-class CEO, who has a career spanning IBM, BMC, RLX, PentaSafe and the Planet in leadership and sales roles. The other two principals are Doug’s son Ben Erwin (a successful executive in his own right) and Joseph Horzepa, the General Counsel to many of their portfolio companies. Back in the height of the PentaSafe days, they would throw legendary beer bashes and crawfish boils every quarter at this location. When PentaSafe merged with NetIQ, they went all out with a beach themed party and flew in The Beach Boys to play for the crowd. The fact that Surge Accelerator is now housed there, along with several of the RedHouse Associates portfolio companies like Eric Elfman’s OnIt Software are an indication that this party is one of many more to come, which means that Samantha Vilaysane, the “Ruler of the House” will have the chance to do what she does best – plan awesome parties. RedHouse is a big deal for the Houston technology community and will fit in very well with the existing infrastructure of HTC, Rice and DFJMercury, while adding a great deal of experience and talent to our ecosystem. November 14th, 2011 | Category: Events, Houston Venture Capitalists, Incubators, Startup Mentors, VC and Angel Funding |
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Global Entrepreneur Week starts today. Originally started by the Kauffman Foundation in 2007, it’s expanded to 118 countries this year on six continents. The point of the program is to celebrate entrepreneurship in all of its forms. It’s also one of the reasons that so many StartupWeekend‘s are happening around this time. Use this initiative as an excuse to finally finish that project, release that product or launch that company.
Startup Weekend is just a few days away and you really have no excuse not to register. It’s the single best place to find co-founders, coders and designers interested in startups in a single place. The organizers have taken great pains to make sure that the program is balanced between work and keynote speakers and Javid Jamae has even put together a timeline that demonstrates how to get the most out of the experience. The stakes are higher this time because both the Kaufmann Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are funding a global initiative for the winners of the regional Startup Weekends. There’s real prize money as well as tools and recognition for people who participate. I’m honored to be a judge again this year and I can promise that the quality of startups ideas will be very strong. Houston Startup Happy Hour 2.0
OK, So the deal is this: There is this event http://www.tietexasfundingforum.com/agenda.htm happening at the Houston Technology Center on Wednesday, November 2 from 4-7:30pm. An awesome group from Austin, led by Jacqueline Hughes is coming down for the event, so we’re throwing a Startup Happy Hour mostly in their honor, but really it’s an excuse to have another happy hour. There are a couple of choices on a venue near the HTC in Mid Town – Majorca Tapas Bistro and Front Porch Pub. If you have a preference, let me know in the comments. Also, make sure that you invite interesting area startups who want to hang out. RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256527454384295 9th Annual Information Technology & Web Venture Forum The Rice Alliance is currently accepting applications from Information Technology and Web companies to present in front over 450 venture capitalists, investors, business leaders and industry experts. Past start-up companies at Rice Alliance Technology Venture Forums have raised over $1.6 billion in funding! NEW: Investor Office Hours!! In addition to presenting at the Venture Forum, early-stage IT and web companies who are selected will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with up to 10 venture capital firms, angel network groups, and accelerators in a private Investor Office Hours session on Wednesday, December 7, 2011. This is an opportunity to get a private introduction to venture capitalists and angel investors. NEW: Private Investor Reception!! Selected companies will also be invited to a private investor reception on the evening before the event. To apply to present: CLICK HERE. There is no cost to apply. Simply submit your executive summary. http://techcocktail.com/surge-accelerator-joins-techstars-network-startup-america-2011-10
SURGE ACCELERATOR JOINS THE TECHSTARS NETWORK AS PART OF STARTUP AMERICA by: Monika Jansen Houston-based SURGE, the country’s first and only seed accelerator that focuses excluusively on efficient energy software startups, has joined the TechStars Network in support of Startup America. Kirk Coburn, Managing Director and co-founder of SURGE Accelerator, had this to say: SURGE Accelerator was created to accelerate innovation in energy software technologies. The knowledge sharing and collaboration we’ll gain through the TechStars Network will help SURGE to further advance our goals and those of our mentors, corporate partners, and the overall energy community towards energy independence and improving energy efficiency worldwide. The accelerator offers entrepreneurs access to mentors from the energy, entrepreneur, and venture capital communities to help them grow their company from idea to major success. Due to its location in Houston, startups have direct access to the largest deregulated electricity market, largest population of smart meters, and second largest information technology service economies. Startups spend 3 months in bootcamp, which culminates in “SURGE DAY” (next one is in the spring) when startups pitch to energy-focused venture capitalists, angel investors, corporations and their development teams, community energy and information technology leaders and the media. We are really excited to see what kind of startups graduate from their program, as the resources now available to them via this new partnership means the sky’s the limit. Stay tuned! October 19th, 2011 | Category: Houston Venture Capitalists, Incubators, Surge, VC and Angel Funding |
Leave a comment The leader of the flock at the Black Sheep Agency, Aimee Woodall is hosting another great social event for Social Media professionals and enthusiasts. It’s a terrific way to meet a lot of the faces behind the twitter avatars you follow.
Social Media Shin-Dig Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 7:00 PM Natachee’s RSVP: This is a repost from August, but I know that Austin Ventures has just a few slots left for their Office Hours coming up next week at CoffeeGroundz. If you want a ‘low-impact’ way to speak to VC’s about your business, this is one of the best ways to do it. Don’t forget that you’re still being judged on you, your team, your idea and your market, but in a more ‘friendly’ way. Here’s the link to submit your application: http://blog.austinventures.com/austin-ventures-entrepreneur-hours-aveh-is-back-submission-form-dates/ |
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Tuesday, 15th of November 2011 at 10:11:29 PM
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