Changes

To do: pull relevant information on key players in ==Bottom-up Analysis of the Houston community. Put all findings on this page or in Houston folder in the McNair Center dropbox. Ecosystem==

===Important players Methodology===These people were found using Dr. Egan's Slack account under the team directory in the group Houstontech. They were then googled to find linked-in, twitter, or other sites which provide information on the people and their roles in the Houston entrepreneurship ecosystem. Most recent entry is from Joseph Marhee. https://houstontech.slack.com/messages/_random/team/ ===Table of Key People=== {| class="wikitable sortable" style="border: 1px solid darkgray; bgcolor: #f9f9f9"|'''Name''' || '''Organization''' || '''Type''' || '''Tags'''|-| E.J. Thompson || Softlayer - IBM || Tech Consultant |||-| Emily Keeton || Station Houston / Flavour || Workspace / Start-up || #Sold #VIP #VC #1.13M|-| Gina Miller || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant || |-| Gira Desai || Aleberry Creative || Tech Consultant || |-| Apurva Sanghavi || START Houston || Workspace || |-| Ari Diozon || Tippit & Moo Advertising || Marketing Consultant || |-| Gaurav Khandelwal || START Houston || Workspace || |-| Adam Presley || PCSGroup || Tech Consultant || |-| Chris Gallo || Softlayer - IBM || Tech Consultant || |-| Angela Shah || Xconomy || Journalist || #VIP #Policychanger|-| Mohammad Azam || AzamSharp Consulting || Tech Consultant || |-| Clayton Spivey || Softlayer - IBM || Tech Consultant || |-| Unknown || everbodyinhouston.com || Funding Source || #crowdfunding|-| Chris Black || Softlayer - IBM || Tech Consultant || |-| Damien Franco || DTF marketing || Marketing Consultant || |-| James Van Dyne || Sugoi Software || Tech Consultant || |-| Hesam Panahi || UH, 3DS || Accelerator || #VIP #Professor #UH|-| Grace Rodriguez || WITHouston || Policy Influencer || #VIP #Policychanger|-| Jeff Reichman || Startup America / January Advisors || Accelerator / Strategy Consultant || #VIP|-| Jenny Li || Graylog || Startup / Tech Consultant || #SURGE|-| Jessica Fleenor || Owlspark and Rice Alliance for technology and entrepreneurship || Accelerator || #Rice|-| Joe Martin || Houston Business Journal || Journalist || #Policychanger|-| John Goodman || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant || |-| Astrid Countee || Prenovate || Startup || #Prefunding #Health|-| Gaurav Khandelwal || ChaiOne || Tech Consultant || |-| Chris Gallo || Rex Animal Health || Startup || #TechStars|-| Anderson Ta || Open Factory || Startup || #Owlspark|-| Benjamin Lipson || Sports Tradex || Startup || #VC #1.5M #Sold|-| Dane Witbeck || Meshify || Startup || #VC #50k #SURGE|-| Danielle saadia || Makeable Tech || Startup || #VC #2M|-| Jason Kaminsky || BeautyNow || Startup || #AngelInvestor #500k|-| Jim Foreman || coconnect / Blue Smoke / Venturi Outcomes || Startup || |-| Jonathan Hartman || Sandbox || Startup || |-| Andrew Douglass || Dark Water Creative || Tech Consultant || |-| Brian Dorton || Iron Yard || Training || |-| Brady Morowitz || SpaceJet Media || Tech Consultant || |-| Bryan Wood || Reality Engineering Enterprises, LLC || Tech Consultant || |-| Chung Nguyen || MC2 Architects || Bystander || |-| Chad Parks || NASA Johnson Space Center || Bystander || |-| Erik Hitchcock || MBA candidate at Rice || Bystander || #Rice|-| Jenny Gustafson || Integrate Agency || Tech Consultant |||-| Jon Nordby || Greater Houston Partnership || Entrepreneur aids || #VIP #Policychanger|-| Joseph Marhee || Digital Ocean || Tech Consultant|-| Josephine Tran || Houston Technology Center || Entrepreneur aids|-| John Rodney || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant |-| Justin Cordero || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant|-| Kaitlin O’Brien || Houston Technology Center / Xela Coffee Roasters || Entrepreneur aids / Startup|-| Kenton Gray || iOffice || Startup|-| Kerri Smith || Owlspark & Rice Alliance || Accelerator || #VIP #Rice|-| Kevin Nguyen || Applied Matter || Tech Consultant |||-| Khalid Adil || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant |-| Kim Evans || Seremedi || Startup|-| Kirk Coburn || SURGE Ventures || Venture Capital / Accelerator || #VIP #VC|-| Kenny Loveall || Towbee || Startup || #Red-Labs|-| Kyle Dixon || Towbee || Startup || #Red-Labs|-| Ladd Hoffman || Door Space/ Ideate Foundation || Startup / Training|-| Lindsay Deneault || Texas Medical Center, OwlSpark, Rice Alliance || Accelerator || #Rice|-| Luis Reyes || McKinsey & Company || Marketing Consultant|-| Matt Keas || Iron Yard || Training|-| Matthew Hager || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant|-| Michael Brumlow || R1soft || Startup|-| Melanie Jones || Marketing Interface || Startup / Marketing Consultant|-| Adrian Cantu || Avanade || Tech Consultant|-| Micah Thomas || RaptorBird Robotics || Startup || Red-Labs|-| Michael Brown || Incipire || Startup|-| Michael Sklar || Graylog || Tech Consultant|-| Michele Price || Radio show host || Journalist || #VIP #Policychanger|-| Yvonne Doung || The Advisory Board Company || Marketing Consultant|-| Mitchell Barron || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant |-| Edward Dodington || No Affiliation || Bystander|-| Nicholas Romero || J-tronics, Kaasol || Startup|-| Nir Leibovich || GoCo || Startup || #VC #1.8M|-| Nash Kabbara || Manna Systems || Startup|-| Norris Kwan || Poetic Systems || Tech Consultant|-| Rakesh Agrawal || Snapstream, Angel.co || Entrepreneur aids / Startup || #VIP|-| Rakshak Talwar || RaptorBird Robotics || Startup || Red-Labs|-| Rich Winley || Gnomad || Startup|-| Rishi Sohoni || 3DS || Accelerator || #UH|-| Robert De Los Santos || Sky High Party Rentals, FireStartup, IndieHouston || Entrepreneur aids / Startup|-| Rosylnn Velasquez || The Black Sheep Agency || Marketing Consultant|-| Sameer Soleja || Molecule software || Startup || #VIP #VC #2.3M|-| Sarah Rigdon || Braincheck || Startup || #Debtfinancing #745k|-| Sebastian Good || Palladium Consulting || Tech Consultant|-| Stephen White || Qukku, Fair Haven Trading Company || Startup|-| Aziz Gilani || Mercury Fund || Venture Capital || #VIP #VC #Professor #Rice|-| Tim DeSilva || Culture Pilot || Marketing Consultant / Startup|-| Travis Potter || SoftLayer, awkward situations web design || Tech Consultant / Startup|-| Tri Nguyen || Zodist, Sensibly, PixelRocket || Tech Consultant / Startup|-| Daniel Buentillo || Mioty || Startup|-| Wes Gamble || The Advisory Board Company || Tech Consultant|-| Wesley Okeke || Fruition Technology Labs || Marketing Consultant|-| James Phelan || White Space, Houston Professionals, Startup Grind Houston || Entrepreneur aids / Startup || #VIP|-| Yael Hochberg || Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, seedranker || Accelerator || #VIP #Professor #Rice|} ===Details on Key People==='''Gaurav Khandelwal'''Founder/CEO at ChaiOne and co-founder at START Houston. ChaiOne is a leading mobile agency focused on helping companies launch new products and services on mobile and online.START provides a professional and yet fun space for designers, developers, freelancers, entrepreneurs, employees or thought leaders to collaborate together in the Tech & Mobile space. (Co-Founded with Apurva Sanghavi)https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaionehttp://chaione.com/http://www.starthouston.com/ '''Adam Presley''' GE Healthcare Software architect and Software Engineer at PCSGroup. PCSGroup provides IT Solutions and Web Services for local businesses.https://www.linkedin.com/in/adampresleyhttp://www.pcsgrp.com/ '''Chris Gallo'''Developer Advocate at SoftLayer Technologies, an IBM Company specializing in cloud infrastructure.https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophergallowww.softlayer.com '''Amado Guloy'''CEO, Co-founder, and data scientist at Rex Animal Health. Rex Animal Health is an online company specializing in cloud population health and analytics for the animal health industry. Participated in 2015 Sprint Accelerator powered by Techstars.https://www.linkedin.com/in/amadoguloyhttp://rexanimalhealth.com/ '''Amy Evans''' Web Developer, no listed company or entrepreneurial experience.https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyevans87 '''Anderson Ta''' Founder of Open Factory, a 3D printer making company, which was a start-up at Owl Spark Last Year. Previously worked at Rice as a research technician. Frequents MakerFaires domestically and internationally, worked in the 3D printing industry for the past 6 years. Lead the first 3D printer build workshops, reviewed 3d printers for magazines like MAKE. Believes 3D printing is just getting started, “As the initial hype fades away and we focus on bringing out what this technology is really good for, we'll start to see the "killer apps" of 3D printing emerge. I founded Open Factory to do just that!” Previously founded Matterfy a company which was established in Washington and was a precursor to Open Factory. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anderson-ta-4442307bhttp://openfactory.co/pages/about-us (No matterfy site) https://www.meshtomold.com/https://twitter.com/openfactoryco '''Andrew Douglass'''Creates websites and branding materials at Dark Water Creative a Houston creative agency which does graphic design, web development, and research/analysis. (very new agency) Also an application developer at University of Houston. Previously a Student Director of Operations at RED Labs.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ardouglasshttp://dou.glass/  '''Angela Shah'''Editor for Xconomy in Houston, writes about startups and entrepreneurship in Texas. Xconomy hosts entrepreneurship events: Private dinner series, healthcare summit, Houston 2035 conference, Innovative Cities series, and publishes articles about entrepreneurship. Previously wrote for NY Times, Forbes, Time. Large Twitter presence. https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelashah http://www.xconomy.com/author/ashah/ Twitter: @angelashah '''Apurva Sanghavi'''Co-Founded Houston's first technology niche co-working space, START. START provides a professional and yet fun space for designers, developers, freelancers, entrepreneurs, employees or thought leaders to collaborate together in the Tech & Mobile space. (Co-Founded with Gaurav Khandelwal) Also employed as a branch manager at Internet mortgage branch of Network Funding, LP.https://www.linkedin.com/in/apurvasanghavi '''Ari Diozon'''Copywriter at Tippit & Moo Advertising in Houston, TX.https://www.linkedin.com/in/aridiozonhttps://twitter.com/thearisays '''Astrid Countee'''Co-founder at Prenovate, free-lance UX designer and software developer, DevOps Engineer (contractor) at HP.https://www.linkedin.com/in/astridcountee '''Mohammad Azam'''Founder of AzamSharp Consulting, Senior Mobile Developer at blinds.com. Runs Youtube channel detailing how to write code has tens of thousands of views. Developed numerous apps and runs a consulting service to develop iOS applications.https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-azam-5537993https://www.youtube.com/user/azamsharp http://www.azamsharp.com/http://www.blinds.com/ '''Benjamin Lipson'''Sport Tradex founder, raised $1.5M in three rounds of capital funding and reached $4M revenue run rate from 10,000 total users. Hired and managed 5 person team in the areas of technology, marketing, and operations. Won Rice University’s “Most Promising Company” at the 2014 Southwest Tech Venture Forum. Company was acquired by DraftDay Gaming Group, Inc.https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-lipson-6b818643https://www.sportstradex.com/home '''Brady Moritz'''CTO at SpaceJet Media in Houston, founded in 2011 as an internet marketing firm.https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradymoritz '''Brian Dorton'''Campus Director at The Iron Yard, a coding school for adults. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-dorton-37559a88 www.theironyard.com '''Clayton Spivey'''Project Management Director at SoftLayer Technologies, an IBM Company specializing in cloud infrastructure.https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-spivey-9aaa361 '''Bryan Wood'''Regional Manager at Reality Engineering Enterprises, LLC. a company devoted to helping creating interactive exhibits at trade shows.https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-wood-0634646 http://www.realityengineering.com/ '''Chung Nguyen'''Co-founded MC2 Architects a firm in Houston, TX.http://www.mc2architects.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=60 '''Chad Parks'''IT Supervisor at NASA Johnson Space Center.https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-parks-897bb946 '''Unknown'''http://everybodyinhouston.com/crowdfunding organization '''Chris Black'''Network Analyst at SoftLayer Technologies, an IBM Company specializing in cloud infrastructure.https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-black-674620a5 '''Damien Franco'''Marketing Consultant at DTF marketing, a self named ‘modern marketing’ firm.https://www.linkedin.com/in/damienfranco '''Dane Witbeck'''Co-Founder at Meshify a technology startup that integrates sensors, satellite data, and comprehensive analytics to make software which aids oil companies in tracking data from the field. Leader of Houston lean startup circle an organization designed to educate entrepreneurs on lean start-up management techniques. Participant in The Rice Alliance for technology and entrepreneurship and surge accelerator.http://www.surgeventures.com/ http://www.meetup.com/leanhouston/events/144686712/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-witbeck-688838a '''Danielle Saadia'''Founder at Makeable Tech, a company devoted to researching and developing the latest STEM curriculums for children and adults.https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-saadia-68343753 '''E.J. Thompson'''Network engineer at SoftLayer Technologies, an IBM Company specializing in cloud infrastructure.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ej-thompson-a500183b '''Emily Keeton'''Co-Founder and managing director at Station Houston an incubator to connect startups with accelerators, capital, coworking and mentorship. (not yet open) Previously co-founder and CEO at Flavour, an app for restaurant discovery, sold to Tasting Table, a leading digital property for food and drink enthusists.https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-keeton-73188167 '''Erik Hitchcock'''MBA candidate at Jones school of business.https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikmhitchcock '''Gina Miller'''Executive Assistant at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginarmiller '''Gira Desai'''Founding Partner at Aleberry Creative. Aleberry Creative is a Houston-based design firm focused on branding and design, they serve primarily the start-up community designing logos and websites.https://www.linkedin.com/in/giradesai '''Grace Rodriguez'''No job at present, previously creative director for TED, founding member of Mayor’s Innovation & Technology Advisory Board, Co-Founder of Women in Tech: Houston(WITHouston), Co-founder of C2 create.http://gracerodriguez.com/about/https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracerodriguezhttp://www.edforh.com/issues/technology/http://withouston.org/http://c2create.org/ '''Hesam Panahi'''Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Houston, lecturer at Rice University, 3DS organizer, Surge Accelerator participant, co-founder of Appology Labs.https://www.linkedin.com/in/hpanahi '''James Van Dyne'''Sugoi Software founder, a software consulting company which designs apps and websites.https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-van-dyne-2002882http://www.sugoisoft.com/ '''Jason Kaminsky'''Founder at Worthit.co, COO at BeautyNow, 2014 winner of 40 under 40 Houston Business Journal. Worthit.co is currently ‘on pause,’ BeautyNow is an app for making appointments at beauty salons and spas in real time. BeautyNow recieved an angel investment from John Paul DeJoria (from John Paul Mitchell).https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrkaminsky '''Jeff Reichman'''Entrepreneur, runs January Advisors a consulting firm in Houston. Houston Chair of StartUp America, an organization committed to aiding entrepreneurs funded corporate sponsors and the Federal government.https://www.crowdfunder.com/user/17296https://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/business/startup-americahttp://www.startupamericapartnership.org/ '''Jenny Li'''Marketing Manager at graylog, a machine data management systems company. Previously with Surge Ventures a fund investing in entrepreneurs solving energy problems through technology.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilynnej https://www.linkedin.com/company/2358533?trk=prof-exp-company-name '''Jessica Fleenor'''Assistant Director for programs at Rice Alliance for technology and entrepreneurship and owlspark. Previously founded Medulla, a company devoted to branding, design, and event planning.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicafleenor http://alliance.rice.edu/http://www.owlspark.com/ '''Jim Foreman'''Co-founder at Coconnect a company that builds custom apps for convention organizers. Also employee at Blue Smoke a digital agency for small businesses. CIO at Venturi Outcomes, a specialty building company.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimforeman '''Joe Martin'''Covers technology, money, and law for the Houston Business Journal.http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/bio/22601/Joe+Martinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/joemartin91 '''John Goodman'''Creative developer at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://www.linkedin.com/in/pardontheprogress '''John Reale'''Managing director at Arete Ventures and advisor at owlspark.http://www.owlspark.com/peoplewise-john-reale/https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=ADEAAAI0EDYBm8kFUrmt2bl-xYc0mHIZ6HmMUqQ&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=wfTW&locale=en_US&srchid=3780625331449270090931&srchindex=1&srchtotal=41&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A3780625331449270090931%2CVSRPtargetId%3A36966454%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary%2CVSRPnm%3Atrue%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH '''Jonathan Hartman'''Co-founder and product manager at Sandbox Inc. a company that develops geospatial networks for users based on location.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanlhartman '''Jenny Gustafson'''Public Relations and Social Media Account Executive at Integrate Agency a Houston based marketing and public relations firm.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyselbergustafsonhttp://integrateagency.com/about-us/meet-the-team/jenny-gustafson/ '''Jon Nordby''' Director of talent attraction and marketing at Greater Houston Partnership. The Greater Houston Partnership is a business organization in Houston devoted to aiding in the growth of business, entrepreneurial or otherwise in Houston.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonordbyhttps://www.houston.org/ '''Joseph Marhee'''Customer Success Engineer at Digital Ocean, a company that provides internet services including cloud computing and storage and leasing data centers.https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephmarheehttps://www.digitalocean.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=brand_sem&utm_campaign=Brand_Protection&utm_term=digital%20ocean&adgroup=9971414725&matchtype=e&network=g&device=c&position=1t1 '''Josephine Tran'''Community Development Manager at Houston Technology Center. Josephine fosters an entrepreneurial community and collaboration in the Houston entrepreneurial scene. https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephinetranhttp://www.houstontech.org/ '''John Rodney'''Developer at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://poeticsystems.com/about '''Justin Cordero'''Developer at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing. Also a freelance developer.https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-cordero-6112b817 '''Kaitlin O’Brien'''Marketing Director of Houston Technology Center and Co-Founder at Xela Coffee Roasters, a start-up producing specialty coffee roasters in Houston, Texas.https://www.linkedin.com/in/obrienkaitlinhttp://www.houstontech.org/http://xelaroasters.com/ '''Kenton Gray'''CTO at iOffice, leads a team of developers to create whatever software is needed by iOffice. iOffice is a company that develops software to unlock the full potential of another corporations workforce.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenton-gray-16572b31http://www.iofficecorp.com/about-us/leadership-team/kenton-grayhttp://www.iofficecorp.com/ '''Kerri Smith'''Managing Director at OwlSpark Accelerator and Associate Managing Director at Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. OwlSpark is a three day start-up accelerator. Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship is a university initiative to drive the commercialization of technology.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerrismith1http://alliance.rice.edu/http://www.owlspark.com/ '''Kevin Nguyen'''Employee at Applied Matter a company devoted to helping businesses drive traffic to their sites and engage customers.http://appliedmatter.com/https://plus.google.com/103328061818318521835/about '''Khalid Adil'''Web developer at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalidadilhttps://poeticsystems.com '''Kim Evans'''Co-founder and CEO at Seremedi. Seremedi is a start-up in Houston that works with hospitals and physicians to improve outpatient care.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimbevanshttp://www.seremedi.com/#home '''Kirk Coburn'''Founder and Managing Director of SURGE Ventures. Previously founded three successful start-ups, supports the Rice Alliance, and is a HALO investor in his spare time. SURGE ventures is an investment company for technology in the field of energy. His previous three companies included Chief Outsiders, a marketing firm, and the PGA TOUR network on Sirius XM.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirkcoburnhttp://www.surgeventures.com/ '''Kenny Loveall'''Student at University of Houston and co-creator of Towbee a start-up founded in Red-Labs which will allow users to request assistance when their car breaks down.http://www.kennyloveall.com/pages/web_design.phphttps://www.linkedin.com/in/klloveallhttp://redlabs.uh.edu/meet/towbee/http://towbee.com/ '''Kyle Dixon'''Student at University of Houston and co-creator of Towbee a start-up founded in Red-Labs which will allow users to request assistance when their car breaks down.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-dixon-38b06448http://redlabs.uh.edu/meet/towbee/http://towbee.com/ '''Ladd Hoffman'''Senior Engineer at Door Space, a company that develops education for adult education. Also director at ideate foundation, a non-profit researchand development start-up.http://ideatefoundation.org/ https://www.doorspaceinc.com/ '''Lindsay Deneault'''Strategist at Texas Medical Center, an accelerator for health care start-ups. Lindsay previously worked at Rice OwlSpark and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaydeneault '''Luis Reyes'''Product Manager at McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm that finds better business solutions for clients.http://www.mckinsey.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisreyes '''Matt Keas'''Mentor and instructor at Iron Yard, a modern boot camp style code school.https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-keas-46141421 '''Matthew Hager'''CEO at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewhager '''Michael Brumlow'''Lead Software Engineer at R1Soft, a server backup manager.https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-brumlow-5abaa88http://www.r1soft.com/ '''Melanie Jones'''Marketing Technologist at Marketing Interface. Previously director of marketing at SURGE accelerator.https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieajoneshttp://marketing-interface.com/ '''Adrian Cantu'''Senior software engineer at Avanade, an IT company with many different services.http://www.avanade.com/en/homehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-cantu-1112388a '''Micah Thomas'''Lead developer at RaptorBird Robotics, a new droid company that develops drones and drone platforms.https://www.linkedin.com/in/micahthomas4http://raptorbird.com/ '''Michael Brown'''Recently founded Incipire a technology company with unclear ambitions. Michael is currently president and CTO of Incipire and has a background in technology. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbrown77 '''Michael Sklar'''CEO at Graylog, a machine data management systems company.https://www.linkedin.com/in/msklarhttps://www.graylog.com/ '''Michele Price'''Business Guru and host of radio show, broadcaster, and producer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelepricehttp://whoismicheleprice.com/ '''Yvonne Doung'''Front End designer at the advisory board company creating websites for clients. The Advisory Board Company is a consulting company with a wide variety of services.https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonneduong https://www.advisory.com/ '''Mitchell Barron'''Developer at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://poeticsystems.com/abouthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mtchllbrrn '''Edward Dodington'''Received Masters in architecture from Rice University. Edward (or Ned) is now a full time architect and part time creative entrepreneur working to develop new practices for biologically inclusive design.https://www.linkedin.com/in/neddodingtonhttp://archinect.com/people/cover/18908110/ned-dodington '''Nicholas Romero'''Business Owner at J-tronics, a webdesign and IT consulting firm, Nicholas is also the technical co-founder of Kaasol, a company designed to make buying a home effortless.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncrmrohttps://www.linkedin.com/company/kaasolhttps://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?company=J-Tronics&trk=prof-exp-company-name '''Nir Leibovich'''Currently the CEO and founder of GoCo.io Inc (recently received 1.8m in funding) a business solutions company and an angel investor. Formerly a serial entrepreneur Nir was co-founder at Trendfund, owner of a Checkers Burgers in Dallas, Co-founder and CEO at QuadEnergy, founder and director of MarketZero (later acquired by Zynga), Co-founder and CEO at Arpeggi (later acquired by Gene by Gene).https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirleibovichhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/nirleibovichhttps://www.goco.io/ '''Nash Kabbara'''CTO at Manna Systems a software consulting shop for businesses. Formerly founded and Exited ZipZoomAuto, a market platform for car dealerships, and ran marketing and management at Motors on Wheels.http://nashkabbara.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkabbarahttp://www.zipzoomauto.com/http://mannapc.com/ '''Norris Kwan'''Developer at Poetic Systems, a company devoted to developing websites, apps, and marketing.https://www.linkedin.com/in/norriskwan '''Rakesh Agrawal'''Start-up investor and founder of snapstream, a way of watching and recording television then extracting the useful clips from it. Essentially snapstream strives to make TV searchable. He has invested in over 60 start-ups and is a limited partner at two venture capital firms. Most of his investments occurred through angel.co.http://rake.sh/http://www.snapstream.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/raaaaakesh https://angel.co/rakeshagrawal https://angel.co/ '''Rakshak Talwar'''Founder and CEO at RaptorBird Robotics, a new droid company that develops drones and drone platforms. RaptorBird was a product of RedLabs.https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakshak-talwar-71759053http://raptorbird.com/ '''Rich Winley'''An entrepreneur that has a background in sales, Rich is a VP at GUI Global and a founder at Gnomad, an advertising network. He previously completed an IronYard course in South Carolina and founded No-Chains an app featured in Forbes but that ultimately appears to have failed.https://www.linkedin.com/in/richwinleyhttp://gnomadnetwork.com/http://www.blackenterprise.com/technology/rich-winley-no-chains-food-app/ '''Rishi Sohoni'''Construction Manager and organizer at 3DS, a startup accelerator from the University of Houston’s Bauer college of business.https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsohonihttp://www.bauer.uh.edu/3ds/about.php '''Robert De Los Santos'''CEO of Sky High Party Rentals, a company that sells inflatable bounce houses for parties. Co-founder of FireStartup Web Technology, a company that helps small businesses in Houston gain a web presence. Co-founder at Indie Houston a website devoted to promoting art in Houston.http://www.skyhighpartyrentals.com/http://www.firestartup.com/http://indiehouston.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertdelossantos '''Roslynn Velasquez'''Community Outreach Officer at The black sheep agency, a marketing firm.https://www.linkedin.com/in/roslynnfitchhttp://theblacksheepagency.com/the-flock/ '''Sameer Soleja'''Founder and CEO at Molecule Software as well as an Adjunct Professor at UH. Molecule software is a website that assists in commodity trading.http://www.molecule.io/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssoleja '''Sarah Rigdon'''Marketing director at Braincheck a website that allows you to check if you have a concussion based on initial baseline testing.http://braincheck.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahrigdon '''Sebastian Good'''Owner of Palladium Consulting Inc. and Computer Software Consultant who specializes in high end custom scientific and economic software.https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianghttp://www.palladiumconsulting.com/ '''Stephen White'''Founder of Qukku, a platform for video viewers and watchers to come together. Co-Founder and Director of Fair Haven Trading Company, a social enterprise devoted to reselling and marketing organic and fair trade products.https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenrwhite https://www.linkedin.com/company/fair-haven-trading-company http://www.qukku.com/ '''Aziz Gilani'''Mercury Fund investor and expert in Start-Up accelerators, also an adjunct Professor at Rice’s Jones School of Business, where he teaches a course on venture capital.https://www.linkedin.com/in/azizgilani http://mercuryfund.com/ http://mercuryfund.com/team/aziz-gilani/ '''Tim DeSilva'''Founder of Culture Pilot in 2003 it is now a successful marketing consulting firm.http://timdesilva.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/timdesilvahttp://culturepilot.is/ '''Travis Potter'''Customer Service Technician at SoftLayer Technologies, an IBM Company specializing in cloud infrastructure. Travis is also the owner and founder of awkward situations web design.www.softlayer.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-potter-4b822416 '''Tri Nguyen'''Co-Founder at Zodist, a subscription box service for vaping enthusiasts. CEO at Sensibly a medical innovation company. Director of Marketing at PixelRocket a creative solutions firm specializing in technology and design. https://www.linkedin.com/in/trisongzhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/3628804?trk=prof-exp-company-namehttp://www.zodist.com/http://www.pixelrocketapps.com/ '''Daniel Buentillo'''Chief Engineer at Mioty a brand new start up with no published goals.https://angel.co/mioty-startuphttps://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbuentello '''Wes Gamble'''Senior software engineer at The Advisory Board Company. The Advisory Board Company is a consulting company with a wide variety of services.https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesgamble '''Wesley Okeke'''CEO Business Strategist at Fruition Technology Labs a marketing consultant company. Former volunteer at OwlSpark.https://www.linkedin.com/in/fruitiontech '''James Phelan'''Founder and CEO at White Space a platform for connecting work space with small businesses. Managing Director at Houston Professionals a networking organization in Houston. Partnership Director at Startup Grind Houston, an event series to educate and inspire local Houston entrepreneurs.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesphelan2http://whitespacehou.com/ '''Yael Hochberg'''Ex-entrepreneur and current professor of entrepreneurship at Rice University currently studying the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurs. Academic director of Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. Created seedranker a website that ranks start-up accelerators around the nation.http://www.seedrankings.com/ http://yael-hochberg.com/ ==Important Institutions to Research== *HTC ([[Houston Technology Center(HTC)]]

*[[Mercury Fund]]**Venture Capital firm focused on software and science startups in the mid-continental US*[[enventure]]**life sciences hub*[[Texas Medical Center Innovation]]**TMCx**TMCx+**TMCbiodesign**Jlabs@TMC (in partnership [[Johnson and Johnson Innovation]] )*bioHouston

*SurgeSURGE Ventures

*[[OwlSpark]]*[[RED Labs]]*SXSW Interactive http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/about