Houston

Bottom-up Analysis of the Houston Ecosystem

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

Name	Organization	Type
E.J. Thompson	Softlayer - IBM	Entrepreneur aids
Emily Keeton	Station Houston	Entrepreneur aids
Gina Miller	Poetic Systems	Entrepreneur aids
Gira Desai	Aleberry Creative	Entrepreneur aids
Apurva Sanghavi	START Houston	Entrepreneur aids
Ari Diozon	Tippit & Moo Advertising	Entrepreneur aids
Gaurav Khandelwal	START Houston	Entrepreneur aids
Adam Presley	PCSGroup	Entrepreneur aids
Chris Gallo	Softlayer - IBM	Entrepreneur aids
Angela Shah	Xconomy	Entrepreneur aids
Mohammad Azam	AzamSharp Consulting	Entrepreneur aids
Clayton Spivey	Softlayer - IBM	Entrepreneur aids
Unknown	everbodyinhouston.com	Entrepreneur aids
Chris Black	Softlayer - IBM	Entrepreneur aids
Damien Franco	DTF marketing	Entrepreneur aids
Dane Witbeck	Lean startup circle	Entrepreneur aids
James Van Dyne	Sugoi Software	Entrepreneur aids
Hesam Panahi	UH, 3DS	Entrepreneur aids
Grace Rodriguez	WITHouston	Entrepreneur aids
Jeff Reichman	Startup America	Entrepreneur aids
Jenny Li	Surge Ventures	Entrepreneur aids
Jessica Fleenor	Owlspark and Rice Alliance for technology and entrepreneurship	Entrepreneur aids
Joe Martin	Houston Business Journal	Entrepreneur aids
John Goodman	Poetic Systems	Entrepreneur aids
Astrid Countee	Prenovate	Start-ups
Gaurav Khandelwal	ChaiOne	Start-ups
Chris Gallo	Rex Animal Health	Start-ups
Anderson Ta	Open Factory	Start-ups
Benjamin Lipson	Sports Tradex	Start-ups
Dane Witbeck	Meshify	Start-ups
Danielle saadia	Makeable Tech	Start-ups
Emily Keeton	Flavour	Start-ups
Jason Kaminsky	BeautyNow	Start-ups
Jim Foreman	coconnect	Start-ups
Jonathan Hartman	Sandbox	Start-ups
Andrew Douglass	Dark Water Creative	Other
Brian Dorton	The Iron Yard	Other
Brady Morowitz	SpaceJet Media	Other
Bryan Wood	Reality Engineering Enterprises, LLC	Other
Chung Nguyen	MC2 Architects	Other
Chad Parks	NASA Johnson Space Center	Other
Iggy	pathosgrin.pub	Other
Erik Hitchcock	MBA candidate at Rice	Other

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/chaione http://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/adampresley http://www.pcsgrp.com/

Chris Gallo Developer Advocate at SoftLayer Technologies, an IBM Company specializing in cloud infrastructure. https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophergallo www.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/amadoguloy http://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-4442307b http://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/ardouglass http://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/aridiozon https://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-5537993 https://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-6b818643 https://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. No entrepreneurship experience found. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-wood-0634646

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/gracerodriguez http://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-2002882 http://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. 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/17296 https://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/business/startup-america

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. 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+Martin https://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

Important Institutions to Research

• Houston Technology Center (HTC)
  • serves in 5 industry sectors: IT, Life Sciences, Energy, Nanotechnology, Aerospace
  • see excel file for list of HTC graduates
• Mercury Fund
• enventure
  • life sciences hub
• Texas Medical Center Innovation
  • TMCx
  • TMCx+
  • TMCbiodesign
  • Jlabs
• bioHouston
• Platform
• SURGE Ventures
• Poetic Systems
• RED Labs
• SXSW Interactive http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/about