Dallas is becoming one of the best places to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to aren't aware of the local tech resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the Dallas Founder Institute now open, we're excited to release the Dallas Startup Resource Guide, which is currently in Draft v1 below! It was developed by the Dallas Founder Institute and local leaders: Lyndon Mouton, Martin Martinez, and Molly Walsh.

This is just a draft, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Are you looking to build a startup in Dallas? Then apply to the Dallas Founder Institute today!

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

Startup Stages

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There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

A. Inspire

• Dallas Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters)

1. Dallas Innovates
2. Dallas Startup News
3. North Texas Inno
4. Startup Digest Dallas
5. The DEC Network Blog

• Inspirational Dallas Startup Events: Open, inclusive startup events that often focus on ideation. (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)

1. Dallas Digital Identity Tech Talk
2. Dallas EntrepreneHER
3. Dallas Startup Businesses Meetup
4. Dallas Startup Week
5. Girls in Tech Dallas
6. Startup Nation Dallas
7. Startup Toastmasters
8. Startup Weekend DFW
9. Tech in Motion: Dallas
10. TEDxSMU
11. Troops N Tech
12. Women In Tech Connect
13. Women Who Code Dallas/Ft. Worth

B. Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing tech events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire).

1. #ILOCC
2. 1 Million Cups
3. Agile-DevOps: DFW Chapter
4. Big Foresight
5. BigDOCC
6. Dallas Sensor & IoT Technology Meetup
7. Dallas Startup Board
8. EpIC Mavs
9. IoT Nation Dallas
10. IoT Texas
11. North Dallas Business Startups
12. Startup Arlington
13. Startup Founder 101 Dallas
14. Startup Grind Dallas
15. Tech Talent South DAL
16. Tech Trends Training & Talks
17. Women Advancing Technology Together
18. Women in Filmmaking Technology Dallas

• Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development events and startup bootcamps for entrepeneurs. (Includes comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)

1. Accelerate DFW Foundation Startup Bootcamp
2. Access Silicon Valley Dallas
3. Codeup
4. Coding Dojo
5. Coding Dojo Dallas Meetup
6. Coding Temple
7. Colaberry
8. Dallas .NET Users' Group
9. Dallas Apache Kafka Meetup by Confluent
10. Dallas Business Startup Meetup
11. Dallas IT Community
12. Dallas Legal Innovation and Technology Meetup
13. Dallas Startup: Idea to IPO
14. Dallas Startup Happy Hour
15. Dallas Technology Meetup
16. Data Science Applications Community (DSAC) - Dallas
17. Devmountain
18. DFW SaaS Founders Group
19. Divergence Academy
20. Emerging Tech DFW
21. EpicU
22. Founder Institute
23. Galvanize
24. General Assembly
25. Health Technology Forum: Dallas
26. Lean Startup Circle Dallas/Fort Worth
27. Lean Startup Machine
28. Martechify
29. Microsoft Tech Talks - North Texas
30. New Technology - Marketing, Business & Social Media Strategy
31. North Dallas Agile Product Owners Meetup
32. Nucamp
33. ODSC Dallas Data Science
34. ODSC West 2020 Virtual Bootcamp
35. Per Scholas
36. Product School Dallas Meetup
37. ProductTank DFW
38. Scaled Agile DFW
39. Scaling Agile
40. She's Coding Dallas
41. SMU Boot Camps
42. Tech Talent South
43. The DEC Meetup
44. Thinkful
45. Thinkful Dallas Meetup

C. Validate

• Team Formation: Events for Finding Co-founders in Dallas.  (i.e. tech networking events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)

1. Black Women Startup Founders
2. CoFoundersLab
3. Dallas Startup & Tech Mixer
4. Dallas Women Entrepreneurs
5. Dallas Young Professionals
6. DFW Entrepreneurs Club
7. Ellevate
8. Entrepreneurs' Organization Dallas
9. eWomen Network
10. Founder2be
11. GeekMeet Dallas
12. Immigrant Entrepreneur Network
13. Innovative Entrepreneurs & Startups
14. WHW2N Dallas

• Build First Product: Hackathons & product events in Dallas.

1. ACME Creation Lab
2. CMD+CTRL - Cyber Range Hackathon
3. Code for Dallas
4. Dallas Fort Worth Hackathons
5. Dallas Immersive Design and Development - AR/VR/MR
6. Dallas Innovation Meetup
7. Dallas Makerspace
8. Dallas Software Developers
9. Dallas Tech & Entertainment - Workshops & Competitions
10. DFW Data Engineering Meetup
11. DFW Hardware Startups
12. DFW Legal Hackers
13. EarthxHack 2020
14. HackDFW
15. HackerNest Dallas-Fort Worth Tech Socials
16. HackUTD
17. Hello World Initiative - a Community of Coders
18. Plano Software Entrepreneurs Meetup
19. Route360 Technology Group
20. Texas Healthcare Challenge
21. TheLab.ms
22. UTD Makerspace
23. WEHack

2. Launch Stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

A. Start

• Establish: Dallas law firms & banks for startups

1. Amegy Bank
2. Bank of America
3. Bank of Texas
4. BB&T Bank
5. BBVA Compass
6. Capital One Bank
7. Chase Bank
8. Comerica Bank
9. Dallas Capital Bank
10. Dentons
11. Egan Nelson
12. Frost Bank
13. Greenberg Traurig
14. Hillcrest Bank
15. Inventus Law
16. Jackson Walker
17. Janik Vinnakota LLP
18. Jasso Lopez PLLC
19. Lloyd & Mousilli
20. Michael E. Young Law Firm
21. North Dallas Bank & Trust
22. Pegasus Bank
23. Perkins Coie
24. PlainsCapital Bank
25. Prosperity Bank
26. Regions Bank
27. Saha Legal
28. Silicon Valley Bank
29. Stacy Cole Law
30. State Bank of Texas
31. Tadlock & Associates
32. Texas Capital Bank
33. United Texas Bank
34. Vela Wood
35. Veritex Bank
36. Wells Fargo

• Dallas Workspaces: Co-working and flexible workspaces for startups in Dallas.

1. Addison TreeHouse
2. Business Lounge Dallas
3. Capital Factory
4. CityCentral
5. Colab
6. Common Desk
7. Elevate DTX
8. Fat Bear Coworking
9. GeniusDen
10. Good Coworking
11. Hana
12. Industrious
13. Novel Coworking
14. Redbird
15. Serendipity Labs
16. Spaces
17. The DEC Network
18. The Mix Creative Space
19. Wax Space
20. WeWork
21. Work 214

B. Develop

• Formalize: Dallas accounting, development and HR tools for early-stage startups.  

1. Accunity
2. Aezion
3. AppVerticals
4. Argos InfoTech
5. BIT Studios
6. GTN Technical Staffing
7. Gummer Group LLC
8. Hall Accounting
9. HUNTER Technical Resources
10. Jason M. Tyra, CPA, PLLC
11. JumpGrowth
12. Launchnova
13. Lucas Group
14. Mondo
15. Ntelicor
16. SevenTablets
17. Shamshiri CPA Group
18. Smith & Smith CPAs
19. Sparkfish
20. Steven E Miller CPA Firm
21. Talentfoot
22. The InSource Group
23. Velocis

• Dallas Incubators: Groups that prepare companies for seed investment and provide advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources)

1. Addison TreeHouse
2. Capital Factory
3. Collide Village
4. Dallas Startups
5. GeniusDen
6. Innov8te Smart Cities Incubator
7. NTEC
8. SATUS
9. TechFW
10. The Cedars Union
11. The Dallas Entrepreneur Center
12. The SMU Incubator
13. UTD Venture Development Center

C. Launch

• Dallas Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. AccelerateNFC
2. CodeLaunch
3. DFW Excellerator
4. GroundFloor Startup Accelerator
5. Health Wildcatters
6. Impact Ventures Accelerator
7. NTEC Accelerator
8. RevTech Ventures Accelerator
9. SKU DFW
10. Tech Wildcatters

• Pitch & Demo Events: Tech events that showcase Dallas startups for investment.

1. CodeLaunch Startup Competition
2. Global Founder Showcase
3. Pitchocracy
4. SoGal Global Pitch Competition
5. TiE Women of Dallas Pitch Competition
6. UT Dallas Big Idea Competition
7. Venture Dallas

3. Growth Stage

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

A. Recognition

• Dallas Investor Networking: Connect professional investors with founders. (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors vs. angels)

1. Ambassadors Impact Network
2. Angel Investment Network
3. Cowtown Angels
4. Dallas Angel Network
5. Golden Seeds
6. North Texas Angel Network
7. Pipeline Angels
8. Southwest Venture Forum
9. Texas Investment Network
10. TiE Dallas

• Major Media: Mainstream local business press that often showcase local startups.

1. ABC DFW
2. CBS DFW
3. D CEO
4. Dallas Business Journal
5. Dallas Morning News
6. Fort Worth Business Press
7. Fort Worth Star-Telegram
8. FOX 4
9. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
10. North Dallas Business News
11. North Dallas Gazette

B. Funding

• Dallas Angel Investors: Seed-stage investors and micro-vcs.

1. Aaron Gathmann
2. Adrian Ong
3. Alex Chang
4. Arthur Veytsman
5. David Evans
6. David Hunt
7. David Kiger
8. David Sym-Smith
9. Gabriella Draney Zielke
10. Hubert Zajicek
11. James Jarrett
12. Kevin Moore
13. Mark Cuban
14. Mike Courtney
15. Nathan Hanks
16. Raju Indukuri
17. Richard Winston
18. Rick Ochet
19. Roger Chang
20. Ross Blankenship
21. Ryan Scripps
22. Sam Paulos
23. Shubh Agarwal
24. Stephen Hays
25. Tahir Hussain
26. Trey Mosier

• Dallas Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. Align Capital Partners
2. ARISTOS VENTURES
3. Bayless Capital
4. Bios Partners
5. Blossom Street Ventures
6. Cerium Technology Ventures
7. Cypress Growth Capital
8. Dallas Venture Partners
9. Delta-v Capital
10. Founder Equity
11. Gauge Capital
12. Goldcrest Capital
13. Green Park & Golf Ventures
14. Intelis Capital
15. Interlock Partners
16. Mark Cuban Companies
17. Mobility Ventures
18. Perot Jain
19. Plutus21
20. RevTech Ventures
21. Satori Capital
22. Texas Mezzanine Fund
23. Texas Ventures
24. Trive Capital
25. What If Ventures

C. Growth

• Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. 42Floors
2. Agile Premier
3. Allstate
4. Farmers Insurance
5. Frederickson Partners
6. Hopkins HR
7. Instant Offices
8. LiquidSpace
9. LoopNet
10. Motion Recruitment
11. Nationwide Insurance
12. OfficeSpace
13. Progressive Insurance
14. Ratliff Insurance Agency
15. Regus
16. SpringbokIT
17. State Farm
18. The Hartford
19. Treyburn Human Resources Group
20. vcfo

• Expansion: Dallas Growth accelerators and consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. ABeam Consulting
2. Accenture
3. Alvarez & Marsal
4. Aon
5. Bain & Company
6. Boston Consulting Group
7. Bridgepoint Consulting
8. Capgemini
9. Cognizant
10. Deloitte
11. Egon Zehnder
12. Ernst & Young
13. FTI Consulting
14. Gartner
15. Grant Thornton
16. Guidehouse
17. Hill+Knowlton Strategies
18. Kearney
19. KPMG
20. McKinsey & Company
21. Mercer
22. North Highland
23. Oliver Wyman
24. Protiviti
25. PwC
26. Sogeti
27. Strive Consulting
28. Tata Consultancy Services
29. Willis Towers Watson

4. Dallas Startup Success Stories

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

1. Antuit
2. Armor Defense
3. Bestow
4. Blockparty
5. Caregiver Inc.
6. DataBank
7. Elevate
8. Gig Wage
9. Hari Mari
10. Hedera Hashgraph
11. IPwe
12. Linear Lab
13. Mavenir
14. Modo Payments
15. Nepris
16. o9 Solutions
17. ONE Tech
18. ParkHub
19. Payrix
20. Simpli.fi
21. StackPath
22. Taysha GTx
23. Theatro
24. Trivie
25. Vinli
26. ZeOmega

Supporters

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To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Dallas Startup Leaders

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.

1. Alexander Muse
2. Bill Chinn
3. Brian Hoang
4. Bryan Chambers
5. Christiana Yebra
6. Clarisa Lindenmeyer
7. Craig J. Lewis
8. Daniel Black
9. Dresden Goldberg
10. Duane Dankesreiter
11. Eric Griffin
12. Hussain Manjee
13. James McKinney
14. Jennifer Conley
15. Jennifer Sanders
16. Jonathan Van
17. Martín Martinez
18. Molly Walsh
19. Natalie (Fletcher) Pazera
20. Nina Vaca
21. Paul Nichols
22. Trey Bowles
23. Will Akins

2. Dallas Government Startup Resources

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce
2. Dallas Economic Development
3. Dallas Innovation Alliance
4. Dallas Regional Chamber
5. Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
6. Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce
7. North Dallas Chamber of Commerce
8. North Texas Small Business Development Center Network
9. Say Yes to Dallas
10. SBA Dallas/Fort Worth District Office
11. West Dallas Chamber of Commerce

3. Talent

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

• Local Dallas Tech Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)

1. Dallas Baptist University
2. Southern Methodist University
3. Texas Christian University
4. Texas Wesleyan University
5. Texas Woman's University
6. The University of Texas at Arlington
7. The University of Texas at Dallas
8. University of Dallas
9. University of North Texas
10. University of North Texas at Dallas

• Dallas Tech Employers

1. ACTIVE Network
2. Amazon.com
3. AppFolio
4. AT&T
5. Cisco
6. Dell Technologies
7. DXC Technology
8. Ericsson
9. Facebook
10. General Electric
11. Google
12. Hewlett Packard Enterprise
13. Huawei
14. IBM
15. InfoVision
16. Intuit
17. Microsoft
18. Motorola Solutions
19. Nokia
20. Salesforce
21. Samsung
22. Siemens
23. Solera
24. Tellabs
25. Telvista
26. Texas Instruments
27. Uber
28. VMware

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Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Dallas Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a draft, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup in Dallas? Then apply to the Dallas Founder Institute today