Houston is a fantastic place to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to are not aware of the many local resources that are available to help them.

We leave applications for the annually held Houston Founder Institute open and connect to applicants as public-facing events ramp up a few months before the next program begins. We are excited to share the latest version of our community-made Houston Startup Ecosystem Canvas (currently in Draft v5 below)! It was developed by the Houston Founder Institute, Founder Institute Texas Executive Director, Martin Martinez, local leaders James Phelan (Founder Institute Texas Managing Director, Mery Ramirez, Natasha Gorodetsky, and Amy Tran (Investor-In-Residence for 2025) as well as several active mentors and community members, as well as Founder Institute Houston alumni.

This is an OPEN DRAFT, and while several have spent many hours on this research, more input is always 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 working to build or grow a startup company in Houston? Then apply to the Houston Founder Institute today!

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

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

1. Chron.com
2. Houston Business Journal
3. Houston Startups FaceBook
4. Impact Hub Houston Blog
5. InHouston Tech
6. Startup Digest Houston
7. Texas Squared
8. InnovationMap Houston
9. Houston Exponential News
10. Houston Tech News (Twitter)
11. Houstonia Science & Technology
12. Click2Houston Tech
13. Houston Press Tech
14. FOX26 Tech
15. HOU Tech News 
16. The Ion News
17. BuiltIn Houston Jobs & News
18. HTX Sports Tech News
19. Texas Monthly Technology
20. Houston Public Media
21. MediaTech Houston News
22. Houston Public Media - Innovation Fund
23. Mayor's Office of Innovation

• Inspirational Events:Open, inclusive, beginner startup events (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)
• 1. 3 Day Startup
  2. Bayou Startup Showcase
  3. Girl Develop It Houston
  4. Houston Open Innovation Conference
  5. Houston Startup Happy Hour
  6. Houston Tech Rodeo
  7. Lesbians Who Tech Houston
  8. Startup Week Houston
  9. Startup Weekend Houston
  10. Tech for the Culture
  11. TMCx Demo Day
  12. Women Who Code Houston
  13. Eventbrite Houston Startups
  14. The Houston Innovation Summit (THIS) 
  15. Houston Tech Events
  16. Techspo Houston
  17. Allevents Houston
  18. Houston Exponential Events Calendar
  19. CodeLaunch Houston
  20. Meetup Houston
  21. ION District
  22. Rocket Network

B. Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like 1 Million Cups, Startup Grind, Startup Founder 101, etc).

1. BioHouston

2. Hadoop, Spark, and Machine Learning

3. Houston .NET User Group

4. Houston Altcoin Meetup

5. Houston Bitcoin Meetup

6. Houston Cisco UCS Meetup

7. Houston Data Analytics Meetup

8. HOUSTON eCommerce Entrepreneurs

9. Houston Ethereum Meetup

10. Houston OpenStack Meetup

11. Houston Webflow Meetup

12. IoT Nation™ | Houston

13. Startup Founder 101 Houston

14. Startup Grind Houston

15. The Houston CSS Meetup Group

16. The Houston WordPress Meetup Group

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

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Robotics
2. Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence Texas
3. Byte Academy
4. Design Thinking Houston
5. DigitalCrafts | Learn to Code in Houston
6. Docker Houston
7. Founder Institute
8. Greater Houston Power BI Users Group
9. Houston Android Developers
10. Houston Blockchain for Energy, Oil & Gas Meetup
11. Houston Community College
12. Houston Cyber Security for Control Systems
13. Houston Data Visualization Meetup
14. Houston Growth Startups
15. Houston JavaScript
16. Houston Lean Startup Circle
17. Houston MongoDB User Group (MUG)
18. Houston React Developers
19. Houston Social Entrepreneurship
20. Houston Startup Business Circle
21. Houston Startup: Idea to IPO
22. Houston Unity Group
23. Impact Hub Houston Meetup
24. IxDA - Houston Chapter - IxD, Product Design, UI/UX, Apps
25. Lean Startup Machine
26. Learn to Code | Thinkful Houston
27. Lumenbrite
28. Machine Learning Club of Houston
29. MediaTech Institute
30. Nucamp
31. Rice University Data Analytics and Cybersecurity Boot Camps
32. Startup - French American Chamber of Commerce Houston
33. Tech Talent South
34. The Petro-Analytics Group Meetup
35. University of Houston
36. Greater Houston Partnership

C. Validate

• Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)

1. Big Data Developers in Houston
2. CoFoundersLab
3. Entrepreneur Explosion
4. Female Hustlers - Boss Babes & Ambitious Dreamers
5. Founder2be
6. FounderDating
7. Hexagon UX Houston - Women in User Experience Design
8. Houston Design Union
9. Houston Entrepreneurs and Internet Marketers
10. Houston React Native Meetup
11. Houston Startup Network
12. Houston Unfiltered
13. Houston VR
14. Houston Young Professionals
15. NetSquared Houston (#Net2Houston)
16. Product Managers in Tech
17. Sesh Coworking Meetup - Female Career Go-Getters and Girl Bosses
18. Social Entrepreneur's Network
19. Software Developers/Engineers/Professionals Networking
20. Startup Co-Founder Matching: Find the Right Partner in Houston
21. StartupBlink Houston
22. Web Innovations- Houston
23. Women in Cybersecurity - Cyberjutsu - Houston
24. Women Entrepreneur Success
25. Young Indie Game Developers Meetup
26. Houston Digital Jobs (Facebook)
27. AngelList Houston 
28. YCombinator Houston Jobs
29. Ion Community Opportunities

• Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)

1. 2019 Computational Law & Blockchain Festival
2. CodeDay Houston
3. CodeRED
4. Creatorspace
5. EmberJS Houston
6. Global Legal Hackathon Houston
7. HackHouston 2019
8. HackRice 8.5
9. Hackster Hardware Meetup - Houston
10. Health 2.0 Houston
11. HelloWare Academy Wednesday Coding Night With Pizza
12. Houston Game Devs Show and Tell
13. Houston Hackathon
14. Houston IGDA Game Developers
15. Houston Legal Hackers
16. Houston Makes
17. Houston Raspberry Pi Users Group
18. Houston Recreational Computer Programming Group
19. Maker Faire
20. Open Project Night
21. Pumps and Pipes Hackathon
22. Sketch City
23. TXRX Labs

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: Law firms & banks for startups

1. Allegiance Bank
2. Bank of America
3. Bank of Texas
4. BB&T Bank
5. BBVA Compass
6. Boyar Miller Law
7. Cenkus Law
8. Central Bank
9. Chase Bank
10. Comerica Bank
11. Duane Morris LLP
12. East West Bank
13. Egan Nelson
14. Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta PC
15. Hancock Whitney Bank
16. IBC
17. Independent Bank
18. Jackson Walker
19. Lloyd Mousilli
20. Lone Star Bank
21. Mudd Law
22. Norton Rose Fulbright Law Firm
23. Origin Bank
24. Orrick
25. Polsinelli Law Firm
26. Regions Bank
27. Silicon Valley Bank
28. Strahan Cain
29. Unity National Bank
30. Wells Fargo Bank

• Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure)

1. Common Desk
2. Cowork Lab
3. FIRMSPACE
4. Headquarters
5. Impact Hub Houston @ Downtown Launchpad
6. Ion Houston
7. Local Office
8. Novel Coworking
9. Ranch Office
10. RED Labs
11. TechSpace
12. The Annex HTX
13. The Cannon Houston
14. TMC+
15. The Work Well
16. Ventures Coworking
17. Washington Office Co.
18. WeWork
19. Wicowork
20. WorkLodge
21. Workplace 1919

B. Develop

• Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups.  

1. Adnorml
2. Behar CPA
3. Betts Recruiting
4. Bradsby Group
5. Buer Interactive
6. Cooper CPA Group
7. Desss Inc
8. Haskins & Associates PC
9. hrQ
10. IOM Partners
11. Insperity
12. LaPraim
13. Lucas Group
14. Marino CPA Firm
15. Murray Resources
16. PKF Accountant
17. The Allen CPA Firm
18. TriNet
19. Webinopoly
20. Whole Wheat Creative

• Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS)

1. BioHouston
2. Biotechnology Commercialization Center
3. Bunker Labs
4. Fannin Innovation Studio
5. Fruition Technology Labs
6. INSTINCT
7. LaunchEffect
8. MD Anderson I-Corps Regional Program
9. Monarq Incubator
10. Owl Spark
11. Red Labs
12. Rice Alliance
13. SMAART Incubator
14. TMC Innovation Institute

C. Launch

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

1. Capital Factory Accelerator
2. enventure.
3. JLABS
4. MassChallenge
5. NextHIT Accelerator Program
6. OwlSpark
7. RED Labs
8. RedHouse Associates
9. TMCx Accelerator
10. Vesalius Accelerator

• Pitch & Demo: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)

1. Bioventures Final Pitch Day
2. DigitalCrafts Demo Day
3. Founder Hotseat: Pitch Your Startup to Houston Startup Experts
4. Houston Startup Demo Day
5. Houston Startup Demo Day: Transportation and Mobility Innovation Edition
6. IGNITE By WorkLodge for Start Ups
7. Open Pitch Practice
8. Present Your Idea
9. TMCx Demo Day
10. What's Your Pitch: Innovations Meet the Market

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

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

1. Access Silicon Valley (Houston)
2. Angel Investment Network
3. GOOSE Society of Texas
4. HBS Houston Alumni Angels
5. Houston Angel Network
6. Pipeline Angels
7. Rice Angel Network
8. Texas Investment Network
9. TiE Houston

• Major Media: Mainstream local business press. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)

1. ABC13
2. CBS Houston
3. CNBC Houston
4. FOX 26 Houston
5. Houston Business Journal
6. Houston Chronicle
7. Houstonia
8. NBC Houston

B. Funding

• Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors

1. Amitav Misra
2. Austin Langley
3. Aziz Gilani
4. Bedros Bedrosian
5. Blair Garrou
6. Brad Wilson
7. Cannon Ventures
8. Carlos Hamilton
9. Christopher A Howard
10. Cofounder Ventures
11. Damon Spiegel
12. David Baumgartner
13. David Steakley
14. HALO Fund
15. Houston Angel Network
16. Jai Mehta
17. Jason Hill
18. Jason Hodges
19. John Filla
20. John Leggett
21. Jonas V Butkus
22. Josh Adler
23. Karun Sreerama
24. Keith Kreuer
25. Kirk Coburn
26. Mike Bridges
27. Purav Patel
28. Rakesh Agrawal
29. Rice Ventures
30. Richard Yoo
31. Robert Anderson
32. Roy Touchy
33. Sudz Khawaja
34. TiE Houston
35. Traveon Rogers
36. Vivek Dixit
37. Warren Pinkerton

• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. American Prudential Capital
2. Blue Bear Capital
3. BroadVail Capital Partners
4. Chevron Technology Ventures
5. Cottonwood Venture Partners
6. Denham Capital
7. Donovan Ventures
8. EnCap Investments
9. Energy Innovation Capital
10. EnergyFunders
11. EnerVest
12. First Reserve
13. Houston Health Ventures
14. Houston Ventures
15. KKR
16. Live Oak Capital
17. Main Street Capital
18. Mercury Fund
19. Murphree Venture Partners
20. Rock Hill Capital
21. Small Ventures USA
22. TA Capital
23. Texas HALO Fund
24. TMC Venture Fund
25. Vesalius Ventures
26. Yellowstone Capital Partners

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. CityFeet
3. G&A Partners
4. Hirsch Insurance Agency
5. Hiscox
6. Houston Business Insurance
7. HumanBridge HR Consulting
8. Insperity
9. Instant Offices
10. Kingspoint Insurance Agency
11. Korn Ferry
12. Lee Hecht Harrison
13. LoopNet
14. Maize Consulting
15. Noveri Insurance Agency
16. Regus
17. SquareFoot
18. TechSpace
19. Harris County Public Library

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

1. Accenture NetZero Accelerator
2. Alvarez & Marsal
3. Aon
4. Arthur D Little
5. A.T. Kearney
6. Avanade
7. Bain & Company
8. Berkeley Research Group
9. Booz Allen Hamilton
10. Boston Consulting Group
11. Bridgepoint Consulting
12. Buck
13. Capgemini
14. CGI
15. Darby Consulting
16. Deloitte
17. Enaxis Consulting
18. Ernst & Young
19. FTI Consulting
20. Grant Thornton
21. Hatch
22. Hill+Knowlton Strategies
23. Infosys
24. KPMG
25. McKinsey & Company
26. Mercer
27. Milliman
28. Navigant
29. North Highland
30. Oliver Wyman
31. PKF Texas
32. Protiviti
33. PwC
34. Publicis Sapient
35. Sogeti
36. Tata Consultancy Services
37. Willis Towers Watson
38. Wipro

4. Success Stories

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

1. Alert Logic
2. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals
3. BMC Software
4. BrainCheck
5. Chai One
6. Cheers
7. CS Disco
8. Decisio Health
9. GoCo
10. Harvest
11. HighRadius
12. MacroFab
13. Mainline.GG
14. Meshify
15. Molecule
16. NanoRacks
17. OncoResponse
18. Opvizor
19. OrthoAccel
20. P97
21. Procyrion
22. Pulmotect
23. Rebellion Photonics
24. Saranas
25. Simplilearn
26. SoftNAS
27. Solugen
28. Sunnova
29. The Right Place

Supporters

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To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Evangelists

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

1. Amanda Shih
2. Alexis J Taylor
3. Blair Garrou
4. Bobby Jacobs
5. Brian Patrick
6. Brittany Barreto, Ph.D
7. Gabriella Rowe
8. Grace Rodriguez
9. Hesam Panahi
10. Hira Qarni
11. James Phelan
12. Jeff Reichman
13. John Reale
14. Jon Nordby
15. Ken Jones
16. Keith Kruer
17. Kim Roxie
18. Kirk Coburn
19. Lawson Gow
20. Madalyn Sklar
21. Martin Martinez
22. Michele Price
23. Neal Murthy
24. Natasha Gorodetsky
25. Neeraj Tandon
26. Patrick Schneidau
27. Paul Hill
28. Roberto Moctezuma
29. Sandra Louvier
30. Sarah M Worthy
31. Tabbie Saenz
32. Tony Mayer

2. Government

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. Central Houston
2. City of Houston Innovation
3. City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity
4. French American Chamber of Commerce Houston
5. Greater Houston Partnership
6. Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce
7. Harris County Economic Development
8. Houston Exponential
9. Houston Office of Economic Development
10. Houston Metro Chamber of Commerce
11. Houston Women’s Business Center
12. MidTown Redevelopment District
13. SCORE Houston
14. The Houston Intercontinental Chamber of Commerce

3. Talent

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

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

1. Houston Baptist University
2. Rice University
3. Texas A&M
4. Texas Southern University
5. University of Houston
6. University of St. Thomas

• Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices)

1. Amazon
2. Anadarko
3. BMC Software
4. BP
5. Chevron Corporation
6. Cisco
7. Exxon
8. GE
9. Halliburton
10. Hewlett Packard Enterprise
11. HostGator
12. IBM
13. Microsoft
14. M.D, Anderson
15. National Oilwell Varco
16. Oracle
17. PROS Holdings
18. Samsung Engineering
19. Schlumberger
20. Shell
21. TechnipFMC

*  *  *

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

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