Houston Innovators Podcast

Dr. William E. Cohn is a leader in cardiovascular surgery and medical device innovation here in Houston. Dr. Cohn shares a bit about his role as director of the Center for Device Innovation at the Texas Medical Center as well as his experience as chief medical officer of BiVACOR, a unique medical device company that has created a total artificial heart that Dr. Cohn expects to revolutionize heart...

Megan Eddings is the founder of Accel Lifestyle, a fashion company that created a patented anti-microbial material for stink-resistant clothing. Megan and I discuss her journey growing the company over the past several years all the way to its recent acquisition. She also shares a bit about her new role at a Houston oil and gas company and how she’s pivoting to positivity with a new podcast and TV...

This week, we’re revisiting another enlightening chat with a Houston innovator. One year ago, Dr. Joseph Rogers, the president and CEO of Texas Heart Institute, shared his story and how he came to be at the helm of THI, as well as the incredible technologies the institute is working on to address heart failure, a global epidemic affecting at least 26 million people worldwide, 6.2 million adults in...

Ali Mostafavi is the founder of Resilitix, a data and AI-empowered digital twin platform for disaster and resilience. The software uses data and algorithms to provide its partners with important information — such as road flooding, hospital capacity, power outages, and more — in near real time. On the show today Ali shares how he navigated Hurricane Beryl to provide critical information to emergen...

This week, we’re revisiting another one of my favorite conversations with a Houston innovator. Last fall, I spoke with Tim Crain, the co-founder and CTO at Intuitive Machines, and he shared a bit about the evolution of the company from a think tank to a scaling space exploration enterprise. Since we spoke, Intuitive Machines has made history by successfully completing its mission of sending the fi...

Matthew Costello is the CEO and co-founder of Voyager Portal, a maritime shipping and logistics software as a service company. Matthew joins the show for the first time in a few years to provide an update on how he’s grown the platform to profitability and to solving some of the industry’s biggest and most expensive problems. 

On this summer holiday week, we’re revisiting a conversation from last year with Ramanan Krishnamoorti, the vice president of energy and innovation at the University of Houston. UH recently announced a new partnership with the Houston Angel Network to activate more investors with deep connections to UH. Read about that news story on InnovationMap.com , and listen to this episode for more context i...

Angela Wilkins is the chief data officer at Starling Medical, a medical device company working on solutions within urinalysis. Angela joins the show today to share how she’s evolved her career, which has spanned academia, venture, and more, into her new role at the startup. We also discuss the evolving intersection of data and health care — and what the future holds for that industry. 

Taylor Anne Adams is the head of venture acceleration at Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a part of Rice University that supports student entrepreneurs with classes, events, and other programming. Taylor Anne is leading the second year of the Summer Venture Studio, which just recently named its cohort of eight innovative companies. She shares a bit about the program’s process and...

Prabhdeep Singh Sekhon is the newly named CEO of Gold H2, a spin-off company of Houston-based Cemvita. Gold H2 has seen some early success for its biotechnology that uses microbes to turn the uneconomic oil leftover in a well into gold hydrogen. The process is unique and very promising for the energy transition, and Prab shares how the company is gearing up to meet the anticipated demand for its t...

Carlos Estrada is the head of Venture Acceleration at BioWell, a new bioindustrial startup accelerator founded by First Bight Ventures. Carlos and his team are working to select the inaugural cohort, which will launch this summer. On the show today, he explains the mission of BioWell, how its $700,000 “Build to Scale” grant is fueling its development, and the unique challenges biotech startups are...

Tim Latimer is the CEO and co-founder of Fervo Energy, a fast-growing geothermal energy company that raised $244 million earlier this year to scale its 24/7 clean energy model. Tim shares about his mission-driven path to entrepreneurship and the momentum Fervo is seeing with its ongoing projects. Tim also weighs in on the history and hype of geothermal energy, along with the challenges and opportu...

Zach Ellis is the founder and managing partner of South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture capital firm that’s investing in diverse founders from Houston and beyond and leveraging the city’s resources to grow and scale its portfolio companies. Zach shares more about the investment thesis and mission of the firm, as well as why Houston is the best place for this business opportunity.

Jon Lambert is the CEO of The Cannon, which just announced its ninth location in the greater Houston area. Jon shares a bit about the history of The Cannon as well as the future growth opportunities — both in and outside of the Bayou City. 

Rushi Patel is the co-founder and COO of Homebase, a software company providing HR tech tools to small businesses across the country. Rushi joins me on the podcast during National Small Business Week to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of small businesses, as well as how key the city of Houston has been to Homebase’s growth. 

Mitra Miller is the vice president and board member of the Houston Angel Network, the oldest angel network in Texas and one of the most active angel networks in the country. Mitra shares a bit about the organization and how interested investors can get involved, as well as her experience as a judge for this year’s Rice Business Plan Competition.

Jessica Traver Ingram is the co-founder and CEO of IntuiTap, a company that was founded out of the Texas Medical Center’s Biodesign Fellowship Program. Jessica describes the device as a stud finder for the spine, improving upon the way health care providers administer spinal taps. IntuiTap received FDA clearance earlier this year, and Jessica explains what that means for the company’s commercializ...

Barbara Burger, a well-known pillar within Houston’s energy innovation ecosystem, previously served as an executive at Chevron for decades and led the company’s venture arm. On the show, shee shares how she spends her time these days helping innovative energy startups. She also recaps her observations of CERAWeek, the “Super Bowl of the energy industry,” which took place last month.

Aziz Gilani is the managing director of Mercury Fund, a Houston venture capital firm that closed its fifth fund last September to the tune of $160 million. Aziz joins the show today to share some trends in both the software and VC worlds, as well as why he’s optimistic about his hometown of Houston and its developing innovation ecosystem.

Sean Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of Amperon, a real-time energy data provider that is supplying forecasts and analytics crucial to the energy transition. Sean joins the show today to discuss his company’s recent partnership with Microsoft and why he’s running his energy business as a tech company to make the biggest impact in the space. 

Stephanie Campbell and Diana Murakhovskaya are co-founders of The Artemis Fund, a Houston-based, female founder-focused venture capital firm that just announced its $36 million fund II. Stephanie and Diana share how this second round of fundraising went and some of their new portfolio companies they are excited about — as well as why they are optimistic about the future of women in VC.

Marc Nathan is senior director of market development at Michael Best. He works exclusively with startups and has a special passion for Texas’s entrepreneurial community — and specifically founders hailing from his home city of Houston. Now based in Austin, Marc is a seasoned expert on all things SXSW. on the show today, he shares all of his tips for founders looking to tackle SX this year.

Scott Gale is the executive director of Halliburton Labs, which has a unique mission of incubating early stage climate tech companies. Scott joins me to talk about Halliburton Labs, as well as the recently announced Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week 2024 which is taking place in September. The week of events is being spearheaded by Halliburton Labs, the Rice Alliance, and Greentown Labs, but...

Emma Konet is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Tierra Climate, an energy transition software technology that’s creating a new market within energy storage. She shares what led her to starting her company and the challenges within energy storage, as well as what the business is focused on this year. Emma, who led her company to fourth place in the Rice Business Plan competition, also...

Dave Pruner is the executive director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E, a nonprofit housed out of Greentown Labs that connects Texas college students on a mission to innovate within the energy transition. Dave joins the show today to share how TEX-E has expanded beyond just an annual student startup competition, and he also weighs in on how Houston is doing as a le...