startups in other parts of the country, Baird writes, “the idea of entrepreneurship as a meritocracy is wrong.”
—That conversation, along with a column by the New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo, raises an interesting issue. Does the dominance of large technology players help to snuff out the innovation that made those companies possible?
We continue to pose “Five Questions” to Texas innovators (nearly) every week. Our latest interviews are with Paul Lammers, Michael Webber, Chelsea Collier, and Jeff Reichman.
Lastly, here are some updates and new items about other Texas startups:
—Technium, a Dallas-based “matchmaker” of university IP and startup founders, announced a new partnership with Intellectual Ventures in Seattle. The purpose of the collaboration between IV’s Invention Science Fund, or ISF, and Technium is to screen and validate technologies that can then be transformed into new, potentially venture-funded startups, the companies said in a press release. As part of the program, Technium’s entrepreneur network can receive financial support and mentorship from ISF. The initial projects involve innovations in areas such as voice recognition security, medical devices, secure charging systems, and new food processing methods, according to the Oct. 25 statement.
—ResMan, maker of property management software for multifamily developments, announced on Oct. 23 that it has raised $36 million from Mainsail Partners in San Francisco. The company, which is based in Plano, TX, says it will use the funds for software development and to make hires in its marketing and sales teams.
—Houston edtech entrepreneur John Kennedy is intimately familiar with how technology can be used to help schools: He’s a recent graduate of high school. He and John Ruff, an edtech entrepreneur most recently with ScribeSense in Austin, have founded Mesa Digital, which just signed up the Houston Independent School District, the largest district in Texas, according to a blog post on Station Houston’s website. Mesa has software that helps to digitize some of the nuts-and-bolts of the guidance counseling process, such as analyzing students’ schedules so they are placed in the correct classes more quickly. The current manual process is error-prone, the men say, resulting in downtime that costs HISD nearly $30 million a year. Mesa’s software is expected to be rolled out in Houston’s 56 high schools by January 2018.
