Activating Venture Capital Across Texas's $2.4 Trillion Dollar Economy with CS Freeland

Timecoded Guide:

[00:00] Podcast begins - Activating Venture Capital Across Texas's $2.4 Trillion Dollar Economy with CS Freeland

[01:13] CS’s career background in politics, communications, & venture 

[07:35] Telling the stories of venture & startup at Texas Venture Alliance 

[13:52] Bringing the Texas Venture Crawl & Texas Venture Fest to life

[22:52] Preparing for the Texas Venture Gala in April 2024

[26:40] Forging Texas’s future & redefining partnerships in the Lone Star state

What is the mission of the Texas Venture Alliance?

The Texas Venture Alliance is so much more than a network. Inspired by the breadth of innovation across the state, especially in major cities like Austin, CS founded the Alliance, but she’s quick to share this role with every single member because there’s no way she could do all of this without the amazing work of businesses, investors, and founders. The Alliance is stories, events, newsletters, and so much more. CS seeks to connect the community together, highlight the resources available, and show how Texas is the home for big thinkers and big ideas. 

“We have a newsletter and we have a website that helps to highlight the resources all across the state, even by city. You'll see a lot of city pages on the TexasVentureAlliance.org website. We have an active newsletter, we do that via email and we do that through LinkedIn, too, and a little bit on Twitter, telling the stories in a lot of different ways.”

Tell us about the Texas Venture Crawl and the insights that came out of that experience. 

Texas Venture Crawl, now rebranded to “Texas Venture Fest,” is a statewide event featuring 10 cities. From humble beginnings in downtown Austin, the Venture Crawl has grown to include more than 16 venues across the state, serving the venture community and supporting startups of all sizes. What strikes CS the most about how the Fest has grown is how many cities are putting their own spin on the event, from offering opportunities in languages other than English to literally cutting checks to promising startups. 

“We scaled out to all over Texas. Thanks to Ion for helping to be a host and our volunteers, like Adrian with the Bayou City Startups Happy Hour, folks were really coming together. Some cities had a Texas Venture Crawl where they were speaking in Spanish, that was cool. Round Rock Chamber had a Texas Venture Crawl where they actually cut a check, $25k to a robotic startup.”

Can you tell us more about the Texas Venture Gala in April? 

With the majority of the event taking place on April 13th, the Texas Venture Gala is much more invite-focused and curated than the Texas Venture Crawl. Aside from dressing up, this Gala will present the city of Austin and surround cities of Texas with the unique opportunity to learn from high profile, highly successful members of the venture community. Panels will take place along with breakout rooms, allowing ample networking opportunities for all attendees. 

“The gala is April 13, but then a welcome reception will be the day ahead in the evening and it'll be in Austin at the Fairmont downtown. So, it's going to be a great view, great venue and it is central in Texas. We’ll really feature the more prominent gala guests, we'll have a lot of them on different types of panels.”

How is Texas Venture Alliance forging the future of Texas? 

Beyond telling the stories of Texas venture, the Texas Venture Alliance is forging the future through forming relationships and uniting businesses with investors across the state. While individualism and a frontier mindset are a huge part of Texas culture, CS explains that the Lone Star state shouldn’t have Lone Star founders. From startups to established businesses, building a culture of innovation in Texas starts with being allies together. 

“I don't even like saying that I'm a founder of Texas Venture Alliance. We are co-founders in this, you're a co-founding member here in Houston. Even baked into the name Texas Venture Alliance. We actually had Texas Venture Association first, being associated is great, but we intentionally use the word Alliance, we are allied, we don't do anything without other people.”