Harnessing Entrepreneurial Energy: Houston Technology Center Boosts Texas Innovators

Since the Houston Technology Center (HTC) opened for business ten years ago, it has pushed dozens of companies through its client program, accepting promising startups and “graduating” successful small businesses once they hit $35 million a year in revenue. In 2007, upon assuming the position, HTC President Walter Ulrich cited the HTC’s impact on the Houston-area economy as $225 million a year. The goal under his leadership is a positive impact of $500 million per year.

That number is especially impressive given that the HTC focuses on only four areas of entrepreneurship: life sciences and biotechnology; aerospace and nanotechnology; information technology and, of course, energy. All of their client companies are judged to be in “late incubation” or “commercial acceleration” stages.

Nurturing Community, Disruptive Technology
The program is simple enough. Companies are accepted as clients if the HTC’s evaluators believe they have a “disruptive technology” — that is, an innovation that’s truly game-changing in the industry they’ve chosen — and the company is deemed viable on scalability, investment and coaching grounds. Once in the program, client companies receive the advice and guidance of mentors and industry experts capable of assisting with just about any aspect of business growth. According to Maryanne Barker, development director of HTC’s energy program, “A lot of time is spent on business guidance. Lots of entrepreneurs don’t know where they want to go, they just want to go.”

David Weston is CFO of itRobotics, an HTC client company that designs inspection tools for the coiled tubing plant refinery and pipeline markets. According to Weston, “They’ve helped us dramatically with exposure. They were involved in getting us published in MIT’s technology review for our autonomous robotic inspection tool.” But the HTC also has a long track record of client companies, like itRobotics, that have been awarded grants from Texas’s Emerging Technology Fund. In July 2006, itRobotics received $750,000 to develop its robotic inspection prototype. The tools are now generating revenue in the coiled tubing market. The fund has allocated more than $110 million to “early-stage” companies to date.

Brandy Brazell Obvintsev, CEO of Energy People Connect, a social networking site directed at the energy industry, focused on the benefit of experience from what Barker calls “serial entrepreneurs.” “The community in Houston is extremely nurturing. My whole background was corporate, and they were able to provide a baseline [of what to expect with a startup] and help me move into the entrepreneurial realm.

“They’ll roll up their sleeves and help you.”

Busy Despite The Slump
The HTC has definitely rolled up its sleeves, regardless of the business climate overall. Barker has more than 30 client companies under her charge in the energy department, served by a staff of 14 and a rotating cast of volunteer advisors. Some of the wave of entrepreneurs in energy see the slumping economy as an opportunity.