Technology Incubator West Houston Holds First Event

Katy Texas News
Posted March 1, 2011

On February 23, the Technology Incubator West Houston (TIWH) held their first social event of the year at the Falcon Point Country Club in Katy, Texas. The event was billed as a Technology New Venture Social and guests were invited to mingle with entrepreneurs and investors within both technology and lifestyle industries. TIWH is a non‐profit technology business development corporation in the Katy / Greater West Houston area.

The “poster presentation” arrangement was a chance to get up close and personal with resident Katy Area entrepreneurs and investors in an informal, networking‐heavy environment.

The purpose of the event was to expose promising entrepreneurs to sources of capital including angel investors, bank representatives and other funding sources in a setting that makes it easy to get to know each other on a personal level. Falcon Point Country Club provided a mini‐tradeshow format where entrepreneurs were stationed around the perimeter of a banquet room while guests toured the area availing themselves of food, drinks and plenty of interesting conversation.

“We had a lot of interest generated in our selected firms,” says Lance LaCour, chairman of Technology Incubator West Houston. “Our main goal is to put the right people together in the room, and give them the best opportunity to learn about each other. We definitely accomplished that.”

Ten new businesses were stationed around the room representing a wide variety of industries, including: transportation, online security, medical devices, communications, home construction and maintenance, children’s fitness and several other emerging business models. Funding sources included individual investors, investment banks and companies in the energy industry.

Zach Bell, President of TIWH adds: “It was a great mix of funding sources and serial entrepreneurs; and everyone present has a strong interest in growing the Katy Area community.” Zach continues, “You could tell it was a good opportunity for building new relationships. Successful deals take a lot of due diligence, and people getting to know each other on both sides. We’ll definitely do more of these events because they are great for one‐on‐one first impressions.”

Entrepreneurs were selected for having successfully productized a new idea and completed the planning needed to go to market. There were also a few firms beyond the startup phase looking to progress to the next level of growth.

Please mention you found this on www.KatyMagazine.com.

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