Houston e-commerce innovators analyze the city's tech and innovation evolution

then and now

Jay Steinfeld (left) looks back at his successful Blinds.com exit, and Omair Tariq shares how Cart.com is growing. Photos courtesy

When Blinds.com was acquired by Home Depot in 2014, it was a big moment for Houston's nascent tech and innovation ecosystem. However, Jay Steinfeld will be the first to tell you he did not expect to go through a major exit when he founded what he describes as a marketing experiment for his interior design store.

"I heard about something called 'the World Wide Web,' and I thought for $1,500, I'll create a website," Steinfeld says. "I wanted to see what it was and if I could attract people to my store. Next year, Amazon started selling books, and in 1996, I thought I'd see if I could sell this stuff."

However initially unintentional, Steinfeld created a profitable business and very intentionally grew his team with the addition of entrepreneurial-minded individuals, which included Omair Tariq. Tariq is now the founder and CEO, Cart.com, an ecommerce company that's raised $380 million in funding and is providing a suite of software services for merchants. The two sat down to discuss their entrepreneurial journeys with Scott Gale of Halliburton Labs at a Houston Tech Rodeo fireside chat.

Both entrepreneurs credit business success on creating an unparalleled employee culture that fostered a positive workplace environment that reduces turnover.

"We were very deliberate at making people knew that they were important and consequential," says Steinfeld, who recently wrote a book about creating a core culture. "We were doing consequential things by helping people become consequential. ... It really comes down to being respectful to people."

Tariq says setting up Cart.com's culture was a task he dedicated a significant amount of time to. Cart.com grew from 0 to 1,000 employees in just 14 months, so maintaining that culture at that rate of scaling was going to be difficult without the right structure in place. Tariq and his team created six core values, and decisions get put through the lens of these values.

"Building a culture — while you have to be intentional and deliberate about it — the reality is it just happens, if you get the framework right," Tariq says.

And it's not just about putting your core values in the employee handbook or on a wall in the office, but actually celebrating employees who are excelling at the execution of the values. Tariq gives the example of Cart.com's slack channel dedicated to this type of shoutouts.

In terms of hiring at such a quick pace, Tariq explains his mentality when it comes to making sure employees are a fit for the company.

"You've got to be coherent in the way you execute," Tariq says, adding that a lack of coherency leads to major mistakes in a nearly $400 million-backed tech company. "We have a very intentional policy — hire fast, fire faster, promote fastest."

Another ingredient in a successful business is developing a brand. Tariq says this is something that's more crucial than ever — especially for Cart.com, which is competing with the likes of Amazon.

"In today's world, the importance of brand is exponentially more than it was in the pre-Amazon world," Tariq says, explaining that a brand can include exceptional customer service or a best-in-class product.

Cart.com's brand and culture were intentional from inception, but the actual business plan pivoted, Tariq shares with the audience. Originally envisioned as a marketplace, Cart.com's first acquisition was a cardboard box company, which in retrospect Tariq says wasn't the best move. But, the business accounted for the majority of Cart.com's revenue, which showed promise to potential investors, he says. The business did evolve to what it is now — merchant enablement technology — but that didn't happen overnight and came with time.

"You rarely know how to get to C, until you get to B," Tariq says. "If you spend all your energy trying to figure out how to get to C, you're never going to get to B. Sometimes you have to make really dumb moves or mistakes and just pivot and iterate and improve."

The latter half of the discussion included a question from Gale about the role the city of Houston played on business success. For Steinfeld, he says the lack of competition allowed him to attract the best team members.

"While all the investors outside of Houston said, 'you can't run a tech company out of Houston — there's no talent,'" Steinfeld says. "Any talent there was came to us. We weren't competing with Facebook or any other companies."

He continues saying he wishes there were more venture funding and activity coming into Houston, but the people in town are so entrepreneurial, that he says it's confusing how the city's innovation ecosystem hasn't taken off more than it already has.

Tariq has a different perspective of hiring out of Houston. While he says he loves Houston and has no plans to relocate himself or his family, being headquartered in Houston was difficult and the city's lack of appeal in terms of recruiting is what led to him moving his HQ to Austin.

"It's an amazing city with the most amount of diversity I've seen than anywhere in the country. Every third person is a minority or an immigrant, and that is valuable. It brings different perspectives and allows you to get people with different ideas to contribute," Tariq says, adding that the cost of living, tax incentives, academic institutions, capital, are all huge appeals.

"Why is there not more innovation happening here?" Tariq asks. "The things we struggled with at Cart.com is people didn't have the right perception of Houston. What I mean that is people never think of Houston (as a really cool place to move to). It sounds really shallow, but there are little things that I think other cities do better than us that create a good perception of a city is what we need."

Regardless of HQ location, Tariq says Cart.com is a remote-first business and is continuing to grow its team with plans to IPO within the next year.

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes entrepreneur and author Jay Steinfeld, Clemmie Pierce Martin of Houston Exponential, and Matthew Costello of Voyager Portal. Courtesy photos

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from startup development to software — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Jay Steinfeld, author of Lead From The Core

Blinds.com founder Jay Steinfeld has released his new book last week. Photos courtesy of Jay Steinfeld

After Blinds.com successfully exited to Home Depot, founder Jay Steinfeld started thinking about what he wanted to do next. The entrepreneur is now on the boards of five companies and has taught at Rice University before publishing his new book, "Lead From The Core."

"The book was originally written so that the people at Blinds.com would know what got us to where we were and would use it as the foundation for continuing what that success was all about. As I began teaching and expanding my influence throughout the community nationally, I realized that there were many entrepreneurs who could learn from the same success, the techniques, the strategies," Steinfeld says. Click here to read the full interview.

Clemmie Pierce Martin, director of marketing and strategy at Houston Exponential

Clemmie Pierce Martin will oversee marketing and strategy for Houston Exponential. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston Exponential has made another new hire. Clemmie Pierce Martin has joined Houston Exponential as director of marketing and strategy. The nonprofit helps spur the growth of Houston’s innovation ecosystem.

She most recently was director of strategic partnerships and products at Houston-based startup Goodfair, which operates an online thrift store. Before that, she was head of client success at Austin-based startup Mesa Cloud, which offers a platform for tracking student progress.

Martin, who grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and Houston’s The Kinkaid School, says her new employer “sees the potential in Houston and our startup ecosystem that I’ve always felt was underserved and underrepresented nationally. I couldn’t be more excited to join a team that is working tirelessly to make sure that for founders and startups anywhere in the world, Houston is not just a choice but rather the clear choice of venue.” Click here to read more.

Matthew Costello, CEO and co-founder of Voyager Portal

Matthew Costello is the\u00a0CEO and co-founder of Voyager Portal. Photo courtesy of Voyager

Voyager Portal, a software-as-a-service platform, closed an $8.4 million series A investment round this week. The round was led by Phaze Ventures, a VC fund based in the Middle East, and included new investors — ScOp Venture Capital, Waybury Capital and Flexport. Additionally, all of Voyager's existing investors contributed to this round.

“Voyager Portal was created to significantly reduce cost, risk, and complexity when transporting bulk materials around the world,” says Matthew Costello, CEO and co-founder of Voyager, in the release. “The last two years have demonstrated just how critical shipping bulk commodities is to global markets – freight rates have increased and port congestion is at an all-time high – accelerating the demand for Voyager’s solution.” Click here to read more.

Blinds.com founder Jay Steinfeld has released his new book this week. Photos courtesy of Jay Steinfeld

Q&A: Houston entrepreneur discusses big exits, startup advice, and his new book

Featured Innovator

Jay Steinfeld is a household name — at least within Houston's growing innovation ecosystem. Steinfeld founded Blinds.com and, along with his team, grew it to a $100 million company before exiting to Home Depot in 2014. Over the past few years, Steinfeld has had time to reflect on that empire he created and recount his lessons learned in a new book.

Lead From The Core published this week, and Steinfeld took some time to answer some questions about the new book for InnovationMap. He also shares some insight into the acquisition process and advice for fellow entrepreneurs.

InnovationMap: You founded Blinds.com and exited the company to Home Depot — this is lauded as one of Houston’s big exits. What did this acquisition mean to you as a Houstonian?

Jay Steinfeld: Blinds.com ended up being far greater than what I ever believed was possible. I had no vision as to what it could become. I had no vision as to even what the internet was at the time I started. I knew nothing when I started — I didn't even know you could sell things online. So it's kind of a shock in one way, because we just started as an experiment and not to get rich or to build something massive. It was a marketing experiment and that was all, it was, we had no business plan. We didn't know what the total addressable market was. I didn't even know what a TAM was at the time. It was just an incremental step to improve my drapery shop. So now that we have developed that into by far the number one online retailer of blinds in the world and acquired by Home Depot, it's just so satisfying and so gratifying to know that all the little things that we did with all the people who were so, so much a part of it — like Daniel Cotlar, Tom Cabanski, Larry Hack, Steve Riddell, Marilyn Franks, all these people who, I mean, no one knew who we were. We were nobodies, but we were able to do something and become better than what even we believed was possible.

And that's actually the greatest thing for me — that so many people elevated themselves and either were a part of the success and felt like they were consequential in developing something that was consequential. They were a significant part of that, but they evolved along with it. And are either now still with the company prospering flourishing or they're now with other companies doing the same thing. Omair with Cart.com — starting as an accounts payable cost accountant and working his way up. And now, you know, the story there. It's amazing. So I think the fact that we were able to build these teams and do something of consequence and have people feel really good. It's not about how much money we made, but how much we really impacted ourselves and how we helped each other. And that was the key. We, we brought humanity into the workforce and show that having a culture of people first really does work. And it's not just a bunch of talk.

IM: I think when you look at some kind of growing and successful innovation ecosystems, they start with a couple companies that made it big, created a legacy and a group of successful entrepreneurs that then inspire others. Do you see Blinds.com kind of within the Houston innovation ecosystem?

JS: But I never, at the time, believed that was the case because we were within ourselves and didn't really see a responsibility or anything other than to what our own mission was. Looking back now and seeing how many people have succeeded and how other companies have used our success and even been able to get funded and to bring attention to Houston as a place where big exits can happen. That's a good feeling, but at the time I didn't really reflect on that.

IM: Your book came out this week — what did you want to accomplish with Lead From The Core?

JS: The book was originally written so that the people at Blinds.com would know what got us to where we were and would use it as the foundation for continuing what that success was all about. As I began teaching and expanding my influence throughout the community nationally, I realized that there were many entrepreneurs who could learn from the same success, the techniques, the strategies, "The Four Es" that were really the, the secret sauce of the company, the reason we were able to beat Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowe's, and why we got so much money as a result of it. I then expanded even more because people were saying, you know, I don't necessarily want to start a business, but I want, I've got an entrepreneurial bug and I want it to apply to my career. And for those people who feel stagnant and wanting to grow, these principles apply not just to a business, but to life into career trajectories. And that's been particularly satisfying because it was always about helping people become better than what they believed possible, not about the mission of Blinds.com itself. That was the mission, helping people. And now that people are re it's resonating outside the business world to any type of career, that's pretty cool. And now I realize that the audience is much broader than what my original intention was.

IM: What’s the biggest thing you want readers to take away from the book?

JS: I think if he can do it, I can do it. I think that's really it. It's not as hard as people think. I mean, it is tedious and you have to stay immensely focused, but it's a simple process. If you don't get so static in your thinking, and you're more expansive and open to possibilities — possibilities of you changing of you improving, and you're improving everybody around you — and that if you have the time and a little bit of money, then you can incrementally improve enough and fast enough that you can build something of significance too.

IM: What did you wish you had known before starting the process?

JS: I actually wish I hadn't known any of this beforehand, or I might not have started. It's it is intensely grueling. It's not just the writing process, which in itself is hard — and the editing process, the rewrites, and the different types of editors that we've been involved with publisher — it's just the business of a book. It's it's everything. It's getting a publisher, getting editors, determining artwork for the cover and for the interior artwork, the publicity for the book who narrates it the whole process of audiobooks and rights. It's like starting a company. If you knew how hard it was going to be, you've might not have started it from the first place. So, but that's one of the things that was great about and be starting a business. I had no idea what I was doing, and I knew as much about writing a book, as I knew about starting a business. And that gave me an advantage because I didn't have bad habits. I didn't have a predetermined understanding as to what had to be in order for this to work. I would just meander through experimenting, being curious, asking for a lot of help, helping having people express themselves so I could get diverse opinions — like I did making business decisions. And that's what I want people to get from the book — that they can make these little decisions. And if it doesn't work, you stop. If it does work, you do a lot more of it. And that's what I did with the book. It's been fun. It's exactly what my "Four Es" are — experimenting, evolving, expressing, and enjoying myself.

IM: That's so meta that working on the book was like the process of what you're writing about in the book. Could you see yourself doing it again?

JS: Yeah, I've got two other book ideas — one will be a lot easier because it's not about me. It's harder to write about yourself, but writing about something else will be a lot easier. And now that I know the process, it will be so much easier. The first time is always harder. Going back to what you said about "it's kind of meta," if your core values are something, then that means that's what you do. So it shouldn't be surprising to anybody that I am experimenting and evolving and expressing and enjoying, because those are absolutely true, authentic core values for me. And therefore that means that's how I behave all the time. That's what I do every day. Not as a goal or an aspirational idea — if people can understand what is absolutely true to them and not just who they want to be, I think they'll be able to do almost anything they want.

IM: You’re involved with several companies and even have taught at Rice University. What drove you to get involved in this endeavors?

JS: Well, I'm either on board or advisory board members of five different companies, and it's a diversified group because some are in the pre-A stage and one's a public board. When I was about to step away from blinds.com, the idea was how do I keep having an active role in helping companies, but not be so active that I'm up to my eyeballs every day with the primary responsibility. I've got two in Austin, one in Chicago, one here, and then the other one's in Tampa.

The first thing I wanted to do knowing that I was going to be leaving Blinds.com was to start teaching in Houston, and this was while I was writing the book. So, it gave me an opportunity to bounce off ideas in the classes while writing and seeing what would be good to put into the book. It was like comedians going to small markets first and testing their material. That was fun, and I found that the things that I was teaching them was outside the normal courses that they were taking. I was providing that more personal introspective view while they were learning all the true skills, like evaluating markets, discounted cash flow and things like that. And that was very exciting for me to be involved there, especially with such a prestigious school like Rice. Al Donto was the one who I teach with, and he's been a great mentor and a great facilitator of that process.

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This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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America's first Ismaili Center set to open in Houston in December

Sneak Preview

The long-awaited Ismaili Center, Houston is set to open to the public next month. The 11-acre site has been painstakingly designed and constructed to offer indoor and outdoor public spaces for Houstonians to enjoy, connect, and engage. As the only Ismaili Center in the United States — and seventh in the world — it joins its international communities in London, Vancouver, Lisbon, Dubai, Dushanbe, and Toronto.

Nearly 20 years in the making, the Ismaili Center, Houston features a prayer hall, rotating art installations, a black box theater, a cafe, numerous social halls for weddings and other events, and nine acres of outdoor space and landscaped botanical gardens. Involved parties hope that the community will see the space as an extension of the neighboring parks along the bayou, and have included a garden entrance to the north lawn and gardens at the corner of Montrose Boulevard and Allen Parkway.

While Houston is known for its many community engagement centers, the architects and designers believe that the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor spaces sets the Ismaili Center, Houston apart from all others.

“What we know is the connections between buildings, environment, quality of life, and landscape — this is nothing new,” structural and facade engineer Hanif Kara says. “But, certainly, it’s hard to see that in other developments, particularly when they are done by developers. It’s quite difficult to find community spaces, and to see how quality of life is improved for everyone. I think we’ve all experienced that kind of hope that it will play out something like this.”

Designed by Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, the remarkable 11-acre site is designed both to receive LEED Gold certification and to withstand the tests of Houston’s sometimes extreme weather conditions.

Principal architect Farshid Moussavi looks forward to seeing the Houston community utilize the space she’s worked so hard to deliver: “We’ve given the hardware to the community, now the software needs to come in. So I hope that there will be music recitals, or lectures, or book fairs, or other kinds of markets that can happen—even simultaneously. This is not an experiment, it’s the seventh in the world.”

Community welcome events are scheduled for December 12 and 13, but, until then, here are 10 features and things to know about the Ismaili Center, Houston.

What is the Ismaili Center, Houston?

“The use of the building is really meant for, or our hope, is that we are able to—on an enhanced view of what the community does today—have engagement on service projects, arts and culture, interfaith dialogue, and even just in bringing people together,” Omar Samji, Ismaili Council for the United States of America, says. “The notion of bringing people together in a place where it is easy to create connections because it’s an open space, and because it’s specifically designed to be a place where people interact and where people find commonality. Because whether you’re out in the gardens, or on the environs, or in the atrium, this enables connection.”

Who is His Highness the Aga Khan?

His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V is the 50th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He was educated at Philipps Academy in Andover and Brown University (Class of 1995). He became Imam in February 2025 upon the passing of his father, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV.

The Aga Khan promotes an understanding of Islam rooted in values of generosity, tolerance, pluralism, environmental stewardship, and the shared unity of humanity. He also chairs the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), one of the world’s largest private development agencies, which works across more than 30 countries to improve quality of life for marginalized communities regardless of faith or background.

The scale

The center stretches across an 11-acre site along Montrose Boulevard, from West Dallas to Allen Parkway. The physical building is 150,000 square feet, leaving nine acres for garden spaces on both the north and south sides of the building. The south side of the property is more formal, with gardens and community spaces that flank an 80-foot reflection pool and other water features. The gardens on the north side of the building are more informal, but densely planted and vast.

Photo by Iwan Baan

The creation

The development of the Ismaili Center was led by the Ismaili Council. It was initiated by His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV (1936-2025), and completed under the leadership of his eldest son, Prince Rahim Aga Khan V.

The project was designed and constructed by a team of both local and international firms. Farshid Moussavi Architecture joined forces with structural and facade engineer Hanif Kara, co-founder and creative director of AKT II. DLR Group is the architect and engineer of record, while contractor McCarthy Building Companies built the project. Thomas Woltz, senior principal and owner of landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz, along with principal Jeff Aten taking lead on the nine acres of garden space. The project is targeting LEED Gold certification.

The focus on native Texas plants and trees

The center will be recognized as a leading cultural asset for the City of Houston, complementing nearby institutions such as The Menil Collection, Rothko Chapel, Asia Society Texas, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. While the surrounding gardens will add to the other notable Nelson Byrd Woltz projects within close proximity at Memorial Park, Rothko Chapel, and Rice University.

“We’ve been building massive projects in Houston for 12 years,” Woltz says. “We know the horticultural community in the region, and we did a deep, deep dive in ecological research to understand ‘What are the native plants of whatever region?’ It’s just baked into our process. Right when we are starting any project in Houston—right to the river. Look at the soils, ‘What are the plants appropriate to that place?’ Its solar aspect, its humidity, it’s moisture in soils, the shadow of the building.

But then, this idea of taking a section across the state of Texas, so that each of those distinct ecological regions is represented by one of the terraced gardens — so it’s very clear. It’s a diagram of the state of Texas and all of its native plants. This is functioning like a botanic garden and a repository for biodiversity — this is work in service.”

The eco-friendly exterior

The exterior of the building is clad in stone, a durable material with low embodied carbon. The stone cladding is a rainscreen over in-situ ‘fair-faced’ concrete walls, exposed on the interior to minimize additional material use. The concrete mix used has replaced 35-62 percent of Portland cement with fly ash and slag, reducing CO2 emissions by roughly 30 percent compared to standard mixes. The exterior stone rainscreen uses smaller tiles to increase the stone yield, utilizing 20-25 percent more of the irregular blocks they are cut from. This reduction in waste has also lent itself to crafting the cladding in a unique way.

The tessellation of the stone pieces changes across the building's surfaces to create different patterns on different sides of the buildings and at the corners. Relief stone tiles are used to add texture to the facades.

The space for outdoor events

The north-facing botanical gardens that will accommodate the 200-year flood plain offer a 27 foot gradient toward the building. This allowed for various levels of seating and gathering areas that culminate at an elevated terrace that will act as a stage for various events such as plays and concerts. Attendees can stretch out and enjoy the shows from an extensive lawn area that is surrounded by dense gardens of native trees and plants.

The black box theater

A 2,600-square-foot black box multipurpose space which seats 125 people is found on the second floor of the building’s west wing. It can host public events, such as exhibitions, film screenings, theatrical performances, music recitals, and other artistic programs throughout the year. It will also serve as a flexible space for teaching and learning. With acoustic isolation to surrounding spaces and the mechanical mezzanine above, it is designed to operate simultaneously without disrupting other events in the building. Design includes an upper-level control room, pipe grid, and flexible drapery and seating configurations to allow for a wide variety of programming.

The cafe

The center’s café is a 1,600-square-foot, double-height space located in the west wing (Montrose side) that opens onto an enormous terrace, offering visitors the option to enjoy their coffee or food outdoors. The terrace near the cafe is lined by an exterior wall and long, trough-style fountains that aid in noise reduction from Montrose Boulevard. The second-floor wall overlooking the Café is fully glazed, creating visual connection with the levels above.

The prayer hall

The prayer hall is 12,240 square feet, featuring a unique structural system of seven interlocking squares, formed from steel beams spanning the 115-by-115-foot open space. These beams are clad in concrete to enhance durability, beneath which lies a two-layer perforated aluminum ceiling with integrated diffused lighting. Its intricate pattern recalls the traditional jālī screens of Islamic architecture creating a soft, seemingly infinite ceiling effect, adding to the serenity of the prayer hall.

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A version of this article first appeared on CultureMap.com

Intuitive Machines to buy satellite maker Lanteris for $800M

space deal

Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines has agreed to buy satellite manufacturer Lanteris Space Systems for $800 million from private equity firm Advent International.

Intuitive Machines co-founder, president and CEO Steve Altemus said the combined revenue of his company and Palo Alto, California-based Lanteris exceeded $850 million as of Sept. 30, and their backlog of orders totaled $920 million.

Until recently, Lanteris operated as Maxar Space Systems. Its origins date back to 1957.

The deal—comprising $450 million in cash and $350 million in Class A shares of Intuitive Machines stock—is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

The acquisition “marks the moment Intuitive Machines transitions from a lunar company to a multi-domain space [company], setting the pace for how the industry’s next generation will operate,” Altemus said.

Altemus said the acquisition would enable Intuitive Machines to better compete for Earth orbit, lunar, Mars and deep space projects. Among the opportunities that would open up thanks to the Lanteris deal are the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system and a large lunar lander capable of carrying astronauts, he said.

“The new Intuitive Machines will combine rapid innovation and precision spacecraft production to meet the growing demand for responsive, high-reliability space infrastructure and services,” Altemus said.

Intuitive Machines, founded in 2013, develops lunar landers and provides aerospace services. In 2024, it became the first U.S. company to land a spacecraft on the moon in half a century.

Altemus said Intuitive Machines is already building three satellites for NASA’s near-space network, and it might upsize two more satellites now that it plans to buy Lanteris.

Aside from satellites, Lanteris is developing the power and propulsion element for NASA’s Gateway, a lunar orbiting command module that will support Artemis missions and deep space exploration.

Lanteris was a division of Maxar Technologies, which Advent and minority investor British Columbia Investment Management took private in a 2023 deal valued at $6.4 billion

Meet 6 mentors who are helping the Houston startup scene flourish

meet the finalists

Few founders launch successful startups alone — experienced and insightful mentors often play an integral role in helping the business and its founders thrive.

The Houston startup community is home to many mentors who are willing to lend an ear and share advice to help entrepreneurs meet their goals.

The Mentor of the Year category in our 2025 Houston Innovation Awards will honor an individual like this, who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs. The award is presented by Houston City College Northwest.

Below, meet the six finalists for the 2025 award. They support promising startups in the medical tech, digital health, clean energy and hardware sectors.

Then, join us at the Houston Innovation Awards this Thursday, Nov. 13 at Greentown Labs, when the winner will be unveiled. The event is just days away, so secure your seats now.

Anil Shetty, InformAI

Anil Shetty serves as president and chief medical officer for biotech company Ferronova and chief innovation officer for InformAI. He's mentored numerous medical device and digital health companies at seed or Series A, including Pathex, Neurostasis, Vivifi Medical and many others. He mentors through organizations like Capital Factory, TMC Biodesign, UT Venture Mentoring, UTMB Innovation and Rice's Global Medical Innovation program.

"Being a mentor means empowering early-stage innovators to shape, test, and refine their ideas with clarity and purpose," Shetty says. "I’m driven by the opportunity to help them think strategically and pivot early before resources are wasted. At this critical stage, most founders lack the financial means to bring on seasoned experts and often haven’t yet gained real-world exposure. Mentorship allows me to fill that gap, offering guidance that accelerates their learning curve and increases the chances of meaningful, sustainable impact."

Jason Ethier, EnergyTech Nexus

Jason Ethier is the founding partner of EnergyTech Nexus, through which he has mentored numerous startups and Innovation Awards finalists, including Geokiln, Energy AI Solutions, Capwell Services and Corrolytics. He founded Dynamo Micropower in 2011 and served as its president and CEO. He later co-founded Greentown Labs in Massachusetts and helped bring the accelerator to Houston.

"Being a mentor means using my experience to help founders see a clearer path to success. I’ve spent years navigating the ups and downs of building companies, struggling with cash flow, and making all the mistakes; mentoring gives me the chance to share those lessons and show entrepreneurs the shortcuts I wish I’d known earlier," Ethier says. "At Energytech Nexus, that role goes beyond just helping individual founders — it’s about creating a flywheel effect for Houston’s entire innovation ecosystem."

Jeremy Pitts, Activate Houston

Jeremy Pitts serves as managing director of Activate Houston, which launched in Houston last year. He was one of the founders of Greentown Labs in the Boston area and served in a leadership role for the organization between 2011 and 2015. Through Activate, he has mentored numerous impactful startups and Innovation Awards finalists, including Solidec, Coflux Purification, Bairitone Health, Newfound Materials, Deep Anchor Solutions and others.

"Being a mentor to me is very much about supporting the person in whatever they need. Oftentimes that means supporting the business—providing guidance and advice, feedback, introductions, etc," But just as important is recognizing the person and helping them with whatever challenges they are going through ... Sometimes they need a hype man to tell them how awesome they are and that they can go do whatever hard thing they need to do. Sometimes they just need an empathetic listener who can relate to how hard these things are. Being there for the person and supporting them on their journey is key to my mentorship style."

Joe Alapat, Liongard

Joe Alapat founded and serves as chief strategy officer at Houston software company Liongard and chief information officer at Empact IT, which he also owns. He mentors through Founder Fridays Houston Group, Software Day by Mercury Fund, SUPERGirls SHINE Foundation, Cup of Joey and at the Ion. He's worked with founders of FlowCare, STEAM OnDemand, Lokum and many other early stage startups.

"Being a mentor to me means unleashing an individual’s 10x—their purpose, their ikigai (a Japanese concept that speaks to a person’s reason for being)," Alapat says. "Mentoring founders in the Houston community of early stage, high-growth startups is an honor for me. I get to live vicariously through a founder’s vision of the future. Once they show me that compelling vision, I’m drawn to bring the future forward with them so the vision becomes reality with a sense of urgency."

Neal Dikeman, Energy Transition Ventures

Neal Dikeman serves as partner at early stage venture fund Energy Transition Ventures, executive in residence at Greentown Labs, and offices in and supports Rice Nexus at the Ion. He mentors startups, like Geokiln, personally. He also mentored Helix Earth through Greentown Labs. The company went on to win in the Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability contest at SXSW earlier this year. Dikeman has helped launch several successful startups himself, most recently serving on the board of directors for Resilient Power Systems, which was acquired by Eaton Corp for $150 million.

"Founders have to find their own path, and most founders need a safe space where they can discuss hard truths outside of being 'on' in sales mode with their team or board or investors, to let them be able to work on their business, not just in it," Dikeman says.

Nisha Desai, Intention

Nisha Desai serves as CEO of investment firm Intention and mentors through Greentown Labs, TEX-E, Open Minds, the Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator, Avatar Innovations and The Greenhouse. She currently works with founders from Solidec, Deep Anchor Solutions, CLS Wind and several other local startups, several of which have been nominated for Innovation Awards this year. She's served a board member for Greentown Labs since 2021.

"When I first started mentoring, I viewed my role as someone who was supposed to prevent the founder from making bad decisions. Now, I see my role as a mentor as enabling the founder to develop their own decision-making capability," Desai says. "Sometimes that means giving them the space to make decisions that might be good, that might be bad, but that they can be accountable for. At the end of the day, being a mentor is like being granted a place on the founder's leadership development journey, and it's a privilege I'm grateful for."

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