If mobile marketing isn't in your startup's toolkit, it should be. Photo via Getty Images

Consumer privacy is driving startups to immediately begin marketing and data collection. Google and Apple have recently stressed the importance of first-party data collection for businesses. For the last two decades, businesses have had access to cookies to advertise to people who visited their digital assets. Digital advertising has already changed with Apple’s iOS 14.5 alterations, switching the default of ad tracking from yes to no and both Google and Apple expect data privacy to increase.

For startups, when and how to begin marketing their business can feel like a cumbersome task. As a chief marketing officer, I was asked to list services and channels that I oversee, and I came up with 16. For founders of startups who must often take on the roles of CEO and COO in addition to CMO as they look to expand their teams, that time commitment is not reasonable for someone who also has a personal life.

Entrepreneurs need tools that are simple to institute and not cost prohibitive, to meet their respective milestones. First, we need to collect first party data, so that when we get to our minimum viable product we have plenty of people waiting to buy it. Next, marketing must work even when we can’t focus on it. Third, we must focus on revenue generating activities, whether they are marketing or not. Finally, we want to create an environment where successful entrepreneurs have a work and life balance.

Before doing anything else — get a virtual phone number

A virtual phone number is the first marketing tool I would use for any business. This number can be connected to your cell phone during certain hours of the day and disconnected for others. This allows people to reach you on your schedule. Put this phone number on every asset you have, so it can be integrated into future tools, such as customer relationship management and Google My Business. With proper opt-in information, it also creates an immediate list for SMS marketing in the future. A virtual phone number typically runs $1 to $2 a month plus usage fees, so it can be used by any business.

It is important that this is set up first, because without this, you can’t use the following marketing tools effectively.

Tool 1: Missed Call – Text Back

An entrepreneurs’ worst nightmare is missing an important phone call, whether it’s an investor or closing your first sale. Constant phone and email checking causes anxiety, but more importantly, it is a low revenue activity, so you are actively hurting your business.

Missed Call – Text Back, or MCTB, allows a customizable text message to be delivered to a client when you miss their phone call. It moves the caller towards resolution (sales or otherwise) immediately encouraging them to give you more information about their problem. The best part is, that once you have the system in place, it costs you zero time. Imagine walking out of a meeting and instead of 10 missed calls, you have 10 text messages that you can quickly answer. How much time did you just get back?

Pro Tip: In many cases, you can automate your emails in a similar way.

Tool 2: A funnel page

Now that we have a tool that allows us to work productively without constant phone checking, we need to increase our book of business. This is where a funnel comes in.

A funnel is a unique digital experience you would like a specific person — a client or investor — to have. When you start a business, a funnel can be your website because you only have one specific thing you want any visitor to do, like collect information.

Almost every consultant to new businesses is promoting funnel building. Why? Because a good funnel motivates people to act in a specific way. If you are raising funds, you want an investor to have a specific experience to garner interest, not hope they navigate to the correct webpage. If you have a new technology, you want early adopters to learn and then provide a simple way to collect their information, so that you can contact them when your product is ready. Finally, if you’re about to hit the market with your new product, providing customers with a simple purchase method will improve revenue during your important proof-of-concept period.

Funnels, like MCTB, can grow and adapt with your business, providing different groups of people with different experiences, with minimal effort. For instance, suppose I created a dating app and needed early adopters. Instead of creating one funnel, let’s say I created two. The only difference between the two funnels, is the first one’s headline was “The No. 1 new dating app for men” and then the second one said women. Everything else remains the same, but the experience is immediately different for the consumer. The more you can change the funnel to cater to their personal experience, the better it will be, but even simple changes can go a long way.

Pro Tip: Funnels are easiest to keep track of when they are subdomains of your website.

Tool 3: Automated SMS marketing

The final tool I recommend to start is Automated SMS Marketing. Assuming you have people properly opted in from your funnel — review Telephone Consumer Protection Act (1991) to ensure legal compliance — you can make sure they receive a welcome message in the first 5 minutes.

The most important part of text messaging marketing is allowing your customer to believe they are really having a conversation with you. If you can avoid it, never tell a customer that your digital number is automated. If you need, tell them it is automated but overseen by you. You are the owner of the business or the inventor of the technology, people want to talk to you. Customers want to pretend that they know you. Allow them this feeling. Once the customer responds, you should be picking up an organic conversation with them anyway.

Bringing it together

Using these tools, we have created a simple, repeatable method to gather customer data and start their customer journey. Your funnel may also help you gather an email list, but your most active prospects will be more than willing to communicate with you over the phone.

When you can’t take calls, whether it’s because you are in a meeting or with your kids, you can rest easier, knowing that potential customers get an immediate response that helps them get where they need to go, or at the very least, when you get back to work, you can help them quickly.

And the best part for a new entrepreneur is that this can all be done cost effectively. Personally, I recommend a service called HighLevel, a feature-rich cost-effective CRM, that includes all of the tools previously discussed. Most tech savvy entrepreneurs can figure out how to institute all these practices quickly from one platform in a no code environment. If you’d rather have assistance, there are 20,000 agencies that use the platform and just as many YouTube videos.

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Chris Romani is the chief marketing officer for illumiPure, a Houston-based medical device company.

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2 UH projects named finalists for $50M fund to shape future of Gulf Coast

Looking to the Future

Two University of Houston science projects have been selected as finalists for the Gulf Futures Challenge, which will award a total of $50 million to develop ideas that help benefit the Gulf Coast.

Sponsored by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Coast Research Program and Lever for Change, the competition is designed to spark innovation around problems in the Gulf Coast, such as rising sea levels, pollution, energy security, and community resiliency. The two UH projects beat out 162 entries from organizations based in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

“Being named a finalist for this highly competitive grant underscores the University of Houston’s role as a leading research institution committed to addressing the most pressing challenges facing our region,” said Claudia Neuhauser, vice president for research at UH.

“This opportunity affirms the strength of our faculty and researchers and highlights UH’s capacity to deliver innovative solutions that will ensure the long-term stability and resilience of the Gulf Coast.”

One project, spearheaded by the UH Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Continued Energy (ROICE) program, is studying ways to use decommissioned oil rig platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as both clean energy hydrogen power generators as well a marine habitats. There are currently thousands of such platforms in the Gulf.

The other project involves the innovative recycling of wind turbines into seawall and coastal habitats. Broken and abandoned wind turbine blades have traditionally been thought to be non-recyclable and end up taking up incredible space in landfills. Headed by a partnership between UH, Tulane University, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the city of Galveston and other organizations, this initiative could vastly reduce the waste associated with wind farm technology.

wind turbine recycled for Gulf Coast seawall. Wind turbines would be repurposed into seawalls and more. Courtesy rendering

"Coastal communities face escalating threats from climate change — land erosion, structural corrosion, property damage and negative health impacts,” said Gangbing Song, Moores Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UH and the lead investigator for both projects.

“Leveraging the durability and anti-corrosive properties of these of decommissioned wind turbine blades, we will build coastal structures, improve green spaces and advance the resilience and health of Gulf Coast communities through integrated research, education and outreach.”

The two projects have received a development grant of $300,000 as a prize for making it to the finals. When the winner are announced in early 2026, two of the projects will net $20 million each to bring their vision to life, with the rest earning a consolation prize of $875,000, in additional project support.

In the event that UH doesn't grab the grand prize, the school's scientific innovation will earn a guaranteed $1.75 million for the betterment of the Gulf Coast.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Kids, kicks and connectivity: Xfinity makes soccer a shared experience

The Beautiful Game

For soccer mom Lana Chase, weekends were a whirlwind of cleats, carpooling, and cheering from the sidelines. Now that her daughter Miah graduated high school in May, the Chase Family’s love for the game hasn't stopped. It's shifted to their living room, where Comcast’s new Xfinity streaming platform brings the global game home.

“We’re a soccer family through and through,” says Chase. “Miah played soccer from about age 8 until 16, and we love the World Cup! Xfinity makes it easy for all of us to watch what we love together.”

One platform, every goal

Xfinity's new World Soccer Ticket package eliminates the chaos of juggling apps, subscriptions, or subpar streams. Families can now enjoy more than 1,500 matches from across the globe.

With parental controls, age-appropriate content, and smart recommendations, Xfinity turns soccer into family-friendly entertainment. Whether it’s a weekend watch party or a quiet school night, the platform adapts to every household’s rhythm.

“Figuring out where to watch your favorite team or match is often a painful game of chance. Now, with World Soccer Ticket, there’s no better way to watch the beautiful game than with Xfinity,” says Jon Gieselman, chief growth officer for Comcast's connectivity & platforms. “It’s easy, we did the work for our customers and pulled together the most coveted leagues and tournaments – from Premier League, LALIGA and Champions League to the World Cup – and put them in one place. We added some magic to the experience, with innovations like Multiview, 4K, and Sports Zone all easily accessible with one simple click or voice command.”

World Cup in Houston

With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, the timing couldn't have been better. The world tournament will be the largest Spanish-language coverage ever offered by Telemundo, powered by Comcast NBCUniversal's technology, storytelling, and scale.

Telemundo and Peacock hold the exclusive Spanish language rights to "el Mundial," including all 104 matches streaming live on Peacock, with 92 matches airing on Telemundo and 12 on Universo. Live crews will cover every event in all 16 host cities, including Houston.

Xfinity customers will have access to pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage with unprecedented immersive experiences. The 2026 World Cup will be the most exciting event of the summer.

"We know other soccer families who watch matches with their little brothers and sisters. It’s not just a game, it’s family time. It's an even bigger deal with the tournament being just down the road in Houston next year,” Chase adds.

Comcast’s AI-powered platform personalizes the viewing experience, recommending matches and highlights based on each family member’s preferences.

World Soccer Ticket is available for an all-in monthly price of $85. It includes nearly 60 broadcast, cable news, and English- and Spanish-language sports channels, and a subscription to Peacock Premium so customers can enjoy a huge collection of movies, shows, news, and other live sports alongside all their favorite soccer programming.

Subscribe to World Soccer Ticket here.

Houston digital health platform Koda closes $7 million funding round

fresh funding

Houston-based digital advance care planning company Koda Health has closed an oversubscribed $7 million series A funding round.

The round, led by Evidenced, with participation from Mudita Venture Partners, Techstars and Texas Medical Center, will allow the company to scale operations and expand engineering, clinical strategy and customer success, according to a news release.

“This funding allows us to create more goals-of-care product lines, expand our national footprint, and bring goal-concordant care to millions more patients and families," Tatiana Fofanova, co-founder and CEO of Koda Health, said in the release.

Koda Health, which was born out of the TMC's Biodesign Fellowship in 2020, has seen major growth this year and said it now supports more than 1 million patients nationwide. The company integrated its end-of-life care planning platform with Dallas-based Guidehealth in April and with Epic Systems in July. Users of Epic's popular Mychart system and Guidehealth's clinically integrated networks can now document and share their care preferences, goals and advance directives for health systems using Koda Health's platform. It also has partnerships with Cigna, Privia and Memorial Hermann.

The company shared that the recent series A "marks a pivotal moment," as it has secured investments from influential leaders in the healthcare and venture capital space.

“Koda is the only company combining technology and service to deliver comprehensive solutions that help health plans, providers, and health systems scale goals-aligned care. With satisfied customers expanding their partnerships and policy shifts reinforcing the need for patient-centered care that also contains costs, we couldn’t be more excited to support the Koda team and their vision,” Sean Glass, managing partner at Evidenced, said in the release.

According to the company, a recent peer-reviewed study with Houston Methodist ACO showed that the platform can have a major impact on palliative care results and costs. The findings showed:

  • 79 percent reduction in terminal hospitalizations
  • 20 percent decrease in inpatient length of stay
  • 51 percent increase in hospice use among decedents
  • Nearly $9,000 in average savings per patient

“Patients long for clarity, families deserve peace of mind, and providers demand ease of use,” Dr. Desh Mohan, chief medical officer of Koda Health, added in the release. “At Koda, we make it possible to deliver all three — transforming Advance Care Planning into a compassionate, ongoing dialogue that honors patients and supports families every step of the way.”

Koda Health also closed an oversubscribed seed round for an undisclosed amount last year, with investments from AARP, Memorial Hermann Health System and the Texas Medical Center Venture Fund. Read more here.