Houston innovators find 'perfect storm' for fintech and marketing platform

Houston innovators podcast episode 129

RepeatMD's CEO Phil Sitter and Vice President of Sales Chris Chomenko join the Houston Innovators Podcast to explain how they are revolutionizing the aesthetics industry. Photos courtesy

Phil Sitter saw fast growth and adoption from his restaurant rewards platform he founded in 2019, but when the pandemic hit, he had to go back to the drawing board to find a growing industry that needed to be disrupted by his technology. And he did.

Sitter, a Houston restaurateur, originally founded VIPInsiders to help his restaurants — and later, licensing the technology out, other Houston eateries too — reward loyal patrons who continue to come in. However, in 2020, Sitter considered a pivot.

"We realized the restaurant industry may never be the same, and we asked ourselves who could be an ideal client," Sitter says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

This pivot ended up creating RepeatMD, a customizable marketing and fintech platform focused on the aesthetics industry, which includes plastic surgeons, dermatologists, etc.

Sitter, who serves as the company's CEO, says once he dived into learning about the industry, he found out these types of business are seeing incredible growth following the pandemic.

"They call it the 'Zoom boom' — everyone saw themselves on Zoom daily and decided to invest in themselves and their facial treatments." says Chris Chomenko, vice president of sales for the company.

"And they had the time," Sitter adds. "When you think about aesthetic procedures — whether its invasive or non-invasive, it takes time for recovery."

After initially branching out into the field, Sitter says they are now onboarding up to 200 new locations a month, providing med spas around the world the ability to reward returning customers, as well as inform them on the breadth of options the facility offers. RepeatMD has expanded its team to 50 people and is eyeing seed funding this summer.

"Some things had to work out perfectly in order," Chomenko says, "for this perfect storm of perfect timing. Whenever you talk about entrepreneurs and how much of it was luck and how much of it is hard work, we really have attribute a lot of our success to being there with the right idea, in the right place, at the right time."

Sitter and Chomenko share more about the future of RepeatMD on the podcast episode. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Philipp Sitter of RepeatMD, Abbey Donnell of Work & Mother, and Chris Howard of Softeq. 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 health tech to software— recently making headlines in Houston innovation.


Philipp Sitter, founder of RepeatMD

RepeatMD offers its clients rewards-based software and is expanding with a new fintech tool. Photo via LinkedIn

Ever the entrepreneur, Philipp Sitter saw an opportunity to equip health service professionals with marketing tools. RepeatMD, founded in December 2020, specializes in white-label rewards apps for plastic surgeons, medical spas, dermatologists, and similar businesses. Now, it's expanding into the "buy now, pay later" fintech realm through a new deal with BTL Industries, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based provider of body-sculpting equipment.

Through these services, Sitter sees his company being a one-stop-shop for this type of tech.

"We see us becoming ubiquitous in the industry, where anybody that's a dermatologist, a plastic surgeon, or a medical spa has [our app]," Sitter says. Click here to read more.

Abbey Donnell, founder and CEO of Work & Mother

Abbey Donnell, founder of Work & Mother

Abbey Donnell created a service before employers even knew they needed it. Courtesy of Work & Mother

Abbey Donnell knows she's doing something different. Her company, Work & Mother, builds out and runs lactation suites as an amenity to office buildings.

"We're in a strange niche of the industry. We don't really fall completely into a real estate bucket and we don't fall completely into a tech bucket," Donnell says. "It makes finding investors who really understand what we're doing a little bit trickier."

Despite these challenges, the company has grown and is even eyeing a national expansion. Click here to read more.

Chris Howard, CEO and founder of Softeq

A Houston software company has announced the five early-stage startups it will be supporting through its new venture studio. Photo courtesy of Softeq

A lasting tech ecosystem requires successful tech entrepreneurs to give back to the next generation of new businesses. Chris Howard knows that, and it's why his company, Softeq Development Corporation, announced its inaugural cohort for the Softeq Venture Studio. The program, which will be offered quarterly for four to six startups each cohort, is geared at helping its resident startups quickly develop their technology and build their businesses.

"Historically, most tech startups had a founder with development skills. However, we're now seeing more and more business people, doctors, and other professionals start companies, and they need a strong engineering partner to develop their products," says Christopher A. Howard, Softeq founder and CEO, in a news release.

"We take it several steps further with the Venture Studio providing technology business consulting, development services, and much-needed cash. We're a vested partner, so we also help secure follow-on funding for continued growth," he continues. Click here to read more.

RepeatMD offers its clients rewards-based software and is expanding with a new fintech tool. Photo via Getty Images

Fast-growing Houston software startup expands with fintech model

innovative marketing

A less than one-year-old B2B software startup in Houston is beefing up its offerings with a new feature that thrusts it into the rapidly growing fintech space.

RepeatMD, founded in December 2020, specializes in white-label rewards apps for plastic surgeons, medical spas, dermatologists, and similar businesses. Now, it's expanding into the "buy now, pay later" fintech realm through a new deal with BTL Industries, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based provider of body-sculpting equipment.

RepeatMD's new Medical Gym function enables customers treated with BTL equipment to finance add-on enhancement and maintenance packages through "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) arrangements. BNPL is a booming sector. The size of the global BNPL market approached $90.7 billion in 2020 and is projected to come close to $4 trillion by 2030, according to Allied Market Research.

RepeatMD essentially layers the Medical Gym's BNPL functionality on top of the rewards feature of its apps.

Chris Chomenko, vice president of sales at RepeatMD, says the startup already had been working on a BNPL offering when BTL approached the RepeatMD team about creating a BNPL product. RepeatMD and BTL share many of the same clients.

"We are rolling out with them nationally at a breakneck speed because the demand they have from their client base is so high," Chomenko says. "It's kind of forcing us to do in three months what we planned on doing in three years."

While the concept of a rewards app or a BNPL program is not unique, their pairing is, according to Chomenko. Sitter calls the marriage of the two a "game changer" — a game changer that eventually should extend well beyond BTL's clients.

RepeatMD founder and CEO Philipp Sitter says the Medical Gym feature lets customers break up the cost of, say, a $5,000 treatment into management monthly payments. The results of a survey of RepeatMD app users found that the guilt of putting down a wad of cash on aesthetics services was the No. 2 barrier cited in terms of spending money on treatments.

"What we'll be working on is being a full, proper fintech play, where we have that buy now, pay later functionality, and doctors can get paid in advance for treatments. But that is a large endeavor that will take us all of a year to [complete]," Chomenko says.

RepeatMD counts more than 600 practices in North America as customers. The startup envisions that figure rising to 1,000 by the end of this year. In tandem with that growth, RepeatMD foresees revenue climbing to eight figures (at least $10 million) by the end of 2022 and its valuation growing to nine figures (at least $100 million) by then.

Today, RepeatMD employs about 30 people. Sitter says the headcount should reach 75 to 100 by the end of next year.

Sitter is self-funding RepeatMD with proceeds from other business ventures, including Houston-based food and beverage loyalty and rewards platform VIPinsiders and Houston-based brunch and lunch restaurant EggHaus Gourmet. However, RepeatMD plans to raise outside capital in the first quarter of 2022.

The company sets up each client with an exclusive private-label app. RepeatMD says businesses using its app have seen an average sales increase of $313,000 and an average of 51 new referrals within the first 90 days of adopting the app.

Sitter says the RepeatMD rewards app provides a "gateway" for businesses to drum up repeat business and sell more services, much like the Starbucks rewards app incentivizes customers to try different food and beverage products.

"We see us becoming ubiquitous in the industry, where anybody that's a dermatologist, a plastic surgeon, or a medical spa has [our app]," Sitter says.

"We look at mobile app experience as something that's coming for all the local businesses. We're just the frontrunners in bringing it to the masses," he adds.

Philipp Sitter is the founder of RepeatMD. Photo via LinkedIIn

This week's innovators to know in Houston includes Ayse McCracken of Ignite Healthcare Network, Philipp Sitter of VIPinsiders, and Diane Yoo of Medingenii. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: In today's Monday roundup of Houston innovators, I'm introducing you to three innovators — from health care investing to marketing technology — all making headlines in Houston this week.

Ayse McCracken, founder and board chair of Ignite Healthcare Network

Ayse McCracken joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss women in health care and Ignite Madness. Photo courtesy of Ignite

When the pandemic hit and shut down businesses across the world, Ayse McCracken knew immediately what group of people were likely going to be the most affected: Women in health care. It just so happens that her nonprofit organization, Ignite Healthcare Network, exists to serve this same group of people, so she got to work on creating online events that were intentional and meaningful.

"With COVID, it has only escalated the importance of our work, so we've elevated our voices through our webinar series," McCracken says on this week's Houston Innovators Podcast.

This week, Ignite's virtual startup competition concludes with the finals. She shares more about the program and Ignite's mission on the episode. Click here to read more and stream the episode.

Philipp Sitter, founder of VIPinsiders

Restaurateur Philipp Sitter launched VIPinsiders last year. Photo courtesy of VIPinsiders

Restaurants have undoubtedly suffered due to loss of business during the shutdown, but they face an uphill battle back to normalcy, and restaurateur Philipp Sitter knew his tech tool could help. He created VIPinsiders as a marketing tool to reach customers in a data-driven way.

"The restaurant gets to know me [the customer], it understands how often I visit, it also gets to reward my visitation," explains Sitter. "Most importantly, it reminds me to come back when I haven't visited in a while."

Data recorded by VIPinsiders shows that 48 percent of users visit restaurants with the platform "more often" in the first 90 days. Click here to read more.

Diane Yoo, managing partner at Medingenii

Diane Yoo, who was hospitalized due to COVID-19 earlier this year, created a VC fund that's investing in health tech solutions for the disease. Photo courtesy of Medingenii

Just a few weeks after being hospitalized from COVID-19, Diane Yoo was investing in a medical device startup that could have made a world of difference to her recovery. After closing its initial fund, Medingenii invested in several Houston health startups including Vitls, a wearable device that can track and send vitals remotely.

"The pandemic has really validated some of the business models we're invested in," she tells InnovationMap.

Now, fueled by her first round of success and eager to advance other life-changing technologies, Yoo is looking toward a second fund. Click here to read more.

A Houston restaurateur and tech founder is giving the food and restaurant business a new marketing opportunity with VIPinsiders. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Houston entrepreneur's mobile platform brings gains to small restaurant chains

tapping into tech

Food is the way to a Houstonian's heart. With critically-acclaimed cuisine and an abundance of diversity, Houston is the South's culinary pride. COVID-19 has now stirred uncertainty in a once definitive piece of the city's culture, and restaurateurs are looking for solutions. For Philipp Sitter, CEO of VIPinsiders, artificial intelligence is a step in the right direction.

Sitter holds many titles: CEO of KB Restaurant Group, President of EggHaus and King's Bierhaus — and now, tech founder. In 2019 he launched VIPinsiders, "a rewards program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to understand the customer on an individual journey," he explains.

"I was born into the restaurant industry," says Sitter, as he remarks on immigrating from Vienna as a child and opening the first King's Biergarten in Pearland in 2011. As a fifth-generation restaurateur, he is familiar with "the love and pain of the industry." When he took on the challenge of marketing his family's "obscure German restaurant behind a car wash in Pearland," he became "obsessed" with the trade.

Philipp Sitter launched VIPinsiders last year. Photo courtesy of VIPinsiders

After building excitement around EggHaus, the Instagrammable haven that's attracted both breakfast lovers and influencers, Sitter wanted to find a way to build the same buzz at his other restaurants using technology.

Going mobile

From Starbucks Rewards' gold stars to Chick-Fil-A One, reward programs have been tested and utilized by the Goliaths of the restaurant industry for years.

When looking at the cost of building a mobile app like Starbucks, he determined it to be impossible.

"We're talking about millions that go into developing technology. What restaurant is going to be able to afford something like that?" he asked.

The plan soon crystallized: Sitter decided to create a mobile platform that uses AI to personalize unique offers and experiences for customers while taking the responsibility from the shoulders of restaurant owners with smaller, multi-unit concepts. By developing and scaling the mobile platform by providing its services to other businesses, "then it would all of the sudden become affordable for everybody," he realized.

Deciding to create a mobile platform was the easy part.

"I wasn't born with the emotion of fear in business," shares Sitter, who has dabbled in obscure endeavors from washing cars to flipping classic cars on eBay.

After formulating the VIPinsiders concept, he hired a team of developers to "use the psychology of everything I've learned in marketing and put it into a technology platform," he explains.

The user experience

Each client gets a tailor-made approach, ensuring the rewards and loyalty features are made to fit the restaurant. The VIPinsiders staff builds custom mobile platforms for its small and medium-sized restaurant chain clients that utilize the restaurant's branding, menus and events for $299 per month.

"We got through a discovery call in which our team will actually build the rewards journey for them and show it to the business owner for approval," explains Sitter, "We don't want to give the owners and managers a homework assignment."

Once the platform is approved, Sitter's team trains restaurant owners. In-house copywriters and designers then develop print material for the restaurant to cross-promote the rewards program.

According to VIPinsiders' internal data, 95 percent of users find the app "easy to use." Using QR technology, customers can sign up by scanning a QR code rather than downloading an app.

"The restaurant gets to know me [the customer], it understands how often I visit, it also gets to reward my visitation," explains Sitter. Rather than a one-size-fits-all reward program, the platform is meant to showcase different menu items and offerings.

"Most importantly, it reminds me to come back when I haven't visited in a while."

Data recorded by VIPinsiders shows that 48 percent of users visit restaurants with the platform "more often" in the first 90 days.

Text message marketing 

When stay-at-home orders first took effect in Harris County, many business owners could not update their business hours or post new content on the Google My Business platform due to the site's halted review process during COVID-19.

The issue left business owners with one less form of contact, creating a vulnerability in customer communication. Social media marketing doesn't quite come to the rescue either, with Facebook's algorithm showing an average of 5.5 percent of a brand's following will see its post.

To Sitter, text messaging is "the next frontier."

Due to COVID-19, VIPinsiders recently ran a promotion to provide free platform use and unlimited text capabilities for a limited time to restaurants. "We've gotten a lot of incredible emails and feedback saying thank you for letting us use this and helping us [get] back our business," says Sitter.

"It's time for all of us to take our power back, to own our customer [data] and be able to talk with them directly and not have to pay the middleman [like social media companies] and really have the relationship that customer opted in for," says Sitter.

As one of the first mobile platforms approved by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, restaurant clients can extend happy hour offerings and provide customers with free alcoholic beverages.

At King's Bierhaus, Sitter was able to deploy an alcohol-to-go offer via text message that resulted in $40,000 of bottled King's Whiskey sold.

"I was able to sell that because I was able to text my customers directly," Sitter says.

Clients outside of Sitter's own properties also see growth. Ninety-three percent of restaurants using the VIPinsiders platform reported an increase in sales.

"I would absolutely recommend other operators to sign up for VIPinsiders because it has increased our sales, our guests love it, and the support we get from them makes it effortless," explains Usman Dhanani, President of Operations for Cyclone Anaya's Tex-Mex Kitchen, in a VIPinsiders testimonial video.

El Toro, a Mexican restaurant chain with six Texas locations, generated an estimated additional $735,000 in sales with a total of more than 35,000 additional customer visits, according to VIPinsiders data.

"The biggest brands in the world and celebrities lead a charge into marketing initiatives," says Sitter, "A company like ours will bring that to small businesses and make it affordable for them so they can compete at the highest level."

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Property Showcase

Houston energy giant Shell lists local headquarters for sale for $325M

On the Market

Energy giant Shell has put its U.S. headquarters in Houston’s Energy Corridor on the market and is exploring the sale of its U.S. chemical business.

Green Street News reported Shell just listed its longtime Energy Corridor campus at 150 N. Dairy Ashford Road. The asking price is $325 million, The Real Deal reported. Shell plans to lease back half of the nearly 1.5 million-square-foot Woodcreek campus for 15 years.

A sale-leaseback deal could transform the 43.6-acre campus into a multitenant hub, CoStar News reported.

“Houston is a critical hub for Shell globally and the headquarters of our U.S. businesses,” a Shell spokesperson told the Houston Business Journal. “We remain committed to Houston and are evaluating opportunities to optimize our Woodcreek campus as part of our ongoing review of workplace needs while maintaining a strong presence in the city.”

Shell occupied its first building at the West Houston campus in 1980. The company employs more than 6,000 people in Texas.

Shell is one of the highest-profile businesses occupying space in the Energy Corridor. It’s home to 67,000 workers, more than 27 million square feet of office and mixed-use space, and 3.8 million square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Shell considers $8B sale of chemical business
As the company seeks to unload its Woodcreek campus, The Financial Times reported Shell is looking into selling its U.S. chemical business. The price tag: $8 billion.

Potential buyers include Spring-based ExxonMobil and Houston-based LyondellBasell.

Shell operates four chemical plants in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, producing an array of chemicals for use in plastics, detergents and pharmaceuticals.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan said last year that the company had spent $45 billion in capital “that is underperforming for us,” split between its chemical business and renewable energy arm.

Shell also agreed to sell its solar and wind power business in India this summer. Read more here.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for September

where to be

The energy transition and AI will be the talk of this town this month, thanks to a packed calendar of Houston events. September brings the return of Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week and some of its signature anchor events, plus AI conferences and talks exploring how the technology is impacting everything from healthcare to leadership. Here’s what not to miss and how to register. Please note: this article may be updated to add more events.


Sept. 3 — Entrepreneurship Roundtable with Open

Open Houston and the Ion present this roundtable event to bring together founders, builders, and innovators at various stages of venture development. This month's session will feature Faisal Bhutto, president and CEO of Houston-based AI and tech consulting firm Alykas.

This event is Thursday, Sept. 3, from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Ion. An optional lunch ticket is available for purchase. Register here.

Sept. 3 — AI Operator Spotlight: Houston’s Top AI Leaders Open Their Playbooks

The Houston AI Club, Allenix, the Ion District and Collide are bringing together industry leaders to share their expertise and first-hand experiences building AI companies. The event will feature a panel with Chuck Yates, co-founder of Collide, and Charles Jessup, senior manager of AI fluency at Raytheon, plus an open networking session.

This event is Thursday, Sept. 3, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Sept. 8 — The Technology Leadership Advantage Series – For CEOs, VCs and PE Firms

Ram Prasad, CEO of Houston-based IT consulting firm Delence, will explore the role of leadership in turning AI investments into business value during the latest installment of this series at the Ion. The event will explore why AI strategies often fail before the technology does and how companies should approach AI ownership, governance, investment and accountability.

This event is Tuesday, Sept. 8, from noon-1 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Sept. 14–18 — Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week

Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns for its third year, with panels, happy hours and pitch days focused on the energy transition. See the schedule of events here. The week will begin with a kickoff block party and open house at the Ion.

This event starts Monday, Sept. 14. The Ion District will host many of the week's events. Find more information here.

Sept. 15 — Meet the Activate Houston Cohort 2026 Fellows

Meet Activate's latest cohort, which was named this summer, and learn more about their hardtech and climate-focused solutions. Also meet founders from the organization’s 2025 cohort during Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week.

This event is Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 5-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Sept. 15 – Cypher Pilotathon and Startup Showcase

Grab coffee and take in keynotes and panels featuring leaders from Amperon, Aramco Ventures, New Climate Ventures, Syzygy Plasmonics and many others during this signature event, this year under the theme “The NEW Energy Industrial Revolution.” After lunch, hear pitches from 31 ventures during the Pilotathon. This year's event will also feature a startup showcase with interactive booths where attendees can meet founders and see demonstrations, plus an industry hub where corporates and investors can engage with emerging technologies and identify the pilots they want to move forward with.

This event is Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at POST Houston. Get tickets here.

Sept. 15-17 — The AI in Health Conference

Rice University's Ken Kennedy Institute will present this future-focused event, aimed at bridging the gap between artificial intelligence and real-world health outcomes. The event will feature panels with leaders from institutions and companies from around the world, plus technical talks, poster presentations and networking receptions.

This event begins Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 8 a.m. at the BRC at Rice University. Register here.

Sept. 16 — Greentown Labs Climatech Summit

Entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders, policymakers and philanthropists will head to Houston this month for the annual Greentown Climatetech Summit. Hear from Greentown CEO Georgina Campbell Flatter and keynote speaker Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Houston geothermal unicorn Fervo Energy, plus numerous other engaging panels at the Ion. Then head to Greentown Labs for an open house and startup showcase, where attendees can meet some of the climatech incubators' members, before taking in the startup pitch competition followed by happy hour over at the Continental Club.

This event is Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 8 a.m.–9 p.m. at multiple locations. Register here.

Sept. 18 — Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum

Hear from clean energy startups from around the world at the 23rd annual Energy Tech Venture Forum. In addition to the pitches, this event will also host keynotes from Sean Maher, chief economist at Phillips 66, and Ira Ehrenpreis, founder and managing partner of DBL Partner. Panels will focus on technologies, infrastructure and commercialization strategies needed to deploy breakthrough innovations at scale. Following the event, the Rice Alliance will also name its annual “Most Promising” startup.

This event is Thursday, Sept. 17, from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. Register here.

Sept. 23 – Houston Methodist Innovation Discussion

Houston Methodist presents its latest Innovation Discussion this month for the Houston health IT community. This month's event will feature Dr. Jordan Dale, chief medical information officer and chief health AI officer at Houston Methodist, and Ginny Torno, executive director of innovation and IT clinical, ancillary and research systems for Houston Methodist. The two will share insights into Houston Methodist’s innovation strategy and approach to scaling new ideas, plus real-world lessons on AI adoption and more.

This event is Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Sept. 23 — UH Energy Career Fair

Find your next job or team member at UH's energy-focused career fair. The event will feature companies from the fossil fuels, electrical power, nuclear power and renewables industries; plus nonprofits, governmental agencies and startups. And though the event is geared toward business, engineering, technology and science majors, it is open to students of all majors.

This event is Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the UH Student Center. Find more information here.

Sept. 30 — First Principles Tech Talk: From Orbit to the Lunar Surface

Head to the Ion for the first-ever First Principles Tech Talk. This event will feature short talks and moderated discussions geared toward founders, engineers and operators in the commercial space industry. The inaugural event will feature Megan Ortiz and Zach Paugh from Houston-based Axiom Space.

This event is Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 5-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Momentum is where Houston founders go to break $1 million — apply by Sept. 30

Inside EO

Houston loves a startup story. The harder story, the one that decides whether a company becomes an employer, a brand, and a fixture of the city, is what happens after the start. Most businesses that survive their early years still never cross $1 million in revenue. Fewer than 5 percent ever do. The rest get stuck in the messy middle, somewhere between $250,000 and $1 million, where the owner is still the salesperson, the product, and the back office all at once, and nothing runs without them.

Momentum, the accelerator run by EO Houston, exists for exactly that stage. It is a yearly accelerator for owners and co-founders between $250,000 and $1 million in revenue who are ready to push past seven figures, built around eight months of classes a year and a confidential monthly Forum. Members are invited to go through it for two years: the first pass to build the systems, the second to run them at a higher level, with a new lens and alongside a new cohort.

The next cohort launches in October, with applications open now at eohouston.com/momentum until September 30. Here is the case the chapter makes for joining, point by point.

A curriculum built by operators, not consultants

Momentum's curriculum was built by two operators. Al Danto, an EO Houston founding member who built and exited his own company, is now a Partner at Exit Advisors and a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Rice University. He built the curriculum alongside Jacky Fischer, the owner of Houston's 3 Men Movers, who brought a working owner's eye, not an academic one, to how the program is structured. The material covers what actually decides whether a company scales: building systems, hiring and leading a team, and turning an annual vision into 90-day commitments with clear owners.

“Everything in this curriculum got tested inside a real company, either mine or one run by the people who shaped it. If a tool did not survive contact with a real business, it did not make the cut," Danto says.

Momentum is an independent program of EO Houston and requires no university affiliation; faculty and alumni participate as instructors and coaches in their individual capacities. What carries over is the standard: real experience over theory.

EO Houston Momentum classroom A Momentum class in session. Photo courtesy of EO Houston

Entrepreneurs teaching entrepreneurs since 1987

Momentum works because of what sits behind it. The Entrepreneurs' Organization was founded in 1987 on a simple idea: business owners grow fastest alongside peers who have already been where they are going. Today, EO is a global, peer-to-peer network spanning 200+ chapters in over 80 countries, and it runs on a practice called Forum, a small, confidential group of six to 10 fellow owners who meet monthly. Forum members do not give advice. They share experience: what actually happened when they faced the same hire, the same cash crunch, the same decision. Ask EO members anywhere in the world and most will call Forum the single most valuable thing they belong to. Every Momentum member sits in one.

Built for scaling small businesses, not launching startups

Houston's accelerator landscape mostly serves the very early stage: the idea, the pitch deck, the startup swinging for a billion-dollar outcome. Momentum sits in the gap those programs leave behind. It is built for regular companies that are already real, with revenue, payroll, and customers, and an owner who needs help scaling what works into a business that matures. That focus is the point: EO Houston is the place a small business goes to get help growing.

The price is different too. Accelerators usually charge in ownership, a stake in the company in exchange for the program. Momentum takes none. EO Houston is a nonprofit, and the program runs on dues of $3,500 for the year. The outcome the chapter is after is simple: more Houston businesses crossing $1 million, still fully owned by the people who built them.

An on-ramp into Houston's most established founder community

EO Houston counts more than 200 member businesses, every one run by an owner who has already scaled past $1 million, with 75+ chapter events a year. Momentum members plug into that community from day one: the classes, their own Forum, the annual gala, the retreats, the socials. Two years around people who have already done the thing you are trying to do changes what you believe is normal. And when a Momentum member crosses $1 million, the on-ramp becomes a doorway: graduates step into EO Houston membership itself and the global network behind it. The program's full story and curriculum live at eomomentum.com.

Avneesh Oberoi, founder of Oberoi Investments and The DoughCone, walked that path, finishing the program and joining EO Houston in July 2026.

“I truly can say that the experience for the last two years has been life-changing and so memorable… I am also so filled with gratitude to have met so many people open to sharing their experiences and time. It’s made such a difference in how I think, operate, and spend my time and resources," Oberoi says. "I joined with the goal of taking my business I started personally, The DoughCone, and figuring out how to optimize the business and maximize revenue, while navigating a board seat and ownership in a much larger family business on its third generation of ownership… and EO has given me so many tools and experience shares and perspectives I’ve been able to take to both businesses. The growth has been unreal.”

The door swings both ways. EO Houston is opening Momentum to its own members too, owners whose companies average $3 million to $5 million in sales, because the chapter believes the same curriculum and Forum that carry a founder to $1 million keep working well past it.

Sarah Seitz shows how the pieces connect. A former teacher, she founded The Enrichery, a Houston education company offering academic coaching, test prep, and college counseling that has grown to locations across the city. She completed the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, then joined EO Houston to keep growing. This year, a year after joining, The Enrichery made the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. She coached Momentum through its first year, and has since moved from coaching into leadership, helping shape the program's growth from its board.

For owners finishing a program like 10,000 Small Businesses who are not yet at $1 million, Momentum is where the coaching and community continue until they qualify for EO.

Apply by September 30

Momentum's next cohort begins in October 2026, and applications close September 30. The program is for owners and co-founders of Houston businesses doing more than $250,000 a year who are ready to build past $1 million, and now for EO Houston members ready to keep growing. The full curriculum, dues, dates, and FAQ are on the application page. Apply by September 30 at eohouston.com/momentum.

Fewer than 5 percent of businesses make it past $1 million, and there is nothing inevitable about which 5 percent. Houston has the founders. Momentum exists to give them the systems and the peers.

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EO Houston is the Houston chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, a global peer-to-peer network of business owners founded in 1987, with more than 200 member businesses and 75+ chapter events a year. Momentum is an independent program of EO Houston. Rice University faculty and alumni participate as instructors and coaches in their individual capacities.

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