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Entrepreneurship can be exhilarating — but it can also be isolating. Founders often carry the weight of leadership, strategy, hiring decisions, and financial risk without many people who truly understand the pressure. Increasingly, business owners are turning to peer-driven communities for support, insight, and accountability.

One of the most prominent of these communities is the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global network of more than 19,000 influential business owners across 86 countries. Built on the belief that entrepreneurs grow best when they learn from one another, EO creates a space where founders can openly share challenges, test ideas, and gain perspective from peers who have faced similar decisions.

A 360-Degree Approach to Growth
Unlike traditional business groups that focus solely on revenue and scale, EO emphasizes holistic development. The organization encourages members to pursue what it calls “360-degree growth” — improving not only their businesses but also their personal lives, leadership skills, and overall well-being.

Through mentorship, peer forums, and curated learning experiences, members gain tools to better balance the demands of entrepreneurship with life outside the office. The goal is not just stronger companies, but stronger leaders.

A Global Network of Entrepreneurs
Connection sits at the center of the EO experience. Members become part of a trusted community of entrepreneurs who exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and celebrate wins together. These peer relationships often provide clarity that founders can’t easily find inside their own organizations.

EO also opens doors to world-class education opportunities. Members can access proprietary programs and leadership experiences developed in collaboration with leading institutions such as London Business School, Harvard Business School, and The Wharton School. These programs combine academic insight with practical founder experience.

But for many entrepreneurs, the most valuable lessons come directly from fellow members. See how founders feel about the forum experience and the insights they've gained from other participants:

Q: What’s the biggest business change you made because of EO peer advice, and what single metric moved?

A: “My EO Forum encouraged me to slow down long enough to see my blind spots. I stopped running the company purely on instinct and intensity, and I started building real structure, accountability, and leadership around me.” -Jeremy Jenson, Encore Search Partners

A: “Joined and utilized EOS and have quadrupled our business.” —Mark Thiessen, Thiessen Law Firm

Q: What tough moment did EO help you navigate, and what was the outcome?

A: “Changing my business model to focus on one service and one service only — lawn sprinkler system repairs. We have seen greatly improved labor efficiency rates and profit margins.” —Jason Troth, Sprinkler Repair Professionals

A: “My forum helped me navigate and get past a health issue that had derived into a depression.” —Alejandro Cortez, SAI Environmental Services

Q: What’s the best “playbook” you borrowed from another member?

A: “Show up on time. Do what you say. Finish what you start. Say please and thank you.” —Robert Wagnon, W5Ranches

A: “You have to confidently ask for the business. Don’t chase clients at pricing that does not work.” —Pete Patterson, Patterson PC

The Power of Peer Insight
For many founders, the biggest breakthroughs don’t come from books or consultants—they come from conversations with other entrepreneurs who have walked the same path.

Peer-driven organizations like EO are redefining how leaders grow. By combining trusted relationships, shared experience, and access to world-class education, they create an environment where founders can think bigger, lead better, and build businesses that last.

And perhaps most importantly, they remind entrepreneurs that while building a company can feel lonely, they don’t have to do it alone.

Register for Venture Houston on February 4th and 5th, plus apply to pitch your startup and win thousands of dollars in investments. Photo via Getty Images

Now is the time to bring venture capital to Houston

Time to Connect

For so many, COVID has changed the game, and venture capitalists, startups, and corporations are in a flurry to learn the new rules. Investors and entrepreneurs now more than ever are seizing the opportunity to engage with tech ecosystems in cities like Houston to take advantage of large corporations as neighbors and possible customers to their startups.

Through the intersection of these groups comes great opportunity and massive unlocked potential. But the execution of this intersection must be curated in order to be effective. HX Venture Fund, Houston's strategic venture capital fund-of-funds, is working to not only bring these groups together, but to create a collision that paves the way for innovation and information to flow among all parties.

In a world in which we are "colliding" from our home offices and dining room tables, the stakes are high, and these intersection opportunities cannot be missed.

In February, HX Venture Fund — in collaboration with Rice Alliance, Houston Angel Network, and Houston Exponential — will bring this conversation to Houston through Venture Houston, a two-day virtual event connecting venture capitalists from across the country to Houston entrepreneurs and corporations.

Steve Case, Chairman & CEO at Revolution Ventures and co-founder of AOL, will kick off the conversation by discussing how this wave of innovation is coming to Houston and why our city is perfectly equipped to let it thrive. Venture capitalists from Houston, as well as the HX Venture Fund portfolio, will give their unique perspective on how to scale a startup in Houston and why they are looking to invest their capital in the city's growing innovation ecosystem.

Some of Houston's best success stories and founders — Shashi Narahari of High Radius, Joe Alapat of Liongard, Bryan Sansbury of AEGIS Hedging, Kim Raath of Topl, Ben Johnson of Spruce, and others — will discuss their successful navigation of Houston's startup ecosystem, from raising capital to finding talent.

And some of the city's most prominent corporations, including all of HX Venture Fund's Limited Partners — such as Insperity, Rice Management Company, and LyondellBasell — will discuss how their industry verticals are changing and how innovation is the key to their future successes.

The two conference days will end with a pitch competition specifically for Houston and Gulf Coast Region startups with over $1.7 million in investment and in-kind prizes from investors across the nation and the HX Venture Fund portfolio in an effort to showcase and power the very best entrepreneurs in our city.

While the landscape is changing and subsequent innovation more disruptive than ever, HX Venture Fund is determined to not let this opportunity go to waste and to fuel the innovation that comes with it. The experience of the venture capitalists, the rigor of the entrepreneur, and the network of the corporation are the key elements to setting the innovation ecosystem alight. Venture Houston 2021 will be one of the places that sparks the flame.

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Venture Houston is taking place online February 4-5. Click here to register. The startup pitch competition application deadline is January 15 — click here to apply.

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AI-powered Houston startup helps restaurants boost customer loyalty

order up

It’s no secret that restaurant trends move fast and margins run thin. And with the proliferation of platforms like Uber Eats, DoorDash and Easy Cater, customer loyalty is fleeting.

The solution?

How about an AI-powered restaurant technology platform that helps restaurant brands cut back on third-party platforms in favor of driving direct discovery, conversion and loyalty?

Enter Saivory. Founded in 2025 by Stephen Klein, a software investor, and Fajita Pete’s restaurateur Hugh Guill, the Houston-based startup aims to help eateries better understand and activate guest behavior across digital channels as AI increasingly reshapes how consumers discover and engage with brands.

In less than a year, Saivory has partnered with Shipley Do-Nuts and Fajita Pete’s to bring AI-powered ordering to life.

“With Saivory, we were able to answer the question of, ‘what if the ordering process could be reduced to a single step, where customers simply tell us what they want and AI takes care of the rest?’” Klein tells InnovationMap.

The Houston-based startup made such an immediate impact that it was selected as a semi-finalist during Start-Up Alley at MURTEC, the restaurant industry’s leading technology conference, which took place last month in Las Vegas.

“Houston is a great hub for technology innovation, and we were proud to represent the city at MURTEC this year,” says Klein. “We didn’t win, but we were able to talk about some of the work that we have existing in the market for clients right now and a little bit about what we’re working on in the future.”

In the current restaurant technology ecosystem, the third-party aggregators own the customer attention that brings volume to restaurants, while also taking big commissions and having control over the end relationships with the customer.

That can often make it difficult for restaurants to grow loyalty and repeat business from customers. Saivory aims to level the playing field for restaurants, helping them stay more connected to their customers.

Take Saivory’s recent application with Shipley’s Do-Nuts, for example.

Saivory powered the donut giant’s AI-ordering and launched Shipley's website and mobile app to support its over 300 locations in Texas alone.

Shipley’s new AI-powered assistant helps users create personalized order recommendations based on individual or group preferences. And unlike standard chatbox features, the new assistant makes custom recommendations based on multiple customer factors, including budgetary habits, individual flavor preferences and order size. It can also be used for large catering orders.

“They're seeing more traffic to the site and they're seeing when customers use our AI-enabled flows,” Klein says. “And they're seeing higher basket sizes, bigger tickets, by about 25 percent.”

Klein says Saivory’s technology helps strengthen first-party digital relationships, reduce friction and cart abandonment, improve average order value, and delivers personalized, efficient experiences.

“It’s a win-win: the customer gets the right order quickly, while the restaurant gets a bigger margin,” he adds.

Additionally, the technology makes it easier for restaurants to share rewards, loyalty and discounts, ultimately growing more direct traffic and making restaurants less reliant on third-party delivery apps.

Next up for Saivory is adding new components to its platform to enhance the relationship between restaurant and customer, as well as technology around making it easier for restaurants to get found on Google.

“A lot of people are still searching for the best donuts near me,” Klein says. “Or what’s the best Mexican food near me? Customers will increasingly move to AI, where they’re going to ask where they should eat dinner and expect it to just order them dinner. They will eventually expect the technology to know how to do that. So that’s what we’re driving at.”

Houston leads U.S. in population growth for 2025, Census says

Boomtown

Imagine that the Houston metro area swallowed a city the size of Pearland in just one year. That’s essentially what happened from 2024 to 2025, with the Houston metro ranking first in the U.S. for population growth based on the number of people.

New estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show the 10-county Houston metro added 126,720 residents from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025. That’s just shy of Pearland’s roughly 133,000-resident tally.

To calculate population, the Census Bureau counts births, deaths, new residents, and moved-away residents.

Region’s population approaches 8 million

On July 1, 2025, the Houston metro’s population hovered slightly above 7.9 million, up 1.6 percent from the same time in 2024. In the very near future, the region’s population should break the eight million mark.

This follows massive growth in the past 20 years. From 2005 to 2025, the region’s population soared by 39 percent. By comparison, the growth rate from 2021 to 2025 sat at nine percent.

A forecast from the Texas Demographics Center indicates that under a middle-of-the-road scenario, the Houston metro’s population will reach nearly 8.5 million in mid-2030 and more than 9.5 million in mid-2040.

Dan Potter, director of Rice University’s Houston Population Research Center, attributes much of the region’s population surge to people moving to the area from outside the U.S. In Harris County, this means a combination of military personnel returning home, people living or working overseas coming back to the U.S., and immigrants relocating to the U.S., he tells CultureMap.

But Harris County fell short from 2024 to 2025 when it comes to people moving here from elsewhere in the U.S., according to Potter. Counties surrounding Harris County benefited from that trend, drawing new residents who preferred to settle in the suburbs.

“The incredible pull and attraction of the Houston area is its economy, its people, and its affordability, and the significant growth that was observed in 2024 and again in 2025 speaks to the magnetism of the region,” Potter says. “That pull to Houston is too strong to be turned off overnight.”

Cooling economy and immigration shifts slow down growth

Whether looking at urban or suburban places, population growth in the Houston area slowed in 2025 and appears to be slowing even more this year, Potter says.

“A cooling economy and changes to immigration policy are a one-two combination that could knock out the region’s population growth,” says Potter, citing the region’s addition of a less-than-expected 14,800 jobs in 2025 as an example.

Weaker population growth may not be felt evenly across the metro area, according to Potter.

A continuing influx of people from Houston to outlying counties such as Brazoria, Fort Bend, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller could curb growth in Harris County, Potter said. Why? If the number of people arriving from other other countries flattens or even drops, then there could be “doughnut-style population growth for the next few years, where Harris County and Houston see declines while the suburban counties see an increase.”

Harris County represents 40 percent of region’s population lift

Houston-anchored Harris County accounted for almost 40 percent of the region’s population spike from 2024 to 2025. In one year, Harris County grew by 48,695 residents, or 1 percent, pushing its population past five million. That increase put Harris County in first place for numeric growth (rather than percentage growth) among all U.S. counties.

From 2020 to 2025, Harris County’s growth rate was 6.6 percent. It remains the country’s third largest county based on population, behind Southern California’s Los Angeles County and Illinois’ Chicago-anchored Cook County.

Harris County is on track to surpass Cook County in size in the near future. As of July 1, 2025, a nearly 150,000-resident gap separated population-losing Cook County and fast-growing Harris County.

The Texas Demographics Center predicts Harris County’s population will be 5.37 million in mid-2030 and just short of six million in mid-2040.

Suburban counties see significant population gains

Harris County isn’t the only county in the area that experienced a growth spurt from 2024 to 2025:

  • Waller County’s population climbed 5.69 percent, winding up at 69,858. Its growth rate ranked second among U.S. counties.
  • Liberty County’s population rose 4.4 percent to 121,364, putting its growth rate in eighth place among U.S. counties.
  • Montgomery County gained 30,011 residents, with its population landing at 781,194. That placed it at No. 4 among U.S. counties for numeric growth.
  • Fort Bend County picked up 24,163 residents, arriving at a total of 975,191 and positioning it at No. 8 among U.S. counties for numeric growth. Fort Bend County, the region’s second largest county based on population, is projected to break the one million-resident mark by July 2030, according to the Texas Demographics Center.

“Lower mortgage rates from 2009 to 2022 and the rise of remote work have made suburban housing more attractive, especially for families seeking affordability,” Pramod Sambidi, the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s assistant director of data analytics and research, said last year. “Additionally, suburban areas are seeing more multifamily developments than before the pandemic.”

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

5 Houston-area companies named among world's most innovative for 2026

In The Spotlight

Led by Conroe-based Hertha Metals, five organizations in the Houston area earned praise on Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026.

Hertha Metals ranked No. 1 in the manufacturing category.

Last year, Hertha unveiled a single-step process for steelmaking that it says is cheaper, more energy-efficient and just as scalable as traditional steel manufacturing. It started testing the process in 2024 at a one-metric-ton-per-day pilot plant.

At the same time, Hertha announced more than $17 million in venture capital funding from investors such as Breakthrough Energy, Clean Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Pear VC.

“We’re not just reinventing steelmaking; we’re redefining what’s possible in materials, manufacturing, and national resilience,” Laureen Meroueh, founder and CEO of Hertha, said at the time.

Meroueh was also recently named to Inc. Magazine's 2026 Female Founders 500 list.

Hertha, founded in 2022, says traditional steelmaking relies on an outdated, coal-based multistep process that is costly, and contributes up to 9 percent of industrial energy use and 10 percent of global carbon emissions.

By contrast, Hertha’s method converts low-grade iron ore into molten steel or high-purity iron in one step. The company says its process is 30 percent more energy-efficient than traditional steelmaking and costs less than producing steel in China.

Last year, Hertha said it planned to break ground in 2026 on a plant capable of producing more than 9,000 metric tons of steel per year. In its next phase, the company plans to operate at 500,000 metric tons of steel production per year.

Here are Fast Company’s rankings for the four other Houston-area organizations:

  • Houston-based Vaulted Deep, No. 3 in catchall “other” category.
  • XGS Energy, No. 7 in the energy category. XGS’ proprietary solid-state geothermal system uses thermally conductive materials to deliver affordable energy anywhere hot rock is located. While Fast Company lists Houston as XGS’ headquarters, and the company has a major presence in the city, XGS is based in Palo Alto, California.
  • Houston-based residential real estate brokerage Epique Realty, No. 10 in the business services category. Epique, which bills itself as the industry’s first AI brokerage, provides a free AI toolkit for real estate agents to enhance marketing, streamline content creation, and improve engagement with clients and prospects.
  • Texas A&M University’s Nanostructured Materials Lab in College Station. The lab studies nano-structured materials to make materials lighter for the aerospace industry, improve energy storage, and enable the creation of “smart” textiles.
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This article first appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.