“To: Texas Trailblazers” a Letter From the Founder

Howdy Texans,

As y’all know, there’s one big Texan phenomenon where the entire state lights up with excitement for innovation and entrepreneurship… the Texas Venture Fest! Co-created across12 cities, 19 venues, for 3,000 Texans, it’s one truly Texas-sized amplification of the ecosystem of startup support. And now adding on this year, we not only went international, we went intergalactic, so I wanted to extend a special thank you to the stellar Texans who carry our flag cross country to open a Texas Venture Fest: Mexico Edition, and to our space-faring friends for launching the Texas Venture Fest: Mars Edition!

Recognizing Texas Excellence

We also doubled down right here inside the state. We felt the importance, that since theTexas Venture Fest is uniquely positioned and grabs the attention of the entire statewide innovation community, that we ask registrants to share with us their favorite startups, investors, and community leaders via the Texan’s Choice Awards, the “People’s Choice Awards” for Texas innovation. Read more about that here.

Texan Brand: Beers ‘n Boots

Also new to this year’s Texas Venture Fest, are some fun brand-defining partnerships. We launched the “Official Beer of the Texas Venture Fest: Starbase Brewery”. How fitting since their mission is to be the first beer on Mars, and Texas will launch fleets of rockets toward the Red Planet soon! They’ve provided their Mars beers to Texas Venture Fest locations all across the state, and meet the founder for a beer tasting in Austin at the Red Fridge Society. Read more about this partnership here.

We’re also got an “Official Boot of the Texas Venture Fest: Alvies Boots”, announcing to the statewide guests an automatic 30% off with the code “TXVentureFest” until November 3rd. AND if you come to the Boot Party in Austin at Silverton Partners to get a fitting, you’ll receive an additional 20% off (50% total). Share with your friends to register for the TVF: Austin Edition! Alvies has also gifted all TVF co-hosts a pair of boots to stomp into before hittin’ the Texas Venture Fest or before the Texas Venture Gala & Forum, so stay turned on that! And coming right up on Oct 5th, join the Exclusive Investor Boot Party by Alvies and High Basin Brands at Treaty Oak Distilling by requesting an invite here.

Texas Venture Fest Events

You’ll notice we all host “Texas Venture Fests”, meaning we literally lead with the same unified name, “Texas”. Each host city features programming and/or networking that fits the needs of their region. Then six months from now we all convene at the Texas Venture Gala & Forum, host discussions, share notes, make new friends, see old ones… and have one heck of a dinner together recognizing Texas Excellence— more about the TVF’s sister signature event here. I have a unique vantage point of seeing what’s going on across all TVF locations, so I’ll share a little teaser if you promise to help spread the word with your fellow Texas neighbors:

1) Texas Venture Fest: Austin features a Venture Crawl with 6 locations, shuttles, a honky tonk band, “Chicken Sh!t Bingo”, the Alvies Boot Party, Hispanic Heritage, Mars beers, and a Venture Scavenger Hunt
2) Texas Venture Fest:Pflugerville launched their first Venture Week, sparked by the idea from the Texas Venture Fest happy hour!
3) Texas Venture Fest: Kerrville took it up a notch from their last year’s award-winning event, to expand across a full day
4) Texas Venture Fest: Rio Grande Valley grew from just Brownsville to become regional, alongside neighboring city partners
5) Texas Venture Fest: El Paso is a part of their El Paso Startup Week
6) Texas Venture Fest: North Texas will kickoff with the mayor of Arlington, followed by speakers from several Stock Exchanges
7) Texas Venture Fest: Houston is one big day starting with both the very popular “Cup of Joey”, ending with Bayou City Startups Happy Hour
8) Texas Venture Fest: Buda is using their event to launch their very first accelerator
9) Texas Venture Fest: San Antonio is a partnership with Tech Bloc and Founder Institute Texas to launch FI’s San Antonio program
10) Texas Venture Fest: Round Rock is hosting a pitch competition with prize money
11) Texas Venture Fest: East Texas is a new location and a coalition between 6 different cities!
12) Texas Venture Fest: Mexico City is our first international event, co-hosted by the Texas State Chamber of Commerce as part of their week-long delegation for the Mexican Presidential Inauguration

Register for a Texas Venture Fest near you, and please share on social media and with friends to meet you there or to attend one in their city! Hear more from the Texas Venture Fest hosts via our statewide press release here.

A Texas Song

I’ll leave y’all with a song close to my heart. It’s the final one on the Texas Venture Fest: Spotify Playlist, a way I organized my favorite Texas-themed songs I hope you enjoy while getting ready for the Fest! It’s a special one called “On the Road Again”, by the famous Texan, Willie Nelson, and it’s one of which I’ll dedicate to my sweet Dad who passed away early last year. One of the fondest memories I had with him was belting out those lyrics together in the car as a little girl. Well, following my loss, later that summer I found a lot of solace driving the thousands of miles visiting almost every co-host in 20 cities, leading up to what was the first statewide Texas Venture Fest 2023. All of those meetings started with a handshake and ended with a hug.

Most importantly, to all the Texas Venture Fest co-hosts, I want to thank you for all that you do for entrepreneurs just like me— we really need it. You offer support in form of funding, programs, office spaces, events, resources, and more that help so many Texans. In fact, the Texas Venture Fest was born out of the desire to amplify YOU and what YOU do as the ecosystem of startup support, amplified in the biggest way we can think of. You make such an impact not just in your city, but by hosting a Texas Venture Fest, you’re connecting your region into the statewide network where we can all see and help each other out. So thank you for your friendship, for pushing toward our shared vision, and for on a personal note, a wonderful life adventure thanks to this experience with you. I think Willie sings it better:

“…On the road again,
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway,
We’re the best of friends,
Insisting that the world keep turnin’ our way, ….and our way
Is on the road again,
Just can’t wait to get on the road again,
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends,
And I just can’t wait to get on the road again”

See y’all soon, and have a great Texas Venture Fest! 🤠

Best,

CS Freeland
Texas Venture Fest Founder
Texas Venture Newsletter Editor
(Feel Free To Find & Connect Here)