What does Customer Discovery mean for your business?
Customer discovery is finding an audience that you think shares the same problem, and then asking that audience specific questions to see if they have identified your idea as a potential solution.
12th Largest City and No Accelerators?
Fort Worth is the largest city in the country without any accelerators for entrepreneurs and startup companies and that is holding us back!
Accelerator vs. Incubator: Which One is Right for You?
An entrepreneur has several different options to choose from when it comes to getting help with their scalable startup. Sometimes they need a mentor. Other times they need a developer, an accountant, a lawyer, or funding. In the end, entrepreneurs will almost always need some kind of help to either get their business off the ground or to grow and scale it. Two commonly used options are an accelerator and incubator. You may have heard these two terms thrown around before, but what are they, and what are the main differences between them? Accelerator The goal of this program is to “accelerate” the growth of these companies by preparing them to be attractive to early-stage investors in a short amount of time. An accelerator is a program that...
Fort Worth’s First African-American Entrepreneur
What if I told you that there was an incredible entrepreneur, right here in Fort Worth, who was a trailblazer, an inspiration, and a guide to so many entrepreneurs after him? What if I told you that this man overcame incredible adversity and tragedies that we will never be able to understand or imagine? What if I told you this incredible man beat the odds and ‘made it’ in Fort Worth? No, I’m not talking about Amon Carter or some other big names you might know. I’m talking about John Pratt. Chances are you've never heard of him. Thanks to the archives of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, websites on local history, and some...
20 Years of Venture Funding in Fort Worth in 6 Charts
Early stage funding trends for Fort Worth-based companies over a 20 year period summed up in 6 charts.
Fort Worth Private Equity Funding
In a previous blog post, we looked at early stage capital investment in Fort Worth, and where the city stood in comparison to other Texas and US cities. We established that Fort Worth doesn’t have a lot of early stage capital, but it turns out there’s plenty of private equity (PE) money here, which tends to invest in later stage, more established companies. Relatively speaking, that assumption is correct. We looked at data from Pitchbook to see just how much PE was being invested in Fort Worth and how that compares to other Texas cities. As seen in the chart below, companies...
Electrifying Funkytown: Linear Labs + Fort Worth
The City of Fort Worth finalized an economic incentive package deal with Linear Labs in June that provided a nearly $70 million Research and Development (R&D) grant for the innovative, electric-motor company. This package represented the first use of this R&D tax credit by the City of Fort Worth, a tax credit that is believed to be the first-of-its-kind in the country. But, what is it exactly and why is it important? Here are a few more details on this groundbreaking incentive for investment in innovation in Fort Worth. What is Linear Labs and what makes them special? Founded in 2014 by...
Early Stage Investments in Tarrant County at the Municipal Level
In this blog we're going to take a look at all the early stage investment deals in Tarrant County since 2015, including a breakdown at the individual municipality (town or city) level. While most of our prior data-heavy blog posts have focused on Fort Worth as a city and how it compares to fellow Texas cities, this time around we wanted to look locally, at the greater Fort Worth area: Tarrant County. There are 41 Tarrant County municipalities stretching from Keller, to White Settlement, to Burleson, to Arlington, and everywhere in between. Tarrant County’s estimated 2020 population is 2,139,860, which ranks as...
What I Learned This Summer
I will forever be grateful for all the experience I gained, the knowledge I attained, the connections I found, and the memories I made. In honor of my departure, I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned throughout my time the past few months.
Innovator Spotlight: Kari Crowe-Seher of Melt Ice Creams
A new episode of the Innovate Fort Worth podcast dropped last Tuesday with Kari Crowe-Seher, the founder of Melt Ice Creams. Most everyone likes, and dare I say, loves ice cream. Most people would also agree that eating ice cream brings them a certain amount of happiness. Kari Crowe-Seher has used these common sentiments to form the backbone of her business and even took it a step further, creating the mission statement “To serve happy ice cream” to reflect it. I could try to explain just how passionate Kari is about this idea of spreading joy with her product, but it’s more poignant...
