Innovation is changing Fort Worth. Start ups and a spirit of entrepreneurship are transforming the city known for Cowboys and Culture into a hub for innovative ideas and businesses. Innovate Fort Worth shares the stories of the city’s leading innovators, entrepreneurs and investors —and highlights the resources available to bring ideas to market. Powered by UNT Health Science Center.
Episode #1 Marco Johnson: Cowboys, Culture and Innovation
Fort Worth is the City of Cowboys and Culture. But for the country’s 13th-largest city to compete in today’s economy, it must also become a City of Innovation. Marco Johnson spent years sparking innovation in faraway places like East Africa. Now he’s at UNT Health Science Center connecting Fort Worth entrepreneurs with the right resources for their startups.
Episode #40 Chris Cobler: Fourth Estate in Fort Worth
Local journalism is changing. The explosion of social media and declining print advertising have hurt the industry that traditional created fair and factual reporting at the local level. That is where Chris Cobler, Publisher of the new Fort Worth Report comes in. Chris discusses the importance of serving the community by providing high quality, objective local journalism through a nonprofit. He also dives into the need of a free and independent press and why the Fourth Estate is critical to our democracy.
Episode #39 Chuck Bouligny: Juggling Your Friends
It can be difficult to stay in touch with family, friends, and other important relationships in your life. Chuck Bouligny talks about the latest app hitting the tech scene in Fort Worth. Juggle helps people balance their relationships and build authentic connections. Through gamification, Juggle makes connecting with people easier than ever in the city “where relationships matter.”
Episode #38 Dr. Yanira Borges: Your Sidekick at Work
What started with an overwhelmed insurance office resulted in a productivity tool that changes how we get work done. Yanira Borges created an innovative digital platform called Sidekick Checkins that helps staff members handle simple tasks all by asking a few simple questions. This fun and refreshing software builds positive workplace culture, encourages personal and professional development, and increases revenue for businesses. Yanira talks about the importance of checking in on your coworkers, and about her experience as an #indiehacker in the tech space.
Episode #37 Dr. Michael Mathis & Dr. J. Thomas Cunningham: Solving Problems with Science
What do scientists and entrepreneurs have in common? They solve problems! Michael Mathis, PhD, EdD and Thomas Cunningham, Phd from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at the HSC in Fort Worth join us to talk about their new Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Entrepreneurship. Centered around individual passion, this virtual, four course certificate program provides additional skills for the next generation of innovative biotech leaders in Fort Worth.
Episode #36 Jonathan Morris: The Self Employed Serial Entrepreneur
Jonathan Morris is making Fort Worth funky by bringing his various visions for cool spaces to life. He is the owner of the Fort Worth Barbershop and Hotel Dryce, and now, he’s the host the brand new show on Magnolia Network’s Self-Employed. A serial entrepreneur, Jonathan talks about his earliest entrepreneurial ideas as a child, how he builds culture into his business ventures and what it is like to be a television host showcasing small businesses.
Episode #35 Joseph Horn: Sustainability in the Fort
Texas is a leader in many industries, including energy production. But one local innovator wants to turn Fort Worth into the sustainability capital of the world. Joseph Horn is the driver behind the city-wide collaboration building EcoPlex in Fort Worth, with the vision of turning our city into the center of sustainability in the U.S. He discusses the intersection of innovation and entrepreneurship with sustainability and environmental advocacy.
Episode #34 Mia Moss: The Eastside is Brewing
Mia Moss is more than the owner of Black Coffee in Fort Worth, she is a driving force for revitalization on the eastside of Fort Worth. She has taken her love of coffee, expertise and skills and poured them back into her community. From connecting with customers about different coffee beans to pivoting in the face of COVID-19, Mia is proving that coffee and culture go hand in hand and can be the key to bringing new life into a local neighborhood.
Episode #33 Dylan Jones: Military Tech for Animals
From veteran to entrepreneur, Dylan Jones is working to monitor animal health through technology. Animal Cloud Device Connectivity is a cloud-based technology, licensed from the US Air Force that is monitoring the health of service animals that work in the field. Animal Cloud tracks the health of dogs, horses and cows in real time, transferring information to a database available for caregivers and veterinarians to review digitally.
Episode #32 Jeff Rattikin: Serving Solutions for Attorneys
You’ve been served…coffee? The Legal Cafe is the brand new coworking space and cafe for lawyers just a few blocks from the Tarrant County courthouses in Downtown Fort Worth. Co-Founder Jeff Rattikin aims to provide essential legal services to attorneys who need a home base near the courthouse and a private location for lawyers and clients to meet. The Legal Cafe also provides services like marketing, web development and they even have a room for video and podcast recording! While serving the legal profession, Rattikin also wants to make law more accessible to people through his website getlegal.com and connect people to the right legal expert for their need.
Episode #31 Mayor Betsy Price: The “Price” Perspective on Innovation
After a 10 year tenure as a public leader in Fort Worth, Mayor Betsy Price is passing the torch. But before she left office, Innovate Fort Worth had the honor to sit down and discuss all things entrepreneurial in our city. Reflecting upon the great innovators throughout the years that helped make Fort Worth what it is today, Mayor Price shares why Fort Worth is still a great city for startups and small businesses. As a final goodbye, the Innovate Fort Worth team thanks Mayor Price for her dedication to Fort Worth and wishes her well as she spends time with family.
Episode #29 & #30 Farukh Aslam: The Hotel of the Future
From the podcast room in The Sinclair Hotel in Downtown Fort Worth, meet the engineer turned hospitality leader. Farukh Aslam is changing hotels by using low voltage power over ethernet, making The Sinclair 30% more efficient than other hotels. He is using smart sensors and dc powered LED lighting to reduce electricity usage in this century old art deco building. But The Sinclair is only the beginning, Aslam wants to take the technologies he’s developed here in Fort Worth to the world.
Episode #28 Nathan Butorac: Reinventing Snail Mail
In today’s world of fast-paced technology, Pinatagrams is changing how we approach “snail mail.” Nathan Butorac always knew he was an entrepreneur at heart, he just needed to find his big idea. On this episode, he shares his past experiences with starting different companies, how he found success in the middle of a pandemic, and how something “Better Than A Letter” can really spice up your marketing campaigns.
Episode #27 Dennis Hoang: From Returns to Profit
A family business that inspired a trio of brothers to change how we see product return and support sustainability efforts through re-commerce in retail. Dennis Hoang is the co-founder of Patturn, a company that is creating retail sustainability for small businesses by managing returned items to prevent landfill waste. Hear the story of how these UTA grads transformed their parent’s resale computer shop into a digital platform to resell returns rather than being thrown away.
Episode #26 Dr. Nitin Joshi: The Salty Scientist
CAGEBio is developing deep eutectic ionic liquids for use in dermatology. Dr. Nitin Joshi shares his experience in the biotech industry, the impact of ionic liquids as an anti-COVID sanitizer and about moving his company from Silicon Valley to Fort Worth, Texas.
Episode #25 Dr. Vanessa Bouche: Essential Employment
When Dr. Vanessa Bouche was challenged to provide meaningful employment for survivors of sexual explotation and sex trafficking in Delhi, India, she started an essential oils company to put women with few skills to work. Dr. Bouche discusses the challenges she faced in starting Savhera, the challenges she faced in applying for B Corp certification and how to “Live Well, Do Good” for her customers and employees.
Episode #24 Tamara Payne: The Coworking Candidate
Bringing Fort Worth’s first woman-owned coworking space to fruition was a labor of love for Tamara Payne. She’s turned her career as a newscaster and marketing expert into a creator of community for local startups in the Near Southside and beyond. Up next for Tamara is her work serving the people of Burleson on their City Council.
Episode #23 Elyse Dickerson: Ear Space
This local entrepreneur leveraged a career in fashion and big pharma into a startup that is tackling an unmet medical need with a big potential market – earwax impaction. Their first product, EarWax MD is now in stores across the country and is relieving the symptoms of earwax buildup for kids, adults and pets. Elyse Dickerson, co-founder and CEO, has also built the company as a practitioner of Conscious Capitalism, setting out to do more for their customers, investors and the environment than just maximize profits.
Episode #22 Kevin Henry: Simplifying HIPPA
For companies operating in healthcare or for any company that works with healthcare, compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a requirement. Many companies aren’t sure how to navigate this complex federal law and non-compliance can bring steep fines and penalties. Kevin Henry, Founder and CEO of Accountable HQ has solved that problem, providing online training for employees in any industry. Their path to market included participation in the Techstars Austin accelerator program, making them the only Fort Worth-based startup to have Techstars backing.
Episode #20 & #21 Dr. Sid O’Bryant: The 45 Million Dollar Man, Part 1 and Part 2
Dr. Sid O’Bryant is leading the charge to use blood biomarkers to bring the first-ever primary care blood test to market for America’s seniors. His work runs counter to the areas of focus of many other researchers, but his discoveries could pave the way for significant advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. He just received a $45 million grant to continue to study the ways that Alzheimer’s Disease impacts people of different ethnicities and his work could hold the keys to understanding these complex diseases.
