Capital Factory Promotions, Opportunities and Gratitude for 2019
2018 was an incredible year for the Capital Factory community that introduced new roles and team members, expanded to multiple locations, and partnered with the US Army. WP Engine, Sparefoot and Aceable raised massive rounds of funding. We doubled the number of companies we are working with in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio and invested in more than one Texas startup per week. I’m excited to announce some major promotions, give a big thank you to an incredible leader moving on to her next challenge, and announce exciting new positions on the executive team and across the organization.
Promotions
One of the things I love about Capital Factory’s team is that we are able to recruit from our community and as our team has grown there have been many opportunities for individuals to grow with it. Most of our executives were previously involved as Mentors and most of our managers started as individual contributors. As we prepare for more growth in 2019, we’re doubling down on the team that kicked ass in 2018.
Gordon Daugherty has been promoted to President of Capital Factory. Capital Factory is fortunate to have many co-founders and some that even joined a few years in. In 2012, when we opened up the coworking space Bill Boebel and Gordon became co-founders and helped establish the model that we have in place today. Gordon wears many hats — he runs our Accelerator program and teaches the Founders Academy, he’s one of the most engaged mentors, and he’s a General Partner in our funds. He can stand in for me in any situation and he’s one of my mentors who I turn to for advice.
Chris Gillan has been promoted to Senior Vice President Corporate Innovation. Chris is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor who has been a mentor for years. He recently joined the executive team and is the vision behind our new Corporate Innovation Center launching in 2019. This is how the biggest companies in the world can tap into the firehose of startups and innovators coming through Capital Factory every day. Read more in this recent Statesman article.
Bryan Chambers has been promoted to Vice President Accelerator and Partner in our fund. Bryan joins us full time January 1 after serving in a part-time capacity for the past 6 months and is our senior leader in Dallas. However, Bryan isn’t just focused on Dallas — in line with the Texas Startup Manifesto the team that he manages is distributed across the state with members in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Abba Binns has been promoted to Vice President Programming and Events. Abba works mostly behind the scenes but is a responsible for all of the content and programs that we run ourselves and host for others — we’re talking about thousands of events per year and frequently more than a dozen per day. Abba developed and executed the MobilityX program with Mercedes. Her team coordinates dozens of office hours per week with hundreds of mentors across the state as well as VIP experiences for Austin’s most high profile visitors.
Gratitude
Georgia Thomsen will be moving on from the Chief Operating Officer position that she has held for the past four years. Georgia joined as our 8th employee and now our team is almost 10 times that size — mostly all people who she hired! She managed the opening of the first floor, our new Dallas location, and the buildout for Army Futures Command.
Georgia let me be crazy and helped everyone else stay sane. We’ve been through incredible highs — like visits from Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Melinda Gates and Army Futures Command (wait — that was all in the past year!) and some tough times where we had to lean on each other, too.
While there is never a good time to lose a key member of the executive team, there also couldn’t be a better time because Georgia leaves us with the business in the strongest position it has ever been and with a robust team in place that is up to the challenge. Georgia will be a key asset to any team she joins and I’m sure she will be inundated with opportunities now that the news is out!
Thank you Georgia for putting your heart and soul into every day that you were here and for being an incredible friend and partner to me personally. I’m better because of you. Our team is better because of you. Our community is better because of you. You leave things much better than you found them and we will miss you. I’m glad that you’ll always be part of the Capital Factory family.
Opportunities
While Georgia’s departure has mostly numerous internal growth opportunities, it has also opened up new roles that we will be hiring for immediately — although we will wait as long as it takes to find a perfect fit. We’re also investing heavily in defense innovation to help contribute to the success of the Army Futures Command, AFWERX and DIU and building a team in Houston.
We’ve enjoyed having one of the most diverse teams in tech and want that to continue — everyone should feel welcome applying no matter your sex, skin color, religion, physical disability, or sexual orientation.
Vice President — Operations and Finance
We have many different business lines with internal dependencies between them. We are a bootstrapped business so cash management is critical — you are the King or Queen of Cash and make sure we always have access to it. You are a key member of the executive team managing dozens of employees. You lead the Operations, Finance, Sales and Marketing teams. You own the Coworking business and support all of the other business lines.
Vice President — Defense Innovation
You are in charge of making Capital Factory the Center of Gravity for Defense Innovation in the USA. You lead the new Defense Innovation programs at Capital Factory and help contribute to the success of the US defense industry. You need to execute on the immediate needs of Army Futures Command, AFWERX, and DIU while identifying how Capital Factory can strategically add unique value to this ecosystem.
You cultivate and maintain our most important relationships in the Defense Industry. You probably already have many of them because you have previous experience in active duty or as a civilian government employee — but you are a disruptor and bureaucracy hacker who knows how to get things done in unconventional ways and can point to examples where you’ve done that before.
Venture Associate — Defense Innovation
You are the ultimate startup scout for the US Defense Industry — identifying high potential startups that can address requirements and solicitations from the US Department of Defense. You speak both Govvie and Startup and can easily translate between them. You have previous experience in active duty or as a civilian government employee — but you are a disruptor and bureaucracy hacker who knows how to get things done in unconventional ways and can point to examples where you’ve done that before.
You are a hustler. You know everyone and you’re part of every interesting social media conversation. You are at every Defense Innovation event in Texas and the most important ones around the country.
Program Coordinator — Defense Innovation
You are in charge of operating the Center of Gravity for Defense Innovation in the USA. You organize and execute all of the Defense Innovation programming at Capital Factory including an email newsletter, website and blog content, podcast, panels, roundtables, pitch competitions, SXSW, and two day long summits per year. You have previous experience in active duty, as a civilian government employee, or as a spouse of one.
You are organized and detail-oriented. Nothing slips through the cracks. You are tech-savvy and familiar with tools like Google Apps, Hubspot, Eventbrite and Wordpress.
Program Coordinator — Corporate Innovation
You organize and execute all of the Corporate Innovation programming at Capital Factory including an email newsletter, website and blog content, podcast, panels, roundtables, pitch competitions, SXSW, and three day long summits per year.
You are organized and detail-oriented. Nothing slips through the cracks. You are tech-savvy and familiar with tools like Google Apps, Hubspot, Eventbrite and Wordpress.
Chief of Staff
This is an apprenticeship working directly with me as the CEO for a high potential individual looking to expand your network and experience so that you can start your own company, join another start as an executive, or become a venture capitalist. I’m looking for a two-year commitment after which you will find your replacement and I will personally help you find your next opportunity and there will be many inside and outside of Capital Factory.
You participate in most of my meetings and get inside my head to know how I work. You speak for me when you know what I would say and you know when to check with me just in case. You make sure that I’m prepared for my meetings and that my meetings are prepared for me. You write drafts of all of my presentation decks and interview questions. You make sure I deliver on all of my commitments by figuring out who to delegate it to or by doing it yourself and you follow up to make sure it gets done properly.
Venture Associate — Houston
The Venture Associate acts as the face of Capital Factory in Houston. You are constantly meeting and evaluating new startups, while building meaningful relationships with our growing portfolio companies.
You have a pulse on the best startups in Houston, and figure out who the best ones are each month and recruit them for our Accelerator program. Once companies are accepted into the cohort you actively maintain relationships with each startup, and work to connect them to opportunities that gain exposure to potential employees, investors, customers and other VIP’s at Capital Factory.
Event Planner — Texas Startup Manifesto
We are planning a blowout event for June 2019 and are looking for a full-time event planner to focus on it full-time for the next 6 months and then new projects after that. This will be the most significant event we put on in 2019.
You have experience planning, organizing, promoting, and executing large scale events involving hundreds of people with transportation, lodging, programming and entertainment. You’re available to start immediately.
How to Apply
Visit the Jobs page of our website for a list of all of the open positions and submit your information. Come to any of the daily public events at Capital Factory to formally introduce yourself.
