MassChallenge Joins the Texas Ecosystem
The Forrest Four-Cast: October 17, 2017
If you didn’t get a chance to be part of their launch event on Monday afternoon at the Bob Bullock Museum on Monday afternoon, then be sure to attend the Meet MassChallenge Texas Meet Up at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, March 17 at Capital Factory (701 Brazos Street in the Omni Hotel).
What is MassChallenge, you ask? MassChallenge calls themselves the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, this group helps entrepreneurs across any industry. MassChallenge also rewards the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards.
MassChallenge announced their expansion to Texas about a month ago. The Texas program will be this group’s first outpost in the US beyond their roots in Boston (this organization also operates in Mexico, Israel, Switzerland and the U.K.). Through an Austin-based accelerator and statewide programming, MassChallenge Texas will accelerate up to 100 high impact, high potential companies, which will compete for up to $500,000 in equity-free cash awards.
To spearhead efforts in Texas, MassChallenge has appointed Mike Millard as Managing Director. Deeply embedded in the region’s innovation community, Milliard has held senior positions at Ascension, Austin Ventures, and AT&T Knowledge Ventures. With expertise in corporate innovation, venture capital, and tech commercialization, he is also an entrepreneur — Milliard currently serves as Founder and CEO of Pitch-a-Kid, an Austin-based event series that connects startups to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Board of Advisors for MassChallenge Texas includes Bob Metcalfe (University of Texas at Austin), Heather Figallo (Southwest Airlines; Zachary Gipson, USAA), Larry Peterson (Texas Foundation for Innovative Communities) and Pike Powers (Pike Powers Group).
I’m excited about their addition to the Austin and the Texas startup technology ecosystem. Their addition is one more strong verification of the growing power of what so many forward-thinking creatives are building throughout the Lone Star State.
And speaking of a forward-thinking tech ecosystem, check out all the cool content in the Startup & Tech Sector track for SXSW 2018. Scheduled for March 9–15, this track also hosts the SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event. Enter your startup into this competition before the November 10 deadline.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
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