Abilene Grit, Grid, and Genesis
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Abilene, Texas, on the surface, might seem like the set of Fallout where a now-restored Texas Film Industry needs a set for a post-apocalyptic Western — a flat, dusty military town with a church on every corner and a Dairy Queen next to it. Scratch that desert veneer (and lack of nuclear fallout) and you’ll
- Published in AI, Data, Regional Development
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From Texas to Tulsa: How Innovation Shifts to Opportunity
Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Differentiation If someone told you Tulsa was the next hub for startups, your first reaction might be to squint and wonder if they meant it ironically. Tulsa? Really? Isn’t that where Route 66 nostalgia and oil wealth go to retire? Here’s the thing: the people still asking that question are the same ones who laughed
- Published in Regional Development
AI Runs on Yesterday’s Hardware — Quantum Writes Tomorrow’s Policy; The Quantum Playbook
Monday, 02 June 2025
If artificial intelligence is the engine of the future, then quantum computing is the fuel. In the United States, Washington is waking up to that fact. While the headlines are still dominated by chatbots impersonating therapists and AI models hallucinating their way through customer service, the grownups in this room (policymakers, scientists, and defense analysts)
- Published in Economic Development, Quantum
New Collar Jobs and the Critical Distinction of Startups from Small Businesses
Thursday, 29 May 2025
Today at the Texas Venture Forum in Austin, TX, we had the honor of hearing from the 28th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler, a former business executive, co-owner of a WNBA team, and founder of a commodity exchange, now carries a unique blend of corporate, public, and policy experience to
- Published in Economic Development, Startups
Startup Ecosystems Fail Because of Investors
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Yes, I meant what I said in that headline… let’s see if I can back it up. In my conversation with Bryan Hancock on Executive Connect, I pulled back the curtain on the startup mythology that’s selling cities, founders, and investors a false bill of goods. We don’t need more accelerators. We need people who
- Published in Economic Development, Startups
How Media Distorts the Truth About Regional Ecosystems – Apparently Austin is on Life Support
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
There’s a reason the phrase “don’t believe everything you read” never dies. Because even when it’s printed in The Wall Street Journal, a brand so synonymous with business credibility that your uncle still calls it “The Paper,” the story can be skewed, shallow, and — let’s not mince words — wrong. In this case, we’re
- Published in Startup Ecosystems, Texas Startups
How a University is Reshaping Florida’s Economy — and the Future of Aerospace
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This place is an economic engine dressed like a university, disguised as a think tank, wrapped in a space suit – right at the heart of the future of our economy and world. What Embry-Riddle is doing right now with a newly announced partners
- Published in Aerospace, Economic Development, Regional Development