texas Archives - Startup Economist

Building the Energy Future While the Rest of America Argues About It: America’s Energy Belt

Monday, 25 May 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Startup ecosystems do not happen at the city level, no matter how many branding exercises a mayor commissions or how many innovation districts get ribbon-cut in the same news cycle. They happen at the regional level, with sector specialization that compounds across geography where varied strengths and weaknesses are found throughout; the people writing the

Published in AI, Data, Economic Development, Energy

12 Comments

Houston Startups: Why the Bayou City Is One of America’s Most Consequential Startup Regions

Tuesday, 12 May 2026 by Paul O'Brien

I’m in Houston next week, with Rice and The Ion, discussing Venture Studios, given the clear role the city plays in energy, and Houston startups. The fourth-largest city in the United States, Houston is home to the world’s largest medical complex, the command center for every American crewed space mission since Gemini IV, the undisputed

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Published in Regional Development, Texas Startups

44 Comments

San Marcos Startups Sit on Top of Texas’s Biggest Problem

Friday, 01 May 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Humans have lived in San Marcos, Texas, longer than they have lived almost anywhere else on the continent. An archaeological fact, I might concede we can’t be sure, but that fact doesn’t matter to what got my attention; it should matter to entrepreneurs, investors, and economic development professionals. People have been here for 12,000 unbroken

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Published in Regional Development

5 Comments

The Entrepreneurship in Texas Biosciences

Wednesday, 15 April 2026 by Paul O'Brien

On the heels of my return from Phoenix Biosciences Core and a talk about the Arizona startup ecosystem, Texas announces ARPA-H funding, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health supporting transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs. It didn’t luck into it with a last-minute pitch deck and a prayer. Four major cities put aside their egos, formed

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Published in Biosciences, healthcare, Regional Development, Texas Startups

29 Comments

SXSW 2026 Guide for Founders, Investors, and Ecosystem Builders

Monday, 02 March 2026 by Paul O'Brien

SXSW is here in as much as if you’re coming, you’re curious what to consider. If you’re still treating it like a trade show where you badge-tap your way through panels and collect business cards, you’re behind. The conference this year sprawls across Austin March 12–18, 2026 (before in fact), with all four festivals (Innovation,

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Published in Conferences / Events

10 Comments

The California Tech Tax Is a Kill Switch. Texas Keeps Innovation Compounding.

Wednesday, 14 January 2026 by Paul O'Brien

California is flirting with a policy idea so aggressively stupid it reads like parody, except it isn’t. It’s drafted law; it’s real. And even if it never passes, the damage is already done. The proposed “Billionaire Wealth Tax” ballot measure is not merely a tax and it’s far more than California’s tech tax; it is

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Published in Economic Development

6 Comments

How Hard Tech History Fuels Entrepreneurship – Austin’s Story

Wednesday, 03 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Amidst what seems to be a boom of chips in Central Texas, I want to share with everyone, everywhere, how the hard tech of Texas isn’t a result of a recent pivot, there is a history to study in how it grew up around Austin, a history from which we can learn how to build

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Published in Regional Development

29 Comments