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Hi friends,
1) FOUNDERS ANONYMOUS
Jesse Martinez and I are hosting something new… and it's the room I wish existed when things were quietly falling apart.
It's called Founders Anonymous: private, off-the-record conversations for founders. In person. No recording, no posturing, no "crushing it."
Here's the truth. Slack doesn't cut it. Your advisors have an agenda. Your friends don't get it. Sometimes you need a room where you can say the thing out loud… the thing that's heavy, unclear, or quietly breaking -- and walk out lighter than you came in.
What it is:
Fully confidential — nothing leaves the room
Facilitated — not free-form, not therapy, not a mastermind
Real conversations with founders who've been there
We kept it small on purpose, and there are a few spots left. Reply to this email, and we'll get you into this one, or the next.
2) If you care about building a business and creating impact (instead of picking one), clear your calendar. Lumino is launching, and they're doing it big.
Illuminate 2026 — two days at The Ion.
Day 1 — The Launch Experience | Thu, Aug 27 | 8 AM–5 PM
This isn't a conference, it's a launch. Three keynote acts — Past, Present, Future — tracing Lumino's story and where Local Conscious Commerce is headed. Live platform demos, industry breakouts, speakers across AI, payments, health, and nonprofit innovation. Closes with a happy hour with the first-floor restaurant partners.
Day 2 — Global Impact Partner Day & Breakfast | Fri morning at The Ion
The personal close to Illuminate. Coffee at 8, seated breakfast at 8:30, then a live recording of Talks with Big Z — Lumino CEO Zachry "Big Z" Godfrey and guests on how everyday commerce becomes measurable community impact. Creator and partner conversations plus nonprofit tabling until 11. Breakfast's on them.
3) MY FRIEND WANTS TO BE THE MRBEAST OF TECH
He didn't ask me to plug this. I'm doing it anyway…
His first video just dropped: Burn 5M Fable Tokens. Win €200. Yes, that's the actual premise. It's ridiculous, it's fun, and it's exactly the kind of unhinged energy tech YouTube needs.
Go watch it. First subscribers get bragging rights when he blows up.
4) ROARCON 2026
If you're serious about where AI, automation, and security are taking the MSP world, this is where that conversation happens… and it's happening right here in Houston.
RoarCon 2026 | Aug 25–27 | Houston, TX
Liongard's exclusive conference for MSP leaders who are done with visibility for its own sake. Every session runs through one question: how do you operationalize AI in a way that actually works at scale? Trusted data, a real intelligence layer, and teams with the authority to act on what they know.
And it's intentionally small. Rotating boardroom sessions, small-group dinners, one-on-one time with people actually doing the work. No keynote bloat. No sales theater.
And… as always, don’t forget to check the 💰 MONEY ON THE TABLE section!
cheers,
- oleg 👊
P.S. Know a Texas company doing something insane? hit reply.
Got a founder friend who needs to hear this? forward them this email. let's raise Houston's tech game together.
At Rocket Network, we do the dirty work for you, curating Houston's tech scene so you spend less time scrolling and more time building. Want to be featured or sponsor? Hit reply.
LET'S ROCKET NETWORK!
We are using emojis to guide subscribers in our event list 📅📍
🚀 - must attend
🔥🌶️ - something hot
🤓💻 - good for developers and other technical folks
🦄💰- venture capital and investing-related
⚡- energy-related
♻️- renewable energy and sustainability-related
🏥 - health care related
🎖️🪖 - veteran or military related
🏅 - sports tech related
₿ - web3 related
HERE ARE OUR PICKS FOR HTX THIS WEEK
Tuesday, August 11
🚀🌶️💰Mercury Fund Day at the Ion: How Legacy Software Giants Are Going AI-First — The Ion (3:30–7:00 PM)
Heath Butler hosts Mustafa Ali (Growth, Twilio), Zafir Khan (Product, Meta) and Salim Gheewalla (Founder, utilITise) on what actually changes when you rebuild the product, the pricing, and the team around AI. Office hours by application, then a fireside chat and a happy hour at Second Draught.
Technical demos on agentic workflows and generative AI from local builders. Screened, demo-first, no sales pitches — apply to attend.
An evening edition for once, not a morning one, with the Houston Rockets Venture Capital Community joining in. Mini golf and purpose-driven networking.
Structured networking plus an open elevator-pitch floor for founders and operators. Ticketed at $30.
Seymur runs a working session on sales fundamentals for founders and reps — what to do, and what to cut, when you're building a pipeline from scratch.
Wednesday, August 12
The second-Wednesday Fort Bend edition, in the Marriott lobby. Founders, innovators and career builders, purpose over pitches.
Arturo Barrera on designing back-office, ops, and internal tools well enough that employee experience actually improves customer experience.
Thursday, August 13
Matty Beckerman, founder and CEO of IR Code, on the computer vision tech behind the next era of visual infrastructure and commerce. Hosted by The Woodlands Area Chamber with Houston Exponential.
TMC Innovation's medtech networking evening, supported this month by Medtronic with a guest speaker on their journey through the medtech scene.
No stage, no slides, no panels. Upstream operators, engineers, founders and digital leaders over beer and pizza — the informal side of oil and gas going digital.
Part two of the iCUE angel series. Where you stop learning about investing and start making your own invest-or-pass calls with structured criteria behind them.
Eddie Siegel, co-founder and CTO of Ode (the Anthropic, Blackstone and H&F joint venture) on where engineering is heading when the job becomes deciding what to build and orchestrating agents. Approval required.
Friday, August 14
The flagship. Friday-morning open networking for Houston founders and startup lovers.
Social Media Breakfast Houston with Kami Huyse and Jennifer Texada. You build a working Smart Card live, so you stop starting from scratch every time you open ChatGPT or Claude. Bring a laptop and a real task. Breakfast included.
Free 1:1 mentoring from SCORE's volunteer expert business mentors. It's the second Friday of the month, so extra partners are on site this week.
Back on the biweekly rhythm. Licensing NASA technology, partnering on human spaceflight capability, and building out Houston's commercial space sector. Walk up or sign up ahead.
Founders, teammates, experts and newbies of Greater Houston startups — right after Cup of Joey.
Saturday, August 15
The third-Saturday edition inside POST. Entrepreneurs, creatives, students and community builders, no agenda beyond good coffee and real conversation.
Monthly meetup at Houston's biggest makerspace for anyone building robots — hobbyists, students and professional engineers alike.
⚠️Hosting a tech meetup or startup event? Submit it via the RocketNetwork Event Submission Form to boost your visibility!
MONEY ON THE TABLE
(This section doesn't exist on the web. It's for subscribers only. Feel free to forward — your friend just has to subscribe to get it weekly.)
Blueprint by The Engine (Fall 2026) Eight weeks of free, no-equity training for researchers turning a Tough Tech breakthrough into a company. Grad students, postdocs, and lab teams across the US and Canada welcome, and you don't need a company, customers, or revenue yet. Virtual Fridays from Sept 11, in-person showcase Oct 29 in Cambridge. Closes Aug 16, so this is your last week - APPLY |
iF Social Impact Prize A €100,000 prize pool split across startups and organizations making life measurably better. If your work moves the needle on even one UN Sustainable Development Goal you can enter, and it's open worldwide. Free to apply, but your project needs a real design angle. Closes Aug 19 - APPLY |
Coefficient Giving The big one: grants running from $100,000 all the way to $10,000,000 for teams building where AI meets global health. Reviewed on a rolling basis, so earlier is better. Closes Aug 21 - APPLY |
Social Shifters Global Innovation Challenge Multiple awards of up to $15,000 for young founders already delivering social or environmental impact on the ground. You'll need to be 18 to 30, actually running the thing, and tied to a UN Sustainable Development Goal. Free coaching comes with the application. Closes Aug 31 - APPLY |
Cypher Pilotathon Startup Showcase The pitch track closed, but showcase spots are still open for the Sept 15 event at The Post right here in Houston. Built for teams in critical minerals, grid and distributed energy, industrial decarbonization, or the future of industrial work. Last year 70+ startups ran 50 matchmaking sessions with industry buyers. Free to apply, closes Sept 8 or when spots fill - APPLY |
Secretsos Small Business Grant $2,500 to one small business owner, awarded quarterly. You need to be 21 or older with an active business registered in the US, and they care more about your story and how you'd spend it than about a polished business plan. Heads up: there's a $15 application fee. This quarter closes Sept 30 - APPLY |
Skip $1,000 Instant Grants Several $1,000 grants handed out at live drawings twice a week, every week. US-based and 18 or older, no purchase and no long application — answer a few questions and you're entered in the next drawing. You can win once every four months. Open now, nothing to miss - APPLY |
America's Seed Fund (NSF SBIR/STTR) Up to $2M in R&D money with zero equity taken, for deep-tech startups in all 50 states. AI, energy, robotics, medical devices, and plenty more. Project pitches are rolling, so there's no deadline to miss - APPLY |
Claude for Startups Free Claude API credits, priority rate limits, and a founder community, for companies founded in the last four years. Any early-stage founder can apply, and VC-backed teams get a bigger credit pool. Rolling - APPLY |
Google for Startups Cloud Program Up to $200K in cloud credits over two years if you're seed to Series A, or up to $350K if you're AI-first. Still pre-funded? There's $2K to get an MVP off the ground. No equity, open anywhere, rolling - APPLY |
IgniteHTX Pitch Competition (BakerRipley) Up to $5K in prizes for founders across Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Montgomery counties, plus free pitch coaching and workshops on the way there. Check the page for the next cohort's dates - APPLY |
FEATURED EVENTS
The Woodlands Innovation Network — Matty Beckerman on computer vision THURSDAY, AUG 13 AT AMEGY BANK
Startup Circle Houston EVERY FRIDAY AT THE ION
FEATURED JOBS
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That’s a wrap for now, RocketNetworkers,
Stay tuned, and keep grinding!
Disclaimer: The content in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by any sponsors. All opinions and information are those of the author and not of the sponsors or affiliated organizations.
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