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- š„ Whatās hot in Houstonās innovation scene this week?
š„ Whatās hot in Houstonās innovation scene this week?
3/9/26 - 3/15/26
Hey folks,
šØ LAST DAY TO APPLY!!!
Win $500k of investment for your startup!
The SaaStock USA Pitch Competition is one of the biggest investment prizes in the United States.
If you're a SaaS founder and you're not throwing your hat in the ring, what are you doing?
This is the kind of opportunity most founders never even hear about. Now you've heard about it.
Today is the deadline. It closes tonight.
š [APPLY HERE]
P.S. ā If you're in Houston, join us on Wednesday for SaaStack Local Houston. The topic: "Is AI Killing SaaS?"
Free drinks. Networking before and after. And the kind of conversation that usually only happens behind closed doors.
Come learn how to get discounted tickets to the full SaaStock USA conference.
REGISTER HERE š [LINK] Use promo code "rocketnetwork" for 50% OFF
March 10th: The Panel Houston's SaaS Scene Needs Right Now

SaaStock Local Houston | Is AI killing SaaS: A panel on whatās actually changing - USE PROMOCODE - ārocketnetworkā for 50% OFF
Karen Gutierrez ā CIO, HCA Healthcare 22 years in HealthTech. Board member at Latinas in Tech. Advisor at the Texas Medical Center Innovation HealthTech Accelerator. This is someone who's been making enterprise technology decisions at one of the largest healthcare companies on the planet ā not tweeting about it. When she talks about what AI is actually changing in SaaS buying behavior, she's pulling from real procurement decisions that affect thousands of clinicians. That's the perspective you can't get from a podcast.
Vivek Dixit ā Investor, Entrepreneur, C-Suite Leader 25+ years of global tech leadership. CTO, CIO, SVP of Products ā he's held the roles at Oracle, Gartner, and Cognizant. Sits on multiple boards. Works directly with startup founders. The thing that makes Vivek dangerous on a panel like this? He's seen it from every angle ā building large-scale systems AND guiding investment thesis. So when the question is "Is AI killing SaaS?" ā he's the guy who can tell you what's actually happening to software economics AND what the money is doing about it.
Mark Scott ā Founder & CTO, Sozala.ai Co-founded multiple venture-backed startups. Helped raise over $15M from angel through Series A+. Built and scaled SaaS platforms for enterprise clients across North America, Europe, and Asia. Led products from concept to production serving thousands of users in logistics, supply chain, and financial services. Now at Sozala.ai, he's leading real-world Agentic SDLC adoption ā reshaping how software products are designed, built, and delivered. This isn't theory. This is someone who's been in the code AND the cap table.
David Williamson ā SVP Engineering, Quorum Software 17 years at Quorum. Let that sink in. From consultant to SVP of Engineering ā leading multiple product engineering teams, scaling globally (including building new teams in India), driving SRE and DevOps initiatives, and running acquisition integrations. He founded their annual global hackathon. When you hear "scaling SaaS platforms, teams, and execution" ā David's not reading that off a slide. He's lived every painful, unglamorous moment of making enterprise SaaS actually work at scale.
See you there!
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1) VIP Insider's Guide by Marc Nathan : LINK
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Cheers,
- oleg š
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 š š
š - must attend
š„š¶ļø - something hot
š¤š» - good for developers and other technical folks
š¦š°- venture capital and investing-related
ā”- energy-related
ā»ļø- renewable energy and sustainability-related
š„ - health care related
šļøšŖ - veteran or military related
š
- sports tech related
āæ - web3 related

HERE ARE OUR PICKS FOR HTX THIS WEEK
Monday, March 9
šWhat Do Investors Really Look For? Startup Funding Q&A with Keshia Theobald-van Gent - Online
Tuesday, March 10
šCup of JoeY | Puttery featuring the HRVCC
Token Talk: Houston - AI & Crypto Policy Landscape
šš„SaaStock Local Houston | Is AI killing SaaS (USE PROMOCODE - ārocketnetworkā for 50% OFF)
Wednesday, March 11
Cup of JoeY | Sugar Land
ā”Energy in Action Seminar Series
Join Squint in Houston for Happy Hour
Walk & Talk at TMC Helix Park
Thursday, March 12
šStock Market Investing Class for Women
10 Guiding Principles for a Winning Marketing Strategy
Women In Wealth
ā”šUpstream: Digital Tech Meetup at Second Draught
Out in Tech Houston | Monthly Mixer
ā” ā»ļøHydrogen: From Theory to Tap
Friday, March 13
šIon Networking with Cup of Joey
šTexas AI House - Presented by webAI - Austin, TX
Social Media Breakfast: From Click to Completion: AI Buying Will Change How All Businesses Market
Cybersecurity Circle
šStartup Circle Houston š«
Saturday, March 14
Chill! Go to the rodeo! =)š¤

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Thatās 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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