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Howdy Rocket Crew,
I dropped the emojis from the events list. Cleaner? Or do you miss them? |
Two hangouts you won’t find on anyone’s list
The best rooms in Houston this week aren’t on the big calendars.
There’s no panel and no guy with a clicker and 47 slides. These are two off-the-radar hangouts where you show up, sit next to someone building something, and leave with a new friend...
1) Invincible Open Coworking Day w/ Rocket Network
Tuesday, 11 AM to 5 PM | 801 Travis, Downtown | Park at 900 Rusk
Bring your laptop and work from Invincible for the day. We’ll be there too.
Come for an hour between meetings or camp out until they kick us out. Ten minutes next to a stranger’s screen beats a month of LinkedIn DMs... and you still get your work done.
DM me if you’re in.
2) “Basement Wednesday” at the Ion
Wednesday, 2 PM | 4201 Main St
Same idea, different zip code. Head downstairs at the Ion, grab a seat, and see who’s around. There’s no agenda, which is why it works.
Pick one. Or both. Just don’t spend the whole week behind your inbox.
One more thing: Claude for Startups
Anthropic’s startup program gets you up to $45,000 in discounts and credits on the tools founders are building with, plus office hours with their Applied AI team. You don’t need VC funding to get in... bootstrapped founders can APPLY too.
Check out the “Money on the Table” section below for more opportunities.
cheers,
- oleg 👊
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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.
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💡Paul O’Brien scored 42 venture-backed startups and found that 89% of those with strong network effects succeeded versus 17% without, while both groups raised roughly the same amount of capital, so the real moat is a product that gets more valuable with each new user, and marketing, not funding, is what builds it. - READ IT HERE
HERE ARE OUR PICKS FOR HTX THIS WEEK
Monday, October 12
Moved from Sunday to Monday. Tangem walks through self-custody, sets up hardware wallets live, and runs a table tennis tournament with prizes.
Building production software with AI agents, for vibe coders and senior engineers alike. Roundtable first, then slides and Q&A.
Tuesday, October 13
A career day for high schoolers, college and grad students, and anyone switching careers. Build skills, grow your network, and see where the opportunities are. Free to attend, lunch costs extra.
Thirty builders, live demos, zero sales pitches. This month: self-hosted web search, an AI meta-harness, and AI for investment back offices. Apply to get in.
Wednesday, October 14
The southwest side's founder coffee. Bring your why and your business cards.
Dr. Deepavali Chakravarti went from TMC's entrepreneur-in-residence program to COO of Bectas. She shares the path and what comes next.
Elios AI and Houston AI Club host a seated dinner for leaders rolling out AI. Strategy, talent, returns. Seats are limited and need host approval.
Design Thinking & Innovation on how AI, agents, and digital twins are reshaping customer and employee experience, with energy industry examples.
Bank of America and M&A advisor Lenny Saizan on what makes a business bankable, how to finance an acquisition, and planning your exit.
Thursday, October 15
A full day on digital health that reaches the people who need it. Medicine, engineering, policy, and industry on cutting costs and building trust.
Ten back-to-back sessions with Wade Pinder on the founder journey and who's who in Houston. The fastest way to get the lay of the land.
TDK Ventures investor Dante Zakhidov on how corporate VCs judge deep tech, and the materials behind AI chips, fusion, and power electronics. Free.
Gauntlet AI's CTO leads a team challenge on making AI-written code secure and scalable. Bring a laptop. Parking is validated.
Three decades of Linux help in one room. Hobbyists and pros both welcome.
Oracle's Billy Korando on spec-driven development, property-based testing, and mutation testing for code your AI wrote. Pizza at 6:30.
Friday, October 16
The Friday flagship. Coffee first, then the room does the rest.
Weekly builders' circle on putting AI to work. Networking, then one practical topic.
Wade Pinder's living mind map of how an idea becomes a company here. New to town? Start with this one. Free.
Looking for tech to build on? Meet the Rice team that licenses university research to startups.
Small-group founder talk right after Cup of Joey. Traction, ICP, runway. Bring your real problems.
Cemvita and Greentown on frontier AI, physical AI, and industrial biology. Registration needs host approval.
Hands-on workshop. Bring a laptop, build a working agent in Tasklet, and give it real work. No coding needed.
Thinking about the Activate fellowship for science founders? Drop in with questions and meet current fellows. Applications close October 30.
Black tie and cocktail attire, masks encouraged. Patrick Jones and Jesse Martinez host a private evening for Houston's tech leaders. RSVP needs approval.
Saturday, October 17
The weekend edition. Same coffee, same founders, less rush.
Creatopia's private launch of Noble Founder Houston, a readiness-to-capital program for startups. Founders, investors, and partners, then Party in the Sky upstairs. Approval required.
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.)
Miller Center Global Impact Accelerator Six months of free, one-on-one executive mentorship for social enterprises fighting poverty through women’s economic power or climate resilience. You need a year of operations, $50,000+ in earned income, and three full-time staff. Mostly virtual, cohort starts January. Closes October 16 - APPLY |
Galaxy Grants $2,250 to a US woman or minority-owned business, from the nonprofits Galaxy of Stars and Hidden Star. Bonus: refer a founder, and if they win, you win too. Closes October 31 - APPLY |
Hey Helen Grant $10,000 in unrestricted cash to one woman founder every month, from Visionaries. Your US business needs to be at least 50% woman-owned and under $1M in revenue. Pre-revenue is fine. Apply once and you stay in the running for 12 monthly rounds. There’s a $15 fee. October round closes October 31 - APPLY |
Capital One Catapult Six months of free coaching from Capital One’s team, a dedicated advisor, and a closing pitch competition at HQ. Two of the in-person sessions are in Plano. You need a diverse-owned business certification, three years in business, and $1M to $15M in revenue. Closes November 2 - APPLY |
Horowitz Andreessen Academy Know a young builder who’d rather ship than sit in lectures? a16z’s new tuition-free fellowship in San Francisco comes with $50,000+ in compute credits and a $5,000 project budget. Built for recent high school grads who already have something to show. Early deadline November 5 - APPLY |
Equalize A pitch competition and symposium for women academic founders in therapeutics, medtech, research tools and the physical sciences. Mentorship and training lead up to a final pitch. Closes November 13 - APPLY |
SXSW Pitch 2027 A shot at pitching 40 investor judges in Austin next March. Past participants have raised $22.5 billion combined. Your product must have launched after January 1, 2024, and you need to be under $10 million raised. Heads up, there’s a $225 entry fee. Closes November 13 - APPLY |
Techstars Spring 2027 $220,000 and three months inside a Techstars accelerator, including the fully remote Anywhere program. This one takes equity, so read the terms. Closes November 18 - APPLY |
Entreprenista Evolve Grant $5,000 for a woman founder ready for the next step, from Entreprenista and IT Cosmetics. US business, at least a year old, doing $100,000+ in revenue. Closes November 30 - APPLY |
Verizon Digital Ready Grant $10,000 grants every month through the end of 2026. Finish two free Digital Ready courses, apply once, and you stay in the running all year. Open to US for-profit small businesses. Monthly picks through December - APPLY |
Braze Tech for an Equitable Future Twelve months of the Braze customer engagement platform for free, plus support to get it running. Built for underrepresented founders with under $30 million raised and fewer than 100 employees. Closes January 15 - APPLY |
The Amber Grant $10,000 to a woman-owned business every month, plus a startup track if you’re still pre-revenue and a $50,000 prize at year end. One application covers it all, with a $15 fee. October’s category grant goes to creative arts. Monthly - APPLY |
Warrior Rising Up to $20,000 in non-dilutive funding for veterans and military spouses building a business. The path is free: start at Warrior Academy, and founders with real traction get invited to pitch. Rolling - APPLY |
America’s Seed Fund (NSF) Up to $2 million for deep tech, and the NSF takes no equity and no IP. AI, energy, medtech, robotics, semiconductors. Project pitches are open year round, so there’s no deadline to miss. Rolling - APPLY |
Claude Startups Anthropic just opened its startup program wider. Members get up to $45,000 in partner credits and discounts, office hours with Anthropic’s Applied AI team, and invites to founder events. Backed by a partner VC? You may qualify for up to $100,000 in API credits on top. Open to startups founded in the last five years or funded in the last two, bootstrapped included. Heads up: the free Claude Team year and $1,000 credit offer is over capacity right now. Rolling - APPLY |
NVIDIA Inception Free cloud credits, technical training, hardware discounts and VC intros for AI startups. No fees, no equity, no cohort. You need to be incorporated, under 10 years old, with a working site and at least one developer. Rolling - APPLY |
FEATURED EVENTS
Masquerade Tech Soiree — Friday 10/16, The Esperson Speakeasy, 6:00–9:00 PM
Black tie and cocktail attire, masks encouraged. Patrick Jones and Jesse Martinez host Houston's private evening for tech leaders and connectors. RSVP required.
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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