Omair Tariq is the founder and CEO of Cart.com, a fast-growing, Houston-founded commerce enablement platform that’s raised over $500 million in funding and reached unicorn status last year. Omair joins the show today to discuss the company’s rapid growth and why Houston is the perfect city for its next phase of business.

Atul Varadhachary is the managing partner of Fannin, a Houston organization that’s commercializing early stage life science innovations by optimizing capital efficiency for these promising health tech treatments and medical devices. Life science innovation takes a significant amount of time and money to accelerate, and Atul shares how the Fannin model approaches these challenges while also contributing to developing Houston’s life science innovation ecosystem. 

Lori-Lee Elliott is the co-founder and CEO of Dauntless XR, a software company that provides extended reality solutions for aviation, aerospace, and other industries. Lori-Lee originally founded her company in 2018 to work on industrial solutions within the energy industry. Last year, she rebranded the business and pivoted to new industries, and she shares on the show today about how she navigated this process and her tips for working on government contracts.

Denise Hamilton is the founder and CEO of WatchHerWork and author of Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences into a Stronger Future. She joins the show today to discuss the book, which comes out February 6, and how she hopes it inspires current and future leaders to move beyond how they think of diversity and inclusion and to move toward a better, more indivisible world. Denise also shares how integral Houston’s diversity has been on her career and creating this book. 

Sunny Zhang is the founder of TrueLeap, an edtech platform, and founding partner of Born Global Ventures, an early-stage startup studio focused on immigrant founders. Sunny joins the show today to talk about all the various hats she wears within Houston innovation, as well as to re-introduce Houston Women in VC, a monthly meet up for female investors. 

On this episode, host Natalie Harms is looking back at some of her favorite episodes of 2023 — featuring guests from across the Houston innovation landscape. 

Moji Karimi is the CEO and co-founder of Cemvita, a biotech company with a few different climate tech applications for the energy industry. Cemvita has had a lot of wins in 2023, and Moji joins the show to discuss those, plus what his plans are for further commercialization of gold hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, and more. He also shares some of his observations from COP28 and advice for founders looking to grow their corporate partnerships in 2024.

Samra Nawaz is the CEO and Co-founder of WellWorth, a financial modeling and analysis software platform for upstream oil and gas finance teams. Samra recently won the Ion’s annual startup showcase and she joins the show today to share how she plans to use the momentum to grow her bootstrapped company in the new year.

Natara Branch is the CEO of Houston Exponential, which has a goal of connecting and promoting Houston’s growing innovation ecosystem. Natara joins me today to discuss what 2023 meant for the community of startups and innovators here in Houston, as well as to give us the inside scoop on the newly revamped H-Town Roundup next spring. 

Peter Rodriguez is the dean of the Rice University Jones School of Business, which has had a lot of news to celebrate this month. The school was ranked the number one for graduate entrepreneurship programs for the fifth consecutive year. Dean Rodriguez also shares more about two impactful initiatives the school has announced this month in energy business and beyond.