Ayse McCracken is the founder of Ignite Healthcare Network, an organization that accelerates female-founded businesses within health care. Ayse is a powerful connector who started Ignite to better connect women in the health care industry. Now, she’s accelerated around a hundred startups and female founders with an ongoing cohort that concludes with a pitch event on Nov. 9. She shares more about how she’s grown ignite and how she’s next evolving the platform to better address female founders’ biggest challenges.

Michelle Stansbury is vice president of innovation and IT applications at Houston Methodist. She joins the show today to discuss the newly opened Houston Methodist Tech Hub in the Ion, which unveiled last week to better connect with Houston innovators in and outside of health care innovation. She also shares more about some of the many other innovation efforts coming out of Houston Methodist.

Sahir Ali is the founder and general partner of Modi Ventures, a new investment firm focused on the intersection of data and AI and health tech innovation. Sahir joins the show today to discuss how his firm operates a bit different from traditional VC entities, as well as how he raised an oversubscribed $32 million initial fund in less than a month.

Allie Danziger is the founder of Ampersand Professionals, a young professionals upskilling platform, that was recently acquired by Ascent Funding. With the acquisition, Allie joins Ascent as senior vice president and general manager of student success. On the show today, she pulls back the curtain on the acquisition process and how the combined business will help grow the platform to better help students find success within the ever-evolving landscape of the workforce.

Tim Boire is the president and CEO of VenoStent, a medical device startup that’s designing a unique material for hemodialysis patients. The company just closed its series A at $16 million dollars and is gearing up for a 200-patient clinical trial. Tim shares how he’s grown his company since moving it to Houston in 2018 to tap into the local innovation ecosystem. He also outlines where VenoStent is headed, with its expected product launch in 2026.

Anshumali Shrivastava is the founder and CEO of ThirdAI Corp. and a professor at Rice University. ThirdAI was founded on the mission of democratizing artificial intelligence and meeting data where its housed. Anshu shares how this founding principal has translated to specific AI tools ThirdAi has developed for its customers. He also shares what he’s most excited about when it comes to the future of AI — and how he’s growing his company to support the rising interest in the technology.

Donald Frieden is the president and CEO at P97 Networks, a Houston-based fintech company that’s developing a cloud technology for secure and convenient payments at gas stations and convenience stores. With over $100 million in investment raised, P97 has expanded across industries over its decade in business, and Don shares the new technologies he’s most excited about — like voice and biometric-enabled payments — as well as the potential impact the company is having within the energy transition.

Dr. Joseph Rogers is the president and CEO Texas Heart Institute. For over 60 years, THI has been a leader in cardiovascular health care and innovation. Around two years ago, Dr. Rogers took the helm of the organization and is particularly interested in preventative care. He shares more about THI and some of the innovative work its team is doing — from stem cell research to drug development and more — as well as the future of heart health.

Grant Watkins and Keely McEnery are the co-founders of Earn Your Freedom, a Houston startup that’s gamifying financial education for students. EYF launched Money Quest earlier this year, and is now seeking crowdfunding support with the help of Impact Hub Houston. The funding will go toward continuing to develop the program and support local high school students to help them reach financial literacy before they enter the real world.

My guest for today is Adrianne Stone, founder of Bayou City Startups, an organization that hosts monthly happy hours for Houston founders. Adrianne has had a very diverse career background — from getting her PHD and teaching AP Biology to joining 23andMe in the Bay Area. She shares how passionate about networking she is on the show and her observations on Houston’s growing innovation ecosystem.