SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Linda Ufland Romo, director of entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization at UT-Rio Grande Valley’s Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center, will speak at San Antonio Startup Week.
SA Startup Week is a seven-day celebration of entrepreneurship from October 16-22 in downtown San Antonio.
Ufland Romo is on a panel titled The South Texas Partnership alongside Phillip Hernandez of Mission Mentor Consulting and Charles Woodin, CEO of Geekdom.
Their panel discussion runs from 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the Geekdom Event Centre.
San Antonio Startup Week is hosted by Geekdom, in partnership with the 80|20 Foundation and Trinity University’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The creative direction for SA Startup Week is being led by local agency Symbol Hush, the marketing arm of The Down Market, a cultural media platform.
San Antonio Startup Week runs from Monday, Oct. 16 to Saturday, Oct. 21 at various downtown San Antonio locations. There are around 75 events to chose from and the event is free to the public.
“San Antonio Startup Week is a six-day mix of educational panels, actionable workshops, and city-building events and hyper local activations for entrepreneurs and startups,” a press release from the event states.
“The full week will be full of diverse content/resources for entrepreneurs, techies, anyone with an idea and interest to turn their side hustle into a business.”
Charles Woodin, CEO of Geekdom, said San Antonio Startup Week’s theme is "Ignite Innovation: Celebrating Entrepreneurs and Startups in San Antonio." He said the schedule offers four programming tracks: Ideate, Cultivate, Shape and Grow.
“Geekdom is eager to welcome entrepreneurs from every industry across San Antonio, Central and South Texas to SA Startup Week. If you have started a business, are curious about entrepreneurship, or just want to hang out in a creative, inspirational environment, SA Startup Week is for you,” Woodin said.
Woodin said almost $300,000 is up for grabs in pitch competitions.
“San Antonio Startup Week welcomes everyone, whether you’ve already launched your venture or are just beginning to explore the world of entrepreneurship. It’s a unique opportunity to gain insights from industry experts and build connections with like-minded individuals who share your passion or are simply intrigued by our thriving startup ecosystem,” Woodin explained.
The free, week-long conference kicks off Monday morning with a panel featuring San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, former HUD Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, president and CEO of greater:SATX. Moderated by Beto Altamirano, CEO of Irys. The panel, titled “San Antonio Forward: Bridging the Past, Building the Future,” will be hosted at Frost Tower, 111 W. Houston St., 24th floor.
The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service interviewed Geekdom’s Woodin ahead of the conference.
Asked what Geekdom is all about, Woodin said: “Geekdom is a collaborative startup community with the intent of building the next 500 startups where 75% call San Antonio home. We want to build San Antonio one startup at a time. And we accomplish that through our programs in our community, to help the founders find the resources that they need or provide them with the resources they need to continue to grow. But basically taking somebody that just has an idea and giving them the pathway to be able to take that idea, create a business out of it that's stainable on revenue or is ready for funding.”
Asked about the program, Woodin said:
“So, the program what we call San Antonio Startup Week and the whole intent with it, really, is to bring resources around entrepreneurship and startups to the South Texas community. We really try to plug people into those while highlighting some of the success stories and collaborations and things that are happening around startups across the South Texas region.”
Asked what the goals of the conference are, Woodin said:
“The goals are a handful. So I'd start by saying, bringing resources to entrepreneurs where they are. That's a big part of it. So, making sure that there are topics that entrepreneurs, startups and founders are interested in, whether that be legal, whether that be marketing, how to pitch all sorts of different things around that.
“So, resources are number one. Number two is showcasing and celebrating startups as a whole. So that is celebrating and showcasing startups through the pitch competitions, the awards, and the funding that will go to those startups. On top of that, allowing these founders and other startups to be able to share their stories so that others can hear about it.
“So, that is kind of like the two-pronged approach that we have this year. The focus is around igniting innovation. So getting people really excited about creating something new. And the second one is building towards the future. And so really kind of focusing on what is the future looking like, how can we all participate in building the future that we want to see.”
A reporter put it to Woodin that when people think of San Antonio’s economic profile, the healthcare industry, tourism, and the military bases come to mind. If Geekdom is successful, it was suggested to Woodin, the city might also be thought of a having a strong entrepreneurial spirit with a large small business footprint.
“You hit the nail on the head,” Woodin responded. “But, one of the things I'll add to that, however, is something that a lot of people underestimate when they think about San Antonio. A lot of people don't realize we are the second largest talent pool of cybersecurity professionals in all the United States.”
“For us, and how we're investing in that is, as we developed a partnership for our very first accelerator here we chose to make that in the cybersecurity realm because of that large presence and talent pool that exists here. And we've got some great, successful cybersecurity startups that started here were around for a decade or two and then we sold. So, there’s a really strong talent pool and future for that industry here in San Antonio. We are really trying to put it on the map, along with, just, creating pathways for any small business or startup to continue to thrive here.”
Woodin explained how and why UTRGV’s Ufland Romo will be involved.
“We've been working really closely with Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the UTRGV team based at the eBridge Center in Brownsville for the past year or two. And we are super excited to have them involved in making sure that these resources are aware and accessible to those down the Rio Grande Valley.”
Asked about Geekdom’s connections to the RGV, Woodin said:
“So, we were connected to Nathan and Linda, I want to say about two years ago and started collaborations with them as they were auditioning the e-Bridge facility. Our whole thought in collaborative intent was around, how do the resources that we have up here, how do we help arm Brownsville and eBridge with those types of resources as they're building out their new facility. So basically bringing some of that programming down there was a conversations that we had. And myself and my previous CEO Philip had been a really good conduit for a lot of those products and one of the first ones that we did together with Brownsville down in eBridge was hosting what we call our StartUp Bootcamp. We hosted that down there, I want to say it was the end of March or April of this year. It was a great success. I'll double check the numbers and make sure that we get this to you but I'm 99% sure that it was about 17 different ideas and companies were pitched over that weekend.
“It turned out to be really successful from our point of view with bringing that programming down there. We hope to continue to replicate that and host more programs like that in partnership with eBridge, but also figuring out how we bring some of the later-stage programming down there as well, whether that be our incubator, our pre-accelerator, or even ideas like our community fund and figuring out how we can arm eBridge with some of the learning that we've had over the past 12 years of operating this organization.”
Editor's Note: The "Nathan" Charles Woodin referred to in his interview is Nathan Burkhart, director of small business development at the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation.
Founded in 2011, Geekdom is a collaborative startup community building San Antonio one startup at a time. The center of the San Antonio startup ecosystem, Geekdom offers its members resources and opportunities that empower entrepreneurs to ideate, cultivate, shape, and grow ideas into viable businesses ready for the next level. Geekdom is located on four floors in the Rand Building, 110 East Houston St., in the heart of downtown San Antonio. For more information, visit www.geekdom.com.
