Key Takeaways
- • Roughly 450 founders, investors and community leaders attended the sixth annual Venture Dallas conference at Old Parkland in Dallas, underscoring the growth of North Texas' venture capital community.
- • Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and managing partner of Austin-based 8VC, argued Texas offers founders advantages other states cannot, citing 8VC portfolio company Saronic's shipyard project in Brownsville.
- • Base Power, an Austin-based battery installer for single-family homes, said that working with state lawmakers to standardize installation rules, rather than navigating municipal patchworks, was game-changing for its growth; more than half its installations are in Dallas-Fort Worth.
- • U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) contrasted Texas's approach to innovation with Washington's, stating the state asks "How can we make it easier?"
Summary
North Texas' growing venture capital community was on display Thursday at Old Parkland, where an estimated 450 company founders, investors and community leaders gathered for the sixth annual Venture Dallas conference, according to Dallas Innovates. More than 40 speakers took the stage, including Mark Cuban, Stephen Gillett, CEO of Dallas-based Verily Health, Lane Kasselman, co-CEO of Dallas-based Blockchain.com, and Will Edwards, co-founder and CEO of Addison-based Firehawk Aerospace. A build-first optimism was a recurring theme.
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies and founder and managing partner of Austin-based 8VC, made the case that Texas offers founders advantages unavailable elsewhere. Lonsdale, who moved from Silicon Valley to Austin in 2020, pointed to 8VC portfolio company Saronic, an Austin-based naval defense company that broke ground in September on its next-generation shipyard, Port Alpha, in Brownsville. He said Saronic could not have started in California. Lonsdale's firm was also an early backer of Dallas-based life insurance startup Bestow.
Austin-based energy storage company Base Power made a similar argument. The company installs batteries at single-family homes to expand grid capacity, with more than half its installations in Dallas-Fort Worth. Co-founder Justin Lopas said the company worked with state lawmakers to standardize installation requirements instead of navigating a patchwork of municipal rules, which he described as game-changing for its growth.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the state's pro-innovation approach stands out, contrasting the attitude in Washington ("How can we make it harder?") with Texas's ("How can we make it easier?"). Looking ahead, Cornyn acknowledged rapid AI advances, which he said bring collateral consequences for jobs that policymakers will need to address. He concluded that the future is bright if people willing to take well-calculated risks keep building.
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies and founder and managing partner of Austin-based 8VC, made the case that Texas offers founders advantages unavailable elsewhere. Lonsdale, who moved from Silicon Valley to Austin in 2020, pointed to 8VC portfolio company Saronic, an Austin-based naval defense company that broke ground in September on its next-generation shipyard, Port Alpha, in Brownsville. He said Saronic could not have started in California. Lonsdale's firm was also an early backer of Dallas-based life insurance startup Bestow.
Austin-based energy storage company Base Power made a similar argument. The company installs batteries at single-family homes to expand grid capacity, with more than half its installations in Dallas-Fort Worth. Co-founder Justin Lopas said the company worked with state lawmakers to standardize installation requirements instead of navigating a patchwork of municipal rules, which he described as game-changing for its growth.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the state's pro-innovation approach stands out, contrasting the attitude in Washington ("How can we make it harder?") with Texas's ("How can we make it easier?"). Looking ahead, Cornyn acknowledged rapid AI advances, which he said bring collateral consequences for jobs that policymakers will need to address. He concluded that the future is bright if people willing to take well-calculated risks keep building.
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