TC City Spotlight: Austin
April 6, 2022
Speakers
Sara T. Brand
Founding General Partner True Wealth Ventures
Bryan Chambers
President Capital Factory
Morgan Flager
Managing Partner Silverton Partners
Keith Melnick
CEO The Zebra
Krishna Srinivasan
Founding Partner LiveOak Venture Partners
Sara Brand is the Founding General Partner of True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage VC fund investing in women-led businesses improving environmental and human health. She is also the co-founder of (512) Brewing, the largest draught-only, self-distributing microbrewery in the U.S. before COVID. Sara was previously in venture capital and management consulting in the Bay Area as well as in a variety of strategic and operational roles in large tech companies. Sara holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in green design and manufacturing from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from UT Austin.
Sara's Sessions
How to Raise Early Capital in Austin
Austin is quickly becoming a hub of early stage startups, and there’s a handful of firms writing checks to get these companies off the ground. Hear from three of the top investors in the Austin area about their investment strategies and the best way to get their attention.
TC City Spotlight Pitch-off
Apply now! Three Austin-based startups will pitch their company live to a panel of investors and TechCrunch Staff. The companies have four minutes to present their pitch deck, and the winner gets exhibition space at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
Bryan Chambers is the President at Capital Factory, the most active early stage investment fund in Texas, where he manages the firms venture team responsible for sourcing and evaluating technology startups for the Capital Factory Venture Portfolio. Prior to joining Capital Factory Bryan was a founding team member of Fixd Repair, a insuretech and home services technology platform that was successfully acquired by ANGI Home Services. Bryan was the founding Director of the UT Dallas Seed Fund and the Blackstone LaunchPad in partnership with the University of Texas at Dallas and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and holds a faculty appointment where he teaches Venture Capital at the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a nationally top ranked entrepreneurship program. In addition to his work as an entrepreneur, educator, and venture investor, and community advocate for North Texas, Bryan is a founding member of Venture Dallas, a non-profit and tech advocacy organization aimed at growing the venture capital ecosystem in North Texas. Bryan completed his undergraduate and MBA degrees at UT Arlington.
Bryan's Sessions
How to Raise Early Capital in Austin
Austin is quickly becoming a hub of early stage startups, and there’s a handful of firms writing checks to get these companies off the ground. Hear from three of the top investors in the Austin area about their investment strategies and the best way to get their attention.
TC City Spotlight Pitch-off
Apply now! Three Austin-based startups will pitch their company live to a panel of investors and TechCrunch Staff. The companies have four minutes to present their pitch deck, and the winner gets exhibition space at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
Morgan is the managing partner of Silverton Partners, the longest running and most active early stage venture fund in Texas. Morgan has over 25 years of experience as a venture investor and technology executive. He joined Silverton in 2006 and has sponsored 24 investments and realized 11 acquisitions and two IPO’s. He currently sits on the boards of Aceable, BILT, Insiteflow, OneDay, Rollick, Self Financial, SourceDay, The Helper Bees, The Zebra, and Wheel. Notable past investments include Alert Media (acq. Vista Equity), Black Locus (acq. The Home Depot), Crimson (acq. Advisory Board), Ping Identity (NYSE: PING), Project 44, Trendkite (acq. Cision) and Vacasa (NASDAQ:VCSA). Prior to Silverton, Morgan worked with FTV Capital in San Francisco, where he focused on growth investments in software and financial technology. Morgan started his career at Ingrian Networks (acquired by SafeNet) and Kintana (acquired by Mercury Interactive Corp.). Morgan grew up in Santa Cruz, California, and received his BS from Stanford University.
Morgan's Sessions
TechCrunch Live with The Zebra and Silverton Partners
The Zebra was an early Austin transplant. Founded in 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA, the founders, lured by Texas investors including Mark Cuban and Silverton Partners’ Morgan Flager, relocated to Austin the next year. In 2017 after raising $40m, the company brought on Keith Melnick as CEO and has grown to be one of the largest tech startups in Austin.
Keith Melnick, CEO of The Zebra, brings decades of experience to the insurtech company. Keith has previously served as President of KAYAK, and was part of the original team that launched the company in 2004. During his tenure at KAYAK he has also served as Chief Commercial Officer, EVP Corporate Development, and VP Business Development. Keith is a former management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, where he concentrated primarily on travel, e-commerce, financial services and industrial goods and helped found Orbitz, Inc. Prior to this, he served in Revenue Management and Finance with American Airlines. Keith received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Southern California.
Keith's Sessions
TechCrunch Live with The Zebra and Silverton Partners
The Zebra was an early Austin transplant. Founded in 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA, the founders, lured by Texas investors including Mark Cuban and Silverton Partners’ Morgan Flager, relocated to Austin the next year. In 2017 after raising $40m, the company brought on Keith Melnick as CEO and has grown to be one of the largest tech startups in Austin.
Krishna Srinivasan is a co-founder of LiveOak Venture Partners and has been investing in early-stage Texas based companies and entrepreneurs since 2000. Prior to co-founding LiveOak, Krishna was a Partner at Austin Ventures and previously he was with Motorola where he wrote large scale optimization software for supply chain planning and worked with a variety of business units on strategic and operational issues. Krishna received his MBA from Wharton where he graduated with highest academic honors as a Palmer Scholar. He also has an MS in Operations Research from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, where he graduated with high all-round honors. Krishna currently serves as Chairman of the Miracle Foundation board, an Austin-based organization that supports orphanages in India and foster care programs in the United States. He also serves on the board of PBS Austin, an organization dedicated to preparing children for success in school and creating lifelong opportunities for all. When he’s not working you can find him running the trails of Austin, practicing yoga, and spending time with his wife and three kids.
Krishna's Sessions
How to Raise Early Capital in Austin
Austin is quickly becoming a hub of early stage startups, and there’s a handful of firms writing checks to get these companies off the ground. Hear from three of the top investors in the Austin area about their investment strategies and the best way to get their attention.
TC City Spotlight Pitch-off
Apply now! Three Austin-based startups will pitch their company live to a panel of investors and TechCrunch Staff. The companies have four minutes to present their pitch deck, and the winner gets exhibition space at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.