

Startup scene in Dallas? - jfornear

A couple weeks ago there was a question about the Pittsburgh startup scene on here... What about Dallas, TX?<p>I am also starting to look for a summer internship and thought it couldn't hurt to ask around here. So I guess my question could be split in to two parts:<p>1) Is Dallas a good city for startups? 
2) Any startups in Dallas taking interns?
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SwellJoe
Austin is known to be the best startup city in Texas (as others have pointed
out), and frankly, Austin leaves a lot to be desired. I moved from there to
the Valley, and while I miss the Texas weather (only two seasons: "hot" and "a
little chilly") and plan to eventually go back...it won't be until I've got a
successful business or two under my belt. The startup investment climate in
Silicon Valley is a world apart from anything else (only two seasons: "hot"
and "a little chilly").

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utnick
+1 for dallas

texasstartupblog.com has some info about local startups

the owner of that blog runs the only web 2.0 like small company i know of in
dallas, you should give him an email, he might be able to hook you up

are you a designer or do you code too?

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jsjenkins168
A lot of big tech and wireless companies in Dallas (Verizon, Texas
Instruments, IBM, etc). Some noteworthy game companies are located in Dallas
too. I would say Austin has a better investment climate for startups than
Dallas, but thats not to say there are not any good startups in Dallas too.

The problem I see with Dallas is the personality of the city is a bit
bureaucratic. At least relative to other startup hubs such as SV, Austin, and
Seattle, which seem to have more of an outdoor-loving hippie vibe.

Dallas is sufficiently "young" though. Lots of new young talent coming in. I
believe Dallas is actually one of the fastest growing cities in the US right
now.

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oxtopus
There are some notable startups, but no real Startup Culture to speak of.

There are some ++s:

\- Cost of living is relatively low \- Modern luxuries, infrastructure,
mobility, etc. afforded by a large metropolitan area. \- Central location,
with major airports (AA and Southwest are based in the DFW area) \- Strong
technical economy (TI, Lockheed Martin, telecom) \- UT Dallas, UT Arlington,
SMU \- Mark Cuban?

In my personal experience, I work for a startup in Dallas and we are doing
quite well (profitable, growing). We're also hiring for full-time, permanent
developers.

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bretthoerner
Which is that? I'm always interested to hear what's going on around here (I
didn't realize there'd even be this many people from Dallas here).

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oxtopus
SiSTeR Technologies, best known for our videocarlot product.

Link: <http://videocarlot.tv>

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aquaphile
I've lived in Dallas for 9 years and Austin for 4 years. I've been a part of 2
consulting startups and 1 product startup, and most recently raised a Series A
for my company. I know of many startup companies in Dallas, but the scene is
very different from Seattle and the Valley. VC money is non-existent, with a
few exceptions.

While many companies are started in Dallas every year, most of them are
focused on non-software industries. On the software side, here are a few
current ones I know about: 1) Swarmforce is a content system using swarm AI 2)
Roov is a social network for the faith community 3) MileMeter sells auto
insurance buy the mile 4) Viewzi provides view-based search

A list of some others can be found at
[http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2007/12/17/founders-in-
dalla...](http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2007/12/17/founders-in-dallas/)

A good way to get involved in the Dallas software startup community is to
visit Refresh Dallas, Dallas BarCamp, and Dallas.rb Reading texasstartupblog
occasionally provides insight to a new local company.

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goofygrin
I'm here in Dallas and there are some startups (some well funded too).

There is a lot of bigger business moving here and dragging a lot of california
imports with it, so we're starting to see more of the free spirit vs. the
traditional "work for a big company for security" that is standard here.

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matthewer
I am from Texas, but now live in NYC. From what I hear, the money is drying up
in Dallas. People are having a hard time fundraising; which, doesn't mean
anything other than companies are going to move to where the money is. The
Angels I have talked to out of Dallas are having a hard time.

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bigtoga
I just came across this and wanted to add my thoughts and reach out to the
other Dallas startups.

 _1) Is Dallas a good city for startups?_ That depends on your
involvement/wants/definition. There's a lot of money here and a lot of good
MBA schools/programs around. If you had asked, _Is Dallas a good city for
hackers?_ , I would've probably said, "Not really since we don't have a
quality tech school."

2) My startup, LearnItfirst.com (video training), is hiring both permanent and
interns: <http://www.learnitfirst.com/jobs/>

Someone posted a StartUpDrinks.com group: <http://dallas.startupdrinks.com/>

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unexpected
I'm an avid HN reader/dreamer/schemer in Dallas, and didn't know anyone else
existed....

There are a lot of telecom startups in Dallas, but there are not a lot of
Silicon Valley style software startups. You'd have better luck in Austin.

Hopefully, I'll soon be changing that ;)

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ejs
This might interest you: <http://hackrtrackr.com/>

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omfut
I have been living in dallas for the past 8 years. I dont think dallas is the
place for web 2.0 type startups. Well, there are couple of telecom startups. I
dont see a vibrant VC community here.

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aseever
I moved from Dallas to Seattle and haven't looked back. No comparison - much
better startup scene here.

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chaostheory
You'll have better chances in Austin...

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freikwcs
How is Austin?

