CS Freeland The White House

The White House: Briefing Room December 2024

Thanks for reading— I’m Christa Freeland, and I mostly go by “CS”! I'm an overachieving Texan with an atypical “portfolio career,” obsessed with true leadership and exceptionalism in our great state. I value original thought, unmatched work ethic, courage, intellectual horsepower, of course a Texan frontiering spirit.

For 15 years I've worked in multi-disciplinary and highly innovative roles, mostly in downtown Austin. The majority of last decade I worked at what was Austin’s first venture studio, then later a startup accelerator and an angel investor network. I cofounded a local and then state trade association for the greater venture community, the Texas Venture Alliance. In less than 3 years years it’s the largest network and the only statewide association for innovation featured in the Texas State Governor Greg Abbott’s five year economic development plan, “Bigger. Better. Texas.” here.

Outside of startups & venture, I’m actively involved as a US Chamber of Commerce Fellow, and at the Texas Association of Business (the state chamber commerce). I’ve been a member of the American Association of Political Consultants for two years, and am a sought-after advisor after having produced several multi-award winning campaigns for Texas mayors & state legislators in highly critical races.

Texas Venture Fest

Since October 2022, I’ve orchestrated and co-hosted 40+ venture-focused events, including founding the largest collaboration in the state hosting in total nearly 7,000 Texans to date, called the Texas Venture Fest.

It’s an example of what Texans can do when we act together, co-creating the only truly Texas-sized networking and educational experience across 15+ cities, 20+ venues, and for 3,000+ Texans in 2024. Sign up for 2025 here.

Photo Caption: With LiveOak Ventures Partner Krishna Srinivasan and the Longhorn Venture Shuttle kicking off the Venture Crawl experience in downtown Austin.

Texas Venture Gala & Forum

CS Freeland Texas Venture Capital Gala Forum.jpg

All of the Texas Venture Fest co-hosts convene under one roof for the high-powered, high-end signature experience, the Texas Venture Gala & Forum featuring our state’s greater venture community of: venture capitalists, incubators, accelerators, angel networks, family offices, universities, chamber of commerce & economic development corporation funds, elected & appointed officials, and more.

It’s a uniquely Texan experience (with also dozens of Texans-for-a-Day!), filled with panels, firesides, and keynotes throughout the day for 300+ guests. It is then followed by an awards show in the evening for one heck of an investor dinner . Sign up for the 2nd Annual event here.

Photo caption: Addressing the audience during the inaugural Texas Venture Gala & Forum in April 2024.

Texas Venture Alliance & Newsletter

CS Freeland Texas Venture Capital

Both Texas Venture Fest and the Texas Venture Gala & Forum are the state’s sister signature experiences launched and led by the Texas Venture Alliance, a non-profit where I’m Executive Director, with the state chamber of commerce, the Texas Association of Business President & CEO Glenn Hamer. The mission is simple: amplify the statewide ecosystem of entrepreneur support.

There I’m also editor-in-chief of the Texas Venture Newsletter, a curated list of venture-focused events and resources to 10,000+ readers, published 2x a month.

Photo Caption: Attending a Texas Chamber of Commerce Board Member event hosted at the Texas Governor’s Mansion November 2024.