Generosity of Spirit

I wanted to share something special as part of my journey before the Texas Venture Gala & Forum, by Texas Venture Alliance official pics & videos go live on our website this week-- something you wouldn't be able to tell made a big difference in the success we experienced this year.

This is our Founding Gala Keynote last year who is the longest-tenured NASA Administrator, the Honorable Dan Goldin who served under 3 presidents, who Gala guests were completely in awe & inspired by. I was certain he'd ignore me asking if he'd like to come speak since he's such a figure (but you know, a founder's gotta shoot their shot lol), and that he'd look at us online and see there had been no precedence--I like to think the Gala folks from last year were truly special and jumped in BECAUSE they saw no precedence... REAL trailblazers!-- Now this year I had the honor of interviewing the Presidential Cabinet Member & SBA Administrator, Kelly Loeffler.

Though I told Dan & his team they'll always have tickets with us because I'm personally forever grateful, they even insisted/did buy them. It's this generosity of spirit that keeps innovation, especially at the spark alive, and of course makes for a really great longterm business relationship. We were actually fighting about who would pay for tickets-- in a good way haha.

And to underscore this theme of "generosity of spirit": There were 2 fortune 500 companies that gave significantly to this experience, that as a non-profit CEO, I felt incredibly grateful they understood the vision. Not only that, but the largest supporter offered me extra team for months, weekly support calls, and even gave me a White House message from the President of the United States cheering on the event (?!). Again I insisted they jump in the awards photo opportunities, offer them to speak, provide quotes in the press release, promote them as prominent logos, etc... and neither of them even cared for the recognition. It was a real life changing moment + I felt seen & understood in the effort to help entrepreneurs. We can only continue to do awards, showcases, newsletter, events and other resources throughout the year because of them.

And what's kinda funny is that we're certainly no "charity case". Many startups & investors have raised millions for their funds after attending our events/using our resources. Some startups & investors are now coming back and sponsoring to help us with our impact even more... and in turn we help them again + our ability to help more entrepreneurs grows.

So again maybe not obvious in our recaps, but I wanted to use this moment to share that these people, corporations, & startups' unique generosity of spirit played a major role. They wanted to help founders... & even personally, this founder, so I take that "ripple effect" responsibility very seriously, and will perpetuate this spirit even more.

Forever grateful, and you'll always have a seat at our table(s)!