Texas Venture Labs at The University of Texas at Austin announced the hiring of Randall Crowder as the first Texas Venture Labs Fellow. Crowder is also an entrepreneur, active investor and executive director of the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) and a managing partner at TEXO Ventures.
“Randall is the perfect person to help us grow our organization,” said Rob Adams, director of Texas Venture Labs. “He is passionate about new venture creation and the innovative spirit that fuels entrepreneurs. He understands what makes a startup successful and what it takes to successfully raise and leverage investor capital.”
Created earlier this year, Texas Venture Labs offers entrepreneurs a quicker and more effective route to bring their innovations to market. “We’ve proven this is an environment where viable ventures can be launched,” Adams said. “With Texas Venture Labs, we’ve put in place a gateway and systematic process for students, faculty and entrepreneurs to access business, technology and legal resources available both on campus and in the Texas entrepreneur community.”
Crowder will work alongside Adams managing the projects and resources as well as developing the operating procedures.
CTAN, one of the most active angel networks in the country, connects early-stage growth companies in Central Texas with information and advisers to raise money and assist in their growth. Since joining CTAN in December 2008, Crowder has facilitated a 300 percent increase in investing by the organization.
TEXO Ventures is a venture firm focused on early-stage health care investments with a focus on innovative medical device and health care information technology companies.
Crowder holds a bachelor of science degree in general management from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, with a concentration in entrepreneurship. He is a former director of the Venture Fellows organization at McCombs, a current volunteer with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and a Kauffman Fellow, a program dedicated to identifying, developing and networking the next generation of leaders. Prior to attending business school, Crowder was a captain in the United States Army.
More information on Texas Venture Labs can be found online at www.texasventurelabs.net.
