One of the best ways to understand a tech ecosystem -- and it's future -- is to take a look at a city’s youngest entrepreneurs.
From the hallways of Austin high schools to its universities and startups, the newest generation entering the workforce has more startup resources than ever -- and they're putting them to use.
Austin has launched fast-growing tech companies like HomeAway, WP Engine and Dosh, but there's no rest for Austin's ecosystem. So, to get a look at some of Austin's most accomplished young entrepreneurs, we’ve reached out through our newsletter, social media and by contacting leaders at many of Austin's incubators and schools for nominations. We've trimmed that to a list of 25 Austin innovators under age 25 (though a few turned 25 during the nomination period).
Here they are, in no particular order.
1.) Kelsi Kamin | 23 | Capital Factory, Venture Associate
Kamin has become a force on Capital Factory's venture fund and accelerator, where she sources new investments, hears dozens of pitches and identifies potential investments -- particularly in the blockchain and crypto spaces. The former Texas Longhorn helped create the Genesis Fund to back student startups. She also helps organize the Texas Crypto Meetup, which has more than 850 members, and mentors at the Longhorn Startup Lab. Learn more about Kamin in this Q&A.
2.) David Zakariaie | 21 | Senseye, Founder and CEO
Zakariaie has been wowing the Austin startup scene for a few years already. At 19, he won Capital Factory's first-ever $100,000 challenge. He founded Senseye, and now his innovations, which monitor the human iris to understand when someone in a flight simulator has learned a task, are being used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Using similar iris tracking, Zakariaie has developed tech that could replace traditional lie detectors. And he's working on software that may one day let you use your brain in new, computer-driven ways.
3.) Nia Daughtry | 20 | Founder of Loop and University of Texas student
Described by colleagues as incredibly smart and helpful, Daughtry is in the midst of working on her first startup. Thought in its early stages, Loop is a described as a marketplace where startups can outsource content creation to freelance college students. And, she has begun documenting her startup journey on Medium.
4.) Nina Ho | 24 | collective blue, CEO and Creative Director
Austin's lack of diversity has been well noted, and Houston's abundance of cultures is one of our nation's prides. Ho came from Vietnam to Houston, and then found Austin via The University of Texas. Her startup is focused on inclusion and diversity. She has dual degrees from The University of Texas at Austin in advertising and French with a minor in Portuguese. She also has close ties with 3 Day Startup.
5-6.) Daniela Pachon and Diego De Stefano | 23 & 24 | Trip Loop Co-Founders
Group travel isn't easy, and Trip Loop co-founders Daniela Pachon and Diego De Stefano, who recently got married, have created a new way keep track of itineraries and other travel information -- even when the Wi-Fi breaks down. They started their business at The University of Texas and have landed angel investments from big names in the travel industry. The company was part of the 3 Day Startup program and has since launched its product in Mexico. Before that, Pachon founded the first farmer's market at UT and De Stefano founded an air quality startup called Green Aura and was a product management intern at The Boon Group in Austin.
7-8.) Rohit Srinivasan and Sidharth Srinivasan | 18 & 16 | Trashbots Co-Founders
After traveling in India, the Srinivasan brothers learned how interested kids were in learning, but they saw a gap in resources. With that idea, they founded Trashbots. It's a startup that aims to give children around the world a chance to learn the basics of rocketry, robotics and other STEM skills -- while also having a lot of fun. Paul Austin, a software engineer from National Instruments, is also part of the founding team. And, they've had a series of successes -- two SXSW awards, a GESA top tech startup award and an innovation highlight by Texas Monthly.
9.) Angelica Erazo | 24 | Oracle, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator
Erazo is a leader in the diversity and inclusion space for entrepreneurs and in the corporate environment. She is a recipient of the Austin Mosaic Awards for being a champion of how to use technology to assist underrepresented communities and has also received the Shell Hero's Award by Shell Corporation for utilizing technology to help save over 400 lives during Hurricane Harvey. She also sits on the Board for the Mexican American Cultural Arts Center and is the creator of Austin's first Austin Tech Pro-Bono Day that received national attention and received a proclamation by Mayor Steve Adler.
10.) Kaelin Hooper | 23 | Keller Williams, Product Manager
Hired to be KW Founder Gary Keller's personal innovation director straight out of college, Hooper turned down a job at Microsoft to enter the real estate tech space where he could help launch new ventures for the massive company. That grew into being a project manager for the forthcoming Keller Williams consumer application, which the company thinks could be huge for the company's accelerating trajectory. Hooper is also said to be an accomplished pianist. There’s even some video to back that up.
11.) Joshua Sanchez | 23 | FloatMe, CEO
Josh and his startup are working to disrupt the payday lending industry and provide financial wellness benefits for employees. His startup, FloatMe, gives companies an easy way offer employees access to pay, protect from overdraft fees and access to financial education, which is a growing concern for all tech employees. His startup is based in San Antonio, but he also works in Austin at least once a week with other team members.
12.) Lauren Welch | 24 | XELPHAhealth, Co-Founder and COO
Welch is the co-founder of XELPHAhealth, a health care solutions company helping advance quality care in resource-constrained environments via machine learning. She's an alumni of MIT’s Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, according to her LinkedIn page. She has significant hospital experience, and she's on the board of directors for Kimberly’s List, which helps students of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She also recently won the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Association competition in San Antonio. Learn more in this profile by St. Edward’s University.
13.) Kush Singh | 19 | Hitch, Co-Founder and CEO
At 19, Singh is already on his third startup. After working on meetHere, which was recognized as a top startup by CNBC, and being employee No. 2 at Peeyr, Singh launched a rideshare company called Krew that matches riders with drivers already going on long-distance trips to other Texas cities. The startup is now called Hitch, and it's a major play to fix city-to-city travel while we wait on Elon Musk's tube travel. It provides rideshares from Austin to Houston for $25 on about a half-hour notice. The startup has raised money from Capital Factory and has about $1 million in commitments so far.
14-15.) Mark Ruvalcaba and Raj Panesar | 24 & 25 | FeverFit, Co-Founders
Software developers Ruvalcaba and Panesar worked together at UMOW as CTO and software development intern, respectively. Two years ago, they founded FeverFit to encourage healthy activity by building a platform connecting fitness instructors with students for independent classes in underutilized spaces, like coworking locations, hotels and beyond.
16.) Jack Ikard | 25 | AquaSprouts, Founder and CEO
Ikard filed for patents and launched his startup, AquaSprouts, as a sophomore in at St. Edward's University. After graduating in 2016, he wasted no time expanding on his business -- AquaSprouts -- that uses water that has been used in aquariums to feed plant beds, which in turn filters the water back to the tanks. Earlier this year, AquaSprouts entered the MassChallenge Texas accelerator and became a finalist company, ultimately winning the social impact people's choice award. The company was recently selected for Quake Capital's new accelerator. But AquaSprouts was just the latest step for Ikard, who launched a power-washing company at age 15 and has been building aquaponic systems for years.
17.) Katherine Allen | 22 | Flo Recruit, Founder and CEO
While wrapping up her degree in mechanical engineering and Plan II Honors at The University of Texas, Allen co-founded The Genesis Fund, a $1.2 million fund that backs student startups. She's founder and CEO of Flo Recruit, a recruiting platform for corporations that has been through the Longhorn Startup Lab and Austin Technology Incubator. Allen is also a member of the Friar Society.
18.) Mikaila Ulmer | 13 | Me & the Bees Lemonade, founder
Austin's Lemonade Day led Ulmer to think about ideas for a business competition. She was four years old. She also got stung by a bee, twice. And saw her grandma's flaxseed lemonade recipe. Since then, big things have happened. She founded Me & the Bees Lemonade, in part, to help save honeybees and she has been recognized worldwide by business publications, ABC's "Shark Tank," TIME Magazine and even met with President Obama -- three times. She's also behind the Healthy Hive Foundation and is part of Microsoft's People of Action network.
19-20.) Amir and Amin Bahari | 23 | Elite Sweets, Co-Founders
Disrupting the donut market is no small task. But brothers Amir and Amin Bahari have done it with Elite Sweets' high-protein donuts that have less sugar than traditional ones -- plus, they're gluten free. Earlier this year, the Bahari brothers won a WeWork Creator Award in San Francisco, netting them a $180,000 check to help expand their brand.
21.) Adithya Kumar | 16 | Airviews, Founder and CEO
Kumar, a junior at the Liberal Arts Academy in Austin, launched an aerial photography startup, Airviews, that flies above real estate, weddings and more. He was selected for MIT's LaunchX program and, with those lessons, has navigated FAA rules and learned enough to launch another business. His second startup is called Vis Technologies, which is focused on magnetic solutions for connecting and accessing electricity. Among his hobbies, he lists iOS and Android development, music composition and Rubik's Cube-ing -- his record was 13 seconds.
22.) Campbell Erickson | 19 | Axum, Co-Founder
Erickson is enrolled at Harvard now, but just a few years ago he was one of Austin's rising stars. While he was at an incubator at MIT, he co-founded PurchaseMate, an app that share information and political stances behind food and beverage companies, according to a WeWork profile. Now he's onto his next startup, which, thus far, appears to be in stealth mode. Outside of building startups, Erickson's website says he's into climbing, soccer, cycling and photography.
23.) Patrick Edelen | 20 | Chrono.gg, Growth Engineer
Edelen, a student at The University of Texas, has been wowing his team at Chrono.gg, a game-buying site that moved its operations from Alabama to Austin. "His work ethic, sense of ownership over the work he creates, and continuous innovation and excitement is absolutely contagious," the company's CEO, Justin Sacks, said in nominating him.
24.) Andrew Lee | 25 | BuyCustomGeofilters.com, UnofficialSXGuide.com and Karavan App
After a lecture by Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, Lee taught himself to code through YouTube videos and tutorials back in 2015. He then built Karavan, a free app that uses geofilters to share real-time location of users to help them group up and meet. Lee kept making new geofilters and expanded the business to include India, the U.K. and other places. His BuyCustomGeofilters.com business, launched in 2016, works with Fortune 500 clients and has been featured in several national and international publications. Lee also runs UnofficialSXGuide.com, which helps folks find the growing crop of unofficial events running during the official SXSW conference. Its Twitter handle alone has 13,800 followers. See more about his work here.
25.) Thejas Prasad | 25 | Cerebri AI, Co-Founder and Data Scientist
When Prasad was an engineering student at UT, he and three fellow students won an IBM Watson competition that came with $100,000 to start a company. They followed through, forming Cerebri AI, a machine-learning-based startup that helps Fortune 500 companies with customer experience. The company is backed by Microsoft's M12 and has about 50 employees in Austin, Toronto and Washington, D.C.
