The Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center eagerly welcomes Dr. Steven Gray, an accomplished Assistant Professor of Management at UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business, as its new Director. Gray joins the Center succeeding its previous Director, Dr. Luis Martins, who devoted eight years to empowering Longhorn entrepreneurs and innovators.

Throughout the startup journey, forming an optimally executed business is a common objective all entrepreneurs strive to reach. It is no secret that achieving optimization in startup development requires intentional, strategic efforts. Before bringing your business model to life, we’ll explore the process of conducting proof of concept tests; a critical step in the startup journey helping ensure that your business goes down an innovative and successful path...

Comprised of six visionaries, Merge Conflict Studio is transforming the way marginalized perspectives and eco-conscious messaging are being amplified through inclusive, educational video games. Centered around such themes, Merge Conflict is devising meaningful gameplay and narratives as an independent video game development studio. Let’s meet the minds behind Merge Conflict Studio...

Entrepreneurship undeniably brings forth the development of groundbreaking solutions to societal needs and challenges. These innovative ideas often spark and shape into more developed forms from research processes. The market research process is an excellent arsenal of tools to help pave the way for startup concepts to be put into action. By obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the central issue that your startup is addressing and its root causes, you can ensure optimal solution ideation...

Meet Samantha Preston and Srikar Sadhu, junior biomedical engineering students at The University of Texas at Austin and co-founders of Sensibed Tech, a health-tech startup with social impact roots. Driven by the shared passion to ease pains they’ve both witnessed first-hand, the duo’s exploration of entrepreneurship led them to create an all-encompassing product of application that aims to prevent pressure ulcers through an effective and innovative practice solution.

Every successful business starts as just an idea, but how do legendary founders come up with their ideas? How do they vet that their idea genuinely addresses a need in the market? 

Introducing: design thinking, a thought process that seeks to create deeper understanding and challenge assumptions with the overarching goal of tackling root problems through innovative solutions. Read to explore five design thinking techniques and how you can apply them to your ideation process.

The thought of developing a new business completely from scratch may pose many thoughts of disinclination and uncertainty, especially when solely focusing on the potential obstacles and failures. Conversely, concentrating on the possible outcomes of social impact and groundbreaking innovation through entrepreneurship undeniably transforms the way we approach startup development. This reframing can ignite you with encouragement, optimism, and dedication.

Adding fuel to The University of Texas at Austin’s startup engine, alumnus William “Billy” Freed, BBA ’81, and his family have given $1 million to the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center in the McCombs School of Business...

On Thursday, April 20th, 2023, four students of The University of Texas at Austin took the stage to pitch their startups to an elite panel of judges to compete for funding from the collective $20,000 prize pool...   

Meet Alyssa Le, a third-year undergraduate student in the Business Honors Program and Management Information Systems major pursuing a computer science certificate at The University of Texas at Austin. She’s also the founder of the Locket, an innovative online resource that provides menstrual and sexual education to women...

Meet Trenton Balcombe, a second-year undergraduate finance major at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) from Frisco, Texas. He is also the founder of ChurchSearch, an online platform that connects people to churches by helping them narrow down the options to find their best fit...