Mike Millard, managing director of MassChallenge Texas at WeWork at the Domain.

By LAURA LOREK
Publisher with Silicon Hills News

MassChallenge Texas is a new startup accelerator that is currently accepting applications for its inaugural Texas cohort.

One of the things that is unique about MassChallenge is since it doesn’t take any equity, it can work with all the other accelerators and incubators statewide to grow the startup ecosystem, said Mike Mallard, MassChallenge Texas managing director and founder of Pitch-A-Kid, a startup that connects startups to kids. Millard talked about the new accelerator during an interview on the Ideas to Invoices podcast.

“Our goal is to make the pie bigger, so everyone can succeed,” Millard said.

MassChallenge Texas is industry agnostic. It does have a few qualification requirements like a startup must have less than $1 million in revenue and less than $500,000 in funding. But the startup can be in energy, fashion, high tech, consumer goods, healthcare or any industry, he said. MassChallenge Texas is also looking for diversity in its startup founders and encourages minorities and women to apply to the program, Millard said.

“We’re looking for things that have high impact, high potential,” Millard said.

Experts and judges screen the applications and determine who gets into the program, he said.

Applications for the accelerator are due Dec. 5th and normally it costs $99 to apply, but Millard gave the code: MCTXIRONMIKE to the listeners of Ideas to Invoices and the readers of Silicon Hills News, to save 100 percent on the application fee. In other words, it’s free to apply with the code: MCTXIRONMIKE.

MassChallenge Texas has partnered with more than 20 community organizations including Capital Factory, WeWork and Impact Hub Austin on a Texas tour to let people know about the program. The tour began in mid-October and continues through Dec. 1st.

“We know that great ideas can come from anywhere,” Millard said.

MassChallenge Texas wants to select 100 startups for its first program, which will be based at WeWork’s new location on Sixth Street downtown. The program lasts four and a half months and culminates with a pitch event at the end in which startups compete for $500,000 in cash prizes.

The dates and locations that MassChallenge Texas will be hosting events in Austin are: Nov. 29: Webinar: 4 p.m. and Nov. 30: Easy Tiger: 5 p.m. For all event information visit the MassChallenge Texas Facebook Page.

For more on the MassChallenge Texas program, listen to the full podcast below and please subscribe, rate and review Ideas to Invoices on iTunes.