Every Last Word

Dallas Innovates’ signature series capturing what leaders across North Texas are saying — in their own words — about innovation, impact, and what’s next.

The Last Word: RevTech Ventures’ David Matthews on Conundrum Facing Venture-Backed Tech Companies

by | Feb 1, 2023
In a recent YouTube video, Matthews offers a quick RevTech Roundup on "The Conundrum of Venture-Backed Tech Companies." He notes that there have been over 100,000 recent layoffs by big tech companies, "All of a sudden there's a bumper crop of available talent," Matthews says. "But on the other hand, venture funding tightened by almost 60% last year, as VCs tightened their grip on their dry powder."
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The Last Word: AT&T’s John Stankey on How to Have an ‘Emotional Attachment’ With Customers
Despite an economically challenging year that included AT&T's spinoff of WarnerMedia, Stankey believes his company delivered in 2022—for both customers and shareholders. In a story by Natalie Walters in the Dallas Morning News, Stankey said his company's renewed focus on its telecom DNA paid off, with the addition of 2.9 million postpaid phone connections and an additional 1.2 million fiber connections in 2022—and some key lessons learned.
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The Last Word: Ebby Halliday’s Chris Kelly on How Housing Tracks the Economy, and Why DFW Looks Good in 2023
Ebby Halliday Cos. President and CEO Chris Kelly was one of the speakers at a recent Real Estate & Economic Outlook event presented by the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at SMU. While many experts believe the U.S. may go into recession later this year, Kelly believes the housing market may already be regaining its feet by then.
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The Last Word: Spin the Spectrum’s Courtney Willis on How DJ Training Can Help Autistic People
by | Jan 27, 2023
Willis is a speech and language pathologist who earned a Masters in communication disorders from UT Dallas. As the founder, CEO, and clinic director of Dallas-based Speech Wings Therapy, she co-founded something new in 2022: Spin the Spectrum, a nonprofit that offers inclusive DJ classes, camps, and workshops for autistic and neurodivergent people of all ages.
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The Last Word: Vistra’s Sam Sen on the TXU Energy Connected Conservation Program

by | Jan 25, 2023
The new TXU Energy Connected Conservation program enables anyone with an eligible thermostat to take a more significant role in energy conservation. By agreeing to small, gradual, automatic temperature adjustments during peak consumption periods, customers will help conserve energy across Texas—using less and saving more.
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The Last Word: Starship Bagel’s Oren Salomon on Dallas’ Bagel City Identity
Salomon is a Brooklyn-born Polish Jew—three ingredients that practically made him destined to be a bagel expert. He proved it by opening Starship Bagel in Lewisville in July 2021, and earlier this month he opened a schmear-ific location at 1520 Elm Street in downtown Dallas, where he also serves coffee made from award-winning Onyx Coffee Lab beans.
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The Last Word: The USPTO on How Three Dallas Sisters Gave Maternity Wear a Stylish Innovation
by | Jan 23, 2023
Long ago, maternity wear was one of the unmentionables of fashion. That changed forever in 1937, when sisters Elsie and Edna Frankfurt founded Page Boy, America's first high-end maternity wear firm, in Dallas. In 1939, the sisters patented their game-changing solution: an adjustable skirt design for pregnant women that "accommodated" a baby bump instead of clumsily trying to hide it. They engineered a "window" in front of the skirt that expanded using drawstrings—while keeping the hemline stylishly parallel to the ground. 
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The Last Word: State Senator Kelly Hancock on the $350M Texas A&M-Fort Worth Research Campus
by | Jan 20, 2023
The Texas A&M University System announced the name Thursday at an event in Fort Worth. The downtown research campus is "moving ahead rapidly toward construction," TAMU says, as the anchor project for a technology and innovation district planned around the redevelopment of the city’s convention center.
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The Last Word: BAL’s Chloe Mervine on Staying Focused on Her Startup’s Growth

Mervine capped off 2022 by celebrating a milestone for her Dallas-based startup Big Ass Luxuries, which she and her husband Trent co-founded in 2021. BAL makes and sells Big Ass Candles—long-lasting and aromatic candles made from natural eco-friendly scents and coconut soy wax. BAL surpassed $1.3M in 2022 sales, 10 times what it made in 2021.
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The Last Word: Crow Holdings’ Michael Levy on Planning a $41M Logistics Hub in Southeast Dallas
Crow Holdings plans to break ground February 1 on a $41 million logistics hub at 4661 Lawnview Avenue in Southeast Dallas, with two new buildings totaling 511,000 square feet, Bisnow DFW reports.
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The Last Word: TEXRail’s Richard Andreski on Offering Free Rides Through MLK Weekend
Trinity Metro's TEXRail commuter rail line between the Fort Worth T&P Station and DFW Airport Terminal B Station is celebrating its fourth anniversary with free rides through Monday, January 16—as well as free passage on ZIPZONE rides that connect to a TEXRail station.
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The Last Word: Co-Founder Brent Bushnell on Engineering Entertainment and Social Fun at Dallas’ New Two Bit Circus

by | Jan 11, 2023
After a soft open two months ago, Two Bit Circus officially launched yesterday at Dallas' Shops of Park Lane, featuring 35,000 square feet of tech-enhanced entertainment. Attractions include arcade games; VR, AR, and "extended reality" experiences; "story rooms"; reimagined carnival games; and more. We talked to the co-founders about how playing in groups is a big part of the fun, why their VR games prove "humans are hackable," and more.

Here's a look inside the Texas-sized micro-amusement park.
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The Last Word: Hypnotoad Creator Eric Kaplan on TCU’s Viral Mascot
Millions are mystified by how the unranked TCU Horned Frogs have made it all the way to tonight's College Football Playoff National Football Championship game against the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. But ask many TCU fans and they'll say the answer is obvious: Hypnotoad. 
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The Last Word: TWU’s Tracy Irby on How to Celebrate National Business Plan Month
As New Year's Eve approaches, thoughts are turning to holidays, fireworks, and—yes—business plans for a whole new year. That may be why December is National Business Plan Month, and TWU's Tracy Irby has the perfect way to celebrate it—by avoiding 5 key business plan mistakes.
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The Last Word: Mosaic Makers Collective’s Katy Sensenig Schilthuis on Showcasing Talents of 80 Texas Women Makers
If you walk into Mosaic Makers Collective—a 2000-square-foot store at 8th Street and Bishop in Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District—you can find everything from watercolor paintings to kitchen magnets shaped like sushi to casual fashions, wall hangings, jewelry, and more. And a sign on the wall—FEMALE DESIGNED LOCAL GOODS—tells it all.
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