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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.
[Photo: TXU Energy Urban Tree Farm and Education Center/Facebook]
The Last Word: Texas Trees Foundation CEO on Partnering with TXU to Plant 400 Trees Across Texas
by David Seeley | Nov 7, 2024
Irving-based TXU Energy and the Dallas-based Texas Trees Foundation are launching a statewide tree-planting campaign, celebrating 20 years of working together to create “greener, healthier communities” via the TXU Energy Urban Tree Farm and Education Center at Dallas College's Richland campus.
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Nov 6, 2024
Mike Fey—co-founder and CEO of Dallas-based enterprise browser unicorn Island—launched his company in 2020 during the pandemic and has since seen its valuation rocket to $3 billion. Speaking at the Venture Dallas conference last week, he talked about why he decided to found his company in Dallas instead of in Silicon Valley.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Nov 5, 2024
Coffee with a British accent is politely muscling into North Texas, as anyone driving down East Mockingbird Lane in Dallas this week could tell you. Founded in London, England, in 2013 by college friends Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth, Black Sheep Coffee has 110 restaurant locations in the U.K., France, the United Arab Emirates, and Philippines. That total includes the newly opened 6240 E. Mockingbird location (housed in a former bank building) and one at Preston Parkway Center in Plano, which opened a few months ago.
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by David Seeley |
Nov 4, 2024
Offshore wind turbines are a growing ingredient in the race to develop clean and renewable energy sources. But the turbines—which are attached to the ocean floor with cables and "float" on platforms high above—face risks from high winds and harsh storms that lash the open sea. UT Dallas' Dr. Yaqing Jin has found a potential solution inspired by an unlikely source: seal whiskers.
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[Image: Dude Perfect]
The Last Word: Dude Perfect’s Coby Cotton on Planning a New 80K‑SF Video Production Studio in Frisco
by David Seeley | Oct 30, 2024
At the Venture Dallas summit today at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Dude Perfect CEO Andrew Yaffe unveiled plans for a new 80,000-square-foot video production studio to be located near the trick-shot YouTube stars' new $3 million Frisco HQ.
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by David Seeley |
Oct 29, 2024
The Deep Ellum Foundation is installing new streetlight pole banners on Elm Street, Main Street, and Exposition Avenue that celebrate the neighborhood by highlighting business owners, artists, musicians, and other stakeholders "who have invested their talent, sweat, and tears into the incomparable Deep Ellum Cultural District," the foundation said.
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by David Seeley |
Oct 24, 2024
Cx Precision Medicine—a diagnostics company founded on research by Dr. Sid O’Bryant at UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth—spun out from HSC to advance O’Bryant’s pioneering work on blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. The company recently gained higher visibility—and an even greater opportunity for impact—by being selected to join the prestigious StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot community.
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by David Seeley |
Oct 23, 2024
Ashraf was quoted in a recent New York Times article, "Reinventing Concrete, the Ancient Roman Way," about using 2,000-year-old Roman secrets to create concrete for underwater use in bridges, breakwaters, and artificial reefs. But unlike the volcanic ash used by Roman engineers as a key concrete ingredient, Ashraf and her team are using clay mixed with the mineral kaolinite. The recipe required heating to about 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit—only half the temperature needed to produce modern Portland cement.
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[Image: SvetaZi/istockphoto]
The Last Word: DRC’s Eric Griffin on Why Dallas-Fort Worth is an Incubator for Applied AI
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report | Oct 18, 2024
Griffin doesn't believe AI can save the world. "But," he posted recently on LinkedIn, "it might just help your business save money, reduce waste, retain customers, educate your employees, and optimize operational performance." And a lot of what's driving these possibilities is happening right here in North Texas. Last month, the DRC published an in-depth report on the subject titled "The Business of Artificial Intelligence," which explores how Dallas-Fort Worth's diverse economy "is an incubator for applied AI."
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by David Seeley |
Oct 16, 2024
Sara Blakely founded Spanx shapewear in 2000, achieving the perfect fit for a massive success. In August—three years after Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Spanx, valuing the company at $1.2 billion—Blakely launched her next big idea: Sneex—a $500-plus luxury shoe line that mashes up high heels with sneakers. Reviews have been decidedly mixed, the Wall Street Journal reports—and it reached out to Dallas-based personal stylist Molly Hudson to help explain why.
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by David Seeley |
Oct 15, 2024
Portnoy was in Dallas over the weekend to catch the Texas-OU game and to do some of his "one bite reviews" of local pizza restaurants and the fried food offerings at the State Fair of Texas. But he ended up reviewing a different local business after he experienced "pillow hell" at the JW Marriott hotel in the Dallas Arts District. He'd gone to a local Mattress Firm to buy his own pillows before he found a nice note from the hotel in his room with new pillow options—including a selection from Dallas-based The Pillow Bar. His post about The Pillow Bar's side sleeper pillow has since racked up over 1 million views on X.
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by David Seeley |
Oct 11, 2024
For nearly 75 years, Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas (JFS) has provided critical services to those in need. The nonprofit—whose services include primary medical care, individual counseling and group support, career and financial coaching, a food pantry, and more—has been a cornerstone of the community since 1950. But lately it’s been “bursting at the seams” in its home in Far North Dallas. That’s about to change, though—thanks to the recent groundbreaking of The Karla and Larry Steinberg Building, JFS’ new 100,000-square-foot home at 16301 Quorum Dr. in Addison.
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A card from Divorceaversary [Photo: Divorceaversary]
The Last Word: From ‘I Do’ to ‘I’m Done,’ How Dallas-Based Divorceaversary Gives Divorce and Breakups a Positive Spin
by David Seeley | Oct 9, 2024
Divorceaversary is a new Dallas-based startup that puts a positive spin on the aftermath of going from "I do" to "I'm done." Aiming to transform how people approach life after divorce and breakups, its e-commerce site offers cards that celebrate new beginnings—in humorous, edgy, even NSFW ways. Some cards offer great advice ("I know things are bad but don't get bangs"), others are supportive ("Divorce looks good as hell on you"), and others express relief ("No one ever liked that asshole anyway").
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by David Seeley |
Oct 7, 2024
Williams recently wrote on LinkedIn about working with his former Common Desk colleague, founder Nick Clark, to develop the "first boutique country club in the USA" in Dallas' Lake Highlands neighborhood. The twist: Unlike traditional country clubs—where space and programming for kids is a relative afterthought—Eastside Country Club will be aimed at prioritizing kids over adults "when it comes to design, indoor space allocation, amenities, and programming."
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by David Seeley |
Oct 4, 2024
Beats for Good—a high school music competition for students in the Arlington, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, and Mansfield school districts—invited students to put their best performances forward by submitting videos of their talent in action. Back on September 6, the top judged entries were posted online with visitors asked to vote for their favorites—and the winners are in. First place went to 2024 Arlington High School graduate Mason Moore and his spellbinding acoustic guitar rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
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by David Seeley |
Oct 2, 2024
North Texas grabbed the world's financial attention again this week with updates from the Dallas-based Texas Stock Exchange, which introduced its expansive leadership team and board members and said it had raised over $135 million to date. But as Austin-based Paul O'Brien noted in his LinkedIn Startup Studio post last month, the TXSE is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to North Texas' sprawling fintech and financial universe.
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