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.

Texas state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, from left, U.S. Blockchain Coalition Executive Director Arry Yu, and Texas Blockchain Council President Lee Bratcher discuss digital assets policy at the Texas Blockchain Summit at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Nov. 20..

The Last Word: State Rep. Capriglione on Y’all Street, Digital Assets, and a Texas Bitcoin Reserve

by | Nov 22, 2024
“It’s destined to happen somewhere. I’d rather it happen here first.”

Giovanni Capriglione Texas State Representative Chair, Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee …on the potential for Texas to create a Bitcoin strategic reserve ahead of federal initiatives, speaking at the Texas Blockchain Summit in Dallas this week.

Earlier this week, Texas state Rep....

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The Last Word: Gov. Greg Abbott on Texas’ Advanced Nuclear Energy Future
by | Nov 21, 2024
Earlier this week, Governor Abbott announced the release of the Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group’s final report on Texas’ plan to build "a world-leading advanced nuclear power industry to enhance electric reliability and energy security, promote economic development, and unleash new opportunities for the growing Texas workforce."
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The Last Word: Thrift for Good Co‑Founder on Leveraging AI to Transform Thrift Stores
by | Nov 20, 2024
Founded in 2019, Thrift for Good enables people to buy and donate used goods while helping out charities, in an industry where 84% of donated clothes end up either dumped in a landfill or destroyed. Cooper and her fellow co-founder and co-owner, Taylor Watts, are building AI-based software for thrift stores to try to reduce that waste and inefficiency—while working to grow their DFW footprint.
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The Last Word: Chili’s Triple-Dips Its Way to a New ‘Sleep Collection’
by | Nov 19, 2024
Dallas-based Chili's says its Triple Dipper—a plate loaded with cheese pulls, burger bites, and sauced Chicken Crispers—went viral on TikTok this year, snagging "over 200 million views." Now the company's following that up with an eye-opening (uh, make that closing) marketing stunt.
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Screenshot of BlackWolf's ridesharing app. [Images: BlackWolf]

The Last Word: ‘Uber with Guns’ BlackWolf Founder on Expanding to Dallas

by | Nov 14, 2024
It's been called "Uber with guns." Now the Atlanta-based BlackWolf rideshare service—which features armed drivers with military or security backgrounds—is expanding to Dallas, Austin, and Houston, according to the Dallas Morning News' Sarah Bahari.
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The Last Word: John Goff on ‘Topping Out’ Texas A&M-Fort Worth’s Law and Education Building
by | Nov 13, 2024
Texas A&M is putting a major stamp on downtown Fort Worth, thanks to a $350 million research campus under construction in the Panther City. On Monday, a milestone was marked 250 feet above the future site of Texas A&M Fort Worth, which is slated to become a major hub for education, research, and innovation for years to come.
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The Last Word: Ross Perot Jr. on the Strength of the North Texas Economy
by | Nov 12, 2024
Inside the sprawling, cowboy-chic Texas Barn at the Perot family’s Circle T Ranch in Westlake late last month, an elite group of investors, founders, and key stakeholders gathered for an exclusive VIP event kicking off the 2024 Venture Dallas business summit. Ross Perot Jr. sat at center stage in a fireside chat with Venture Dallas Co-Founder and Board Chair Aaron Pierce and Anurag Jain, founder and managing partner at early-stage VC firm Perot Jain. 
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The Last Word: Texas Trees Foundation CEO on Partnering with TXU to Plant 400 Trees Across Texas
by | 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.
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Photo: Black Sheep Coffee

The Last Word: U.K.-Based Black Sheep Coffee Co‑CEO on Entering U.S. Market in North Texas

by | 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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The Last Word: UTD Professor on Being Inspired by Seal Whiskers to Keep Offshore Wind Turbines Safe
by | 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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The Last Word: On Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive Enterprises Relocating Its HQ to Dallas
by | Nov 1, 2024
Strive Enterprises—a financial services firm co-founded in 2022 by former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy—has announced its headquarters relocation from Columbus, Ohio, to Dallas. Paired with its HQ move, Strive announced Friday that it’s launching its wealth management business in Dallas as well, in the wake of its recent close of a $30 million Series B financing round led by New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald.
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The Last Word: Dude Perfect’s Coby Cotton on Planning a New 80K‑SF Video Production Studio in Frisco
by | 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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Left: Sid O’Bryant, PhD, Scientific Founder and Advisory Board Chair at CxPM; Right: CxPM CEO Danguole Altman [Photos: CxPM]

The Last Word: Dr. Sid O’Bryant on His HSC Spinout CxPM Joining StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot Community

by | 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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The Last Word: UTA’s Warda Ashraf on Developing Eco‑Friendly Concrete Based on an Ancient Roman Recipe
by | 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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The Last Word: On FedEx Testing Ben Franklin’s ‘Electrostatic Motor’ Technology in North Texas
by | Oct 22, 2024
Benjamin Franklin pioneered "electrostatic motors" in the mid-1700s, creating force through static shock- like interactions between negative and positive charges in components. More than 270 years later, Wisconsin-based C-Motive has developed a modern iteration featuring a proprietary mix of industrial organic fluids and electronics that switch at super fast speeds. C-Motive's motors are now being tested by FedEx Supply Chain to run conveyors at a distribution center near Fort Worth, FedEx automation technician Mark Crowley told the Wall Street Journal.
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The Last Word: DRC’s Eric Griffin on Why Dallas-Fort Worth is an Incubator for Applied AI
by | 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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