Z fellows @ Rice review
UH failed. rice lost. austin won. no redbull.
( the song playing in the uber at the end of the night, enjoy while you read)
You see, Z fellows was having a summit at Rice Lillie, a local incubator, entrepreneur hub and overall cool ass place for founders to meet Cory and get advice / ask questions on everything startups.
I was only aware of this event 8 hours before via instagram on the Rice Lillie page, no other marketing or mention to UH student groups.
I hastily decided after being awake for so many hours and relying on a large redbull soda that i should only uber not drive. Therefore i ubered there, i was going to be 30 minutes late which I hate.
Before I went i dmed every UH org president that touches this topic, I also went into every UH org discord and mentioned it, nobody dmed back, and no other UH student was at the summit. I was the only one.
Once i got out of the uber i ran to the doors of the Lillie building, i was greeted in by 2 athletes who reminded me of those Harvard crypto twins, they really did look like security, I asked if they needed to see a ticket or anything.
They said no, and just let me walk by,
the room was full, i saw a seat open by a middle age women on a laptop, i asked if someone was sitting there, she said no. she seemed important.
i didn’t bring my laptop, i was wearing dress pants, a shirt and a uniqlo blazer. very techie i looked, i only had my phone.
most students were focused on Cory speaking, on their phones or eating the pizza.
i was tired, the 20 min or so of talk bored me, something about how Cory got his funding from tweets or emails to big vcs / founders, the issue of deciding to work at a big tech company or making a startup.
during this time i made a prediction market on how many UH students would be in the room, I air dropped it to others but nobody betted on it, the co speaker mentioned it but didnt put anything on it. i like being right but i didnt make much on my position.
when talking to Cory, i asked “ if the tech community is moving away from SF and towards decentralized systems and Texas, is this a good thing or bad and how can Houston try to get more tech? “
and for students like me at state colleges or with less resources can play in the big leagues?
he said “ you have nothing to lose, you can be more lean and hard working, like jack Dorsey, that loser from NYU. and uber founder - that loser from the valley.
i got him off guard with a stupid question, some cool AI company called Sups AI for writing your college essays had come before, they had 11k followers on insta and alot of users i assume, also some funding i heard.
i made alot of jokes, compared people to the lady co founder of META and allusions to private equity for an MBA student. I was told im so funny i should just do stand up and make money off that.
everyone was older then me, i was 18, whats mba age? alot of transfer students and older juniors or seniors.
remind me to never get an MBA.
freshman were there for it was a class for credit.
i talked to other folks, some iowa dude and a lady in sports management, which i still dont understand, also some guy who had to go to dinner.
i needed caffeine, no redbull in the place. What the fuck? how can you promote startups and not have redbull, fine.
i got 2 pizza slices and a large black coffee, 3 sugars or 4 i think. mixed it with 2 creamers, downed it and got to talking. i wanted a redbull still.
I wish i had sat down but no i stood as i talked to those 3 people, sports lady seemed icked hearing i was a crypto and stocks person.
rice is no stanford. they said i was addicted to the word stanford, yes, after all the college made silicon valley and is what rice is trying to become.
i wonder why they didn’t record this? its a good tool for learning, i thought one could hack the cameras for the footage, they said it might be easier to ask, i dont think so. probably easier to break in now and apologize later.
i pointed out how if a founder or i had any balls we would be in SF, on a flight there of course. the guy sad something witty and funny,
“if you know what u must do go do it, you could of been in SF by now. “
i agree, i am dumb for not being in SF. give me a year or so.
i wanted to network via instagram or X? nobody had X, and most people had left, i was expecting more lights low, party vibes with some chill music.
so i had to resort to linkedin, gave it out. the guy said hes working on a simplified linkedin or something.
i mentioned a linkedin for “dirty” jobs, prostitution, murder, illegal or barely legal stuff. - this would work great on the dark web. take crypto fees for the successful hire of a person.
or like a tinder for linkedin - simplified.
rice had 2.5 million to play with, not enough. they hadnt given any to the Ai guy, and the money was just sitting there / donor funds.
i mentioned Austin has a competitor, i was broken down, austin is fine with VCs, some bullying of Lonsdale and other VCs, who cares if they slept with a employee i said .
austin might beat them out, rice is not adapting to the new state of tech. linkedin bro said hes meet some cool folks at rice? okay who? is there even a bitcoin club or crypto club at rice? - i googled they dont. i won bro. rice is behind UT.
i walked out after a director said “ youve only been in this field for 30 seconds” basically a fuck you your a dumbass we dont care. i agree, maybe my branding should be 30 secs in VC.
i brought up how UH isnt integrated with Rice startup community, he said this is good, what the fuck?
Berkeley and Stanford work with each other.
this guy just loved Rice alumni and making their investments more profitable. not improving the city as a whole or making the tech scene crazy big.
of course i did, im aware of the basics of the houston tech scene.
i said the lillie is too institutional for me, and i would never be back.
i didnt mean it rudely, just as a honest reminder. the director seemed insulted.
i was going to go home after but i thought fuck it, i might as well check out the library and get some food at the coffeehouse.
i was under dressed for the cold, i walked around asking for the library directions, i got there, fuck i didnt have my UH student id on me, i just wanted a glass of water tbh, i asked for that, was told theres fountains outside.
i might go back and check out the library again. it seemed cool from the outside.
students cheating on notes and studying in groups outside, it was 10 or 11 pm i think.
i went to the student center, the cafe was closed. fuck, is there any redbull in this place? NO the lady at the counter of that small shop said. Fuck, im dying and i need caffeine, alright ill just wash my face and lie on the couch,
i did that.
then i went back out for the cold breeze, i also wanted to see what students are up too : what campus looked like.
i walked around until i found a chair and desk outside the dorms. i felt like steve jobs just lying around class and reading stuff online.
i saw a couple, heard some mandarin Chinese, i stayed outside until my fingers were freezing.
then i called my uber, isnt it amazing this capitalism thing, uber was cheaper and nicer then i thought. thank you Travis kalinack,
i went into the gym area, then down the stairs to the shady area it seemed, i told myself one day i might come back and check out this haunted campus.
i probably wont.
i got my uber . a black lincoln 2015. i sat in the back. it was 4.5 driver a white old guy, he was drinking soda and i started asking him questions / talking.
how does one become a driver, do you enjoy it? are you from houston? why this car? whos been in this car before? am i supposed to talk? do you have advice for me?
i was tired, i wanted to sleep but i had to stay up to get home, i apologized to him for the long ride out.
he didnt say much, just responded, he was from houston, had a girlfriend and she broke up with him one day randomly, she just left to her sisters house for no reason.
he had no kids, hes got enough money but he drives for fun, he likes the car, the people and the music he can enjoy.
i ask him about rice and life, he says he used to try to party at rice as a youngster, he tried to bribe security with a 20 to stay in and they didnt let him, security is tight.
on life he gives this , move foward and dont look back too much, i like that.
my night was so bummed i took advice from the uber driver.
hes right. i should move on, probably make a map of redbull in that area so nobody else has my problem ever again. ( working on this give me a month or so its hard if ur stupid like me to do projects on the side )
thanks john, or whatever ur name was uber dude.
( images below )
