Aziz Gilani
Aziz Gilani is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur.[1] Since 2008, he has been a partner at the Mercury Fund in Houston, Texas, where he is active in several civic organizations.
Education
As an undergraduate, Gilani attended the Red McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a BBA in 2000. In 2009, he received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. From 2009 to 2011, he was a Kauffman Fellow at the Center for Venture Education.[2]
In 2010, Gilani published a study to rank the efficacy of seed accelerators, which found that 45% of North American seed accelerators had no successful graduates.[3][4] This study formed the basis for the ongoing Seed Accelerator Rankings Project.[5][6][7]
Venture capital
In 2008, Gilani joined Mercury Fund (then called DFJ Mercury), a venture capital firm based in Houston, Texas.[8][9][10][11] In 2011, he was promoted to director.[12] He focuses on investments in software as a service (SaaS) and data analysis software.[13] At Mercury, he co-led the Series A round for BlackLocus, a data analysis software company that was acquired by Home Depot[14]in 2012.[15] From 2011 to 2012, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of InfoChimps, a cloud-based analytics service that was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in 2013.[16]
Gilani acts as a mentor for the startup accelerators TechStars and Station Houston.[17][18][19] He serves on the board of directors of Datical, a data analysis software firm, and in 2015, he joined the board of directors of Graylog, a German software firm relocating to Houston.[20][21]
Civic service and advocacy
In 2017, Gilani was named to a task force created by Houston mayor Sylvester Turner to make the city a major technology hub.[22] He is also on the steering committee for Houston Exponential, an organization to promote Houston's innovation economy.[23]
Gilani is an outspoken advocate on issues related to his Muslim faith. In 2012, he criticized a Houston imam, Omar Inshanally, who included conspiracy theories about water fluoridation and other topics in his sermons.[24][25] He objected to the portrayal of Muslims on Fox News in 2014,[26] and in 2015, he protested on Twitter against Southwest Airlines' removal of a man from a flight for speaking Arabic.[27]
In 2013, Gilani tweeted an image of a cockroach he had found in a donut from a Shipley Do-Nuts location in Houston. The image went viral after being retweeted by the Houston Chronicle.[28]
References
- ↑ Rafkin, Louise (2017-05-05). "Finding Common Ground, and a Dog Named Pancho". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Aziz Ahmed Gilani". LinkedIn. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ↑ Needleman, Sarah E.; Maltby, Emily (2012-05-23). "Start-Ups Crowd 'Accelerators'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Godard Abel: Big Value Only Comes from Top Accelerators". Wall Street Journal. 2012-08-21. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
- ↑ "These Are The Top 20 US Accelerators – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Morris, Chris (2014-09-16). "Next Hollywood-produced blockbuster: A start-up". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Ryan, Molly (March 11, 2014). "Houston's Surge named a top accelerator in the U.S." Houston Business Journal. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ↑ Harbach, Jeff (2016-12-16). "Don't Forget the Fly-Over States". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Witthaus, Jack (October 13, 2017). "Houston venture capital firm moves offices". Houston Business Journal. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ↑ Thompson, Cadie (2015-01-02). "Five US tech hubs you probably didn't know about". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Seligson, Hannah (2012-09-12). "When the Work-Life Scales Are Unequal". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
- ↑ "People on the Move". Houston Business Journal. September 15, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ↑ "Aziz Ahmed Gilani". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "home-depot-and-importance-of-category/". retargetingnews.com. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ↑ "Home Depot Starts Innovation Lab in Austin by Acquiring BlackLocus". TechCo. 2012-12-17. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Infochimps | Crunchbase". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "TechStars Arrives In Austin, Will Launch First Program In August – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Werewolf with Aziz Gilani, Partner of Mercury Fund · Station Houston". Station Houston. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Seligson, Hannah (2012-07-28). "Founder Institute's Requirement: Create a Company". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Martin, Joe (February 4, 2015). "German software company relocates to Houston". Houston Business Journal. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ↑ "Datical Tackles Database Issues for Companies - SiliconHills". SiliconHills. 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Ortiz, Al (2017-07-03). "Houston Wants To Diversify Its Economy By Becoming Hub For Innovation And Technology | Houston Public Media". Houston Public Media. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "HX Steering Committee - Houston Exponential". Houston Exponential. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Houston imam's 'fringe' comments draw criticism". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Muslims complain about imam's sermons". UPI. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Taibi, Catherine (2014-08-28). "Asian American Journalism Organization Calls On Fox News To Apologize For 'Islamophobia'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ "Man Barred From Southwest Plane For Speaking Arabic, Twitter Reacts". International Business Times. 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ↑ Sanders, Eric (2013-08-05). "Yuck! Houston man discovers cockroach in his doughnut and tweets photo". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
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