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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
- ↑ 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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