Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
-T.S. Eliot

Location

Austin, TX

Hometown

Atlanta, GA
#00361

Kyle Cox

Bio

  • Kyle Cox has had the pleasure of managing and advising a broad range of engagements across the advanced technology and life science areas, including deep dives into healthcare services, medical devices, biotechnology and enterprise technology sectors with particular focus in the therapeutic areas of cardiology, oncology, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and urology. His expertise includes executive operating management, new venture creation, incubating disruptive innovations, market entry/commercialization planning, market assessment/segmentation, investment due diligence, channel/provider/managed markets strategies, and corporate strategy development.
  • Previously, Kyle served as Principal at SeedOne Ventures, an early stage venture firm focused on emerging Healthcare markets. Before joining SeedOne, Kyle held various positions for St. Jude Medical including Market Development Sales Manager, and Marketing Manager - Cardiac Rhythm Management. Prior to St. Jude Medical, Kyle held multiple positions with start-up healthcare companies including WebMD and QuickCompliance, now part of Discovery Communications.
  • Kyle received his MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kyle is also certified by the Heart Rhythm Societies’ International Board of Heart Rhythm Examiners (IBHRE).
  • Kyle is also currently training for his second Ironman competition.
  • TRANSCRIPT
  • TALK ABOUT YOUR STARTUP BACKGROUND.
  • I have worked with a number of startups over the years. I was fortunate enough to work at WebMD in Atlanta uh...not really enough to make a whole bunch of money, but it was a great experience that really reinvigorated my entrepreneurial drive.
  • So after WebMD, I'd buy started a small company that I still run today in Georgia with my father, actually, and that was a good taste of getting a company off the ground.
  • From that, I went and worked for a healthcare technology startup that had just got going, some guys from WebMD left and started a company. We grew that and sold it to Discovery Health.
  • I then went back and got my MBA, came too Austin Through the medical device company and uh... was here for a number of years doing the corporate thing. When all of a sudden an opportunity to move to New York City came up to work for a venture capital firm. And that was, that was just a sea change for me. It was a great opportunity to get out of that corporate rut and get back into the startup scene.
  • So I did that for a number of years and when I Came back to Austin in 2009 I was all about startups, so I just immersed myself in and all the things that were startup. I'd invested money in a couple companies, was trying to get a couple things off the ground myself when this opportunity at the university popped open.
  • Very random and it's the only time in my life I've ever blindly applied for a job, gotten a call back, got a second interview, and then got the job offer. Every other job offer I've ever had, it's through through friends or network connections, and this was just so, so serendipitous, so fortunate, I absolutely love it there and I'm really lucky in that.
  • WHAT IS THE AUSTIN TECHNOLOGY INCUBATOR?
  • So, ATI is a business incubator that's affiliated with UT Austin. We're roughly 26 years old and we primarily focus in three areas: IT and wireless is one area, clean energy is another, and life sciences.
  • And the type of companies we work with at ATI are more capital-intensive, usually IP-based technology and we try to put the right talent around technology companies that they need to then grow and be able to compete in the capital markets.
  • WHAT IF A STARTUP WANTS TO GET IN WITH ATI?
  • For companies considering applying to ATI, what we really look at for admission is, is it an IP-based technology, is there intellectual  property around this, and is the team aware of what they are and what they're not -- do they have the self-awareness to understand that it's going to take a lot of resources, human and capital otherwise to get the company off the ground.
  • So the typical process people should think through is do they have something that's gonna take venture money to get off the ground and are they going to need a lot of additional resources rather than just themselves to get the company going.
  • So the best part of working at ATI is really getting in and helping these startups really think hard about their strategy and what it is that it's going to take to make them successful.
  • I have also have the fortune to work a lot with the student startups on campus as well and that's another thing, I get a lot of personal energy from from seeing these young entrepreneurs.
  • COOLEST STARTUP IN AUSTIN?
  • The coolest startup in Austin? That's a really tough question. I see a lot at the university, one company's called Lynx Labs. They've actually made it a 3D camera using 2D camera equipment.
  • You can take this tablet and scan an image, and in real-time get a 3D model image out. They're talking to the digital entertainment industry, architecture, I think that's going to be really cool. Seeing this technology has a direct relationship to the products are out there today, I think it'll be a really good match for those for those companies, whichever company decides to acquire the technology. So it's really, really cool.
  • AUSTIN IN TEN YEARS?
  • Growth's an interesting story when it comes to Austin. I think that the next ten years are going to be really dynamic with the medical school coming in and the growth that we're seeing, I think the city's going to, hopefully not be like Dallas, but I think it's going to be a lot bigger than it currently is.
  • Looking around the country, I think Austin is a great city to consider for anyone moving here. I was originally here, I moved here in 2006, like I said,  and I moved to New York for a little while to work for venture capital firm and when that firm blew up at the, during the financial crisis, I was looking around the country try to figure out where I wanted to move to, back to Atlanta where I had connections, or Los Angeles where I had some connections as well and it was very apparent that Austin was the place to go.
  • I think for anyone considering, definitely startups or even lifestyle, Austin's the place to be.