激增的加速器

2017年6月7日,

再版Houston-While領導不是加速器,柯克科伯恩說,他從來沒有真正理解“幕後”技術可以為大型石油公司幫助解決問題。“我從來沒有在看到湯的,”他說。“現在我得到這個機會。我是團隊的一部分。”他暗指的機會是在殼牌技術合資企業。在他的角色,他會專注於投資於他所謂的“新能量。”“我能夠走進辦公室的高級管理人員和一線經理和運營商和問的問題,”科恩補充說。當它在1998年推出,殼牌技術公司成為第一個企業風險基金在石油和天然氣工業。該基金正尋求投資在這兩個傳統的油氣技術以及清潔技術的機會,根據它的網站。除了資金外,殼說它能“提供企業技術和科學技術,研發設施,和現場試驗飛行員進一步發展和展示他們的概念。” The venture fund’s portfolio companies include Veros Systems , an Austin, TX-based maker of software that can alert users when engines that power pumps and turbines are at risk of a mechanical failure. Joining a large corporate environment like Shell brings Coburn back to the early days of his career when he worked at Dell in Austin. “It’s strategic,” he says of corporate venture funds. “We’re making investments because we believe our company will benefit from that tech and those entrepreneurs. It’s not just a spray-and-pray approach. These are based on real problems that we know about.” In between the corporate gigs, Coburn turned to entrepreneurship, most notably founding the Surge Accelerator for cleantech companies in 2011. Last year, however, Coburn closed the program because of a “lack of industry support.” Angela Shah is the editor of Xconomy Texas. She can be reached at ashah@xconomy.com or (214) 793-5763. Follow @angelashah