Fireside Chat with Shanaz Hemmati: Startup Scaling, Tech Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Join the Texas Innovation Center for an intimate fireside chat with Shanaz Hemmati, Co-Founder and Executive Advisor at ZenBusiness and proud UT Austin alumna (B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering). Shanaz will share hard-earned insights from her entrepreneurship journey—from breaking barriers as a woman and cultural minority in tech to helping scale marketplace giants like HomeAway (acquired by Expedia for $3.9B) and co-founding ZenBusiness, a VC-backed platform empowering millions of micro-businesses. Whether you are a student exploring your first venture, a faculty researcher considering commercialization, or an aspiring startup operator, this conversation will offer practical guidance on navigating early-stage growth, building ethical high-performance teams, and overcoming startup hurdles. Complimentary lunch will be served for registered attendees. Schedule 11:30 AM: Check-in, doors open & complimentary lunch 12:00 – 12:30 PM: Fireside chat with Shanaz Hemmati 12:30 – 1:00 PM: Audience Q&A & networking About Shanaz Hemmati Co-Founder & Executive Advisor, ZenBusiness As a woman in the traditionally male-dominated technology industry, a non-native English speaker, and a cultural minority, Shanaz learned early on the power of using her voice to lead and build. After immigrating to the U.S. and graduating from UT Austin with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, she transitioned from enterprise technology to early-stage venture building.