The name napkin venture actually makes  a whole lot of sense. I’m sure most of you have jotted down or sketched out a business idea on a napkin over dinner at a restaurant.  In some cases those “napkin ventures” have actually been something, other times they’re cleared with the rest of the table scraps. Well Austin Texas based entrepreneur, and former city council candidate, Tina Cannon wants you to save those napkins and bring them to Napkin Venture to take your startup to the next level.

Napkin Venture plans on providing business and legal services to early stage companies. Everything form idea development to pitch development and even handling your first filings can all be done at Napkin Venture.

While this isn’t a venture capital fund, angel investment fund, incubator or accelerator they are offering valuable resources to entrepreneurs. They also have a legal package of services available for $3,000.00. So while Napkin Venture may be perceived as some as a pitch for legal services at a fee typically outside an early stage startups realm, the classes and other services they offer should off set that first feeling.

Napkin Venture was founded by Cannon who was the founder of PetsMD.com which was acquired by Pet360 in 2011. She’s also the entrepreneur in residence at Texas Sate University. The remainder of Napkin Venture’s Executive Team includes:

Chuck Miller an entrepreneur with a solid background in media. He is the designer of the bunch and has recently worked with; NASA, Halliburton, Miller Lite, Houston Texans, Pura Vida Tequila, and The Washington Times.


Eve Richter who has a deep rooted background in emerging technologies, and small business. Richter’s previous roles include; Emerging Technologies Coordinator in the Economic Development Division at the City of Austin, as well as a seat on the board of Austin Women in Technology. She is currently on the board of the Technology Advisors Group.

Raul Calvoz is the legal eagle on the executive team, and also has a background in both big business and growing early stage companies. He has held positions as the head of a global unit at 3M, and Vice President of Europe for top travel industry site Travelocity.

“I’ve been there, done that, have the t-shirt,” says founder Tina Cannon. “I’ve struggled out there and learned my lessons, and want to help other startups to avoid some of the mistakes I made, and get on the fast track to success. I’m excited to finally realize my goal of helping entrepreneur dreams become reality.”