This year’s conversations have included a strong focus on women in entrepreneurship and capital. SXSW runs through 3/18 and continues to serve as a global stage where startups, investors and creative leaders connect, often shaping the next wave of companies and ideas coming out of Texas.

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The Best Hat Store is celebrating 30 years in business this month. Founder Susan Maddox opened the shop in 1996 in the Historic Stockyards with a simple goal: create Fort Worth’s go-to destination for handcrafted cowboy hats.

 

What started with a modest inventory of about 1,500 hats has grown into one of the country’s best-known Western hat retailers, carrying thousands of straw and felt styles and drawing visitors from across Texas and beyond.

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Startup funding doesn’t just live in Austin or Dallas.

 

Five companies in Midland are splitting $500k in funding through the Midland Entrepreneurial Challenge, a regional accelerator run by the Midland Development Corporation and the University of Texas Permian Basin.

 

The program brings founders through months of mentorship, pitch coaching and investor preparation before finalists compete for funding. Since launching, the challenge has become a key pipeline for new businesses in West Texas, drawing hundreds of entrepreneurs to its annual orientation.

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