It's an Italian invasion in Houston - and it's happening in the name of accelerating innovation within aerospace.įor the first time, Italy has announced an international aerospace-focused program in the United States. She also markets both brands to her Instagram community. Her role within both of the companies is very hands on, she explains, and meets with the founders at least once a week. Raad tells InnovationMap that she'd be interested in hosting another edition of "Build Up Buttercup" in the future, but for now she's focused on her two new brands. Trend Ventures made investments in Cold Cork and Houston-based tech startup, AIM7, which closed its seed round in December. Dress Up Buttercup invested in Houston-based jewelry company Burdlife and children's clothing brand Poppy Kids. Of the eight that pitched, four companies received investments. Raad was joined at the event with fellow investors, which included Houston-based investment firms Curate Capital and Trend Ventures, the investment arm of influencer management company Trend Management, founded by Ted Raad. "It was a crazy four days, but it was so cool to see the brands and the passion behind it and for Ted and I to help in both a financial and advising way," Raad says. The initiative also resulted in a handful of investments and cash prizes. The event, which happened last October, resulted in eight business pitches across four episodes uploaded to Dress Up Buttercup's page that garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
Raad launched "Build Up Buttercup," an initiative that featured small business pitches for a select group of investors, with her husband, Ted. She put the call out to her followers to find founders with growing brands. I know once you start something, you have to give it your all."īut what Raad realized - after a year of thinking about her next move and a chance viewing of Shark Tank - was that tons of business founders were passionate about their own brands, and there was an opportunity for Raad use her community to support them instead of coming up with something of her own. "I just don't have anything in my heart that I was really passionate about. "In the blogging world, which I've been doing for about seven years, everyone's next step is to start a brand and to start something of their own," Raad, founder of Dress Up Buttercup, tells InnovationMap.
After growing her audience to over a million followers on Instagram, Houston fashion blogger Dede Raad felt the pressure to expand her business - but she didn't feel inspired by any particular line of business to grow into.
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