Gray Hancock

Gray Hancock

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Decisio Health, Inc.
www.decisiohealth.com

Bachelor of Science, Biology, Washington and Lee University, 1996
Master of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), 1998
Master of Business Administration, Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, 2000

Gray Hancock launched his entrepreneurial career early. In high school, he sold cookies and blow pops to raise money for a graduation party. “I definitely got the taste of building something from nothing,” Gray said, “And I continue to enjoy building organizations and companies.”

Gray’s current venture is Decisio Health, which offers DECISIOInsight®. The tool combines patient monitoring and visualization of collected data to identify risks in real time, enabling faster and more informed decisions by clinicians.

In addition to his entrepreneurial business ventures, Gray has been an active participant in the Houston startup community from the beginning. While a student at the Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business (Jones Business), he interned at the Houston Technology Center (HTC), a non-profit organization promoting entrepreneurship, in the summer of 1999 when HTC was just getting started.

“I went to Paul Frison, the first CEO,” Gray said, “And asked if they needed a summer intern. He said, ‘Sure, but we can’t pay you anything.’ But that was OK because in Houston at that time there wasn’t much if you were interested in early stage technology.”

Gray continued to work at HTC while completing his degree. The internship was through an independent study program he helped develop with Dr. Al Napier, one of the founders of the now-internationally recognized Jones Business Entrepreneurship program which is part of Lilie. The internship program ultimately became a course.

Then, after graduation, Gray worked full time at HTC as one of the first development managers. “That’s how I got started in early stage technology and life sciences,” Gray said.

HTC also served as an incubator/accelerator and Gray enjoyed determining how to design that aspect of the organization, to make it functional, and to fund it. “I was passionate then, and I remain passionate about building something new that will support others who, if they’re successful, will support that organization. That’s the feedback loop we’re trying to create, to be part of a community that is looking to make things better for the entire city.”

Gray urges anyone interested in entrepreneurship become active in these, and other, entrepreneurial organizations. “The startup community, especially in Houston, is very welcoming. Go to the events and meet the people who are in the community.”

In addition to learning who to call for information or help, participation will help build a network which is “extremely important if you’re going to be doing tech and early stage entrepreneurship,” Gray said. “You have to have people to lean on because you’re going to have really bad days and really bad months and you’re going to need people to help you through that.”

You may also find a partner through these support groups since “starting a company is hard and trying to do it alone is almost impossible.” Gray recommended that you “find a group or a partner whose skillset is complementary to your own and balances it out, someone you can work with on a regular basis and spend inordinate amounts of time with and not kill each other.”

Opportunities to become involved in an organization are much greater now as Houston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown, become more diversified, and become more competitive. Gray’s view of this development is positive.

Opportunities to become involved in an organization are much greater now as Houston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown, become more diversified, and become more competitive. Gray’s view of this development is positive.

The early stage space has been the focus of Gray’s volunteer work and his career and is not likely to change. “It’s the standard entrepreneurial thing,” Gray said.

“You get involved, you go through the rollercoaster of it and, every once in a while, you’re like ‘Oh my God, I’m never going to do this again’ and, yet, a couple of years later you find yourself getting pulled back in.

“It is somewhat addictive.”