In January, The Austin Chamber of Commerce published the first “Austin A List,” a collection of 35 local companies area investors say have strong growth potential.

Eighteen of those companies have direct ties to the McCombs School, through startup accelerator Texas Venture Labs (TVL), the Venture Labs Investment Competition, and alumni who are founders, CEOs or hold other senior leadership positions with the companies.

“The entrepreneurial community at McCombs is thriving,” says Aaron Lyons, MBA ’11 and a partner at TVL. “You see more and more students coming in with ideas, and launching those ideas isn't necessarily the ‘plan B’ anymore—it is the plan.

“Formal systems, like TVL, give students a real life perspective of what it's like starting a company or working for a startup. Competitions provide a simulated experience of raising money with real investors. Students coming through these programs have more confidence, easier access to investors, and are better equipped to have meaningful conversations with and speak the same language as those investors. It's clearly an advantage that others don't have.”

Below, see which companies have been TVL members, who participated in the investment competition as students and who has alumni leading the way.

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Companies with McCombs Ties

• eCampus Tutors
• Loku
• Ordoro
• Spredfast
• Clearbrook Imaging
• qcue
• Cache IQ
• Karmaback
• Famigo
• KLD
• RavelData
• Socialware
• Invodo
• Hurricane Party
• Ortho Kinematics
• InfoChimps
• Gazzang
• Mass Relevance

*Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article listed only 17 McCombs affiliated companies and mistakenly identified TVL firms Gazzang, InfoChimps, Hurricane Party and Ortho Kinematics as McCombs alumni-owned.