STARTUP STORY
Learning to Humanize Tech with Empathy and Innovation
A founder journey from babysitting to Tech CEO.
In January 2016, I embarked on a new journey. Nothing I had done so far in my entrepreneurial journey could compare to the undertaking of being a tech startup CEO.
“For all the ups and downs of this entrepreneurship rollercoaster, I would not change a thing.”
My humble business beginnings started as many teenage girls do, babysitting. I worked my way through college, building my business as a professional nanny. The positions I worked in were always with families that welcomed me in as an extension of their village.
During this decade of my life, I worked for a wide variety of people, including famous athletes, self-made entrepreneurs, nonprofit directors and more. These experiences expanded my horizons by introducing me to many types of personalities and gave me insight into relationship dynamics. It taught me to be empathetic, kind, nonjudgmental, and to provide my expertise in relevant ways.
I branched into work as a doula, providing support to expectant parents for the birth of a child. All the while, my college degree was underway. I wanted a more lucrative career where I could add my personal touch and give me an outlet for creativity. After completing my basics, I decided to pursue a degree in Interior Design with a minor in Construction Technology, including sustainable design as well as software like AutoCAD and Revit. This culminated in a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences from Texas State University.
Over the next few years, I worked staging homes for real estate, creating 3D models for other designers, and consulting on various design projects. It never felt quite right, to be honest, but it is so hard to admit that after you graduate college.
In 2012, I got married to a geek that was both artsy and technical. Tim has been a wonderful partner and mentor in so many ways. We chose to move several times, five cities in 4 years, in fact, to pursue career opportunities, and my self-employed status made it much easier to get contract work and try my hand at new things.
Tim was able to transition his career from an artist to an engineer for automation and pipelines in video games and movies. We started our family during this time and welcomed a little human in 2014 and another in 2016. Our trek had taken us from Austin to New Orleans up north to British Columbia, Canada, then to sunny Los Angeles, and back to Austin.
Early in 2016, Tim and I decided it was time to start our own business, so with his tech brains and my business management skills, we launched Underminer Studios. During the next four years, we learned a lot, and I mean a lot, about business as a startup. I was not familiar with much of the startup landscape, but I rallied, learned, and asked many questions.
Our focus was on creating virtual and augmented reality experiences for businesses that would drive ROI (return on investment) — primarily tools based rather than gaming or brand experiences. Some of our early work included
- VR iDrive for Stealth Products to train wheelchair users to drive
- Data visualization for KPMG
- Early Innovation Projects using Intel Software pre-release hardware
- Augmented reality marker-less facial tracking and replacement for actors
- 3D scanning arms and legs to make accurate post-surgery compression clothing
While we were building tools for other businesses, we also began automating and innovating our tools for in-house use. This work would later become MOD Tech Labs, our current venture backed company.
In 2020 we were accepted into SputnikATX Accelerator in Austin, Texas. We formed Mod Tech Labs and put all of our time and effort into building a product based company. Using the lessons and tools, we learned throughout our previous business, we launched a platform that would make content creation easy. The foundations of this toolset were built for extended reality (XR). We expanded the vision to include any type of imagery from photos, videos, or scans for any entertainment or media application including film, television, mobile, web, or immersive content.
Our business survived year one of the pandemic, and we have found ourselves expanding to include capture using a mobile phone processed on our AI-powered SaaS platform. Often we are ahead of the pack in our work, and now we are learning the art of commercialization. It has been an irreplaceable journey that has shaped me as a mother, wife, leader, and person. For all the ups and downs of this entrepreneurship rollercoaster, I would not change a thing.
Alex Porter is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mod Tech Labs. Her background in physical and digital design began while earning a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design and Construction Technology. For nearly five years, she has worked in emerging technologies focused on powering visual experiences — pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence, extended reality, the internet of things, 5G, and more to bring new tools to market. Alex has been recognized by Intel as a Top Innovator for the last three years, is a member of the NVIDIA Inception Program, and was awarded an Innovation Award by the Austin Chamber in 2019. As an avid technologist she has been a member of the Consumer Technology Association helping shape standards and educate on the benefits of technology. On the human side, Alex volunteers with organizations that further the access, education, and opportunities in tech for underserved communities. Her free time is often spent on walks, cruising the farmer’s market, and movie nights with her family.
