• Wednesday, March 25 at 9am CT – Application portal opens
• Monday, April 13 at 11:59pm CT – Application portal closes
• Tuesday, April 14 – Wednesday, May 6 – Applications reviewed
• Thursday, May 7 – Five finalists are notified
• Wednesday, May 13 – 'Perfect My Pitch' Group Meeting
• Tuesday, May 19 – 'Perfect My Pitch' Individual Meetings
• Wednesday, May 27 – 2026 Dream Starter Pitch Competition at Q2 Stadium
• Wednesday, July 22 – Halftime check presentation during Austin FC vs. Seattle Sounders at Q2 Stadium

For a complete list of terms and conditions about the Austin FC Dream Starter Competition, click here.

For a list of frequently asked questions, click here.

To preview the application questions, click here.

Panelists Trennis Jones, Jan Acosta, Robert Shipman, and 2025 Dream Starter Winner Veronica Pulido— moderated by Hannah Taylor— shared best practices and advice on the Dream Starter process.

Agatha Precourt — Founding Partner, AMP Ventures

As founding partner of AMP Ventures, Agatha Precourt is pursuing direct investing opportunities in early and expansion stage companies, mostly in the branded consumer and consumer tech space. While her passion can be found at the intersection of blossoming brands and rising female entrepreneurs, she also invests opportunistically. Some of her current portfolio companies include Sarah Flint, Spektral, Argent, Urbansitter and Phylagen.

With 15+ years of operating experience in the consumer and start-up worlds, spanning numerous functional areas and life stages of companies, Agatha works collaboratively with founders to support their company’s growth. She has walked in a founder’s shoes, recently pursuing her own angel-funded startup.  Prior to that, she was part of the leadership team at Stella & Dot where she drove marketing strategy through the company’s high growth stage, from $20 MM to $200 MM in revenue. Previous to Stella & Dot, she worked with a variety of startup and established companies in the consumer and consumer tech space. She began her career as an M&A analyst at Morgan Stanley.

Agatha earned her BA in Economics and MBA from Stanford, and is currently serving on the board of advisors for the LEAD Council at Stanford, the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford, as well as the Precourt Foundation, where she is focused on driving change within education and the environment. She lives in Hillsborough, CA with her husband and three children. She enjoys skiing, hiking, travel, food and wine.

Blair McGrain — Chief Marketing Officer, Frost Bank

Blair McGrain is a dynamic leader with over three decades of experience driving brand, demand, and communications strategies across diverse industries. With a steadfast commitment to leadership excellence, he has consistently transformed legacy brands into customer- and member-centric organizations. Passionate about working for companies where marketing truly matters, Blair understands the pivotal role of strategic marketing in shaping organizational success. 

Throughout his career—including leadership roles at Southwest Airlines, PwC, and Blue Shield of California—he has developed and executed transformative marketing and communications strategies that drive growth, efficiency, and brand elevation. A bold yet empathetic leader, Blair fosters a culture of collaboration, mentorship, and continuous development while championing a growth mindset. 

Blair is currently leading Frost Bank’s first brand refresh in its 157-year history, introducing a proprietary design system, a new tagline, and a comprehensive campaign that is driving significant improvements across all brand health metrics. By leveraging these brand advancements—alongside digital marketing transformation, data-driven performance marketing, and an integrated marketing operating model—he is helping Frost Bank translate stronger brand equity into accelerated organic growth.

Jeremy Hills — Founder, President of The Kollective

Jeremy Hills has spent the last decade doing what most people only talk about; building something real. As a performance coach, he has trained and mentored more than 200 professional athletes across the NFL, NBA, and MLB, helping them arrive to their seasons sharper than they left them.

His work extends well beyond training floors. Jeremy has authored programs and taught exercise physiologists and physiotherapists across seven countries, with a consistent emphasis on longevity and elite performance. His thinking has been featured by ESPN, FOX Sports, USA Today, the New York Post, and Men’s Health, among others.

In 2020, he co-founded The Kollective—a private social performance club with locations in Texas, Nashville, and California. The concept is simple but rare: a space where training, recovery, networking, and real productivity actually coexist. It’s become one of the more honest expressions of what a modern performance community can look like.

A University of Texas graduate, Jeremy has called Austin home for 19 years. His newest venture, The Kollective Effort, is a national nonprofit using philanthropy, leadership development, and education to give young people a real shot at the world in front of them.

Rashanna Moss — CEO & Executive Visionary, Modern Muse

Rashanna Moss is a high performance strategist and culture alchemist who transforms pressure into power. With a sharp blend of performance psychology, corporate experience, and entrepreneurial grit, she equips leaders to thrive in high-stakes environments. Her work empowers individuals and organizations to create a high performing culture that builds resilience, revenue growth, authentic leadership, self awareness, grit, and collective communication skills that optimize the entire organization.

Rashanna transitioned seamlessly into the corporate and entrepreneurial world. In Nike’s Sports Research Lab, she studied the psychology of product and performance, before managing a sales and sports marketing program within their collegiate sector. She then went on to launch, scale, and sell four high-performing Pure Barre studios—leading over 100 employees while building a culture of empowerment and excellence for women within two city markets.

Now a sought-after speaker, consultant, and high-performance coach, Rashanna delivers science-backed strategies and real-world tools to help entrepreneurs, founders and executives lead with conviction—without sacrificing well-being. Whether guiding a founder through disruption or coaching a CEO to lead with authenticity, she challenges the status quo and redefines what it means to thrive under pressure.

Kirk Coleman — Chief Business Officer, Q2

As Chief Business Officer, Kirk Coleman leads Q2’s product lines and go-to-market operations, aligning product strategy with market execution to deliver customer value and drive growth. He is passionate about deepening customer relationships and advancing Q2’s mission to build strong, diverse communities by strengthening their financial institutions.Prior to joining Q2, Kirk founded Centerline Advisors in July 2020 with the mission of helping mid-sized financial institutions and fintechs develop actionable strategies. Previously, he served as a senior executive with Texas Capital Bank for five years, responsible for Service, Operations, Technology, and Strategic Planning. Coleman also had a successful 20-year career at Accenture, where he served as Managing Director (Partner), devoting the majority of his time to developing and managing banking clients.

Kirk earned a degree in Economics from Baylor University, where he served on the Advisory Board of the Hankamer School of Business and is an investor with the Baylor Angel Network. He also served on the Information Technology and Operations Management Advisory Board at Southern Methodist University and the advisory board for the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America.