Patrick Ray
Lecturer in Entrepreneurship
Program Manager, Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Patrick Ray is a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Rice Business. After graduating in 2012 from the University of Texas Permian Basin with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he spent the next six years working exclusively for small businesses and startups in both West Texas and San Francisco Bay Area. At Pinnacle Engines, a green-tech hardware startup, he became the go-to guy when it came to high-risk, high-reward missions to Southeast Asia to demonstrate products in both customers’ and government laboratories to prove their industry-leading capabilities. He pursued studies at Rice Business at the urging of the leadership of Pinnacle, graduating in 2020 with an MBA with concentrations in entrepreneurship and real estate.
Patrick founded a remote-first consulting firm along with his partner Sophie in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, which has helped clients in the construction planning, brewing, B2B SaaS, international trade, organic food production, fashion and fire protection industries. He has built financial models, pitch decks, market studies and marketing materials for startups and small businesses, helping them organize information and analysis into manageable packages for presentation both to investors and internally to C-level executives.