Welcome to this issue of The Austin Business Review, a weekly roundup of great local events and insights for Austin business owners (plus some other cool stuff for your life outside of work).

This morning’s issue is a little late, but well worth it, as we’ve got a piece from one of Austin’s top innovators, Kevin Gast, whose company is tackling the global water crisis in a fascinating way and took home first-place awards from CES, Time, and Inc. last year (first company ever to do all three in one year).

Also in today’s issue…

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-Ethan

Upcoming Events

🗓️ TONIGHT: Founders After Five: Preston James’ organization, Divinc, is hosting a get-together at Remedy

🗓️ TONIGHT: Nerd Nite: Like a local version of TED – This month’s installment explores edible fermentation and Opera for the curious

🗓️ TONIGHT: Applied AI, Live: AITX is bringing in Travis Oliphant, creator of NumPy and SciPy, and founder of OpenTeams, for a talk on the value of applied AI engineers

🗓️ Jan. 30: Lean Coffee: Every month, William Baxter and Duri Chitayat host this coffee conversation on all things leadership and tech

🗓️ Jan. 30: Founder Pickup Basketball: Every month, Nick Schenck hosts a pickup game for founders at Ramsey Neighborhood Park. Email him here to get on the list

🗓️ Jan. 31: Muslim Entrepreneurship Panel: Part of a series events hosted by the city for Muslim Heritage Month

🗓️ Feb. 3: Pickle & Pints: Paula Martinez is back with the first 2026 installment of her beer & pickleball series for members of the local tech & research community

🗓️ Feb. 3: Health Hustlers: An exclusive group for health and wellness founders, hosted by Corey Hiben and Scott Mitchell

🗓️ Feb. 3: Founder Coffee Tasting: Drop by Chris Taylor’s Red Fridge Society for coffee and a chance to hang with the founders

🗓️ Feb. 4-5: Texas Women’s Leadership Conference: Hosted by Cecilia Abbott, First Lady of Texas, and featuring dozens of keynotes and breakout speakers

🗓️ Feb. 5: Side Hustle Live: A Shark Tank-style game,done in collaboration with founders and comedians, hosted by Tomer Soran over at Pershing House

🗓️ Feb. 5: Sam Harris, Live: Haaris is taking the stage at ACL to talk about the human mind, society, and current events as part of his Truth & Consequences tour

🗓️ Feb. 5: Power Pints: A powerpoint-based comedy show where you drink and learn stuff (it goes in this section because if there’s a slide deck it counts as working!)

🗓️ Feb. 6: Coffee & Connections: For those of you out west, tired of going downtown for events, the West Austin Chamber is hosting their coffee hour

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. How To Book More Calls with LinkedIn Ads: Moby Hayat manages LinkedIn ads for B2B clients all over town, and wrote this great breakdown of his 3 favorite tactics tactics right now. Read this before spending another penny on ads (and if you want more, check out this workshop he’s doing in Feb)

2. Real Estate Investors: Alice Huang recently started a newsletter highlighting the best local events in your space, plus interviews with investors, developers, and long-time Austin builders.

3. Austin Active Networking: Very excited that my friend Marc Nathan launched this new project, helping you find all the cool outdoorsy professional events in town. Think pickleball with founders, walk & talks,

“When we chose Austin as VVater's home, people asked why not Silicon Valley or New York. The answer was simple: Texas builds things.”

Okay, this is a huge get. Kevin Gast is CEO and Chairman of VVater, which is based right here in Austin and is solving the global water-shortage in a fascinating way.

Their Farady Reactor uses precise electrical pulses to destroy cells at the molecular level, allowing them to remove contaminants like microplastics,  pharmaceutical residues, and PFAS (“forever chemicals”) like no one else can.

In 2025, they took home four major awards: CES Best of Innovation, Time Best Invention, Inc. Best in Business, and the World Future Award – the first company ever to pull that off.

They’ve landed investors like Tim Draper (one of Elon’s first backers too), and have been awarded millions of dollars in contracts – including a brand new deal at Mustang Ridge just outside town recently.

As of today, they’ve treated more than four billion gallons of water, including twenty-five million gallons of waste-water they’ve transformed into clean, potable drinking water (check out Kevin’s LinkedIn for some harrowing images).

Without further ado, enter Kevin…

1. Okay, tell us about your business! What's the backstory? And how did you get your first customer?

Water has always been part of my story. Growing up in South Africa, I saw firsthand what water scarcity does to communities, the desperation, the health consequences, and the way it holds entire regions back from prosperity. 

I spent over two decades building an international conglomerate spanning construction, civil engineering, property development, and pharmaceuticals across more than 30 countries. Throughout it all, one problem kept surfacing: water. Every project, every development, and every community we touched was constrained by the same broken system, which treats water with chemicals, filters, and membranes that create as many problems as they solve.

The turning point came when I truly understood that only 1% of the world's water is available to humans, and we poison it daily with the very chemicals we use to "clean" it. 

I thought: there has to be a better way. 

What if we could use electricity instead? That question drove my father, Dr. Kevin Gast, and me to co-found VVater.

When we chose Austin as VVater's home, people asked why not Silicon Valley or New York. 

The answer was simple: Texas builds things. 

The energy here, the business environment, the people, it felt right. 

I've always believed that where you plant your flag matters, and Austin felt like a city that rewards those willing to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work.

The same conviction drove me toward water. 

While the world was captivated by AI and energy, I kept coming back to a basic truth: none of it works without water. 

Aquifers are depleting. PFAS are contaminating drinking water systems nationwide. Municipalities are hitting capacity with no budget to expand. The EPA estimates that we need $630 billion over the next 20 years to modernize our water infrastructure. This wasn't a prediction; it was just paying attention. The crisis was already here; most people just weren't looking.

We developed the Farady Reactor and our proprietary A.L.T.E.P. technology, the Advanced Low Tension Electroporation Process, which utilizes small amounts of electricity to destroy microorganisms, alter mineral content, and eliminate contaminants like PFAS and microplastics without adding any chemicals.

Our first customer was a property developer in South Africa who was building a new city and wanted a 5-acre beach, but only had "black water" as a feedstock. 

Another developer in Texas faced a similar challenge, as the local municipality was at capacity and unable to issue water permits. Traditional solutions would have taken years and millions of dollars. We arrived with our mobile ALPHA unit, treated the water on-site, and delivered potable water within hours. That developer became our biggest advocate, and word spread fast. When you solve an "impossible" problem, people talk.

Today, we've treated over 4.3 billion gallons of water, conducted more than 8,000 laboratory tests, and served everyone from Fortune 50 companies, such as Nestlé, to municipalities and the Department of Defense.

But it all started with one developer who needed water and one team crazy enough to believe electricity could replace chemistry.

For the rest of Kevin’s story, including hard decisions he’s made in the business, the infuriating lessons that have shaped his views, how his marriage has contributed to his success, and one of the more surprising book recommendations I’ve ever seen in this series, read the full piece below. Be sure to connect with Kevin here, and check out VVater for more.

That’s all for this week!

Email me here if you want to share any feedback, or let me know about an event you’re hosting.

Until next week,

-Ethan