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

This installment is shipping a little later (and a little shorter) than normal. Fresh back in town, I’ll admit, I’ve been a bad worker – instead, I’ve been out shotgun shooting in Marble Falls, procrastinating swapping stories at my writer’s clubhouse, or even just spending a little longer at the barber shop, chit chatting with the guys there (Sorek, check it out).

I feel this intense pull to spend time away from the screen, and with people.

Over drinks the other day, a friend asked me how I’ll make sure ABR is a business that benefits from AI.

It’s a good question, and I didn’t have an answer in the moment. While I use AI to build internal tooling, the whole schtick of this newsletter so far has been that it’s 100% human-written, and I have zero interest in changing that.

And then it hit me. That’s it.

The main “AI Bet” that ABR is making is in-person; That as tech continues progressing faster and faster, there will always be people who feel that pull to spend time with other humans.

As the rest of the world (and your inbox) runs headlong toward AI, you can always trust that this is one spot you can come to interact with real people.

-Ethan

Upcoming Events

Speaking of spending time in person… A bunch of us are getting together tomorrow morning for a little coffee & copywriting. If you nerd out on good sales writing, want to meet some founders, and get a little productive work done too, come on out and join us!

Elsewhere, we have…

🗓️ Aug. 15: Female Founders & Friends: Hosted the third Friday every month byJuliette Richert of the Artemis Fund, and Angie Neas of JustWorks

🗓️ Aug. 15: PowerPints at the Highball: Not strictly business related, but there’s beer and power-points. Eight speakers, five-minute presentations, niche topics

🗓️ Aug. 20: Metropolitan Breakfast Club: TC Broadnax, Austin City Manager (and formerly city manager for Dallas), will be speaking

🗓️ Aug. 20: Women Who Breathe: Marina Kay is leading a session designed to help you stop overthinking and make decisions more intuitively

🗓️ Aug. 20: Exploring The Future of AGI: This sounds rad – The Austin Forum on Tech & Society is taking over Violet Crown Cinema for a screening of The Thinking Game, a documentary on the race for AGI, followed by a Q&A panel with AI researchers

🗓️ Aug. 20: Austin CTO Club: Every month, William Baxter curates a discussion for senior tech execs. This month’s topic: Investing Without Market Signal

🗓️ Aug. 21: Say Howdy, Play Rowdy: ACG Austin is hosting insiders from two niche sports at their monthly luncheon – Tim Klitch, co-founder of major league pickleball owner of Austin Pickle Ranch, and JJ Gottsch, CEO of the professional bull riding team, Austin Gamblers

🗓️ Aug. 21: Raid The Fridge: Chris Taylor is hosting a tiki-themed mixer down at The Red Fridge Society, one of my favorite founder clubs in town

🗓️ Aug. 21: West Austin Chamber Panel Discussion: Meet Lynette Haaland, who’s been publishing the Four Points News for almost twenty years, along with several other West Austin founders

🗓️ Aug. 21: Acquire & Invest Happy Hour: Dan Jensen’s monthly happy hour for people who buy businesses. This month, meet Yvette Owo, who acquired an accounting firm last year and will share tips from her journey

🗓️ Aug. 22: Austin Business Woman – Luncheon: Genesis Gavino, Chief of Staff to the Austin City Manager, is speaking to the group about her experience.

One More Thing… Twice this year, I feel like I’ve seen the future of education here in Austin. Once at a mixer with UATX students, and again last week, when I toured Austen Allred’s new AI Engineering Bootcamp, Gauntlet.

10 weeks long, 80-100 hours per week, free to attend, and a guaranteed $200k job offer to anyone who finishes – it was fascinating.

I’ve got a whole deep dive coming out about this – just need a couple days to put finishing touches on it. But heads up right now, the second cohort is graduating soon, and their demo day is Aug. 21. If you’re as curious about them as I was, it’s worth RSVPing. And keep an eye on your inbox Monday morning for the deep dive.

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

Inconceivable!… If you, like me, were raised on movies of the 80’s, and are a fan of The Princess Bride, check out Nido Restaurant’s Cinema Series (click the link and scroll).

On the 19th and 21st, they’re doing showings of the film, paired with a multi-course meal, handcrafted by Chef Christian Grindrod so that each course is timed to fit key moments of the film.

That’s all for this issue.

Remember, I’ll be back in your inbox Monday with a deep dive on Gauntlet.

Is there something from the typical format you really miss? Hit reply and let me know, I’m always thinking about which sections are best to keep or swap out.

Until next week,

-Ethan