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

A couple weeks ago, when I got back from vacation, I wrote about how hard it’d been to fill my downtime while away. As if work was the only real hobby I had.

I got a bunch of replies, and many feel this way too.

So… We’re gonna do something about it!

My buddy, Carl Grant, and I are organizing a sporting clay shootout for business owners who are looking for a little adventure.

Carl is the COO of Capital Raise, and is super tied into the business community here in ATX. His wife, Julia, also hosts the Saturday morning Board Walks I’ve recommended so many times in here.

We chose a date in late-September, so there’s time to clear your calendar, and for the heat to die down.

And if you’ve never shot sporting clays before, it’s very beginner-friendly. Your ticket includes use of a shotgun and all the ammo you need, and range staff will be on-hand to run safety briefings and help show anyone the ropes (you’ll pick up the basics in about eight minutes, thanks to them).

More advanced shooters are welcome too. Carl competes, and I hope someone can give him a run for his money, because I haven’t yet.

The place we’re going – Copperhead Creek – is a special club. Their sporting clay range is up on this stunning ridge-line with views all the way out across pristine hill country. It’s quiet, not crowded, and the perfect way to make some new friends and get out of the office for a change.

Plus, if you say the word, “business,” over coffee while you’re there, I believe the whole thing is a tax write-off.

We’ve got about a dozen spots, and I hope you’ll join us.

It’s gonna be a blast,

-Ethan

Upcoming Events

This is my favorite time of year in Austin. Everyone coming back from their trips – to me, it always feels like an old camp reunion. And sure enough, we’ve got happy hours from The Red Fridge Society, Austin Tech Council, and Startup Grind celebrating end of summer 🍹

Elsewhere, we have…

🗓️ TONIGHT: Acquire & Invest Happy Hour: The most-clicked event in last week’s email, are a lot of you buying businesses? Drop me a line and let me know

🗓️ Aug. 24: Tariff Review & Market Implications: The data’s in, and bankers Mark Metcalfe, Sam Susser, and Chris Wheeler are gonna talk about it

🗓️ Aug. 25: Benefits of Scientific Thinking In Our Day to Day Lives: A new one from Kat Stacy’s Austin Enlightenment Society

🗓️ Aug. 26: Business After Hours: For those of you out west, tired of going downtown for events, Ray Fryers is organizing on behalf of West Austin Chamber

🗓️ Aug. 27: Metropolitan Breakfast Club: David Jabour, who grew Twin Liquors from one location to 100+, is speaking

🗓️ Aug. 27: What Is Quantum About: A breakfast roundtable, hosted by the Austin Technology Council. Jay Boisseau is on the panel so it will be excellent

🗓️ Aug. 27: Vibecoding Jam: Oliver Emberton hosts this one over at Common Desk on 6th & Congress. Beginners welcome (and if learning this is still on your to-do list, I can’t recommend Nat Eliason’s course enough – perfect for non-technical founders)

🗓️ Aug. 27: India Chamber of Commerce Summit: Featuring fascinating speakers like Chintan Vaishnav, Director of MIT’s Center for Tech & Design

🗓️ Aug. 27: Austin AI Alliance: Celebrating its first birthday with a panel of AI speakers (and a rock ‘n roll theme)

🗓️ Aug. 28: Consumer VC Wakeup! CPG: Marc Nathan’s events are some of the best in town for meeting CPG veterans.

🗓️ Aug. 28: Austin Hardware Meetup: Speakers from four different physical product companies are joining Nick Frank and his crew to talk shop at Antler HQ

🗓️ Aug. 28: Founder Invitational Poker Series: Chris Taylor down at Red Fridge is hosting – $200 buy-in, $200 re-buys, top 6 in the money, and a $1-$2 cash game available for bust-outs

🗓️ Aug. 29: Founder Pickup Basketball: Every month, Nick Schenck hosts a pickup game for founders at Ramsey Neighborhood Park starting at 5PM. Drop in, or email him here to get on the list for future dates

🗓️ Aug. 29: Cloud Closet Launch: I love a good niche industry discussion – Caroline Lakshmanan is kicking off the launch of her company, The Cloud Closet, with a panel on how tech is making people rethink their relationship with clothes, including insights and opinions from four founders in the space

One last thing… If you’re a fan of Alex Hormozi’s $100M Leads, and it had an impact on your business, you may enjoy this book discussion I’m hosting Aug. 29th.

More than a book club, the goal here is to meet other business owners, talk about what we’ve tried for growth recently, share what’s worked, and what we’re still trying to crack.

It’s in the morning, so you still have a full day to execute on ideas after. If you’d like to join, you can RSVP here.

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up…

For whatever reason, the places I typically go to find fun date-night stuff were surprisingly barren this week.

So instead, I asked a few readers of this email about their favorite under-the-radar spots, and here’s what they had to say…

“Monks Jazz Club – BYOB jazz club with primarily UT professors and students performing at. It's so good we got our office in the same building!” –Andy Allen, founder of Repackify Packaging Marketplace

“The trail system in Pflugerville is world-class, especially if you like to walk for exercise…” (Note from Ethan: I had no idea, but apparently Pflugerville has 70+ miles of trail, which gives ‘em the most per capita of any city in Texas) –Sarah Burkhart, founder of Stardust Luxury Home Management

“Okay, so Golden Horn and the restaurant Yellow Ranger. Honestly, some of the best food I've had in Austin. It is like walking into the 1970s, similar to that Busty's vibe… Everyone's super nice, but the food is out of this world.” –Dr. Benjamin Ritter, founder of Live For Yourself Consulting

…if you’ve got a favorite spot you keep going back to (Barton doesn’t count), hit reply and let me know. I’m collecting them.

One More Thing… This is a little ways out, but if you love golf, you should check out the Capital City Cup, coming up Sept. 13 over at Barton Creek Golf Club.

It’s organized by Sorek, a barber/menswear shop on the east side, and one of my favorite spots in town. The founders, Jason and Jared, are brothers, and are cool as hell, and the proceeds go to support the Sentinel Foundation, which fights child trafficking and exploitation.

None of this is a paid ad. Just great people involved, so if you’re a golfer, check it out.

Word On The Street

A roundup of cool local opportunities to grow your business, wealth, or personal brand

🔥 Nominations for the Inno Fire Awards are open until October 6th.

🎨 Artists… Applications to join the Austin Studio Tour are now open, and the city is also hosting this event Saturday, talking about funding that’s available for pubic arts projects

👢 Femme Founder is a 5-week bootcamp for women looking to grow startups in AI, Web3, or Blockchain. They’re hosting an info session with Austin Women in Tech on Aug. 27

💸 Central Texas Angel Network is is about to open cycle five for 2025. It kicks off with their Founder Angel Speed Dating, on Aug. 29

📣 Call For Pitch Decks – Morrison Foerster’s Pitch Day Competition is an official part of Austin Startup Week this year. Winners get coaching directly from their team (which has helped with billions in fundraising) and submissions are open through Monday Sept. 1

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. Doing The Cool Thing Recently published by my buddy, Zac Solomon, this piece has been on my mind for more than a week

2. Not Investment Advice: Recent Austin Transplant, Jason Calicanus, had two great tweets week, asking about underrated public market CEOs and criminally undervalued buy-and-hold stocks. Some gems in the replies (both funny, and thoughtful)

3. Becoming A Magnet: I’m not much of a woo-woo guy, but I really enjoyed this short piece by Elle Beecher on how she draws the things she wants into her life. It was a good reminder that you can feel the feelings of achieving your goals right now

4. Running The Gauntlet: In case you missed it, I published a deep dive on Gauntlet, Austen Allred’s hardcore AI bootcamp here in Austin that’s free to attend and guarantees $200k job offers to every grad. These kids are fantastic. One of my favorite pieces to research so far this year.

One Last Thing

We didn’t get a lot of food/culture stuff in this issue, so I want to share two quick things that really caught my eye.

First, this short video with Jesse Griffiths, the chef-owner of Dai Due. Jesse’s a fascinating guy, because he keeps his cooking very close to the land – often using wild game, and always ingredients sourced from right here in Texas. The video’s great, and if you want more on his story, I interviewed him here.

And second, Chaos in the Kitchen. I mentioned Nick Schenk up top – he’s the guy who runs the pickup basketball game for founders here in town. His production company also just shot this hilarious cook-off between multi-time Michelin Star Chef, Philip Franklin Lee, owner of Scratch Restaurant Group and NADC Burger, and… an absolute culinary deviant on Instagram called fancy_chef_2013

Produced by local comedy legend (and media tycoon), Tom Segura, this one’s a fun way to ruin the day of any foodies in your group chat 🤣

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