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Welcome to this issue of 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).
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My name’s Ethan and I’m the one writing this (holler at me here!)
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This week, we’ve got a few things on-deck:
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📅 Upcoming Events – Biiiig week comin’ up
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🤠 Notes From The First Texas Venture Forum & Gala
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🍽️ Local Restaurant You Gotta Check Out
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BUT FIRST…
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Last week, a lot of you enjoyed meeting Thomas Shields, pickleball expert and local founder of Upswing Sports.
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So this week, I wanted to introduce you to another person who’s crucial to this newsletter – CS Freeland.
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I spend a lot of time looking for great local founder events to share, and CS hosts a lot of them.
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She’s the co-founder of the Texas Venture Alliance, and the creator of the Texas Venture Fest – a massive multi-city experience that brought together thousands of people last year – along with many others. She’s also incredibly tapped into the local startup ecosystem and…
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Spent the last decade as EIR at PowerShift Group, Austin’s first venture studio
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Was the the youngest Executive Director of a venture capital association in the US
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Publishes the Texas Venture newsletter to thousands of readers
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And so much more…
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Over the weekend, she hosted the very first Texas Venture Gala & Forum, which brought together hundreds of founders, investors, and government officials from across the state.
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I got a chance to attend, and wrote about some of my key takeaways down below.
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If you’re not following her on LinkedIn yet, be sure to do that and say hey!
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-Ethan
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Upcoming Events
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Running a business is tough. Here are a few great places to meet cool people going through the same sh*t you are.
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Apr. 19: ClimateTech Coffee: Join Kim Gilbert, PhD, founder of pHathom Technologies, and other founders/operators in the climate space
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Apr. 19: Artemis Female Founder Coffee: The Artemis Fund invests specifically in female founders, and is building a community of innovators here in ATX
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Apr. 19: Live Recording – The Girl’s Bathroom: Podcast host Angie Lee is bringing in three heavy-hitting founders to share no-bullshit advice on all things women's wellness, entrepreneurship, mental health and building a brand
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Apr. 20: Tax Code Advisors – Save and Grow Wealth: In this session, Deepak Sharma and Sanjiv Gupta will give an overview of estate & retirement planning, how to minimize tax liabilities, insurance planning, and opportunities to invest in oil and gas, real estate, and startups
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Apr. 24: Austin Technology Council Roundtable Breakfast: Join the ATC and guest Catalin Briciu to discuss how to leverage AI in your business
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Apr. 24: Venture Debt 101: Shannon Sibold is a partner at Morrison Foerster, specializing in M&A, public and private financing, and advising emerging-growth companies. This is part of a series of ScaleUp seminars she’s giving (they get great feedback on LinkedIn!)
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Apr. 24: Shopify & Ecomm Happy Hour: Come talk shop with Cameron Shaw, Patrick Pitman, and other local founders in the ecomm space
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Apr. 24: Austin AI Alliance Monthly Meeting: The newly-formed Austin AI Alliance is focused on making Austin a world-class city for AI innovation. They’ve got a slack channel too!
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Apr. 25: Wake Up! CPG: Start the day right with local super-connector Marc Nathan, along with founders and operators from Austin’s top CPG brands. Seriously, Marc knows everyone! If you’re in CPG and you haven’t met yet, prioritize this event.
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Apr. 25: JA FEM Mentorship Event: Want a cool way to give back? This event empowers outstanding young women in high school by pairing them with local business owners for mentorship sessions
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Apr. 25: Tim Ferriss Show Meetup: To celebrate 10 years of Tim Ferriss’ podcast, Andrew Pynch is hosting 150+ fans over at Cosmic Coffee on the south side. Wonder if Tim drops in… 🤔
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Apr. 25: All-In Pod Meetup: Fans are also meeting up to celebrate episode 175 of the All-In podcast. Shout out to Opuada Abusi for wrangling everyone on this!
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Fun Stuff Coming Up
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…because if you’re anything like me, you work too much already. So here’s some fun stuff to do around town that’s not necessarily related to business.
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Apr. 20: Field Guide Festival – Celebrate ATX Farmers & Chefs
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Apr. 20: The 420 Spring Harvest Dinner
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Apr. 22: Comedian Nate Bargatze live at Moody Center
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Apr. 23: Jordan Peterson live at Moody Center
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Apr. 23: Full Moon Paddle on Town Lake
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Apr. 23: Pink Moon Hike around Town Lake
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Apr. 24: A Night of Everything
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Apr. 24: Happy Hour Horror – for horror movie lovers
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Apr. 25: You Grill Girl – Female grill masters from around ATX
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Apr. 27: Whiskey Riot – 200 whiskeys in one place
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Apr. 27: Adventure Van Expo
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Apr. 27: Austin Book Trail – Discounts and deals at 25 local book shops
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Map of the Austin Book Trail, done in collaboration with local illustrator Ashley Robin Franklin (@arfranklinstein)
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What I Learned From The Very First Texas Venture Gala & Forum
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A friend of mine once said that when people talk about the second American renaissance, they’ll talk about Texas. Last week’s inaugural Texas Venture Gala & Forum sold me on that notion.
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Even though I went in bullish on this state, I had no idea the scale of what’s really going on here. To give you a quick taste, Texas currently leads the country in…
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Energy production
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Semiconductor manufacturing
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Overall exports (and technology exports)
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Foreign direct investment
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Population growth
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And more…
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It’s still early, but if you’re building here, you’re in for a wild ride. I wrote up my main takeaways which you can find here.
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Restaurant You Gotta Check Out
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Lutie’s | 4100 Red River St
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People sometimes ask me whether these little local restaurant and artist spotlights are paid ads, and the answer is no. Not now, not ever.
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I started this newsletter as a way of exploring the city, and I use this space to call out cool Austin businesses that deserve attention.
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Lutie’s is one of those.
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It’s run by local sweethearts Bradley Nicholson and Susana Querejazu – both of whom have experience in multi-Michellin-star kitchens – and it feels like a secret hideaway, with sunset views out over the sunken English gardens of the Commodore Perry Estate, and off to the gleaming towers of downtown beyond.
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And the food? The food…
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We got the trout with Blue Jasmoon Rice, the chickpeas with green corn and fermented herbs, and the estate bread, with Bradley and Susana’s signature home-spun brown and cultured butter.
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I’m not a very eloquent food critic – too many years of backpacker food has left me without what you’d call a refined palate. But if you can measure quality based on the number of times I put my fork down and said, “Oh my god” then Lutie’s is very, very (two more “very”s) good.
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That’s all for this week.
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You can also email me here if you want to share any feedback, or let me know about an event you’re hosting.
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Until next week,
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-Ethan
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Thank you to all the incredible local founders and leaders who share great insights and events. You can follow and connect with them here…
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CS Freeland, Kim Gilbert, PhD, Angie Lee, Catalin Briciu, Shannon Sibold, Cameron Shaw, Patrick Pitman, Marc Nathan, Andrew Pynch, Opuada Abusi, Bradley Nicholson, and Susana Querejazu
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