June 27, 2024

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).

My name’s Ethan and I’m the one writing this (holler at me here!)

This week, we’ve got a few things on-deck:

Did someone forward this to you? If you like it, you can sign up here!

-Ethan

PS. No newsletter next week – hoping you all do something like this with your inboxes while enjoying the holiday 👇 Back the week after though!

Upcoming Events

The calendar is a lot lighter with the 4th coming up. But, here are a few cool places to meet other founders…

🗓️ TODAY: How to Raise Your First Round: This is a two’fer – a webinar with Sputnik starting at 3PM, followed by an in-person happy hour at 5PM with other pre-seed founders

🗓️ TODAY: Sip & Socialize Ecomm Meetup: Join Becky Gross for a laid-back evening talking all things ecomm

🗓️ June 28: Pitch & Run: Join Zeke Torres and other ATX founders to chat business and get feedback while running 4.2 miles around the lake

🗓️ June 28: Climate Tech Coffee: This month’s speakers are focused on reducing plastic waste and developing plant-based alternatives – Alexander Blum, founder of Applied Bioplastics, and Rodney Ridley who compiled the largest-ever study on interactions between plastics and microbes in the environment

🗓️ June 30: Cashflow Game: Not strictly founder-focused, but if you’re into board games, Helen Gibson and Brenda Avendano host a get-together to play this game designed by Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame

🗓️ July 3: GenAI for Market Research: Darby Rollins, the creator of GenAI University and first-ever user of Jasper, will be joining Sharon DeCaro’s Marketing Automation meetup to show how to use AI to understand your buyers better.

🗓️ July 8: Poker Night for Founders: I don’t usually announce events this far out, but this one’s gonna be popular so I wanted you to hear about it sooner. Chris Taylor at the Red Fridge Society is starting a poker night for founders. If you haven’t heard of RFS yet, it’s great – reminds me of my time at Hampton. I wrote more about it here!

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up…

…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.

Last Thing… Through July 7th, Zach Theatre is hosting a play called The Lehman Trilogy, which “portrays the captivating saga of a family and a company that shaped the world.” (a.k.a. the only musical founders will love)

Three actors play multiple generations of Lehman brothers, spanning from their 1844 arrival in New York, to the company’s downfall and the financial crisis more than 150 years later. The broadway version won 5 Tony awards.

Word On The Street

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. Parenting Advice From Founders: AppSumo founder, Noah Kagan, is about to be a dad. He asked the internet for their best parenting advice, and they didn’t disappoint. With 900+ Replies, some favorites include:

Tell him congrats, and send your best tips here.

2. Speaking Of Dads… Unicorn founder Brett Hurt re-shared this wonderful piece commemorating his father who was an entrepreneur and inventor here in Austin. From robot boats to telescopes, he built them all, and once happily gave away an invention worth millions. His story is a great reminder of how, beyond a certain point, relationships and the pursuit of your own curiosity become more fulfilling than money alone.

3. Making Your Own Luck: I’ve really been enjoying this new blog by Christine Luo and Steven Rapp. They’re building a company called PriceLevel, and documenting the journey with a lot of transparency. This piece on maximizing luck really resonated.

4. How to Write Like Ryan Holiday: ATX-based writers David Perell and Ryan Holiday sat down to talk about the craft, and Ryan’s experience writing 16 books and a daily newsletter for hundreds of thousands of readers

5. House Worth Looking At: I say it all the time, but Kirtana Reddy writes an excellent real estate newsletter here in Austin. If you have any interest in buying or selling, you should check it out. This week, she highlighted a great deal in the Eanes School District (Top 10 in the US) – 4 beds, 4 baths, and priced at $279 per square foot, less than half the median sq ft price for homes listed and sold there recently

Props & Shout-Outs

Other cool sh*t happening for ATX founders (reach out and tell ‘em congrats)

🍷 Sarah Puil, founder of BOXT wines, is taking the brand to QVC (tonight, at 6PM CT!)

🩸 Mike Nemke and his co-founders at Function Health unveiled a $53m Series A led by A16Z

🛠️ Inside one week, Codie Sanchez announced her new book, and the biggest investment of her career – partial ownership of ResiBrands, the fastest-growing trade service franchise biz in the country

🎙️ Jaclyn Schiff sold her company, PodReacher, which is rebranding as Spoke – they refactor your podcasts into blogs, white papers, ebooks, and more.

Got big news from your company? Let me know here!

Local Shop(s) of the Week

Not an ad, just a cool spot you should know

Sugar Mama’s & Sightseer | 1905 S. 1st St

Last week, I told you about the iconic street artist behind the Tupac mural in south Austin.

What I didn’t tell you is that mural – found at 1905 S. 1st St – is painted on the wall of a building that houses two cool local businesses worth checking out.

The first, Sugar Mama’s, is a bakeshop founded in 2008 by Olivia O’Neal. They just snagged a 2024 Best of Austin award (their 3rd consecutive year, and 14th overall), and when Ringo Star needed a cake for his drummer, he chose them.

Follow ‘em on IG, where they drop monthly menus, and announce pop-up “cupcake happy hours” when they bake too many.

The other, Sightseer Coffee, was founded by Kimberly Zash and Sara Gibson, and is big on supporting women in business – they only buy from woman-owned coffee growers, and pay double the fair trade premium rate.

Roasting since 2022, they took home Austin Monthly’s Best of ATX award last year, and this week marks the grand opening of their first brick and mortar.

Join ‘em Saturday, June 29 for the party. There’ll be a DJ there, plus 50% off drinks, 20% off beans, complimentary snacks from Sugar Mama’s, and free “cold fashioned” cocktails (made with Still Austin whiskey) from 11-7.

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

Thank you to all the incredible local founders and leaders who share great insights and events. You can follow and connect with them here…

Becky Gross, Alex Blum, Rodney Ridley Jr, Zeke Torres, Helen Gibson, Brenda Avendano, Darby Rollins, Chris Taylor, Noah Kagan, Brett A. Hurt, Jaclyn Schiff, David Perell, Ryan Holiday, Kirtana Reddy, Christine Luo, Steven Rapp, Sarah Puil, Sharon DeCaro, Mike Nemke, Codie Sanchez, Olivia O’Neal, Kimberly Zash, Sara Gibson