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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
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📣 Word On The Street
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🤠 Local Shop of the Week
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Did someone forward this to you? If you like it, you can sign up here!
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-Ethan
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PS. F1 was last weekend. Hat tip to Max Meyer for resurfacing this legendary shot by local adventure photographer, Knox Kronenberg, made as part of his American Muscle series – celebrating muscle cars, horses, and the west.
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Check out the behind-the-scenes videos here, then hit Knox up and say hey.
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Upcoming Events
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🤖 The first-ever Austin Tech Week runs Oct 28 – Nov 1. There are 121 official sessions on the calendar, plus other pop-ups and gatherings around town (the best of which I’ve tried to add here). I spotted more than a dozen of you on the speakers’ list, so congrats!
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🗓️ Oct. 25: Pickup Basketball for Founders: Every month, Nick Schenck hosts a pickup game for founders at Ramsey Neighborhood Park starting at 5PM. Drop in, or email him here if you want to get on the list for future dates.
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🗓️ Oct. 25: Shark Tank Watch Party: Local founder, Destin George Bell, is pitching on this episode, and his company, Card.io is hosting a watch party at Austin Marathon HQ. There’ll be free food and drinks, cool founders, and of course… Pickleball.
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🗓️ Oct. 28: C-Suite Summit: The Austin Tech Council is hosting Razat Gaurav, CEO of Planview (acquired for $1.6B in 2020)
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🗓️ Oct. 28: Mastering Founder Intuition: As part of Austin Tech Week, Mia Ong and Paris Bland have organized this fireside chat with Michael Norman, founder of Wefunder
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🗓️ Oct. 28: Seed / Series A Female Founder & Investor Dinner: Join Sarah Morgan (S3 Ventures), Addie Rasche (Silverton Partners) and more than a dozen others at this inaugural event
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🗓️ Oct. 29: Startup Equity Incentives: Shannon Sibold’s team over at MoFo is hosting this lunch workshop on equity incentives and how to use them to attract top talent
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🗓️ Oct. 29: Missions to Moon & Mars: Director Vanessa Wyche of the Johnson Space Center is giving a talk at the LBJ Library atrium
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🗓️ Oct. 29: Investors Doubling Down on Texas: Just like the title suggests, Nia Pryce of Forum Ventures is moderating a panel of VC’s who are shoveling money into the lone star state
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🗓️ Oct. 29: Business After Hours: For those of you out west, tired of going downtown for events, the West Austin Chamber is hosting their monthly happy hour
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🗓️ Oct. 29: Snark Tank: Five founders pitch to a panel of VCs and standup comedians, then, more comedians, friends, and colleagues roast the hell out of local tech leaders. Somehow it’s all for charity
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🗓️ Oct. 29: Influence Deconstructed: The Austin Venture Association is hosting this investor reception & panel, complete with a mezcal tasting and exotic car show
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🗓️ Oct. 29: The Next-Gen Agent: Hector Ramirez is hosting this panel of leaders with different perspectives on AI (e.g., ceo, investor, engineer)
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🗓️ Oct. 30: Future of the American Economy: The Austin Liberty Leadership Council is hosting this panel discussion and happy hour for young professionals thinking about the future of the country
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🗓️ Oct. 30: Founders Night with VCs and Angels: Antler’s Jake O’Shea is co-hosting this happy hour
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🗓️ Oct. 30: Metropolitan Breakfast Club: Come hear from Jeremi Suri, professor of history and Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at UT
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🗓️ Oct. 30: Unchained Art – Art in the Age of AI: Curated by AI + Art columnist Julia Morton and gallerist Christina Hiltscher, this is the opening reception, and the show will remain in-place through Dec. 7
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🗓️ Oct. 31: Sports Tech Meetup: Including a fireside chat with NCAA & WNBA champion, Fran Harris, who was a former ESPN announcer, has consulted with several F100 companies, and has published 20 books
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🗓️ Nov. 1: Founder Fridays: Hosted by founders Georges Colbert and Ash Uprety in partnership with LAUNCH, the VC firm founded by Jason Calacanis (another recent Austin transplant)
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One more thing… Holidays are comin’ up! The Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute started by Kendra Scott over at UT is hosting a holiday market on Nov. 3rd with 40+ Longhorn-owned companies.
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Side note: Kendra’s one of ATX’s most successful founders (launched a $1B+ jewelry brand out of her spare bedroom right here in town). Her story’s fascinating. Check out my full case study on her here including key hires, revenue growth, setbacks, and more.
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Hosting something cool? Email me the details below and I’ll try to share it in the newsletter or on LinkedIn.
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Fun Stuff Coming Up
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🎃 For all my Halloween freaks fans: If you love this holiday and are looking for the best themed events, check out the spreadsheet Leila and Brian put together. Their newsletter, Lite + Brite, is a great roundup of funky Austin stuff, and has been in my regular rotation from the earliest days of ABR.
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Also check out…
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Oct. 25: Fredericksburg Food & Wine Festival
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Oct. 25: Austin Symphony Presents – Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
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Oct. 25: Outdoor Movies at Republic Square: Ghost Busters
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Oct. 25: Street Expression Graffiti Class
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Oct. 26: Rolling Sculpture Car Show
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Oct. 26: Austin Bourbon Battle
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Oct. 26: Monster Mash – Nighttime Archery Shoot (sounds rad)
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Oct. 26: Tour de Carl – Bicycle Bar Crawl
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Oct. 26: Cigars & Sips at Rockabilly Brewing
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Oct. 26: Murder, Mayhem, and Misadventure Walking Tour
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Oct. 26: Halloween Movie Night at First Light: Casper
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Oct. 27: 7th Annual Ugly Dog Competition at Jo’s (there’s also a werewolf costume contest at Meanwhile Brewing on the 30th)
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Oct. 27: Haunted Mansion Halloween at Captain Perry Estate
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Oct. 27: If you’ve got younger kids – trick or treat with horses
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Oct. 27: Beer Nerd Spelling Bee
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Oct. 27: Cowboy Casino at Nava Farms
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Oct. 27: Jazz Babies Island Riverboat Excursion
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Oct. 27: Spooky Trivia Steam Train
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Oct. 29: Flamenco Fire at AO5 Gallery
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Oct. 30: Garrison Brothers Bourbon 101
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Oct. 30: Thriller Night – Live Album Tribute
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Oct. 30: 80s Night with Mix Tape Time Machine
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Oct. 30: Candlelight Concerts – Best Horror Movie Soundtracks
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Oct. 31: Smash Bros Tournament at Slackers Brewing
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Oct. 31: Halloween Dodgeball Tournament
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Oct. 31: South Austin Chess Club
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Nov. 1: Dia de los Muertos at Waterloo Park
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Nov. 1: Featured Winemaker Luncheon with Austin Wine & Food Foundation (they’ve also got a rare & fine wine auction the next day)
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Nov. 2: French Pastry Class at Cenote
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Last thing… The 13th annual Austin Food & Wine Festival is running Nov. 1-3. At this point, they’re down to just VIP tickets (at $750 a pop). That might be worth it if you have a full weekend to dedicate to debauchery.
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(VIP gets you in early, through the lines at 40+ vendors, and access to the cooking demos, guided tastings, and the extra tailgate party on Friday night)
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But if not… You can peep the list of participating restaurants here, then spend that money on a few reservations, and the sweet taste of being better than festival people.
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Word On The Street
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A roundup of cool local opportunities to grow your business, wealth, or personal brand
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Looking for your next thing? If you’re between companies, Brendan McCord is hiring a Chief of Staff for the Cosmos Institute, and it could be the perfect two-year gap role for founders obsessed with the future of AI
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Is your kid heading to college soon? University of Austin (the fascinating new school, co-founded by local billionaire Joe Lonsdale et al.) is accepting applications for class of 2029. Thanks to their innovative model, every student gets a full-ride scholarship 🤯
(Check out this piece from their founding professor of economics, Tim Kane, for more on what makes them unique)
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Got a cool CPG Brand? Submit your product for the holiday gift guide I’m making with Marc Nathan, Bill Murphy, Emily Preble, Jessica & Ian Haisley, and Jon & Cherie Werner (all leaders in the local biz community, if you haven’t met them yet). It’s free, and a fun way to hype some cool local brands ahead of the holidays. Submit your info here
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— PARTNERS —
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“Hey Ethan, I’m looking for…”
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I don’t sell ads in the traditional sense here at ABR. Instead, I work with a handful of partners – the best of the best – and connect them with a few perfect clients each year.
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They make the newsletter possible for everyone, and invest a lot of time, money, and effort into the business community here in town.
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If you’re looking for one of the following, here’s who I recommend…
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Wealth Manager: George Choe at Kera Capital provides valuable perspective on tax optimization, equity-based comp, and wealth management for founders I know
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Attorney: Shannon Sibold and her team at Morrison Foerster are extremely founder-centric and invest tons of time teaching workshops on everything from fundraising to acquisitions and IPOs
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Insights
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Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX
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My Favorite Find of the Week: Is a podcast called ASOM (pronounced “awesome”). It’s got four hosts, including ATX founder, Jimmy Kim, and they each bring a different point of view to the table – Agency, SaaS, Operator, Marketer.
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They’ve built 12 companies between them, so there’s serious experience in the room. And this week’s episode on the realities of influencer marketing and virality was a fun listen for anyone trying to build their personal following.
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Local Artist of the Week
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If you like the segment where I typically highlight local artists, then you’re going to love November, when Big Medium hosts its 31st Austin Studio Tour, showcasing more than 480 local artists of all kinds.
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The tour is split into two weekends…
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Nov 9-10: West of 35
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Nov 16-17: East of 35
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…and features a bunch of artists who’ve appeared in this newsletter, like Erica Wildman, Emily Eisenhart, Richard Samuel, Julie Ahmad, and more.
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Tour it yourself from 12-6PM each day, or grab spots on the DJ+ Drinks Art Bus Tour, hosted by Natalie and Zach of Almost Real Things, Austin’s homegrown art magazine and creative network.
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That’s all for this week!
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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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