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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 is a shorter issue than normal – next week is eerily quiet heading into Thanksgiving. But we’ve still got:
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📅 Events – Reaching further into the calendar to highlight things you should know about the next few months
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📈 Case Study – How Adam Robinson Bootstrapped 3 Different Multimillion Dollar SaaS Businesses
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Back to our normal programming next 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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Let’s start with the case study…
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Adam Robinson is a local SaaS founder who’s bootstrapped 3 different companies to 7- and 8-figures over the last decade or so. The most recent hit $1m ARR within 4 months of launching. He also:
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Started as a Wall St. guy (no startup background)
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Was roommates with the founder of Vimeo (pre-launch)
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Shared an office with the Jasper founders before they took off
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Has cracked LinkedIn as a sales funnel for SaaS
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Failed a lot and shares a ton of numbers about that
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He’s got a lot of interesting takes, but I think my favorite is his stance on why more founders should be bootstrapping, and how freeing that is (if you can pull it off).
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Read The Full Story Here…
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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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🗓️ TONIGHT: Live Recording – LoneStartup: One of my favorite local podcasts is interviewing one of my favorite local businesses (Red Fridge Society)! Come check it out
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🗓️ TONIGHT: Authentic Austin: They call it A-Squared, and it’s all about authentic conversations and deeper connections. Kristen Pavle hosts this month!
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🗓️ TONIGHT: Book Discussion (online): If you’ve read Yuval Harari’s new book, Nexus, join Jay Boisseau and the Austin Forum on Tech and Society to discuss
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🗓️ TONIGHT: Nerd Night: Like a local version of TED, but for nerds, by nerds. This month’s theme is the healing power of laughter,
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🗓️ TONIGHT: Hardware Meetup: For anyone building real stuff in the physical world, check out Nick Frank’s meetup. Also don’t miss the new hardware accelerator in the Word on the Street section (below)
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🗓️ Nov. 22: Ops Not Oops: Sara Loretta recently launched this new coworking event. Two hours of silent deep work every other Friday over at Radio East
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🗓️ Nov. 22: AITX + Llama Hackathon Reception: AITX is hosting a hackathon with Meta, and this reception is the night before kickoff. Hackathon info is here
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🗓️ Nov. 22: Art & Film in the Age of AI: Longtime Hollywood TK, Matisse Tolin, will discuss his recent AI Feature Film,
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Side Note: This is hosted at the Unchained.Art gallery, where AI + Art columnist Julia Morton and gallerist Christina Hiltscher, have their Art in the Age of AI exhibit through Dec. 7. Jason Scharf, host of AustinNext pod, says it’s amazing.
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🗓️ Nov. 25 ATX Youtubers: Another one from Sarah Loretta – this time for people who are working on growing Youtube channels, and looking to get/give feedback
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🗓️ Nov 30: ATX Writing Club: Not strictly business-related, but Zac Solomon’s writing group is a great way to meet interesting people and get some focused work done
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Also… Mark your calendars…
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I never share events this far out, but it’s a slow week, and these look rad, so check ‘em out 👇
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Dec 12: Taking Back Main St: Codie Sanchez is hosting a live event here in Austin to celebrate the launch of her new book. People who pre-order the book get admission. You can also buy a ticket (but pre-orders help authors more). Codie’s a friend, and when she hosts an event, she delivers.
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March 17-22: Leadership in the Wild: A non-profit called the Kashmir World Foundation is hosting a retreat in Costa Rica called the Rainforest DeepData Expedition – volunteers will deploy drones and other innovative tech to help fight poaching and preserve endangered species.
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Jimmy Malik, who runs a leadership coaching practice here in Austin, will be onsite leading workshops as part of the experience.
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If you’re planning out your 2025 calendar, and looking for a cool out of the ordinary experience to add to your life, this might be it.
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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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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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Last Call To Apply for the Cosmos Fellowship, focused on cultivating a new generation of philosopher technologists, with a focus on AI and humanity. Applications are due Dec 1st, and only require:
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CV
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<150 word abstract
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<1k word proposal
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3 references
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You can find more info here, and the form to apply here.
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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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Nov. 22: CandleLight Concert – Tribute to the Beatles
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Nov. 22: Street Expression Graffiti Workshop
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Nov. 22: Broadway Rave
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Nov. 23: Lewis Black – The Final Tour
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Nov. 23: Class & Glass – Yoga and Wine at Vintage Books
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Nov. 23: Winter Care for Native Plants at LBJ Wildflower Center
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Nov. 23: Kentucky Fill-Up at Still Austin – Bring empty Kentucky Bourbon bottles, and get ‘em filled with Austin’s own for $1 per f*cking bottle
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Nov. 24: Yoga & Brews at Blue Owl Brewing
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Nov. 24: Whiskey Tasting & Cocktail Experience at Standard Proof
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Nov. 26: Silk Fan Painting Workshop at Inner Diva (they also do puppy/kitten yoga to benefit local animal shelters)
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Nov. 28: Thanksgiving at Luties – they’re food’s outrageously good
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Nov. 30: Krampus Kegger at Far Out Lounge
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If You’ve Got Kids… The Austin Steam Train is running a North Pole Flyer through the holidays. Mozart’s Light Show and the Trail of Lights are also long-time favorites. And there’s an interactive Harry Potter Forbidden Forest light show experience out in McKinney Roughs, about half way between Austin and Bastrop.
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(Yes… They have butterbeer)
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Mozarts Festival of Lights
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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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