30+ Founder Events

PLUS: Fascinating Mentor Opportunity... Pitch at SXSW 2025... Kendra Scott Live... and more...

Author

Ethan Brooks
August 08, 2024

Welcome to this week’s issue of The Austin Business Review, a roundup of great local events and insights for Austin business owners (plus some other cool stuff for your life outside of work).

Keeping the intro short because we’ve got an absurd number of events to talk about today. We’ve also got…

  • 📣 Opportunities: Speak, mentor, invest, and more

  • 🎸 The historic paramount theater’s estate sale

  • 🐶 Where to get your next 10 dogs

  • And more…

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

-Ethan

Upcoming Founder Events

Running a business is tough. Here are a few great places to meet people going through the same sh*t you are. Are you hosting something cool? Send me the details and it may appear here 👇

🗓️ TONIGHT: Women’s Club - Networking 102: The Austin Asian Chamber is hosting Sarah Klein, founder of Brandcake

🗓️ TONIGHT: Product & Tech Mastermind: Led by Ryan McInerny, who hosts several masterminds for ATX product people each month

🗓️ TONIGHT: Pat & Umair’s VC Happy Hour: Pat Moody and Umar Brimah are back with their epic meetup for 190+ founders, VCs, and operators in ATX

🗓️ TONIGHT: Biz-Dev Happy Hour: Emily Preble and Barrett Crosswell co-host this happy hour every other week through the summer and it’s great!

🗓️ TONIGHT: The Collective - Women’s Mastermind: People rave about Catherine Meyer and her collaborative networking events

🗓️ Aug. 9: Pitch & Run: Chat business with Zeke Torres and 100+ other founders, funders, and startup folks on a 4.2 mile run around the lake

🗓️ Aug. 9: Wine Tasting with Founders: Chris Taylor is bringing a sommollier into the Red Fridge Society for a private wine tasting & appetizer pairing

🗓️ Aug. 9: Founder Happy Hour: Every other Friday, Chad Sakonchick hosts an informal happy hour for experienced founders at Fredo ATX from 5-7PM. Open to newcomers - ping him on Twitter to connect!

🗓️ Aug 10: The Board Walks: Not strictly business-related, but Elle Beecher’s group is fantastic, and lots of founders/investors are regulars.

🗓️ Aug. 10: Founder Runners Club: Every Saturday, Anette Armenta and Tim Tkachenko host a 5K run around the lake for founders

🗓️ Aug. 11: Sprint Club: Every Sunday, Ankith Harathi hosts a sprint workout group – open to all, but most of the attendees are seasoned founders in ATX

🗓️ Aug. 12: All-In Pod Meetup: Hosted by Alice Huang, a super-connector here in town (J-Cal, if you’re reading this, her events are great!)

🗓️ Aug. 12: Artists Thriving: Natalie Poindexter is speaking to a panel of experts about how to grow and sustain a business in the arts

(P.S. If your business is in the arts, be sure to check out the City of Austin’s Nexus grant, awarding fifty $5k checks this fall - Applications open thru 8/27)

🗓️ Aug. 13: Brand & Design By The Books: A happy hour and book curation for designers, hosted by one of my favorite book shops – First Light Books.

🗓️ Aug. 13: Founder Coffee Tasting: Another great event over at the Red Fridge Society – this time with fancy coffee equipment

🗓️ Aug. 13: Business Builder Lunch: Carolyn Cummins is joining the West Lake chamber to show how AI can streamline your content flow

🗓️ Aug. 13: Product Book Club: Ryan McInerny is leading a group discussion on Alex Cowan’s Hypothesisis Driven Development. The following night, you can also join his downtown product mastermind group

🗓️ Aug. 14: Pitch Bootcamp: Fundraising soon? Join Martín Martinez and his panel of founders/investors to learn the finer points of elevator pitches

🗓️ Aug. 15: Good Morning Ecommerce: Grab a coffee and talk shop with Patrick Pitman, and other local founders in the ecomm space

🗓️ Aug. 15: Beers with the Beat: Rachel McGrath from the local Business Journal is hosting this happy hour for founders up north

🗓️ Aug. 15: Small Business Connect: Hosted by Gabby Ianniello, host of the Corporate Quitter podcast

🗓️ Aug. 15: Open Coffee North: Since 2009, Damon Clinkscales has been hosting this laid back get-together for founders and investors every month

🗓️ Aug. 15: Mark Henry Live: Two-time olympian and former WWE athlete, Mark Henry, is speaking to the West Austin chamber. Open to non-members!

🗓️ Aug. 15: Product Happy Hour: Hosted on the first & third Thursday of every month by Reza Shirazi, and Tulsi Dharmarajan

🗓️ Aug. 15: Female Founder Social: Led by Vas Daskalakis, founder of Africa.ai, recently came to ATX after 6 years building in Kenya

🗓️ Aug. 15: AuthenTECH Women’s Summit: A series of speakers and panel discussion focused on empowering women in entrepreneurship, including a keynote from Shuronda Robinson, CEO of Austin Woman Magazine.

🗓️ Aug. 16: Founder Walk: Every other Friday, Ellen Cassidy organizes an early-morning walk around the lake for experienced high-growth tech founders. They meet at Mañana (north of the river) at 7AM. Ping her on LinkedIn for details!

🗓️ Aug. 16: Female Founders & Friends: Hosted the third Friday of every month by Juliette Richert of the Artemis Fund

🗓️ Aug. 16: Intro to Quantum Computing: Tom Bishop, who sold two different companies to IBM, speaks very highly of this 3-hour event by Jay Boisseau

One Last Thing… This is not strictly business-related, but billion-dollar jewelry founder, Kendra Scott, and Emmy Award winner Julianne Hough, are meeting at Book People to discuss Hough’s latest book. Two incredibly ambitious minds – you can find tickets and info here!

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

…because let’s face it - you work too much already. So here’s some fun stuff to do around town that’s not related to business.

  • Aug. 8: Poolside Movies at Ariba Abajo Rooftop Bar - Pan’s Labrynth

  • Aug. 8: Group Ride with Social Cycling Austin

  • Aug. 9: Comfort Zone Fridays - Early Morning Ice Plunge

  • Aug. 9: Breakfast for Dinner Pop-Up with Paperboy

  • Aug. 9: Finale of Music Under The Stars at the Bullock Museum

  • Aug. 10: Cold Plunge Social (Every Other Saturday)

  • Aug. 10: Rise and Restore with Rivian

  • Aug. 10: Heather McDonald does Moontower Comedy

  • Aug. 11: Cars & Coffee at Circuit of the Americas

  • Aug. 11: Chess IRL at Central Machine Works Brewery

  • Aug. 12: Dai Due’s 10-Year Anniversary Dinner (!!!)

  • Aug. 12: Tyler Fischer & Friends at Comedy Mothership

  • Aug. 13: Summer Sunset Series - Free Yoga in the Park

  • Aug. 13: Summer Sips Series - Class on Apertivi (whatever that is)

  • Aug. 14: Fragrance of Ink - Chinese Calligraphy for Beginners

  • Aug. 14: Salsa & Bachata Wednesdays at Veracruz

  • Aug. 15: Latino Moonlight Serenade - Concert on the Lake

  • Aug. 15: Voices of Austin - ATX Creative Leaders

  • Aug. 15: Movies on the Lake - Into the Spiderverse

  • Aug. 15: Behind the Frame - Art History Lecture at Riches Art

  • Aug. 16: Sober Karaoke (sounds awful… I love it)

  • Aug. 14-18: Cirque du Soleil - Songblazers

One Last Thing… The historic Paramount Theatre is having an estate sale August 17th, offering up autographed guitars, vintage posters, and other stuff from past shows. For $50, you can shop the day before the public (plus get 2 cocktails, and complimentary parking). VIP ticket here.

Word On The Street

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

  • Speak at the first-ever Austin Tech Week (an evolution of the old Startup Week). Submissions open until Aug. 15

  • Fundraising? Get in front of a panel of VCs at Morrison Foerster’s Fall Pitch Day. Finalists also get pitch coaching from the MoFo team (which has advised startups and investors on $110B in financing over the last 5 years)

  • Pitch at SXSW 2025 - Early bird entry is $100 and open until Sept. 8

  • Cosmic, a popular coffee bar, is opening its 3rd ATX location and has investment opportunities. Email co-owner Patrick Dean if interested

  • Mentor students at UATX, the fascinating new university co-created by billionaire Joe Lonsdale, via their emerging talent network

Other Cool Stuff In The Neighborhood…

Austin Beerworks just released their new lager, Super Awesome. Bésame Ice Cream does weekly drops – two new flavors go live tonight. Voting is open for Austin Chronicles Best Restaurants 2024. Cenote’s got a new espresso machine - drop by and try it out (they’re moving soon).

The Final Word…

It’s hot, and Austin Pets Alive needs help buying equipment to keep the dogs cool as we head into August. They’re fundraising right now, and contributions are being matched up to $28k so even a few bucks makes a difference:

  • 🌳 $30 buys a new shade cloth

  • 🧊 $45 = ice for a full day

  • 🪭 $150 = a new kennel fan

  • ❄️ $2.5k = Kennel mister compressor

They also started a “Dog’s Day Out” field trip program, where you can 👏 borrow 👏 a literal 👏 dog 👏 for the day – which seems like a great way to end up with eleven new dogs spend an afternoon.

Speaking of dogs… Someone abandoned 10 Malinois out west, and local founder Codie Sanchez is trying to help get these cuties a home.

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…