Notes From The Very First Texas Venture Gala & Forum

PLUS: Jordan Peterson is coming to Austin... 10 Years of the Tim Ferriss Show... The Austin Book Trail... And more...

Author

Ethan Brooks
April 19, 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:

  • 📅 Upcoming Events - Biiiig week comin’ up

  • 🤠 Notes From The First Texas Venture Forum & Gala

  • 🍽️ Local Restaurant You Gotta Check Out

BUT FIRST…

Last week, a lot of you enjoyed meeting Thomas Shields, pickleball expert and local founder of Upswing Sports.

So this week, I wanted to introduce you to another person who’s crucial to this newsletter – CS Freeland.

I spend a lot of time looking for great local founder events to share, and CS hosts a lot of them.

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…

  • Spent the last decade as EIR at PowerShift Group, Austin’s first venture studio

  • Was the the youngest Executive Director of a venture capital association in the US

  • Publishes the Texas Venture newsletter to thousands of readers

And so much more…

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.

I got a chance to attend, and wrote about some of my key takeaways down below.

If you’re not following her on LinkedIn yet, be sure to do that and say hey!

-Ethan

Upcoming Events

Running a business is tough. Here are a few great places to meet cool people going through the same sh*t you are.

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.

  • Apr. 20: Field Guide Festival - Celebrate ATX Farmers & Chefs

  • Apr. 20: The 420 Spring Harvest Dinner

  • Apr. 22: Comedian Nate Bargatze live at Moody Center

  • Apr. 23: Jordan Peterson live at Moody Center

  • Apr. 23: Full Moon Paddle on Town Lake

  • Apr. 23: Pink Moon Hike around Town Lake

  • Apr. 24: A Night of Everything

  • Apr. 24: Happy Hour Horror - for horror movie lovers

  • Apr. 25: You Grill Girl - Female grill masters from around ATX

  • Apr. 27: Whiskey Riot - 200 whiskeys in one place

  • Apr. 27: Adventure Van Expo

  • Apr. 27: Austin Book Trail - Discounts and deals at 25 local book shops

Map of the Austin Book Trail, done in collaboration with local illustrator Ashley Robin Franklin (@arfranklinstein)

What I Learned From The Very First Texas Venture Gala & Forum

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.

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…

  • Energy production

  • Semiconductor manufacturing

  • Overall exports (and technology exports)

  • Foreign direct investment

  • Population growth

  • And more…

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.

Restaurant You Gotta Check Out

People sometimes ask me whether these little local restaurant and artist spotlights are paid ads, and the answer is no. Not now, not ever.

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.

Lutie’s is one of those.

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.

And the food? The food…

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.

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.

That’s all for this week.

You can also 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…