Announcing: A Moveable Feast

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)

In headlines this week: Michael Dell’s son raised $200m… Elon’s building a huge public park at Tesla HQ… and Athena (an owl that’s been nesting at LBJ Wildflower Center every year since 2012) got a job – Blue Owl Brewing named a botanical lager after her to toast the occasion 🍻

We’ve got a few things on tap ourselves:

• 📈 A Scaling Workshop with NYT bestseller, Codie Sanchez

• 📅 The Future of Space Innovation and China Foreign Policy

• 💰 Profit Analysis with a 2x Unicorn Founder, and more…

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

-Ethan

PS. You read this newsletter to meet other cool founders in ATX, so today, I want to introduce you to Léo Desrumaux, co-founder of Growl, an AI-powered in-home boxing coach – basically like Peloton for boxing.

This thing is awesome.

It’s inspired by his experience as a young man – boxing and other combat sports helped get his life back on track, and taught him to believe in himself.

“It’s a powerful thing,” he told me. “To teach someone they have potential, and give them the tools to realize it.”

I got to demo a live unit at their office the other day, and beyond it being fun, a few things stood out:

• Smart Design: When I heard “AI Punching Bag,” the first thing I wondered was, “Breakable?” But no. They use this really slick laser/projection approach so the bag itself has no fragile components. You can really unload on it.

• Immersive: I’m not a gamer, but I actually got into this. The trick, apparently, is the eye contact. They film their boxing coaches in such a way that you quickly forget you’re working solo. I was surprised by that.

• My Brain Felt Good: Usually I work out to shut my brain off. This felt different. More like flow work. I think because the boxing is that nice mix of tough + technical.

Fresh off a $4.75m seed last year, they’re launching to consumers via Kickstarter May 6th. Right now, a refundable $10 deposit gets you 50% off, so if you’re even a little interested in something like this, I recommend you check that out.

Also, hit Léo up on LinkedIn and say whats up.

Upcoming Business Events

🗓️ Apr. 18: Pickup Hoops: Nick Schenck, founder of 3rd + Lamar, hosts this pickup ball game for fellow business owners every month. Email him here to join

🗓️ Apr. 18: Female Founders & Friends: Hosted the third Friday of every month by Juliette Richert of the Artemis Fund, and Angie Neas of JustWorks

🗓️ Apr. 21: Facilitation Lab: Join Douglas Ferguson and Erin Warner in a hands-on exercise from Jake Knapp’s new book, Click, on how to build stuff people want

🗓️ Apr. 22: The Next Chapter In Space: A killer panel of local founders & scientists, including Ryan Cole, who led the propulsion team on Blue Ghosts’s recent moon landing

🗓️ Apr. 22: Secrets of Successful Women: Hosted by NAWBO at the historic Driskill, there’ll be a panel discussion, and attendees get headshots by Bridgette Bloomquist

🗓️ Apr. 22: AITX: Special shout-out to Jake O’Shea and the team, celebrating the second birthday of this community

🗓️ Apr. 23: Artificial Integrity (online): Author Hamilton Mann is joining the Austin Forum to discuss his latest book, on practical strategies to align AI with human values

🗓️ Apr. 23: Geopolitics of the Pacific: New Zealand professor, Anne-Marie Brady, is giving a talk on China’s new approach to foreign policy and interference in the Pacific

🗓️ Apr. 23: Bartender Magazine: Nickel City made the cover of Bartender Magazine, so owner Travis Tober is doing a live industry chat with editor Noah Rothbaum

🗓️ Apr. 24: Wake Up! CPG: A long-time favorite, if you’re in CPG (or DTC at all) you have to get Marc Nathan’s events on your calendar.

🗓️ Apr. 24: East Austin Growth Summit: If you’re focused more on commercial real estate, DeLea Becker is hosting a lunch panel worth checking out

🗓️ Apr. 24: Women Sellers in Amazon’s Store: Amazon’s ​Abby Malchow, is facilitating this killer panel, including Shannon Ross of Springer Pets (Shark Tank)

🗓️ Apr. 24: Nerd Nite: Like a mini TED, for nerds, by nerds, this month’s topics span music, the uncanny valley, and networking (for people who hate networking)

🗓️ Apr. 25: Creator Marketing Unconference: This one’s for you if you manage creator partnerships for your brand, or are a founder in the creator marketing space

One More Thing… The Austin Forum on Tech and Society is hosting this fascinating Black Mirror & AI Reality Check event on April 30 at the Violet Crown Cinema.

Attendees will screen two episodes of Black Mirror, then listen in on a panel discussion between Numa Dhamani, author and head of machine learning at iVerify, and AI founders Adam Ghetti (Ionic Security, acquired by Twilio), and Dr. Steve Kramer (KUNGFU.AI).

Sounds terrifying awesome.

––––– Featured Event –––––

Grow and Scale Your Business with Codie Sanchez

Local founder, investor, and NYT best-selling author of Main Street Millionaire, Codie Sanchez, is hosting a hands-on scaling workshop here in Austin May 1-2.

If you’re on your way to $1m in annual revenue and beyond, and looking to break through revenue plateaus, this event will help you…

• Find clarity so you can stay agile, strategic and out of panic mode – no matter what the headlines say

• Design systems to stabilize, automate AND scale your cash flow, sales and ops

• Incorporate the tactics and strategies that Codie and her team of experts use to scale (and sometimes 10X) their portfolio businesses

You’ll benefit from expert advice from owners who have built, bought, scaled, and exited real businesses – and leave the workshop with a personalized 90-day growth plan tailored to your business.

Codie is offering readers of Austin Business Review an exclusive $1,000 discount off the price of the workshop with the code ABR1000 at the checkout.

Or, you can book a 15-min call with Codie’s team here.

Fun Stuff Coming Up

• TONIGHT: Astronomy Uncorked - Free Talk at Celis Brewing

• Apr. 18-20: Horseshoe Bay Hot Air Balloon Fest

• Apr. 18-20: Fables from the Farm – Immersive Musical Dinner

• Apr. 19-20: California Dreamin’ Seafood Dinner Pop-Up

• Apr. 19: Live Oak Brewing 28th (!) Birthday Party

• Apr. 20: Adult Easter Egg Hunt at Blue Owl Brewing

• Apr. 21: Edible Cupcake Bouquet Class at Zilker Brewing

• Apr. 22: Parent (or Parent-to-Be) Mindfulness Workshop

• Apr. 24: Learn to Tattoo Workshop - with Dark Horse Tattoo

• Apr. 24: You Grill Girl - Women Pitmasters of ATX

• Apr. 25-27: Field Guide Fest – Celebrating Austin’s Chefs and Farmers

• Apr. 26: Cars, Coffee, and Cannoli – Ferrari Edition

One More Thing… My buddy, Zac Solomon, and I are co-hosting an event in a few weeks. It’s called, A Moveable Feast, and it’s a roundtable discussion on making money while living a creative life.

We’ve got a cool venue on the east side. There’ll be food, wine, dessert (and wine). And of course, some great conversation with fascinating people (and yes, wine).

If you think about things like:

• What it means to lead a creative life

• What are the best ways make money as a creative?

• ​Should you sell your creative work, or support it with a job?

Then check out the event here and snag a spot if wanna join.

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by ATX founders and thinkers

1. Profit Analysis from a 2x Unicorn Founder: Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine, is getting into Youtube. His first video explains the "profit whale” analysis they used to add millions in the early days. Excellent watch (and he plays the intro music himself).

2. A Different and Better Way to Live: Shout out to Mitchell Cohen for surfacing this in his newsletter. It’s by local psychiatrist and UT professor, Dr. Gena Gorlin, who writes about the psychology of ambition, and is a must-see for pretty much everyone reading this email

3. The Skillset Around Deep Tech Has Atrophied: I’m about halfway through Jason Scharf’s interview with Jordan Blashek, local co-founder of America's Frontier Fund, which is taking big swings to reignite America’s defense and innovation base. One thing that’s really catching my ear is their approach to Endless Frontiers, a new retreat series they’re curating in Austin.

Local Artist of the Week

I was skimming Tribeza’s recent design directory, and something about Meredith Pardue’s work just stopped me in my tracks.

Originally from Louisiana, she studied in Georgia, then New York, landing an M.F.A. from Parson’s School of Design.

Then, she traveled.

The American south, the Pacific Northwest, Central America, the Caribbean – it’s where the inspiration for a lot of her work comes from, especially the nature in those places.

Recently, she’s been working on this series called The Spirit of Savage Places, which I love. I’m not sure if it’s the paint on canvas, or the name alone, but somehow, when I see Notes from Savage Spaces VII, I think of all the wild, untamed places I’ve been, and yearn to go back.

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