JCal On A Picnic Bench

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

• 🤖 Be Part of Austin’s First AI Film Fest

• 🚀 A Chance To Mentor Rising CPG Brands

• 🎷 Old-School Austin Backyard Concert Series

• And more…

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

-Ethan

PS. In case you need a reminder of what a cool city you live in… Here’s world-class investor and recent Austin transplant, Jason Calacanis, addressing a crowd from the picnic tables at Cosmic Pickle the other night.

Huge shout-out to ABR homie Alice Huang for pulling this together. Connect with her here to keep up on her future events. And a big welcome to Jason and the team. Stoked to see more as you guys settle in.

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.

🗓️ TONIGHT: Pat & Umar’s VC/PE Tech Party: Pat Moody and Umar Brimah are back with their epic meetup for 150+ founders, VCs, and operators in ATX

🗓️ TONIGHT: DeAI Kickoff Party: Two companies in the decentralized AI space – Akash and Manifold Labs – are launching this new co-working space/incubator

🗓️ Dec. 6: Pitch & Run: Chat business with Zeke Torres and a bunch of other founders, funders, and startup folks on a 4.2 mile run around the lake

🗓️ Dec. 6: AI + Healthcare: A day-long workshop for engineers and scientists focused on AI & medicine.

🗓️ Dec. 6: Austin Woman Holiday Market: Shop local and make new connections at the third annual holiday market by Austin Woman magazine

🗓️ Dec. 6: Asian Chamber Winter Party: All are welcome. There’ll be networking, awards, and a karaoke showdown

🗓️ Dec. 6: Founder Fridays: Hosted by founders Georges Colbert in partnership with LAUNCH, the VC firm founded by Jason Calacanis

🗓️ Dec. 7: Founder Runner’s Club: Every Saturday, Anette Armenta, Eddy Hernández, and others gather for a 5K run around the lake for founders

🗓️ Dec. 7: ATX Newsletter Creators: Michael Daigler is bringing together a bunch of newsletter writers in ATX to meet, trade notes, and build connections

🗓️ Dec. 8: Pumpkin Chunkin at Stoneledge Vineyard: Every glass of of wine you buy gets you one crack at the pumpkin launcher at Brett Clark’s epic gathering.

🗓️ Dec. 9: Female Founders & Funders Holiday Event: 100+ are headed out to this, co-hosted by Austin Women in VC, and Cherie Werner’s FIESTA group

🗓️ Dec. 10: Austin INNO Fire Awards: Hosted by my great and worthy opponents, The Austin Business Journal, as they recognize Austin’s most innovative startups

🗓️ Dec. 10: Entrepreneur’s Co-op Get Together: Led by Connor Tomkies, host of the Made It pod, and exited founder of the Inc. 5000 startup, SupportNinja

🗓️ Dec. 10: TWIB Holiday Happy Hour: Texas Women in Business member Sierra Bailey is hosting at her new co-working space, Maeve House, on W. Slaughter

🗓️ Dec. 11: TurnUp! CPG Ecom Holiday Party: Bill Murphy and Marc Nathan put on the best damn events for CPG founders here in Austin. Their end-of-year blowout is gonna be wild (plus there’s still room for a few brands who want to showcase)

🗓️ Dec. 11: Tacos & Topics: SXSW co-president, Hugh Forrest, is revealing the early list of big-name keynotes for 2025

🗓️ Dec. 11: Metropolitan Breakfast Club: Bridget Grumet, metro columnist at the Austin American-Statesman is giving a talk titled, What's Happening in Austin and Texas

🗓️ Dec. 12: Founder Institute Fall Demo Day: There’s a VIP investor hour before the event (approval required), and an after-party at Otis Hotel

🗓️ Dec. 12: Startup Holiday Party: Hosted by Michael Marra, founder of Entre, which is a social network for founders

🗓️ Dec. 13: ATX Youtubers - Q1 Content Planning: Sara Loretta’s new community for people upping their Youtube game – meeting to get a jump on 2025 content planning

One more thing… The founder of Austin’s Forum on Technology and Society, Jay Boisseau, is hosting an online discussion of What’s Next Is Now, a new book about thriving in times of rapid change.

Jay’s events are excellent. Definitely recommend putting it on your calendar.

The meeting’s not till December 19th, so if you haven’t read it yet, you’ve still got time. If you snag your copy here, Jeff Bezos sends me a check.

Hosting something cool? Email me the details below and I’ll try to share it in the newsletter or on LinkedIn.

Fun Stuff Coming Up

There’s a ton going on as we head into the holidays. Hit reply and let me know what kinds of stuff you’d like more of in here! I’ll keep an eye out…

• Dec. 6: Lighting of the Tree at Historic Driskill Hotel

• Dec. 7: First Saturday Plant Walk at the Food Forest

• Dec. 7: The Hyde Park Printer’s Market

• Dec. 7: Studio Soirée - Art After Hours at Julia Ahmad Gallery

• Dec. 7: Movies Under The Stars: Home Alone

• Dec. 7: Trail of Lights Fun Run - 2 Mile Course (plus free beer)

• Dec. 7: Singles Event – Eastside Christmas Bar Crawl

• Dec. 8: Holiday Candle-making Workshop at Big Country Brewing

• Dec. 8: Half Empty Half Full - Comedy Battle at ColdTowne

• Dec. 8: If you’ve got kids - LEGO Sail Racer Challenge at Rivian

• Dec. 9: ELF Screening & Pub Run

• Dec. 10: Creative Break - Gingerbread House Edition

• Dec. 10: Wild Game Feast with The Wild Honey Pie 

• Dec. 10: Free Candlelight Orchestra (standby entry)

• Dec. 10: Holiday Haus Market + Tasting with Austin Winery

• Dec. 10: Women of Austin Holiday Party at A05 Gallery

• Dec. 11: A 5-Course Dinner with the Founder of Pedernales Wine

• Dec. 11: Game Night at Vacancy Brewing

• Dec. 11: Kenny G In Concert

• Dec. 11: Ultimate Journaling Workshop

• Dec. 12: Book Swap at Rivian – Bring A Book You Loved

• Dec. 12-15: The Watchmaker’s Song - Reimagining The Nutcracker

• Dec. 13: Merry Swiftmas - Paint Pottery & Listen To Taylor Swift

• Dec. 13: Live Cigar Roller In-House at Bobalu

• Dec. 13: Billy Strings In Concert

• Dec. 14: The 5K(ish) Holiday Beer Run 🍻

Also… Through Dec. 28 the Roosevelt Room’s sister bar, The Eleanor, is transforming into a Christmas-themed pop-up cocktail experience called Miracle On 5th Street.

Entry is free before 5PM, or you can get tickets here or at the door. Looks like a fun holiday experience (plus, as a business nerd, it’s a pretty cool franchise concept 🤓)

One Last Thing… ABR reader Will Glazener and his friends co-host a backyard concert series called Violet Crown Sessions, as a way to support cool local artists and restore the “old Austin” come-as-you-are culture.

Next one’s coming up on December 13th at 7PM. It’s their first double-lineup, featuring Rococo Disco and Glass Bandit, so if you’re looking for something cool to do next Friday, check it out!

Reminder: Check Out The Gift Guide!

It’s filled with dozens of cool Austin brands, ranging from TikTok-viral coloring books to THC-infused chocolates and cocktails, and lots of stuff in between.

Word On The Street

A roundup of cool local opportunities to grow your business, visibility, or impact…

• SKU’s Equity Mentor Program is accepting more mentors. Great opportunity to network while helping CPG founders scale, plus you get partial equity in each brand you work with. Marc Nathan (who’s basically Austin’s mayor of CPG) says the program’s great. You can apply here

• Showcase Your CPG Brand: Speaking of Marc, he and Bill Murphy have their big end-of-year CPG event next week. There are still a few slots to showcase, so if you’re interested, email Bill here

• The First Austin AI Film Festival will take place during SXSW next year, and they’re accepting submissions through Feb 15, 2025. Videos should be 1-90 minutes, with the majority of visuals made using AI tools, but most writing done by humans. More info here

• RFP: The Red River Cultural District is looking for consultants to help them document and showcase the culture, art, and history of the area, as a way to drive tourism and attract businesses. There’s a live info session on the 16th, and they’re accepting proposals through Dec. 30. All info can be found here.

• Need Warehouse Space? Multi-time founder Molson Hart has some coming available in Hutto, just northeast of the city. Here’s a video walkthrough. Ping him on X for more info 👇👇👇

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. People Are Raving about Tim Ferriss’ recent interview with Cyan Banister, and wow – I understand why. From homeless at fifteen and selling thrifted books, to early investments in Uber, SpaceX, Pokemon GO, and others, to spiritual encounters that had Cyan herself questioning her sanity at times. This one was a wild ride.

2. STR Owners: Be sure to check out this recent roundtable on the future of the industry with Ben Wolff and Isaac French, both of whom are here in TX (Austin & Waco respectively), and have built multimillion dollar properties using different strategies.

3. The AI Decision Holiday: A few weeks ago, Sarah Dooley ran an experiment, outsourcing a bunch of personal decisions to AI. In a surprising twist, it actually helped her break through to her young daughter during a morning meltdown. Super interesting use-case for parents

4. ATX State of Bio + Health: Local investors Jason Scharf and Jani Tuomi released their 2024 report on the local Bio + Health startup scene. Some of the major findings include that there are…

• 💼 30+ Austin-based venture firms deploying capital in the space

• 💰 $3.5B+ in startup funding raised in the last 5 years

• 👥 1,100 companies employing 21,000 people

5. Beyond Austin: This one’s a rare detour out of the city, but I know a lot of you are Hormozi fans, so in case you missed it, he and Leila dropped a 9-hour course on scaling this week (free, no gate). I’ve barely scratched the surface here, but of course, it’s excellent. They talk through 10 different stages of operational complexity, ranging from solo-operator to 250+ employees, and the challenges/unlocks for each.

Tip: Check it on desktop, the mobile interface is a little confusing

Local Shop of the Week

Sorek | 1813 E. 6th St

Gentlemen… If you need to look sharp heading into the holidays, check this place out.

They’re a combination barber and menswear shop, run by brothers Jared and Jason Gourd, and they’re gonna make you look f*cking great.

Jared designs their entire clothing line in-house, and can customize any piece to suit your taste (that’s right, you have taste). Meanwhile, Jason’s crew in the barber shop give the best damn haircut I’ve had in years (ask for Mike).

How good? Well, let me put it this way: They opened four years ago… A brand new barber shop… During peak covid… And they’re still here. Seriously, go check ‘em out.

Local Artist of the Week

So I’m down at the Austin Winery the other night, picking up some local stuff to bring north with me for the holidays, when I come across this guy on a scissor lift, working on a brand new mural out front.

He goes by the street name News, and you might have seen his gamer/comic inspired work tagged at places like Lustre Pearl, Wanderlust, The Yard, and more. He even had several pieces at the old Hope Graffiti Park.

(Speaking of which, I just found this series on the crazy things that happened at Hope here – it features artists like Color Cartel that have appeared in this newsletter)

He graduated the Dallas Art Institute back in 2004, earning “Best Portfolio” in his class, and has spent the last twenty years as a professional 3D gaming artist working in major studios. He also does mural and canvas commissions.

So if you see “News” on a wall around town, now you know who it is. See more at his IG, and keep an eye out at Austin Winery for his piece to be finished there.

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