Beating Imperfection

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!)

I’ve been struck low by some (very mild) form of flu this week, which means – being of the male species – I am, of course, being a complete sissy about it.

As a result, this week’s newsletter is a bit lighter than I would have preferred. But I’m overcoming my perfectionism, so here we are, with:

• 📅 Upcoming Events (tons of author stuff going on)

• 💰 A 6-Figure Grant for App Founders

• 📚 Tim Ferriss’ New Book

• And more…

Let’s get into this it…

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

Upcoming Events

Starting with Keren Eldad’s book launch at Book People. The book is about escaping perfectionism (how fitting), and she’ll be there live signing copies Jan. 21 👇

Also check out…

🗓️ TODAY @2PM: Revenue-Driving B2B Events (Online): Exit Five is a community of B2B marketers, and they’re doing a panel on event-marketing in 2025

🗓️ TONIGHT: BoozyLess: Chris Taylor is hosting a non-alc happy hour over at the Red Fridge Society, one of my favorite spots in town – I wrote more about ‘em here

🗓️ TONIGHT: Stanford Angels: Stanford Alums, Sean Voigt hosts the local chapter of their Angel & Entrepreneur network

🗓️ TONIGHT: Startup Grind Global Pitch Battle: SG is hosting more than 100 pitch battles across 34 countries. This one’s organized by Paris Bland and Mianya Ong 

🗓️ Jan. 17: Female Founders & Friends: Juliette Richert is back with her monthly meetup, hosted every third Friday (and recommended by many)

🗓️ Jan. 17: Elevated Interactions: Cody Todd is getting a group together at Cosmic Saltillo on the east side for drinks and conversation

🗓️ Jan. 17: ATX Youtubers: We started with one from Sara Loretta so we’ll wrap with another from her too – if you’re taking Youtube seriously in the new year, check this out

🗓️ Jan. 21: Entrepreneur Co-Op Happy Hour: Connor Tomkies runs the Entrepreneur Cooperative, and hosts events like this happy hour. Word from him is they’ve got a pickleball event coming up soon, so keep an eye out here for that

🗓️ Jan. 22: Tech Along I-35: Austin Technology Council is hosting this leader panel on building the “Texas Tech Corridor” between ATX and San Antonio

🗓️ Jan. 23: ATX Ahead 2025: My great and worthy opponents at the Austin Business Journal are hosting this panel focused on Austin’s growth in 2025

🗓️ Jan. 23: The Path to Singularity (Online): Author and astrophysicist J. Craig Wheeler was one of the first signatures on that controversial call for a pause in AI research in 2023. Now, he’s joining the Austin Forum on Tech & Society to discuss his latest book, The Path to Singularity.

Bonus: If you can’t make that date, he’s doing a live event at Book People on the 29th!

🗓️ Jan. 24: Creative CEO Coworking Day: Vanessa Farino runs a private community for female founders, and is hosting this new quarterly co-working event

One More Thing… I don’t usually share events this far out, but these are cool (and will probably fill up fast). Arena Hall is a kind of founder/investor club here in Austin. They’re all about American Dynamism and supporting bold ideas.

They’ve got some high-profile guests coming in a couple weeks, including:

• Feb 4: Fireside Chat with the President of NASDAQ, Nelson Griggs

• Feb 18: Fireside Chat with David Booth, Founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors ($660B AUM)

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

Rather than a big roundup this week, I’ve got a handful that you gotta check out. Back with the typical longer list next week (when I’m not dying)…

TONIGHT: Drinking With The Saints - Like a local version of The Moth, this event by Bill Frisbie combines live storytelling with themed drink-tasting (shout-out to Leila at Lite+Brite for surfacing this in her newsletter).

Jan 17: The Tim Burton Ball at Riches Art (this place rocks). If you’re a long-time reader, you know I include Riches’ events in here almost every week. Always creative, and a great community space

Jan. 20: Fourth Wing fans… Rebecca Yarros’ new book is coming out and Vintage Wine & Books is hosting a midnight release party. If you haven’t been to Vintage yet, it’s another one of my favorite spots in the city. I wrote a whole deep dive on the incredible story of the building, and its role in revitalizing the east side.

Very cool spot, and Jean Buckner is a great founder. Check out her interview with Pat Killoren over at LoneStartup for more on her story.

Jan 24: Din & Juice: A rotating pop-up dinner series hosted by brothers Christian and Dominic Soto, co-founders of Soto Vino wine. A few friends and I went to the first installment of this in the fall, and it was a blast.

This one’s Jazz themed, and tickets include a 3-course meal with wine pairings. When I drafted this at 3AM Thursday (because I’m dying) there were still tickets left. Check it out!

Word On The Street

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

💰 Up To $100K For Mobile App Developers: The Catalyst grant is accepting applications for 2025. It’ll award prizes of up to $100k to three founders building mobile-first solutions. There’s a live info-session Tuesday, Jan 28

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

The big news this week is that Tim Ferriss announced his first book in seven years. Titled, The No Book, it’s a step-by-step guide to help successful people learn to say “no” better.

Unlike other books, he’s releasing this one serially (for free) to readers of his newsletter.

This is a crucial skill and one I grapple with myself. So I’ll be organizing a reading group to meet regularly and discuss the chapters as they publish. If that’s interesting to you, hit reply and let me know.

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