Welcome to this issue of The 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).

Last week, the US minted the world’s first trillionaire, and it happens to be a man who’s investing a lot in Texas, and has called Austin home.

Originally, this newsletter contained an essay on him, as I am a fan.

But the Austin business community was hit hard yesterday when we got word that another man, who’s been investing in Austin far longer, sadly passed. Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory, was killed Tuesday night when his flight crash-landed just outside Laredo.

I won’t say much about him here. Not yet.

I didn’t really know him myself. But many of you reading this did. And while I feel some responsibility to report the news, as he was a pillar of the business community, it’d feel wrong to try and say anything meaningful about a man I didn’t really know to a bunch of people who worked and built with him.

And yet, a few of us in town want to make sure his story is told.

So, I have a request: One photo, one memory.

If you have a story, or a memory, or anecdote about Joshua, will you hit reply and send it to me here? One sentence is enough (though more is welcome too).

It could be anything – fuzzy photo from a backyard bbq, a one-line anecdote about the old days at Capital Factory, a crime the two of you committed that you can now safely admit – whatever makes you smile, or laugh, or cry, or appreciate the time spent together.

Austin lost a good man this week. And even the trillionaires will wait while we remember him.

-Ethan

🗓️ June 19: Founder Pickleball: John Davison is gathering a group over at East Side Padel (all levels welcome, but they’re primarily 2-3.75, if that means something to you)

🗓️ June 20: Own The Room: Andrea Bridges-Smith is teaching a workshop on stage presence for female founders and execs who want to command attention

🗓️ June 21: Reverse Brain Rot: One hour of focused reading. One hour of focused writing. Hosted by Nicole Stump, one of Austin’s great stewards of all things interesting

🗓️ June 21: AI Implementation Club: Every week, Chrissy McDannell hosts a dedicated focus sprint to ship that AI project you’ve had in mind for weeks

🗓️ June 22: Fridge Fire: Chris Taylor’s firing up the brand new sauna over at The Red Fridge Society for a founder social with Mark Hellweg of Vim Custom Saunas

🗓️ June 23: AI For Restaurants: Mark Duval is sitting down with leaders from Texas’ restaurant associations to talk about what they’re seeing restaurants do with AI

🗓️ June 23: Wine Taste Like A Somm: Mario Matavesco, the personal sommelier, is hosting a blind wine-tasting class specifically for founders - bring a bottle to share!

🗓️ June 24: What’s Up With Retail In Austin: Ryan Saunders pulled together a great panel, including multi-time founder, Mason Arnold (a not-so-evil genius)

🗓️ June 24: Austin AI & Robotics: Both talks this month spotlight companies that are 3D printing homes – Terran Robotics, and Liberty3D

🗓️ June 24: Consumer & Community Brands Dinner: Astronomic is hosting dinner at Acre41. It’ll be tables of six, self-facilitated, with no formal agenda (and no pitching)

🗓️ June 24: Austin Women In Product: AWP is celebrating wellness month, with a happy hour discussion on fitness routines, sustainable habits, favorite products, etc.

🗓️ June 24: Breathwork + Wealth-Building: This’ll be a cool mash-up – Tamar Hermes teaches passive investing to high-earning women, and Marina Kay does breath-work specifically for female execs. Join ‘em for an evening of both!

🗓️ June 25: Wake Up CPG: Marc Nathan’s events are hands-down one of the best spots to meet later-stage CPG founders in town

🗓️ June 25: East Meets West: The Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce is partnering with West Austin Chamber for a summer mixer

🗓️ June 25: CRO Summit: I actually don’t know much about this event, but I stumbled across it, and wanted to share here in case it looks appealing to any of you

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

A roundup of cool opportunities around town worth knowing about…

☕ A Plethora Of Coffee Trailers: I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with scoping out coffee trailers for sale (or rent) on FB Marketplace. A few favorite current listings…

🎤 A Free Venue To Host Talks: Remedy is the local bar owned by Jay Boisseau, founder of the Austin Forum on Tech and Society, and the Austin AI Alliance. The space is decked out with a full size screen, projector, and sound system, and he’s opening it to event hosts who are looking to give interesting presentations during the summer. Highly recommend! You can reach out to Jay personally here.

📚 Call For Submissions: My buddy Zac Solomon, founder of ATX Writing Club, has had enough of all the garbage online writing these days. He’s launching a new publication here in ATX, focused on high quality, beautiful, evergreen books, and is collecting submissions for Vol. 1 now through July 31. If this project moves you, there are other cool ways to get involved too.

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. The Death Of Non-Fiction: Tim Ferriss recently published this great essay where he shares data from his recent book sales, and talks about how AI is affecting the information business in general.

2. Love & Wealth: One of my favorite newsletters – Thomas Anzovino is a financial planner, and he interviews couples who have been married 10-20 years and have ~$2m in net worth, sharing their relationship and money tips. This piece on Archie Guerrero, and his wife Olivia – both business owners here in Austin – was great

3. Meta Ads 101: Moby Hayat has added 7-figures top-line rev to multiple companies in the last few years. He published a super lean playbook on Meta Ads which is worth a look if you feel like you’re currently lighting money on fire 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