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).

This is NOT a SXSW edition…

I planned on doing one. People even sent money to promote their events in it, and I wrote the whole thing up.

But in the end, it just wasn’t good enough.

You may not know this, but almost none of what you see in here week to week is ever paid promotion (and if they are, they’re always marked as ads). ABR makes money through content consulting, so generally, it’s very hard to buy your way into this email.

The only things that make it in are things I’d genuinely leave my house for on a Sunday night. If I’m not stoked on the final product, I’m not putting it in front of you.

So I refunded all the money, and we’ll stick with our normal programming.

-Ethan

🗓️ Mar. 12: Acquire & Invest Happy Hour: Always a fan favorite – Dan Jensen, Yvette Owo, and Henry Carter’s monthly happy hour for people who buy businesses.

🗓️ Mar. 14: From Chaos to Clarity: CLA is hosting a brunch panel for senior finance, ops, and tech leaders, focused on finding clarity amid increasing tech noise

🗓️ Mar. 18: Side Hustle Live: This one’s gonna be awesome. Tomer Soran and Darby Rollins are hosting their Shark Tank-style comedy show designed exclusively for founders

🗓️ Mar. 18: AI in the Physical World: Austin AI Alliance will be revealing data from their latest survey on how AI is impacting Austinites in the real world

🗓️ Mar. 18: ATX CTO: Every month, William Baxter curates a discussion for senior tech execs. This month’s topic: "Networking for Technology Leaders"

🗓️ Mar. 19: Book Launch: Intro to Gen AI: The second edition of this book is out, and Jay Boisseau, founder of Austin Forum on Tech & Society, is hosting the authors at his bar downtown for a discussion & signing

🗓️ Founder Pickup Basketball: Every month, Nick Schenck hosts a pickup game for founders at Ramsey Neighborhood Park. Email him here to get on the list

🗓️ Mar. 21: ADHD Entrepreneur Anti-Summit: Bill Widmer and Sebastian Schroeder are hosting this summit at AWKN Ranch, geared towards finding clarity and authenticity in your work

See what other readers are up to with a roundup of jobs, product launches, fundraising opportunities, and more.

For more than a decade, HEB has been running an annual competition called the Quest for Texas Best, where local CPG brands compete for money and a chance to get on shelves across the state.

Imagine my surprise, a few months ago, scrolling through the finalists and realizing that BOTH of the top two winners were from Austin (and BOTH are readers of this newsletter!)

Today, we’re looking at Renato Raposo, founder of OCA Foods.

He’s got an incredible story, from lifting himself out of poverty in Brazil, to bootstrapping a company in honor of his father, which went from a farmer’s market side hustle, the shelves of Nordstrom, and winning Texas’ Best, all inside a year.

Without further ado, here’s Renato…

My life has never followed a conventional path. I was born into a low-income neighborhood in Brazil, and early on I realized that if I wanted a different future, I’d have to create it myself. I never accepted that the zip code I was born into would define my destiny. For nearly a decade, I lived in a one-bedroom house with my mom and brother, sleeping on a couch because there was no bed for me.

One day, I told my father I wanted to move to Dublin to learn English and that I needed $5,000. He gave me the money. To do that, he lived on a minimum wage of about $300 a month in Brazil for the next 12 years, until he passed away. That sacrifice changed my life. It allowed me to secure better jobs, live in five different countries—including 15 months in Ghana—and eventually land a tech job in Austin.

My father’s passing became a turning point. I didn’t start OCA because I found a market gap at the beginning; I started it to keep his memory alive. What I miss most are the simple moments—sitting on his couch, talking about life, watching soccer, and eating peanut butter bites. He loved them, and I loved him. OCA became my way of honoring that bond and sharing his favorite snack with others.

Our recipe barely changed from our official launch in January 2024. The response at farmers markets was immediate and overwhelming. After a year as a side hustle, I decided to go all in. In January 2025, I moved operations to a commercial kitchen and relaunched OCA. In February, we landed our first local retailer in North Austin. In March, I applied to H-E-B’s Quest for Texas Best—and in September, we won the Grand Prize.

Then came December: OCA launched in 70 Nordstrom stores nationwide and 39 H-E-B locations. We went from zero to over 100 stores in one year—without a co-packer and with just one full-time employee: me.

One unconventional decision I made early on was choosing to fully own our production instead of using a co-manufacturer, which is the standard approach in this category. I wanted complete control over how our product was made, from start to finish.

For a full year, I reinvested every dollar from farmers market sales into the business and used those savings to purchase custom equipment that allowed us to run production efficiently. That decision gave me a deep understanding of our product, protected quality, and allowed us to move fast without depending on third parties.

While I may consider a co-packer in the future, building a vertically integrated operation early on shaped our trajectory by giving us flexibility, consistency, and a strong foundation to scale on our own terms.

Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo has stayed with me long after I read it. The book explores major economic challenges across countries and cultures and, more importantly, offers practical, evidence-based solutions grounded in real-world examples. I found it both insightful and genuinely impactful. Writing it here made me want to re-read the book again 🙂

When I started, I believed that having the right people and processes in place would make entrepreneurship much easier. I’ve completely abandoned the idea that these were the only things I needed to worry about.

What I didn’t anticipate was the sheer volume of daily micro-decisions and how much longer—and more expensive—everything takes than you ever forecast, especially when it comes to cash flow. No process prepares you for that reality.

I’m incredibly grateful for friends who are always willing to help, because I need it often. But what truly changed my perspective is realizing that entrepreneurship is less about having things perfectly set up and more about constantly adapting, staying resilient, and learning to live with uncertainty—sometimes with a few sleepless nights along the way.

Definitely my airline ticket to Dublin in 2010 to study English. At the time, I knew zero English, yet my wife (girlfriend at that time) and I decided to buy the tickets and move to a completely different country to learn a new language. It was the craziest—and most rewarding—investment of our lives.

I’m married to my wife, Ericka. We’ve been together for nearly 18 years, since we were teenagers. She’s actually the one who found me. We were both taking a driver’s license test in São Paulo, Brazil, and she overheard me saying my full name to a friend. Later, she tracked me down on social media and reached out. We started dating and quickly realized we were meant to be together.

Ericka has been the most incredible partner I could have asked for. I’m usually the one with the crazy ideas, and she’s the one who keeps me grounded. There would be no OCA without her.

Funny story: when we received our first purchase order from H-E-B, I went home with very mixed feelings. I was thrilled—we had just landed our first full-pallet order—but I was also panicking about how we would fulfill it in just 20 days.

A week later, Ericka quit her job and jumped in to help. She’s now fully committed to OCA. And yes, I’m already slightly nervous about the day I’ll have my first one-on-one with my wife—she’s the real decision-maker in our family. I just follow instructions, like any smart husband would.

I’ll be honest—I tend to avoid networking events as much as I can. As a foreigner, they can still feel intimidating, even though I’ve gotten much more comfortable since launching OCA. I’m naturally shy.

Because of that, I don’t really have an under-the-radar Austin spot to recommend. I do my best thinking away from crowds, in quieter, more personal spaces. Not the most helpful answer, I know—but an honest one.

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.