Tariff Talk - A Dinner Conversation I'm Hosting

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).

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 (That Aren’t Part of SXSW)

• 💸 Tariff Talk - A Dinner I’m Hosting

• ✈️ How To Win At Travel - The Points Guy Is Live In ATX

• And more…

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

-Ethan

PS. A few weeks ago, I told you about Firefly, the aerospace company just north of town that was headed for the moon. Well, they did it. On Sunday, they landed, and have begun sending back photos and data.

Interesting note: This mission is part of a larger NASA program with nine private companies to carry out exploratory missions, with a goal of sending humans back to the moon soon.

The first to land was Intuitive Machines (another Texas company) in February of last year. Now, Firefly’s Blue Ghost, which is carrying about 200 lbs of payload, including the AstroVault, an archive of art, music, and human knowledge that looks like this 👇😯

You can watch 4k footage of the landing here, or check out this iconic image of Blue Ghost photographing its own shadow (just like Apollo 11’s Eagle). Huge congrats to the Firefly team, and shout out to local founder and Capital Factory Mentor, Jonathan Chizick, for putting this back on my radar.

Upcoming Events

It’s SXSW… Last year, I asked if you wanted in-depth coverage, and the response was “No.” So we don’t do a lot here. But if you’re looking for a guide to unofficial events, Marc Nathan makes the best one I’ve found. I also like Luma’s roundup.

One shout-out is for runners – there’s a bunch of cool stuff going on, including the weekly Pitch & Run (Fri), and Founders’ Running Club (Sat), SXSW Networking Run (Sun), and Zeke is doing a special Pitch & Run Monday too.

Finally, a bunch of readers are hosting cool stuff. I’m rounding them up in the Friends Of ABR SXSW GUIDE. If you want to add your event to this list, drop your info here by midnight tonight (Thurs) and I’ll get it on.

Now, here are a few things you won’t find in the SXSW roundups…

🗓️ TONIGHT: Female Leaders of Austin: Join Lidija Newman and dozens of other founders for a night of networking and early access to the brand new Harper Sage x Parker + Scott Flagship store. It’s a unique crossover model

(Parker + Scott are friends of the newsletter, and carry hundreds of Texas-made women-owned brands. Check ‘em out if you’re looking for something unique.)

🗓️ TONIGHT: Ladies Friendworking: Erin Laverone is bringing back her curated happy-hour event, hosted at her home on the south side

🗓️ Mar 7: Founder Friday - TX Pitch Competition: Every month, Georges Colbert, hosts this meetup in partnership with LAUNCH, the VC firm founded by Jason Calacanis. In this special edition, founders will pitch to a panel of judges, as part of the broader LAUNCH City Pitch competition

🗓️ Mar 8: Books, Beers, and Baklava: Join my buddy, Zac Solomon, and [checks notes]… 350+ other psychopaths who love beer, baklava, and book swaps. Your book-to-trade is your ticket in. Bring a good one and I’ll see ya there

🗓️ Mar 8: AVA Investor Reception: A curated get-together for experienced investors, and post-seed founders, hosted by the Austin Venture Association

🗓️ Mar 8: Kendra Scott x IWD Panel: To celebrate International Women’s Day, Kendra Scott is hosting a panel discussion at her flagship store, including herself, inspiring leaders, and students at UT’s KS WELI program

If you don’t know Kendra, she’s one of Austin’s unicorn founders. She launched a billion-dollar jewelry company out of her spare bedroom, and I wrote all about it here

🗓️ Mar 9-10: ATX Game-Makers: A community, led by Donald Harris, for anyone and everyone passionate about the video game industry. This is their 4th annual showcase, but you can join their Discord to stay in touch more often

🗓️ Mar 11: Asia x Austin: Hosted by the Austin Asian Chamber, this summit has a bunch of sessions focused on business opportunities between central Texas and key Asian markets

🗓️ Mar 13: Breaking Through - Stop Holding Back: A guided journaling and reflection session, led by Kristen Pavle, Dave Gorum, and Sandra Bershad, followed by small group conversations focused on claiming your next-level work

One More Thing… Tariff Talk: Ecom founders, this week has been a roller coaster with all the uncertainty around tariffs. Seems like people could use a chance to chat with peers. So I’m getting a small group of DTC founders and operators together for dinner over at Dai Due.

If you run a medium-to-large ecom brand (7- to 9-figures) and want to join, check out the event details here and drop your info. Space is limited, but if this is popular, we’ll find ways to do it again or do it bigger.

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

If you geek out on credit card points, Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy, is live at First Light Books tonight, for a signing of his new book, How To Win At Travel.

Elsewhere, we’ve got…

• TONIGHT: Wine Not - Standup at Wanderlust Wine Co

• TONIGHT: South Austin Chess Club at Buzz Mill Coffee

• Mar 8: The Glassmith - Glass Blowing Competition

• Mar 9: Floral Design Workshop at Dark Horse Tattoo

• Mar 9: Knife Sharpening Pop-Up at Zilker Brewing

• Mar 9: 2nd Annual “Escape to Ski Shores” Spring Party

• Mar 10: ATX Short Film Festival

• Mar 12: Full Moon Floating Sound Bath at Row Doc ATX

• Mar 12: Music on the Trail - Rainey St

• Mar 13: Bobby Sparks Live at the Parker Jazz Club

• Mar 13: Ribeye Smoking Workshop at Deep Eddy Distillery

• Mar 14: The Art of Video Game Music

• Mar 14: John C Reilly Live at The Paramount

• Mar 14-29: Rodeo Austin

Last Thing… Theatre nerds buffs, don’t forget that Hamilton is coming to Austin March 25th - April 6th. It looks like seating is down to singles in every showing, but if you gotta see it, you gotta see it, and you can snag tickets here.

Word On The Street

Local opportunities to grow your business

• Fundraising Soon? Central Texas Angel Network is getting ready to open their second funding round of 2025. There’s an online info session on March 11 that’s open to any startup that’s considering applying for funding.

• In case you missed it… Reminder that Blue Owl Brewing here in town is open to potential buyers. If you’ve ever thought about owning a brewery, this is a chance to acquire an established brand. For more info, email the owners, Suzy and Jeff, at [email protected]

• Here’s your regular reminder that if your business is based in ATX (or relocating here), the city offers thousands back in job-based awards and tax refunds

Local Shop of the Week

Firehouse Vet Cedar Park | 3219 E. Whitestone Blvd

Okay, I’ve gotta call these guys out. My pup’s been going through some rough times recently, and someone referred me to Firehouse Vet.

It’s a small group of about a half-dozen local practices, originally started by two doctors here in Austin back in 2011.

I went to the Cedar Park location, and have never had a better vet experience in my life. The three things that stood out to me were:

• The office is bright, clean, and spacious – my dog was super relaxed there

• People are amazing (again, Matilda instantly liked them, which is rare)

• Time: The doctor took about a half hour to look her over carefully, and talk through everything with me – all her symptoms, recent tests from other clinics, his opinions, options moving forward, everything.

Prices were super reasonable too, so if you’re using a larger national vet, and looking for something a bit more personalized, I can’t recommend these guys highly enough.

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