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).
Quick Heads Up: On June 3rd, I’ll be giving an early morning talk at the Metropolitan Breakfast Club about, “How To Be Known Locally By Sending A Simple Email.” I’m stoked for this! MBC is a group I’ve looked up to since getting involved in Austin, and there are parts of the ABR story I’ve never really shared before. So if you’re specifically trying to build your network locally, come on out!
In today’s issue we’ve got…
🗓️ Events (a bunch)
🐉 A Business + Diplomacy Trip To Asia
☕ Forage For Local Caffeinated Shrubs
📚 A Bunch Of Insights From Local Operators
And more…
Did someone forward this to you? If you like it, you can sign up here!
-Ethan
PS. I’m spending more and more time reading and sharing articles, podcasts, and thoughtful videos from business owners here in Austin. If you publish cool stuff personally (we’re talking YOUR name & face on it, not soulless AI nonsense), share your link with me here.
Upcoming Events
🗓️ May 28: 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
🗓️ May 28: The Next Wave of Hard Tech: Nick Frank is gathering founders working at the intersection of physical products and AI for an evening down at Q Branch
🗓️ May 28: Nerd Nite Austin: Like a local version of TED - This month’s installment is all about the weird history of theatre, plus two short plays from a new production house
🗓️ May 29: Trail Talks: Walk & Talk with Jim Donnelly, six-time founder whos last company grew to 250+ locations across the US, and Scott Johnston, whospentyears in deep tech at DARPA, MIT, etc, then launched Ad Maiora Ventures
🗓️ May 29: Nucleate - Pitch Competition: Demo Day for teams across all of Texas who are graduating Nucleate’s biotech activator
🗓️ May 29: Acquire or Be Acquired: Chrissy McDannell is a multi-time exited founder and M&A broker, and will be talking through the latest changes in valuations, financing, and how AI is re-writing the rules in business buying
🗓️ May 29: Review Crew Happy Hour: After you go to Chrissy’s talk, swing by Remedy for drinks with me & fellow ABR readers before everyone takes off for summer
🗓️ May 31: AI Implementation Club - Masterclass: Another one from Chrissy MacDannell, this time with Jonathan Malkin teaching a hands-on three-hour workshop on how to build your first agent
🗓️ June 2: Agentic Show & Tell: A mix of longer presentations and shorter open mic demo’s down at The Red Fridge
🗓️ June 2: Plato & Liberal Education: UATX is hosting Brendan Boyle (the professor/dean, not the congressman) for a discussion of the classics
🗓️ June 2: Future of Drones: Ethan Blagg and Matt Chasen, both founders in the drone/eVTOL space, will be talking about the latest developments in their space
🗓️ June 3: Work Together Wednesdays: Okay, this is sick. Brett Clark who owns Austin Boats & Busses is firing up the luxury bus for a roving co-working day out to wine country and back.
🗓️ June 3: Thought Experiments On Patios: Nicole Forrester’s new series is absolutely blowing up! Join interesting people for cold drinks and philosophical quandaries
🗓️ June 4: Founder Coffee Tasting: Drop by Chris Taylor’s Red Fridge Society for high-end coffee and a chance to hang with other local founders
🗓️ June 5: Cocktails & Conversations: There is no link for Nathan Ryan’s event But it happens at 5PM on the first Friday of every month over at Remedy, on Nueces
🗓️ May 31 - June 19: Access Asia: This is wild – Mark Duval and the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce are leading a three-week, three country diplomatic tour spanning Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore.
Dozens of investors, founders, and diplomats will be along for the ride, focused on deepening economic ties between Asia and Central Texas.
Full thing runs three weeks, but you can join for specific legs too. Check out their website for all the details, and you can email Mark directly with any questions
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Other Fun Stuff Coming Up
TODAY: The Long Center’s Hosting Their Drop-In Concert Series
May 30: For The Fam - Summer Reading Kickoff Party at First Light
June 2: American Rambler – Author Event with Isaac Fitzgerald
June 2: A Walk In The Park – 750 Miles Through The Grand Canyon
June 4: Moonlight Margarita Run
June 5: Austin Ikebana – Japanese Flower Arranging Demo
June 5-6: Harry Potter Drone Light Show at Circuit of the Americas
June 6: Plant Bingo at Drinks Backyard
June 6: Austin’s Theatre of Magic - Evening of Close-up Magic & Illusion
June 6: Austin Symphony Orchestra Takes On Taylor Swift Music
June 7: Coffee & Cyanotype Printing (Plant Prints Made By The Sun)
June 7: Juliet Spring Wine Festival at Barton Springs
June 7: Sewing: Plain & Fancy - Class at Pioneer Farms
Foraging For Caffeine
Okay, in past emails, you’ve seen me talk about Nicole Stump, who writes the best damn outdoors newsletter here in town (and occasionally speaks of edible plants, like Yaupon, North America’s only native caffeinated shrubbery).
You’ve also seen me write about Ian McCluskey, founder of December Yaupon, (which makes RTD products from said shrubbery).
Well… They’re teaming up to host the Yaupon Yap, an interactive journey through Bull Creek Preserve, where Ian will talk about the history of Yaupon, and teach you how to find it in the wild.
You’ll also get to taste his latest Nitro Cold Brew release. (I tried a can of this stuff the other night right before bed, and woke up two hours later for 👏 the 👏 day 👏)
It’s a great event, hosted by two great people, so check it out if you’re looking for something fun and off the beaten path (literally).
📚 Insights
Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by business owners, operators, and thinkers around ATX.
If you publish a newsletter, podcast, or blog: Share the link here so I can have it on my radar. I’m always trying to stay up to date on interesting things founders and operators around town are publishing.
1. Plan Better Speeches: Sharí Alexander helps CEOs get better ROI from their time on-stage, and just put out this piece on how to do, “Integrated Speeches.” These are basically the antidote to AI overwhelm, leaning on audience interaction before, during, and after the talk to create memorable transformation.
2. Turning Consumer Trends Into Alpha: This was a fun listen, because I got my start as a Trends analyst, looking for signal in consumer noise online. Bryan Wagman sat down with Adrien Navarre, CEO and founder of TickerTrends, the “search engine of alternative data”
3. Fixing Product Dysfunction: This one’s for product managers. Matt McGuire has been doing these monthly PM interviews, and he always gets something super tactical from them (e.g. specific prompts, frameworks, etc.). This one was a Jira-to-GSheets workflow Tiffany Wiley used with an under-performing team to start tying tickets directly to higher-level goals. Massive turnaround in focus & results.
4. LinkedIn Ads Playbook: My buddy, Moby Hayat, has added millions in top-line rev for SaaS and Service co’s using LinkedIn ads. He recently published his full playbook (including a video of him talking through the entire thing). Stop lighting money on fire and watch it.
5. Every Author Should Read This: Akash Kanojia typically writes about finance. Recently, he got his hands on the antitrust documents against Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, and inside he found fascinating data on how/where the money flows in publishing. This is a fantastic deep dive. Even if you have no plans to be an author, you’ll enjoy this if you appreciate great research.
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
