The Pre-Thanksgiving Issue

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!).

This is a shorter issue than normal – next week is eerily quiet heading into Thanksgiving. But we’ve still got:

• 📅 Events – Reaching further into the calendar to highlight things you should know about the next few months

• 📈 Case Study – How Adam Robinson Bootstrapped 3 Different Multimillion Dollar SaaS Businesses

Back to our normal programming next week!

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

-Ethan

Let’s start with the case study…

Adam Robinson is a local SaaS founder who’s bootstrapped 3 different companies to 7- and 8-figures over the last decade or so. The most recent hit $1m ARR within 4 months of launching. He also:

• Started as a Wall St. guy (no startup background)

• Was roommates with the founder of Vimeo (pre-launch)

• Shared an office with the Jasper founders before they took off

• Has cracked LinkedIn as a sales funnel for SaaS

• Failed a lot and shares a ton of numbers about that

He’s got a lot of interesting takes, but I think my favorite is his stance on why more founders should be bootstrapping, and how freeing that is (if you can pull it off).

Read The Full Story Here…

Upcoming Events

Running a business is tough. Here are a few great places to meet cool people going through the same sh*t you are.

🗓️ TONIGHT: Live Recording - LoneStartup: One of my favorite local podcasts is interviewing one of my favorite local businesses (Red Fridge Society)! Come check it out

🗓️ TONIGHT: Authentic Austin: They call it A-Squared, and it’s all about authentic conversations and deeper connections. Kristen Pavle hosts this month!

🗓️ TONIGHT: Book Discussion (online): If you’ve read Yuval Harari’s new book, Nexus, join Jay Boisseau and the Austin Forum on Tech and Society to discuss

🗓️ TONIGHT: Nerd Night: Like a local version of TED, but for nerds, by nerds. This month’s theme is the healing power of laughter,

🗓️ TONIGHT: Hardware Meetup: For anyone building real stuff in the physical world, check out Nick Frank’s meetup. Also don’t miss the new hardware accelerator in the Word on the Street section (below)

🗓️ Nov. 22: Ops Not Oops: Sara Loretta recently launched this new coworking event. Two hours of silent deep work every other Friday over at Radio East

🗓️ Nov. 22: AITX + Llama Hackathon Reception: AITX is hosting a hackathon with Meta, and this reception is the night before kickoff. Hackathon info is here

🗓️ Nov. 22: Art & Film in the Age of AI: Longtime Hollywood TK, Matisse Tolin, will discuss his recent AI Feature Film,

Side Note: This is hosted at the Unchained.Art gallery, where AI + Art columnist Julia Morton and gallerist Christina Hiltscher, have their Art in the Age of AI exhibit through Dec. 7. Jason Scharf, host of AustinNext pod, says it’s amazing.

🗓️ Nov. 25 ATX Youtubers: Another one from Sarah Loretta – this time for people who are working on growing Youtube channels, and looking to get/give feedback

🗓️ Nov 30: ATX Writing Club: Not strictly business-related, but Zac Solomon’s writing group is a great way to meet interesting people and get some focused work done

Also… Mark your calendars…

I never share events this far out, but it’s a slow week, and these look rad, so check ‘em out 👇

Dec 12: Taking Back Main St: Codie Sanchez is hosting a live event here in Austin to celebrate the launch of her new book. People who pre-order the book get admission. You can also buy a ticket (but pre-orders help authors more). Codie’s a friend, and when she hosts an event, she delivers.

March 17-22: Leadership in the Wild: A non-profit called the Kashmir World Foundation is hosting a retreat in Costa Rica called the Rainforest DeepData Expedition – volunteers will deploy drones and other innovative tech to help fight poaching and preserve endangered species.

Jimmy Malik, who runs a leadership coaching practice here in Austin, will be onsite leading workshops as part of the experience.

If you’re planning out your 2025 calendar, and looking for a cool out of the ordinary experience to add to your life, this might be it.

Hosting something cool? Email me the details below and I’ll try to share it in the newsletter or on LinkedIn.

Word On The Street

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

Last Call To Apply for the Cosmos Fellowship, focused on cultivating a new generation of philosopher technologists, with a focus on AI and humanity. Applications are due Dec 1st, and only require:

• CV

• <150 word abstract

• <1k word proposal

• 3 references

You can find more info here, and the form to apply here.

Fun Stuff Coming Up

…because if you’re anything like me, you work too much already. So here’s some fun stuff to do around town that’s not necessarily related to business.

• Nov. 22: CandleLight Concert - Tribute to the Beatles

• Nov. 22: Street Expression Graffiti Workshop

• Nov. 22: Broadway Rave

• Nov. 23: Lewis Black - The Final Tour

• Nov. 23: Class & Glass - Yoga and Wine at Vintage Books

• Nov. 23: Winter Care for Native Plants at LBJ Wildflower Center

• Nov. 23: Kentucky Fill-Up at Still Austin – Bring empty Kentucky Bourbon bottles, and get ‘em filled with Austin’s own for $1 per f*cking bottle

• Nov. 24: Yoga & Brews at Blue Owl Brewing

• Nov. 24: Whiskey Tasting & Cocktail Experience at Standard Proof

• Nov. 26: Silk Fan Painting Workshop at Inner Diva (they also do puppy/kitten yoga to benefit local animal shelters)

• Nov. 28: Thanksgiving at Luties - they’re food’s outrageously good

• Nov. 30: Krampus Kegger at Far Out Lounge

If You’ve Got Kids… The Austin Steam Train is running a North Pole Flyer through the holidays. Mozart’s Light Show and the Trail of Lights are also long-time favorites. And there’s an interactive Harry Potter Forbidden Forest light show experience out in McKinney Roughs, about half way between Austin and Bastrop.

(Yes… They have butterbeer)

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