Tim Ferriss' New Rules For Podcasting

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 week, we’ve got a few things on-deck:

• 📅 Upcoming Events

• 🎙️ Tim Ferriss’ New Podcasting Rules

• 🤑 She sold to PE For Millions… Then Bought It Back For A Song

• And more…

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

-Ethan

PS. Last week, I told you about Pioneer Farms’ Pumpkin Nights event, but I used the wrong link. And now, looking at the analytics, I have no idea if you guys were interested in that, or just really, really into this other Neuroinformatics thing.

Either way, the pumpkin link is here. Shout out to Toni Yancer (founder of Toni’s Toffee, and one of this newsletter’s first-ever readers) for the heads up!

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.

🤖 It’s the third week of the month, which means all the AI meetups are in full swing. AITX, the Austin AI Alliance, and the AI Social Hour are all meeting next week, plus Startup Grind is hosting a summit on AI Fundraising.

Elsewhere, we have…

🗓️ Sept. 20: Female Founders & Friends: Hosted the third Friday of every month by Juliette Richert of the Artemis Fund

🗓️ Sept. 20: Blazer Tag: A co-ed (and kid-friendly) event hosted by Diana Lane and Lola Love – complete with a creative game aspect to the networking

🗓️ Sept. 23: UT/ATX Startup Tradeshow: The 9th annual installment, hosted by MccCombs Business School in partnership with 20+ startup support organizations

🗓️ Sept. 24: Tech Breakfast Club: Investor Morgan Barrett is bringing in the co-hosts of the Wannabe Angels podcast for a lively discussion over coffee

*🗓️ Sept. 24: Raising Angel Investment: Shannon Sibold’s team of attorneys is teaching this weekly ScaleUp series over at MoFo HQ and it’s excellent. They’re testing partnership with ABR, but I’ve recommended their events long before that

🗓️ Sept. 24: Startup CPG & SKU Meetup: Cohosted by Andre Matthews, and the CMO of SKU, Michelle Breyer, and showcasing several local brands

🗓️ Sept. 25: City of Austin SMB Connection Conference: The second annual version of this event, hosted by the City of Austin at the Palmer Events Center

🗓️ Sept. 25: Say It Well: Love him or hate ‘im, you can’t deny Obama was an amazing speaker. Well, Terry Szuplat was one of his speech writers, and his new book is about finding your voice and inspiring audiences. He’s doing a live talk at Book People

🗓️ Sept 26: Guidance for Growth ‘24: Yet another killer CPG event, including a live podcast recording with Charlynda Scales, followed by a panel on how to find mentorship as a founder

🗓️ Sept. 26: European Founders Meetup: Exactly what it sounds like – Join Lidija Newman and other founders from across the Atlantic for drinks at Simona's

🗓️ Sept. 26: The Scaling Playbook: A panel discussion with multi-time founder Jennifer Carroll, along with other senior marketing and product leaders from fast-growing companies

🗓️ Sept. 26: Exiting In Today’s Challenging Environment: Shout out to Doug Bain for getting this on my radar – Come hear from David Lack, managing partner at one of Austin’s biggest PE firms, and John Haynor, who’s advised on hundreds of capital raises and IPOs

🗓️ Sept. 26: Techbytes: A featured discussion and informal networking hosted by the Austin Urban Technology Movement – looks like 140+ RSVPd

🗓️ Sept. 27: Street Wisdom Walkshop: A hands-on intro to Street Wisdom, a unique problem-solving exercise that sounds a lot like the Flaneuring concept travel writer Rolph Potts once discussed with Tim Ferriss.

Last Thing… The Fed cut rates yesterday, and I know exactly what you’re thinking… You’re thinking, “This demands a new suit.”

Well, you beautiful bastard, have I got the solution for you:

Chris Taylor down at the Red Fridge Society is bringing in his favorite tailor from Thailand to do custom fittings for founders who want them. Not limited to men (or suits), they can do sport coats, women’s suits, tuxes, etc. Prices look great too.

RFS is a partner, and I chose them in part because Chris does cool stuff like this for the community. So if you’re interested, you can find details here. Now here’s four and a half minutes of Barney Stinson reminding you why this is a good idea.

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.

• Sept. 20: Arte Agave - Tequila & Mezcal Festival

• Sept. 21: Rooftop Yoga at Rivian

• Sept. 21: Cold Plunge + Sauna Social at Pershing

• Sept. 21: Supper School Vol. 1: Sex Talk (for members of ATX Supper Club)

• Sept. 22: Grapes to Glass - Guided Italian Wine Tasting

• Sept. 23: 10 Year Anniversary Wild Game Dinner + Wine Tasting

• Sept. 24: Tuesday Twilights at the LBJ Wildflower Center

• Sept. 25: Art of Texas Cocktail Competition at Still Austin Distillery

• Sept. 25: Argentinian Wine Night - Tasting From Two Wineries

• Sept. 26: TAYO NA - Filipino Artist Vendor Market & Magazine Launch

• Sept. 26: Desert Harvest Event with Chef Jesse Griffiths

• Sept. 26: Blind Bourbon Tasting at Mama Merlot’s Speakeasy

• Sept. 27: Street Expression Graffiti Class

• Sept. 28: William Chris Guided Wine Tasting at Pinthouse Brewing

• Sept. 28: 7th Anniversary Party at Still Austin Distillery

• Sept. 28: Dazed & Confused 30th Anniversary Screening

One More Thing… Hog Heaven is a 125-acre sporting club dedicated to fishing, shooting, archery, and more.

On the 28th, they’re hosting a public dinner event called Boots on the Bridge that’ll include live music, award-winning BBQ, local beer, and shotgun shooting (probably not in that order). Looks like a blast – you can find details and tickets here.

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. If you’re running a podcast I highly recommend checking out Tim Ferriss’ recent post about how he’s changing his show. Can be applied by anyone, with any audience size, and it’ll only improve things

2. Speaking of podcasts, local founder Cathryn Lavery went on Nathan Barry’s Billion Dollar Creator pod to talk about her experience selling her company to PE for millions, then buying it back again (they get super in the weeds, it’s great)

3. Austin’s newest defense unicorn, Saronic, recently raised a $175m Series B for their work on naval drones. Founder, and former Navy SEAL, Dino Mavrookas, joined local billionaire Joe Lonsdale on the American Optimist pod to talk all about it

Local Shop of the Week

Not an ad – just a cool spot you should know

The Meteor | 2110 S. Congress

I was introduced to this place by Shannon Bland, who runs The Scout Guide here in Austin, and if I had to pick a spot for unofficial capitol of ATX, it’d definitely make the short list.

The sign out front says it all – espresso, champagne, chain lube – a combination cafe, wine shop, and bike mechanic. Oh and they also have their own award-winning taco sauce… And they’ll sell you pizza… by weight.

(You see? Austin-weird)

Created by Doug Zell, the founder of Intelligentsia Coffee (which itself has a dozen-plus locations in the US and abroad), and his friend, Chris St. Peter, as a way to combine their favorite things, the flagship spot is down on South Congress, and they’ve opened three more out of town (one in Dallas, and two in Arkansas).

And yes, because I know you’re wondering, they were able to secure espressochampagnechainlube.com 

Local Artist(s) of the Week

This Saturday, Julie Ahmad is hosting A Night At The Gallery, showcasing 13 local artists, and raising money to support women in the arts.

Pieces will range from long-time Ahmad gallery names, like Laurie Carswell, who does these incredibly intricate landscape collages, to new faces, like Sandra Boskamp, and her captivating oil & acrylic portraits, and more.

VIP entry gets you in an hour early (plus champagne and gourmet bites from Parkside), and the main event will have live music, open bar, and all the artists there to chat. Details and tickets here!

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