September 05, 2024

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 I’ve got a few things on deck for you, including a giveaway of a book I’m loving (toward the end), and:

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

-Ethan

PS. Big week for University of Austin (the brand new school co-founded by local billionaire Joe Lonsdale and others).

Students penned the very first signatures in the university’s register, met the governor, and took part in their first debate ahead of classes next week.

Founding faculty also made this video, sharing the most important books their curriculum is built on. Historic!

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.

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

🗓️ TONIGHT: Testify: A live storytelling event – this installment is all about “true stories of learning the hard way.”

🗓️ Sept. 5-7: Texas Tribune Fest: More than 300 speakers descend on Austin for discussions on politics, technology, defense, culture, and more

🗓️ Sept. 6: Lonestar Cyber Shootout: Bridge the gap between physical- and cyber-security by immersing yourself in this all-day shooting experience at Staccato Ranch, alongside top cyber-security execs

🗓️ Sept. 6: Founder Fridays: Hosted by Georges Colbert in partnership with LAUNCH, the VC firm founded by Jason Calacanis (another recent Austin transplant)

🗓️ *Sept. 7: Fridge Football: The Red Fridge Society is a club for experienced founders and investors. They’re hosting a party for the UT vs Michigan game and there’s a little room left

*Red Fridge is also a partner of mine (and rad). More on them in the partner section

🗓️ Sept. 9: Freelancing Females: Coffee meetup co-hosted by Nicole Schwartz (an IP attorney that works specifically with women-owned brands) and FF founder, Tia Grado

🗓️ *Sept. 9: Wine Tasting At Red Fridge: Chris Taylor is hosting a guided wine tasting with personal sommelier Mario Matavesco. Specifically designed to help you learn your personal taste preferences (Old world vs new? High or low acidity? etc.) so you don’t waste money on wines you don’t like.

🗓️ Sept. 10: Movies & Workish: For anyone allergic to traditional B2B networking events – Jessica Allen is hosting a matinee get-together at Galaxy Movies to watch Beetlejuice and mingle with other business owners

🗓️ Sept. 10: Tour of PrepATX: If you’re looking for commercial kitchen space, the Naturally Austin crew is touring PrepATX, meeting other founders there, and getting a look behind the scenes

🗓️ Sept. 10: ScaleUp Series – Protecting Your IP: Led by Shannon Sibold, partner at MoFo, who specializes in advising emerging growth companies, public & private financing, and M&A. I’ve met her, and she’s f*ckin awesome

🗓️ Sept. 10: Cash Management 101: PNC is joining the Central Texas Angel Network for a Lunch & Learn on startup banking and cash management

🗓️ Sept. 10: Delegation From Finland: The city of Tampere is one of Finland’s tech hubs and they’re sending a delegation to meet with the Austin Technology Council. Help show them a great time at this happy hour

🗓️ Sept. 11: Austin Women In Tech: Marny Lifshen is leading a workshop on how to maximize your mentorship opportunities (as either a mentor or mentee)

🗓️ Sept. 11: Leadership from the Head: Yash Singri is getting a group of founders together for tea, discussion, and hands-on practice with two mental tools for better leadership (here’s one)

🗓️ Sept. 12: Connection Through Journaling: Another hands-on practice event, this one focused on the power of journaling, and led by exec coach Megan Shekleton, and founders Emma Van Dam and Shana Rehwald

🗓️ Sept. 12: Female Founder Happy Hour: Led by Vas Daskalakis, founder of Africa.ai, recently came to ATX after 6 years building in Kenya

🗓️ Sept. 13: UpLevel Her: A day-long summit from Austin Woman Magazine. The sessions look good – especially the ones on EOS, and becoming an author

🗓️ Sept. 13": Ops Not Oops: Sara Loretta is starting up this new coworking session. Two hours of silent deep work every other Friday over at Radio East

One Last Thing… I don’t usually share events this far out, but this one’s gonna be great. Bill Murphy and Marc Nathan are hosting a party for CPG & Ecomm founders on September 18th at Inn Cahoots.

I’ve been to their events before and they draw a bunch of legit, seasoned founders. If you’re in CPG or Ecomm, you’re not gonna want to miss this.

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.

One Last Thing: One of the best bookshops in town (First Light) just turned one year old. On Sept. 14, they’re hosting a block party to celebrate.

One of the founders is Taylor Bruce who also has a very successful travel media company called Wildsam. You’ve probably seen their guide books all over the country.

Local Wine To Check Out

Not an ad – just a cool brand you should know

Soto Vino | 440 E St Elmo Rd A1

My friend here in town has a theory about ticketed dinner events: Any time a company starts hosting them, you should definitely take a chance on the first few.

Oh sure, they might be a disaster. But they also might be amazing (after all, new hosts don’t know their unit economics yet – which is a nerdy way of saying they often overspend and do cool stuff no one can afford to do forever).

It was this theory (and an abiding love for string lights) that pushed a group of us to buy tickets for the very first Din & Juice pop-up the other night, hosted by the brothers Dominic & Christian Soto, owners of Soto Vino wine.

Maybe fifty people in all. We sat at long candle-lit tables in the yard behind the Copeland Haus boutique, over on the east side. The sun sank, and the wine flowed as Kayla Washington served up courses to match each bottle – first the Rosé, then the Cab, then something I can’t remember – and the raucous tunes of the Dom Francis Band echoed out into the night, until the city came and tried to shut us down.

Maybe we’ll call it, “First Dinner Theory.” I have no idea if Dom and Christian over-spent, but we definitely got more than we paid for. Best. Night. Ever.

Keep an eye on their IG page for the next one (they’re planning to do them monthly). Or, if you want to test “First Dinner Theory” sooner, check out this other wine tasting down at Camp Lucy next week – should be killer.

Finally, You Gotta Read This Book…

This goes a bit beyond Austin, but there is a connection…

The other week, I told you about Gary Martin, the famous hand-painted sign artist who spent forty years dressing up Austin’s most iconic restaurants, bars, and tattoo shops.

Well, it turns out one of his first-ever commissions was for the (illegal) sign on the very first Banana Republic shop in San Francisco… Turns out, the founders wrote a book about those early days… Turns out, that book is fantastic.

Banana Republic used to be so much cooler than it is today.

Mel and Patricia Ziegler started it with their last $1,500. He was a writer. She was an artist. And back then, they were selling vintage military surplus that they up-cycled into Hemingway-esque safari gear.

But my favorite thing was their branding. They really leaned into the gag.

Gift cards came from the Republic’s “ministry of finance,” shipments were wrapped in issues of The Banana Republican (a fictional newspaper filled with wacky stories), the catalogue was published by the minister of propaganda, and more.

And the copy writing? 🤌 Just look at this…

For years, they had record-breaking revenue per square foot in their stores, and their mail order response was more than 5x industry standard. Shoppers even paid to get the catalog (unheard of back then), so they had a negative customer acquisition cost.

Side Note: There’s a great archive of those old catalogs here.

Their story is just a great example of how to build something that gets natural media attention and buzz. Plus, they get into the nitty gritty and the stuff that went wrong.

Seriously, I loved it so much I bought extra copies to give away… 

If you want one, click reply on this email and tell me about the best marketing play your company ever made. You can define “best” however you want (most effective, most fun, worst, etc.)

I’ll pick one and share it in the newsletter, and that person will get a copy of the book, on me.

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