May 1, 2025

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!).

In this issue, you’ll find…

• 📅 Austin Consumer Week (and 12+ other great events)

• 🔥 A special fireside chat with Poppi’s $2B founder

• 📚 Ryan Holiday on why you should read dangerously

• New: Question of the week (at the end)

• and more…

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

-Ethan

PS. I’m excited to announce that I just signed the first-ever serious partnership for this newsletter. It’s with Hampton, the peer group for high-growth founders.

This is really special to me. I was one of the first employees at Hampton, and my time there was what inspired me to start ABR. To say it changed my life is an under-statement.

They’re officially launching in-person cohorts here in Austin, and stepping up their event presence. Starting with this fireside chat with Allison Ellsworth, local founder of Poppi, who just sold her company to Pepsi for ~$2B (more on that below).

Very stoked for this next phase of the newsletter. There’s one more “powered by” partner spot available, so if you’re interested in being part of what’s going on here, hit reply and we can chat.

Upcoming Events

🗓️ TONIGHT: Elevated Interactions: Investor Cody Todd is gathering people at Cosmic Pickle for drinks. Fun fact: He’s an investor in Cosmic too 🍻 Ask him about it

🗓️ TONIGHT: The Happiest Hour: Swing by the Antler office downtown for drinks with Allie Mullen, Nick Tippman, and other investors around town.

🗓️ TONIGHT: Hardware Happy Hour: The name says it all – if you’ve got a hardware startup, and wanna meet other founders, head to Aristocrat Lounge on Burnet

🗓️ May 2: Friday Writing Club: Run by my friend, Kirtana Reddy, this is one of the most popular writing groups in the city, and a great place to meet interesting people

🗓️ May 2: Founder Fridays: Hosted every month by founder Georges Colbert in partnership with LAUNCH, the VC firm founded by Jason Calacanis

🗓️ May 3: Sourdough Starter Party: Texas Women in Business is hosting this event as a fun way to make connections, learn new skills, and support their philanthropy fund

🗓️ May 3: Conquering Crisis: Admiral William H. McRaven, No. 1 NYT bestselling author of Make Your Bed is coming to Book People to discuss his latest release

🗓️ May 3: TEDx South Congress: Led by Dr. Ronke Komolafe, this year’s theme is, “Innovative Pulse: What Does the Future Hold?” Full lineup and tickets here.

🗓️ May 3: ATX Writing Club: Hosted by my buddy, Zac Solomon. Not strictly business-related, but a great spot to meet cool people and get good work done

🗓️ May 5: Consumer VC Live: Live podcast with Clayton Christopher, founder of Sweet Leaf Tea, and Brian Goldberg – both managing partners at Asto Brands

Note: This event is part of the broader Austin Consumer Week, a lineup of killer events, orchestrated by Marc Nathan and other local legends in the CPG space, happening May 1-4. Everything from panels to pickleball socials, so check it out.

🗓️ May 6: The Importance of UX in the Age of AI: The Austin Technology Council is hosting Erik Suma, AI Experience Leader at Dell

🗓️ May 6: KS WELI End of Year Celebration: Meet graduating founders, mentors, and alumni of the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute

🗓️ May 6: Make Your Mark: Historian, journalist, and CEO, Mark K. Updegrove, will discuss his latest book, on lessons learned covering seven US presidents

🗓️ May 7: Austin Tech - Hall of Fame: The second annual ceremony, celebrating the past, present, and future of Austin’s tech scene

🗓️ May 7: TWIB Online Connect: Texas Women in Business’ in-person events always fill up fast so if you haven’t made it to one of those yet, try this

🗓️ May 8: Celebrating Moms in Tech: Wise is hosting a Mother’s Day mixer at their Austin HQ, including panel discussion, networking, and a bouquet-making activity

🗓️ May 8: Raid the Fridge Happy Hour: Chris Taylor is hosting a big mixer down at the Red Fridge Society, one of my favorite local spots for later-stage founders

🗓️ May 9: Leading in Disorienting Times (Online): Austin Women in Tech is hosting Rajkumari Neogy, who’s coached leaders at Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and more

🗓️ May 9: League of Originals: This looks like a killer lineup of DTC founders and marketers, including Holly Thaggard, founder of Super Goop, acquired for $700M

–– Powered By Hampton ––

From Farmer’s Market to $2B Exit

A few weeks ago, I told you about Allison Ellsworth, local co-founder of Poppi, which just sold to Pepsi for $1.95B.

Well, Hampton’s hosting an intimate Q&A with her later this month, and they’re holding a few seats for ABR readers.

Ellsworth originally developed Poppi in her home kitchen here in Texas, and under her leadership, the brand:

• Raised $52M+ (including early funding on Shark Tank)

• Won 19% of the prebiotic soda market, and 36,000 retail doors

• Did $500M in revenue in 2024 – a 5x increase over the previous year

These events are always great (check out the last one with Joe Lonsdale). 

So if you’re a high-growth founder, or you’ve raised/exited recently, and you’d like to spend the evening with some inspiring peers, request a spot here.

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

• TONIGHT: Movies on the Lake at Mozarts - Empire Strikes Back

• TONIGHT: Bourbon Barrel Launch Party at Acre 41

• May 1-4: Doc Days Documentary Film Festival

• May 3: Historic Beer Fest at Fitzhugh Brewing (Dripping Springs)

• May 3: Tribeza ATX Luxury Home Tour (Self Guided)

• May 3: Slow Fashion Maker Market at The Contemporary Austin

• May 3: Kentucky Derby Watch Party at WTF Sports Club

• May 4: Sunrise Mat Pilates at Duncan Park

• May 4: Cold Plunge Social at Pershing Hall

• May 4: Star Wars Theme Day at the Bullock Museum (for the kids)

• May 6: Tuesday Twilights at LBJ Wildflower Center

• May 7: Rolling Stones Tribute at Still Austin

• May 7: Meet the Winemaker - Chris Carpenter at Vintage Wine Storage

• May 7: Coffee Talks at Meteor - Building Better Neighborhoods

• May 7: Celebrating Sinatra at Parker Jazz Club

• May 8: Momchella at Zilker Lodge

• May 9: Strings in the Woods - Award Winning Violinist + Nature Walk Picnic

• May 10: Mindfulness for Mom & Baby at Pease Park

• May 10: The 48th Annual Pun-Off Championship

• May 10: Slam Portal X - Intergalactic Combet at Central Machine Works

One More Thing… On May 10, The Paramount Theatre is turning Congress Ave into one big dance hall with The Paramount Gala, celebrating their 110th anniversary. Enjoy drinks under the Paramount Marquee, followed by dinner, dancing, and live music until late.

As of Wednesday night, it looks like tickets are still available

If you don’t make it to this one, The Paramount’s Summer Classic Film Series kicks off later this month with…

• May 22: Double feature – Casablanca and Breathless

• May 24: JAWS 50th Anniversary + Double Feature with Robert Rodriguez

• May 25: Empire Strikes Back + There Will Be Blood

• And more…

Word On The Street

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

• Fundraising Soon? The deadline to apply for Central Texas Angel Network’s third funding round is May 5th.

• Speaking of Fundraising: Local investor, Nick Tippman, officially unveiled TipTopVC, a pre-seed/seed venture firm writing $150-$400k checks to vertical AI founders.

• 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

Insights

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. Read Dangerously: The thing that moved me most this week was this talk by Ryan Holiday originally meant for the US Naval Academy. It was reportedly cancelled over his criticism of their book ban, so he posted it to Youtube instead. It’s simply excellent.

Not only is the material itself fascinating and important to anyone hoping to do hard things in their career, but I commend Ryan for leading by example, and showing how to have complex disagreements tactfully. We need more of this on the public stage.

2. Non-Fungible People: Local billionaire Joe Lonsdale joined Chris Williamson on the Modern Wisdom podcast, and the conversation was fantastic. As usual, Joe moved seamlessly between lessons from mentors like Peter Thiel, to the battle for higher ed, to his work with DOGE, Anduril, and more. I especially enjoyed his thoughts on how the technology of war drives new forms of government. Fascinating.

3. Are You ACTUALLY Profitable? Why not, let’s add one more unicorn founder to this email for good measure – Jason Cohen of WP Engine published this intriguing breakdown, showing how founders who are “spending to grow” can calculate whether the underlying business is really profitable, even if the current growth is not.

Bonus: He also writes these great little business zen poems on X (Cohen Koans, if you will). The latest 👇

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