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).

In this week’s issue:

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-Ethan

PS. Last call! I gotta get a headcount to our chef, so registrations for our chef-led cooking class end tonight. This a special opportunity to spend time with other founders & operators while learning cool new skills, so if you’d like to join us, grab a spot here

🗓️ TONIGHT: Side Hustle Live: A Shark Tank-style game,done in collaboration with founders and comedians, hosted by Tomer Soran over at Pershing House

🗓️ Feb. 6: Chatbot Challenge at Remedy: Austin Forum is hosting a session on conversational AI, followed by a community hack showcase down at Jay Boisseau’s bar, Remedy

🗓️ Feb. 6: Cocktails & Conversations: Immediately after the Chatbot Challenge, Jay and Nathan Ryan are rebooting Nathan’s popular Cocktails & Conversations series which will now take place at Remedy 5-7PM the first Friday of every month

🗓️ Feb. 10: Leading Ladies of West Austin: Celine Swisegood will be talking travel hacks over brunch

🗓️ Feb. 11: Metropolitan Breakfast Club: Marsha Milam, co-founder of the Austin Film Festival and co-owner of Milam and Greene Whiskey is speaking

🗓️ Feb. 11: Becoming an AI-Driven Leader: Geoff Woods is talking about concepts he used to help lead a company from $750m market cap to $12B+. He’s world class, and I wrote all about him and his well-known book here.

🗓️ Feb. 12: Create Now: Adobe is hosting an event in town for designers and other creators using the suite. Meet other creatives, see the latest updates, and get inspired

🗓️ Feb. 12: Austin Asian Chamber: Their annual State of the Chamber meeting will give you an inside look at plans for 2026, and help you connect with leaders across ATX

🗓️ Feb. 12: Acquire & Invest Happy Hour: Dan Jensen, Yvette Owo, and Henry Carter’s monthly happy hour for people who buy businesses. This month’s falls the day before the Texas ETA Summit 👇

🗓️ Feb. 13: Texas ETA Summit: Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, hosted by UT, with a keynote from Joe Lonsdale, local founder of many billion-dollar companies

🗓️ Feb. 13: Founder Pickleball: Part of a new ongoing series by John Davison, Connor Tomkies, and Nate Schiedehaus

Valentine’s Day Is Coming Up!

I know it’s tough to tell from my gruff and stoic exterior, but deep (deep) down, I’m kind of a romantic. So here are a few of my favorite things I’ve seen going on around town…

For the sickeningly cute couple, there is the Kappy Co. Valentine’s Hat Bar where you can make matching embroidered hats (please keep these to yourselves)

For the more active among us, we’ve got Couple’s Acro Yoga and the Valentine’s 5K Fun Run down at Oddwood Brewing

If you’ve got the kids with you (or the parents), and are looking for something for the whole family, Toasty Badger’s “Be My Badger” dinner is thoughtfully curated with them in mind

Lest we forget, this year Valentine’s falls immediately after Friday the 13th, so if your date likes spooky stuff, consider Paranormal Investigations at Pioneer Farms or My Bloody Valentine downtown

And finally, if you’re looking for a good list of fancy Valentine’s dinners, I like Tribeza’s

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. Tim Ferriss’ Doesn’t Publish Often… But when he does, it’s a banger. His latest piece dives deep on how he overcame Lyme Disease using a Ketogenic diet. Symptom-free for 10+ years, he’s replicated the results with four other friends – a 100% success rate so far. This one’s worth sharing around.

2. Crash Course on R&D Tax Credits: Ari Salafia is a founding member of the Austin Venture Association, and specializes in helping founders navigate tax incentives as they build. She sat down recently to break down

3. The UATX Winter Reading List: UATX, the innovative new college co-founded by local billionaire Joe Lonsdale, published a list of 88 works students are currently reading, broken down by course & professor.

(Hint: If something catches your eye - each title is linked. They don’t look like it, but they are)

Dave Burg is the co-founder of Shepherd, a different kind of growth agency here in Austin, TX, focused deeply on audience development and helping brands tap into new communities that weren’t on their radar (but should be).

They’ve worked with major consumer brands like Dell, Nike, and Mountain House as well as iconic storytelling brands like Netflix, DC, Hasbro, and even Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.

I first stumbled across him via his long-form writing, which reminded me of one of my favorite travel writers, Tim Cahill – funny, yet insightful in a “what have I gotten myself into” kind of way – and I knew I wanted to have him in for a spotlight.

If I had to give you just one fact to set up the rest of his story, I’d point out that while other people are building AI agents, Dave’s got an AI Bobblehead Doppelgänger. He makes for a refreshing follow on LinkedIn.

Now without further ado, here’s Dave…

Hi. We’re called Shepherd, because, well, we “Shepherd” our clients toward more fruitful audiences. I just made you say “fruitful.” Quasi-awkward. Hahahaha.

Our very first client was a private equity group trying to leverage John Wayne’s name and likeness for a coffee product. 

We had just quit our jobs and gone out on our own, and boy oh boy did we learn a few things about taking on clients in the beginning. I’ll say this though, I really wish we could take another crack at John Wayne (this time with a client who doesn’t disappear on us when the bill comes).

We do serious, capitalistic stuff, but we still have fun.

If I really reflect on the way we were talking and feeling and thinking back in 2017 when we started Shepherd, well…  I think it took more courage and conviction to double down on our “audience niche” than it did to quit really cool jobs in advertising. 

Because if you’re passionate about insights and finding opportunities for brands to grow, you tend to get pretty good at a whole mess of advertising/marketing skills. 

It’s hard to focus on just one offering.

But the decision to focus on audience data - Identifying audiences based on their unique interests - and decoding that information in a way that brands could act on it - I’m not sure we’d be the vibrant team we are today if we hadn’t. 

Focus might first appear like you’re only doing things an inch wide, but when you can go a mile deep… That’s where things get super interesting. That’s when clients start coming to you, because you’re the expert.

I mean, come on, we get to study fans for a living. I wouldn’t joke about this, Magic the Gathering and D&D are some of our clients. It’s incredible.

Also, we get to work with an amazing array of brands to not only figure out the audiences they should be growing with, but to also help them de-risk major decisions around celebrities, influencers, and event sponsorships.

We’ve won The Geek State Lotto and we get to dive into all these interesting audience challenges.

“But What If We’re Wrong?” by Chuck Klosterman. 

It’s all about looking at what’s going on right now, all the turmoil of present day America, as if it were history. The back of the book jacket says in giant letters, “Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past.” 

Is it the most thrilling read? Meh, my teens would call it “mid.” 

But the concept of the book,  I’ve found to be an incredible way to think about how things are unfolding. It forces me to put way less energy into all the things I can’t control and almost all my energy into things I can control (essentially doing anything with my friends and family).

I’m a Deadhead, so here’s the Dead lyric my answer is hinged on: 

I honestly believed that the smaller projects and clients that big agencies passed on, that we would just be able to scoop them right up.

It doesn’t really work that way. And honestly,I’m glad.

No matter what, relationships are the center of gravity for getting business. You can’t be waiting around for scraps, you have to be moving molecules and making new relationships happen.

Also, if you ever see me around town (I drive an old Bronco with a Grateful Dead symbol), honk at your boy.

Brooks running shoes. When I quit my job to start Shep, I knew I needed a positive distraction - Running.

I always hated running. It seemed like punishment. It was the thing you had to do if you lost a game. But, I’ve been running five days a week since 2017, and it’s made all the difference. 

While running I’ve thought of so many ways to improve the business, help clients, and work with our team. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without it. Full stop, baby.

I’m 48. I met my wife when we both turned 21. We’ve been married 23 years. That’s so many numbers. Sorry, here are a few more: 

We have two teenagers. We have two dogs. We’ve had countless good times. We’ve had a handful of horrible times. 

But, I wouldn’t trade it for anything, and I’m not just saying that because she could read this some day. Hahaha.

We met at a basement, beer-soaked frat party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Even though we haven’t lived in the midwest (where both our families are based) in many years, it’s still very much our home. 

We are incredibly blessed to both share that sense of home. To both be close with our sibs, parents, nephews, nieces, uncles, and aunts. That constant source of comfort - It goes a long, long way when you’re putting yourself in a super uncomfortable situation like living off of your savings while you start a business.

For a beer, I can never get enough of Crown and Anchor. Never.

But for what you’re asking, the delightful confluence of under-the-radar and unwinding, if you will….  Check this out: ARCHERY COUNTRY up on the Northside. 

I cannot tell you how cool the folks who run that place are, and the conversations I’ve had meeting new friends at their indoor range is some kind of wonderful. I’ve met all walks of life there, all of us united by the addictive feels of sending an arrow 20 yards with the swooooshing sound of badass-ness. It’s pure delight.

For more from Dave, be sure to connect with him here, and check out Shepherd if you’re trying to unlock new growth insights about your brand’s ideal audience

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