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VCs Are Like "Hichhikers With Credit Cards"
Real Talk From A $13B Founder... The Very First "Keep It Weird" Leadership Panel... Lessons From A $65M STR Portfolio... And More...
Ethan Brooks
June 06, 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, we’ve got:
📅 Upcoming Events (a ton!)
💸 Real Talk On VC (from a $13B exit)
🏡 Lessons from a $65m STR Portfolio
🎨 A Unique Art Pop-Up
And more…
Did someone forward this to you? If you like it, you can sign up here!
-Ethan
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.
June 6: Networking for Health + Wellness Founders: Led by Corey Hiben, founder of Andro Brands and host of the The Health Hustle podcast
June 6: Female Founder Happy Hour: Led by Vas Daskalakis, founder of Africa.ai, recently in ATX after 6 years building in Kenya
June 6: Creators x Convos: A happy hour + panel discussion on the future of media, with founders like Paul O’Brien from MediaTech Ventures, and LaTecia Johnson of Ingenius Studio
June 7: Let’s Do Lunch - Women’s Networking: Hosted by Lauren Eckles and open to women from any industry in Austin
June 8: Founders Running Club: FRC has chapters in 12+ cities, and Austin’s launches this week. 5K run, then coffee (pets are welcome!)
June 8: Texas Women in Business - Coffee Connect: Their events always fill up fast, so be sure to RSVP to this one asap!
June 11: Futurist Technologies Enabled by LLMs: Technologist Peter Voss explores how LLMs affect biotech, nanotech, energy, space travel, and more
June 11: Generative AI and Copyright: Guest speaker, Ed Cavazos, has managed prominent metaverse and NFT cases, and teaches The Law of Software, Video Games and Interactive Entertainment at UT
June 11: Tiny Talks: Love this! Austin’s very own version of TED, where fascinating locals give these wonderful 10-minute talks. Check out Keith Maitland’s, What Would You Do with $25M? or Laura Young’s amazing story about the Stolen Roman Artifact She Bought At GoodWill
June 12: AI Product Collective - Social Hour: Hosted by Chris Ivester over at Wanderlust Wine Co, this draws dozens of AI builders every month
June 12: Actually Fun HH for Event Professionals: If IRL events are a big part of your business, Hayley Dyer’s happy hour is for you.
June 12: Business League at Butler Pitch & Putt: Butler’s a 9-hole, par 3 pitch & putt right in the heart of downtown. They’re doing a 6-week tourney you can join with up to 5 teammates from work.
June 13: Good Morning Ecommerce: Grab a coffee and talk shop with Patrick Pitman, and other local founders in the ecomm space
June 13: Simple Fundraising Strategies for Nonprofits: If you’re involved with non-profits, the Austin Economic Forum regularly hosts this 3-hour session on fundraising
June 13: Mastermind at The Collective: Led by Catherine Meyer, The Collective is a collaborative network for women in business. This month it’s hosted on the rooftop at Brooke Rod boutique on S. Lamar. Open to first-timers and you get 20% off at the boutique while there
June 14: University of Austin Tour: I’m fascinated by this university, co-founded by Joe Lonsdale (who’s built more $1B companies than perhaps anyone else). They’re hosting an open house ahead of their first academic semester. Check out this episode of the AustinNext podcast for more on their story
Fun Stuff Coming Up
…because let’s face it, you work too much already. So here’s some fun stuff around town that’s not related to business.
TONIGHT: Battle of the Bars Mixology Competition
June 7: Rooftop Pickleball
June 7: Speakeasy Wine Cave Tasting Experience
June 8: Fredericksburg Craft Beer Festival
June 8: Take Me To The River Beer Release Party at Meanwhile
June 8: Second Saturday at Blanton Museum - Salsa Dancing Edition
June 9: Mimosa Fest
June 9: Summer Sips Wine Class
June 10: Free Monday Tango
June 10: ATX Short Film Showcase
June 11: Blues on the Green
June 11: The Art of Mocktails
June 11: Social Golf Scramble at Butler Pitch & Putt. They’ve also got a Morning Social on June 12th
June 12: Demo & Dine - Thai Cooking Demonstration
June 13: Y2K Bash
June 13: Movies in the Park - Jaws
June 14: Whiskey & Watches Showcase
June 15: Sandlot Double Header at The Long Time (I wrote more about them here)
Word On The Street
Cool stuff published by founders in ATX
1. CPG Founders & Investors: Austin-based CPG incubator, SKU, just had their spring showcase and you can watch the recording here. Seven brands pitching a la shark-tank to a panel of judges. Skip to ~28:00 where the action starts.
2. Call For Videos: Bret Siers’ company has found a way to produce software tutorials at-scale without script-writing (before/after demo here). He’s asking for help finding videos to test it on, so if you have <5 minute walkthroughs and want to snazz ‘em up while helping a fellow founder out, holler at him and he’ll share the results with you
3. Keep It Weird Leadership Panel: This was great. Gillian Langkamp’s company brought in some killer talent for a panel discussion on navigating return-to-office. Three leaders, three different viewpoints (remote, hybrid, and fully in-office)
4. VCs Are Like “Hitchhikers With Credit Cards”: Local founder John Mackey built Whole Foods to 500+ locations, and a $13.7B acquisition by Amazon. He sat down with fellow ATX founder Marlow Nickell for some real talk on VCs, IPOs, and how to protect yourself as a founder
5. Lessons From A $65m+ STR Portfolio: If you’re into STRs, you gotta follow Ben Wolff on LinkedIn. His company develops and runs wild properties (like this Monarch treehouse in Fredericksburg) and he shares a ton on how they do it
Local Artist of the Week
My friend Katy Ward is hosting a pop-up art gallery next week to showcase these stunning pastel and paint pieces she does.
This isn’t a typical gallery viewing though.
Katy’s a professional copywriter and storyteller, and she’s curated more of an interactive experience, complete with cocktails, writing prompts, and hidden messages sprinkled around the venue to launch fun conversations with the people you meet.
Your ticket includes entry along with your first two drinks (shout out to Fix vodka, Carabuena tequila, Hi Sign Brewing, and Beatbox beverages who are all sponsoring this puppy). It’s gonna be a great time
Learn more, grab tickets here 👈 and I’ll see ya there!
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
Thank you to all the incredible local founders and leaders who share great insights and events. You can follow and connect with them here…