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).

Here’s a photo that my liability insurance carrier probably doesn’t want to see…

Last week, we had about twenty local founders play hooky from work and drive all the way out to Marble Falls and spend the morning shooting shotguns together.

It was fantastic.

Shout out to my co-organizer, Carl Grant IV, and to Matt Burns who – despite never having shot before – took home first place after hitting 45 out of 60 clays. Meanwhile, Magdalena Stefansson, co-founder of GoodGood, claimed she never shot before… But she was so goodgood no one believed her. (sorry… it’s late)

Anyways, we’re going to do more of this kind of thing.

In the meantime, if you’re hungry for some face-time with other cool founders, come on out to the block party Chris Taylor’s hosting tonight. I’ll see you there.

-Ethan

PS. 👇👇👇

Upcoming Events

🗓️ TONIGHT: Austin Venture Crawl: Drop by any of six stops to mingle with founders and investors across ATX (I’ll be hangin’ at The Red Fridge)

🗓️ Oct. 6: The Automation Breakthrough: Ten different design/product leaders are talking through new workflows they’re using to improve UX teams

🗓️ Oct. 6: Authentic Austin: Sandra Bershad is hosting this non-traditional networking event focused on authenticity and depth

🗓️ Oct. 6-9: Generative AI Summit: The first two days are online (and free), second two days are in-person over at Austin Renaissance Hotel

🗓️ Oct. 7: Venture Debt 101: Part of Shannon Sibold’s annual ScaleUp series, for founders growing from 7- to 8-figures

🗓️ Oct. 7: Austin’s Place in Global Business: Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, joins other leaders to discuss Austin’s evolving role in global trade

🗓️ Oct. 8: Bob Woodward - Live: Evan Smith, co-founder of the Texas Tribune, is live with Bob Woodward, the 23-time best-selling author who broke the Watergate scandal

🗓️ Oct. 8: MediaATX Happy Hour: Shout out to Marc Nathan for getting this on my radar. Long-time CNN reporter, Josh Rubin, is gathering media pro’s at Bar Peached

🗓️ Oct. 9: GAACC Women’s Club: The Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce is celebrating Filipino Heritage Month with a panel of several local Phillipine leaders

🗓️ Oct. 9: The Importance of Connection, Community & Culture in Tech:  Featuring Hugh Forrest, former co-president of SXSW, talking about his new venture, Gather & Grow

🗓️ Oct. 10: Founder Coffee Tasting: Mark Helwig, founder of Ratio coffee, was recently featured on Peter Attia’s podcast, and will be at this event telling his story

🗓️ Oct. 10: Business Owner Book Club: I host a monthly discussion group for business owners working their way through Alex Hormozi’s $100M Leads. Come join us!

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

• TONIGHT: Vivid Parlor

• Oct. 3: Spooky Teacup Terrarium-Making Class

• Oct. 4: Watercolors In The Wild at Shoal Creek Conservancy

• Oct. 4: Kat Williams Live at The Moody Center

• Oct. 4: How To Make Pretzels - Baking Class At Easy Tiger

• Oct. 4-5: World Coffee Fest at Mozart’s

• Oct. 5: Rare Single Malt Whiskey Tasting Cruise

• Oct. 7: Bonsai Workshop at Austin Beerworks

• Oct. 9: Imbibe - West Coast Pinot Noirs

• Oct. 11: Pancake & Booze Art Show

• Oct. 11: Handmade Gnocchi Class at Fareground Austin

• Oct. 12: Roosevelt Room Tasting Series - Brandies of the World

• Oct. 12: HalLoween Cake Decorating at Witchcraft Taproom

• Oct. 12: How to Bake Italian Breads at Easy Tiger

Word On The Street

Local Artist of the Week

Last week, one of the events I mentioned in here was Jazz Outside, a monthly concert that takes place over at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard, the outdoor venue and food truck park on East 11th, right by Victory Grill.

I got curious about who owns that space, and heading down that rabbit hole is how I found Harold McMillan, a local musician who’s spent the last three decades preserving the jazz and blues legacy of the east side.

Back in the 90’s, he started the Blues Family Tree Project, which produced Austin TX: East Side Blues, a 30-minute documentary recording the history of Blues music in Austin. He held various roles in creative organizations (including producer at the historic Victory Grill) before starting the East Austin Creative Coalition, which itself led to the creation of Kenny Dorham’s Backyard.

There’s a lot to respect about the work he’s done. But I think my favorite part is his focus on positivity – something he decided while a graduate student in the school of social work at UT back in the 70’s.

“I should not focus on pathology, but focus on celebration and preservation,” he once told Alcalde, UT’s alumni publication. “A lot of social work is about race and economics and social justice. And I’m up in all of that, but I just decided that I didn’t want to deal with sickness—societal sickness specifically—all the time and that I could do the same kind of work with arts and culture.”

Meet Your Neighbors: Melissa and Dan Johanson

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – your neighbors are way cooler than you probably expect. Because everyone in Austin is so humble!

Take Melissa and Dan Johanson as an example. If you asked what they do, they might say that they run Focal Point Features, a landscaping business that specializes in natural looking ponds and water features.

But they’d completely leave out the fact that when Gary Vee’s dad had his property re-done, Dan was flown up to New Jersey to set more than 90% of the boulders, in the way that only he can. (I only found this out via Facebook!)

Recently, Melissa shared some key insights from more than half a decade building the business, including how their growth strategy has evolved, favorite purchases that help her run the biz, how their relationship contributes to their success, and more.

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